Chris Hansen’s blog

…and many happy returns of the day.

• 09:40 @jonk : well, just leave the buttons open all day…keep your many fans happy 😉 #
• 09:46 @jonk : hearing the new mail sound when you’re having wild sex in bed and losing your erection so you have to look at the mail is worse. #
• 10:30 morning tweeters. got a job nibble but perhaps it won’t suit so am exploring that. otherwise, fine. #
• 12:15 out to lunch with friend nadeem, late of searchspace. #
• 16:40 @tug : i did…he’s still between jobs but looking forward to one soon #
• 18:37 off to a Burns Night at the next parish over. Bringing whisky and whisky fudge for prizes on the raffle. #

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• 12:38 what’s your greatest time suck? twitter? blogging/reading blogs? email? all three? #
• 12:57 @Zulq : as i’m unemployed at the moment (but in no distress), in my case it is not a time suck at all–would that it were! YMMV, though! #
• 09:40 @jonk : well, just leave the buttons open all day…keep your many fans happy 😉 #

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• 10:45 morning tweeters all. HWMBO is back at work and it’s dashed cold at home today…more heat indicated. #
• 21:19 @nakedboy : indeed. that’s good. more naked stuff on Twitter!! 😉 #

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I’ve mostly been posting links and the occasional video the last month or so. What’s been going on? I have been made redundant from my job (=US “laid off”). Due to the terms of the agreement, I can’t say anything about the terms or the company itself. Suffice it to say that HWMBO and I will not starve, seeing as we have money in the bank, no debts to speak of, and he is still working. I shall take a few weeks or maybe a month to do little or nothing, and then start looking for contract work in software testing, ISO 9001, or something along those lines. It’s been an interesting 2-1/2 years and I’m glad to be a free man again.

My Masonic career continues. I shall be Senior Warden in the year beginning May 2009. This is the second highest office in the Lodge and involves closing the Lodge and ensuring that candidates for degrees know their stuff. I also invest candidates with their aprons, and prepare myself for the Mastership. If all goes well, I shall be Master of Goliath Lodge beginning in May 2010, for one year. I shall be the first Master for 5 years or so who has not been Master of a Lodge previously. Being Master involves presiding over Lodge meetings (four during each year) and conducting the ceremonies attendant upon initiation, passing, and raising candidates. I am looking forward to it (with a bit of trepidation).

I have finished memorising the Charge to the Initiate in preparation for my friend N’s initiation on February 25th. It is about 10 minutes of a speech in which the newly-initiated Brother hears about Freemasonry in general and his own obligations within it. It’s quite intricate and I memorised it in about 3 months. If all goes according to plan, I shall be in the Chair when N is raised to the sublime degree of a Master Mason in October 2010, and I have begun the slow process of memorising the ritual for the 3rd Degree.

I have also joined the Order of the Secret Monitor, which is a side order requiring members to be Master Masons but otherwise is not connected to the United Grand Lodge of England. It is built around the Biblical story of David and Jonathan (See I Samuel for the details). It’s quite interesting, the food is good, and the brethren are great.

Otherwise, I’m a house-husband now. Watch this space.

…a new product is coming your way.

• 11:24 @nakedboy : the Flatiron District has become more interesting; it was kinda grungy when i worked there. Park Av has gotten a lot better. #
• 11:24 @Zulq : did you buy wellies to go along with the tix? #
• 11:25 @nakedboy : yes, wild naked pics is what we want. #
• 11:41 Is anyone surprised that Russell Brand is now @rustyrockets on Twitter and is following @wossy? #
• 11:42 my previous tweet will only make sense to UK people or Anglophiles, I’m afraid. #
• 16:15 @fonsus : perhaps you should start a branch. Then you, as Marjorie, can abuse your fellow fat-fighters. #
• 22:38 @nakedboy : i’m having trouble figuring out what your dinner was. looks like a cross between a McBreakfast and Mac and cheese… #
• 22:39 @nakedboy : don’t change your handle…what do you care what other people think. I like it… #
• 22:40 back from lodge meeting. i’m to be Senior Warden next year, then WM the year after. Yay me! #

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Updike has died of cancer, in Massachusetts, at 76, according to The New York Times and all other papers, I suppose.

Now I’ll give him a chance to cool off and then have the poem I had appraised at $250-300 re-appraised. All the first editions that were inscribed to my uncle need to be appraised as well. Perhaps I’ll get a few more bob out of them–I believe that deceased authors fetch a bit more on that market.

Rabbit is finally at rest.

…and many happy returns of the day.

• 10:04 @MrPandaBehr : and happy CNY to you, too. You wearing red today? #
• 10:12 @MrPandaBehr : why do you need to shower and brush your teeth simultaneously? is time that short?? #
• 10:14 morning, tweeters all. HWMBO has a cold, so CNY will be very quiet Chez Hansen-Tan… #
• 13:19 @MrPandaBehr : we used to take over buildings for fun at Columbia in the early 1970’s. Never considered showering/brushing teeth…must try. #
• 19:15 @stephenfry : looked at that and read “Every driver was once a lemur” and thought you’d taken your trip too close to your heart… #
• 19:17 @nakedboy : used to work across the street from the Flatiron Building in mid 1980’s. #
• 19:23 @MrPandaBehr : as long as you’re a muscular 30 and not a paunchy 30. #

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…and many happy returns of the day.

• 08:18 morning tweeters. awoken at 0411 by “unknown number” phone call. after that, sleep was nigh impossible. #
• 19:43 houseguest on train back to Edinburgh, we had one of those dinners composed of leftovers etc., now just vegging until movie at 10:30. #

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Last year I totally missed the fourteenth anniversary of my arriving at Heathrow and beginning my life here in the UK.

Yesterday I marked the fifteenth anniversary.

And forgot.

AGAIN!

I am grateful that the UK has accepted me here, allowed me to become a British citizen, and given me the opportunity to meet and to marry HWMBO.

• 11:00 @Adiumx : exes are bizarre, so just shrug it off. the ring’s a symbol of a union–if the union is gone, so should the ring. good luck… #
• 11:02 @stephenfry : you’re the only reason i watched wossy last night, so don’t fret. your face looks lived-in, which is more than most can say. #
• 11:03 morning tweeters mine. houseguest arrived at 1 am. i’m knackered, even slept in til 8 am and still tired. babylon exhibit at Brit Mus later. #
• 21:30 @fonsus : i hope that you will share with your Twitter fans just WHY you are grinning…no matter what it is… #
• 21:32 the babylon exhibit at the British Museum is good–really enjoyed it tinyurl.com/dalmf7 #
• 21:36 then had lunch with our friend Aldo and walked to the Holborn Library and Kings Place www.kingsplace.co.uk/ #

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You may all thank MadPriest for this one.

Or not, as the case may be.

A 65 year old woman tried a new fertility treatment and gave birth. When she was discharged from hospital and went home, her friend called round to visit.

“May I see the new baby?” the friend asked her.

“Not yet,” said the other. “I’ll make coffee and we’ll chat for a while first.”

Thirty minutes passed and the friend asked, May I see the baby now?”

“No, not yet,” replied the mother.

Another half an hour went by and the friend, once again, asked, “May I see the baby now?”

“No, not yet,” was, once more, the reply.

Growing very impatient the friend asked, “Well, when can I see the baby?”

“When he cries,” replied the new mother.

“When he cries?” the friend responded. “Why do I have to wait until he cries?”

“Because I forgot where I put him,” replied the mother.

• 00:16 back from Bodeans and a rather boozy evening, with a burger thrown in. i must get TwitterBerry or something so I can tweet on the move… #
• 08:46 good morning, tweeters mine. last day of employment today! Wheeeee! #
• 16:01 @urbanbohemian : Steak? Well, go out and get one. You’re much better placed for that than I am here in the UK, where beef comes in roasts… #

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Those of you who are drivers have probably been stopped by a police officer once or twice (but, of course, not for speeding or anything illegal…). The video below is in German, but you don’t have to understand German to enjoy it. Remember to watch to the very end for the surprise. Thanks to the Ashton Cruz Zoo for this one. (The Zoo, as well as this video clip, is mostly NSFW.)

…and many happy returns of the day.

• 08:36 @jonk : never seen a Coke can that size-hasn’t penetrated to the UK. i prefer Dr Pepper Zero myself. #
• 08:44 @MrPandaBehr : sorry about your behind-the-times professor. #
• 09:04 @Adiumx : i suppose that to the parents of the 6 babies who died the sentence was kind of lenient… #
• 09:07 morning tweeters all. my next-to-last day of serfdom has dawned. #
• 16:21 back to start memorising the raising ceremony…very difficult but worth it. #

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…and many happy returns of the day.

• 14:11 @urbanbohemian : so i guess you got out the razor?? #
• 14:25 back from nice lunch with former workmates. then to work to hand in gubbinses and i’m free! yay! #
• 19:33 @jonk : find someone to warm them up for you. a convenient cat to curl up around them, for example. you may have other ideas… #

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is from , to whom I’m eternally grateful.

…(M)any years ago when I lived in DC, … we would sit around and read the classifieds in City Paper for the freakiest ads possible. One guy advertised for years with the following tagline: “Will clean your house/apartment in exchange for verbal/physical abuse.” A female friend of mine was very into the concept after she broke up with her boyfriend. As she said, “I am pissed at men and my apartment is a pigsty. We can both win here!”

• 06:50 @MrPandaBehr : we used to walk out of classes that went seriously over time…you have great patience. #
• 06:52 @MrPandaBehr : i have fond memories of Friendly’s, but I thought they’d gone belly-up years ago. Glad to hear they’re still above ground… #
• 06:55 morning tweeters. off to seek legal advice this morning; this PM, settling down with a Manhattan to watch the Inauguration. #
• 16:21 watching the backwards bush counter now…lovely! #
• 16:23 oh, and watching the inauguration too. Bush I looks pretty infirm with cane, the other exes look OK. Cheney in a wheelchair. #
• 16:25 obama’s kids are so cute #
• 16:54 aretha franklin sings “America”–what a beautiful headdress she has. #
• 16:55 can’t help thinking Got Save the Queen as she’s singing #
• 17:01 the bush counter…just stopped. biden is sworn in, obama is president now as his term begins at noon on january 20th #
• 17:02 musical interlude yo yo ma seems to be having a good time. #
• 17:05 roberts fluffs oath #
• 17:07 obama speaks. the crowd goes wild #
• 17:20 speech started off kind of like a stump speech, but is getting better as he goes on… #
• 17:21 no ‘ask not…’ lines yet #
• 17:24 he is rallying the citizenry… #
• 17:26 the ending was good…bush looks a bit wan. #
• 17:27 a bit of poetry now to round off the day. #
• 17:35 very elderly Rev Joseph Lowry delivers Benediction… #
• 17:36 obama prays along with his eyes closed and face tilted toward heaven #
• 17:37 AMEN!!
  \ #
• 17:45 obama really dissed the Bush years in his speech. #
• 17:45 mc cain smiles gamely on the platform #
• 17:50 Former President George Bush…how sweet the sound. #
• 17:55 i am drained. #
• 18:03 and obama is a leftie–left-handed, that is. #
• 18:04 wolf blitzer thinks obama’s penmanship is excellent #

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• 08:45 @MrPandaBehr : banks call customers who pay off in full “deadbeats” because the banks make nothing off them… #
• 08:49 morning tweeters mine…meetings at Diocesan HQ all day today, including lunch with the Archdeacon. #
• 17:59 well, must make a salad for HWMBO before going off to Trinity House for yet another meeting. #

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• 16:50 good afternoon, tweeters all. went to british museum but couldn’t get into babylon exhibit ’til 4, so got tix for next week… #
• 19:47 enjoying the inaugural concert over npr now…had to put up my US VPN to do it, tho…it didn’t come up otherwise… #
• 21:44 @legalmoose : listened to it on NPR by using my VPN to pretend I was in the US. #
• 21:48 @urbanbohemian : The Father, the Son, and the Pigeon #
• 21:49 @urbanbohemian : There once was a man from Dijon/who hadn’t a lot of religion/He said As for me/I detest all the three/ #
• 22:59 good night, tweeters all. One and one-half more days of Bush. I can hardly wait! #

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• 07:35 @besskeloid : Last of the Winter Wine then?? #
• 07:36 @besskeloid : spooky. if you ever start wondering about my health, please send me a tweet direct reply… #
• 07:42 morning tweeters. time to make the coffee and toast the bagel. #
• 21:12 @soveren : the bagel was from sainsbury’s but was wholegrain and wasn’t very nice. There are two bagelshops on Brick Lane here that are good #
• 22:20 @jonk : hell is other people, especially when they think you’re headed there. #
• 22:32 @jonk : I’ll see you there, and stand you a drink… 😉 #

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Well, I’m always very careful what I tweet about or post in this blog. If it might be just a little bit naughty, I make sure it’s Friends-Only, or I just delete the thought. Well, someone in a PR position with Ketchum Advertising wasn’t so careful with his tweets. No word on whether he still has a job.

Edit: I searched on Google, and here’s his LinkedIn profile, and here’s his blog: key influencer, and here’s his explanation of the situation. I suspect he’s slick enough to stay in his job, but blaming the whole thing on “contextless” tweets is kind of blur…

The woman dancer in this video is said to be 87 years old. I would like to be half as active as she is at 56. ¡Ol

• 08:14 @jallen285 : bubble bath? we want pix! #
• 08:24 @jonk : I had to look up “belay” as I was unfamiliar with it in this context, never having climbed anything other than a bar stool. #
• 08:33 @jonk : if you’re going for blinding the clients, make sure they’ve paid you first. #
• 08:37 morning, tweeters mine. interesting day yesterday, hope that today is drab–no planes ditching in rivers or anything like that… #
• 09:56 got the compromise agreement for redundancy from my employer…seeing the solicitor on Tuesday. #
• 23:28 @besskeloid : disturbing mental picture: you raising a glass to a cheese sandwich gaily shouting “Cheers!”! #
• 23:44 @jonk while i would love to try climbing, i am 56 yrs old, 50 lbs overweight, and have no feeling in my feet due to diabetes. disaster looms #
• 23:55 good night, tweeters all. OSM tomorrow morning, then dinner at Pizza Express. #
• 23:56 @jonk : indeed. i get regular foot infections. very annoying. i will let you do climbing for me. Deal? #

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Brian, who is on an around-the-world trip, breezed into London a while back. I got wind of his blog through the LinkedIn Ivy League group, and was intrigued because he was about to go to Angkor Wat, which I had just been to. I started reading his interesting blog, and when he arrived here, I said, “Let’s do lunch!”

We met up at Piccadilly Circus to go to Eathai, which I had just been to courtesy of Dr. David, but could certainly stand another visit. I had the same thing I had last time (green chicken curry and vegetarian spring rolls) and we chatted about living in London and various side trips that are worth taking. We continued at Starbucks, where pictures were taken. I do look remarkably thinner than I am in this picture, so I am eternally grateful.

Brian’s blog is interesting, check it out! There is another version of the above picture there, taken with his camera. Gratefully, I noted that I still look relatively thin with that camera too.

I really intensely dislike sharing a lift or other conveyance with someone who is a heavy smoker, especially if they’ve stubbed out their cigarette just before they get into said lift. The odour of stale smoke that pervades their hair, skin, and clothing is really, in ways, more disgusting than breathing their smoke.

Well, I never knew there was a term for this: it’s third-hand smoke, and according to an article in the New York Times, it can be as carcinogenic to people other than the smoker as second- or first-hand smoke.

I don’t know what can be done about this, though. The only way to avoid third-hand smoke is to require a complete change of clothing and a shower after each cigarette.

• 03:30 @MrPandaBehr : yeah, i’m concerned. it might help me lose some weight but some will be priced out of the market… #
• 03:34 @danvesma : hi humphrey. You should get him a twitter account… #
• 03:45 @MrPandaBehr : i went to bed at 11 and woke up at 3. still wide awake at 3:45. rats! #
• 22:34 @jonk : i agree totally about paté… #
• 23:43 @jonk : while tracking UPS trucks on their routes would be good for those waiting for packages, also good for crooks to find ’em and rob ’em #
• 23:44 good night tweeters…CNN’s coverage of the Hudson River plane crash is so horrible I need to wash my eyes out… #

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You’ll mostly be aware that a plane belly-flopped into the Hudson River today. According to CNN, everyone got out alive, thank goodness.

A picture was taken from one of the ferries that was picking up the passengers, and it is absolutely stunning.

Thanks to Twitter, many knew about the crash a few moments after it happened. This is what Twitter is about and if they can monetise that, it’ll be great.

• 02:40 @jallen285 : Just saw his pic in the freepaper and I want him first. I was a mile away from him when I read it too…he lives in Harrow. #
• 02:42 @jonk : Paris is Burning was great–I knew some of the guys in it who used to hang at the LGBT center in Manhattan. #
• 08:31 @jonk : yes, the 80’s were empowering as well as really scary in NYC gay scene. Friends dying, us marching and partying afterward… #
• 08:33 morning, tweeters all. foot clinic later, then chasing up job leads. #
• 19:48 @helenroper : i thot they gave the medal to Blair, not Jacqui Smith… #
• 19:50 I just joined the mason Twitter Group tgr.me/g/mason so stop by and see us. #mason #
• 19:51 @urbanbohemian : whattheheck is in a London Fog? I have never seen it sold by SB here in London… #
• 19:52 @jonk : the last incarnation of the mcrib years ago was dreadful. take the Tums and AlkaSeltzer with you if you eat one… #

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…and many happy returns of the day.

• 09:11 @jonk passwds in validation emails are bad; sending passwds en clair each month as a reminder in an email is worse: hello, nxport.com #
• 15:36 back from lunch with a round-the-world traveller who is temporarily in England. Lots of sights to see communicated. #

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The Grauniad has run an article about the continuing problems that religious orders, both Anglican and Roman Catholic, are having with declining numbers.

At the very end there is the statement:

If all else fails, there is one more option open to convents: importing nuns. Some Irish nunneries have been propping up their numbers with Polish women.

Looking at that statement, I had a mental picture of the Religious Recession: the numbers of religious are declining, just as the amount of money available to lend by banks has declined in the money economy. Could one say that the Balance of Nuns has as much to do with trade between the UK and Poland as the Balance of Payments? Would it be possible for Poland to solve its part of the credit crunch by exporting nuns to the United Kingdom in return for…what? What is a nun worth to the economy of Poland? Could we, perhaps, export a few dour Calvinists, perhaps a Wee Free or ten, or a Wee Wee Free or five (the second “Wee” must be worth more than the first) in return for nuns from Poland?

Could we, for example, export the entire membership of Reform to Eastern Europe in return for a convent of gay nuns who would promise to pray for the health of the economy? It would certainly be an unequal trade–we perhaps might want to throw in a couple of elderly priests who still say Mass in Latin.

In fact, are Benedictine nuns worth more than Franciscans, since Benedictines are cloistered and can pay their own way by making jam, or bread, for sale? Franciscans, being itinerants and, in theory, begging for their meals along the way, would be less valuable to the economy because their upkeep is high.

The Economy of Nuns would be a wonderful title for a book on this subject. Or, you could say that “an economy of nuns” is the name for a group of nuns, just as a “murder of crows” is the name for a group of crows.

• 13:44 @jonk : hope the surgery went ok; now’s the time to put them back (or maybe after the trip to L+P because of the metal detectors!) C u here? #
• 13:45 Hi tweeters mine; just back from a civil partnership of my friends Alex and Rob. Very nice lunch afterwards. Vegetarian restaurant tho… #
• 14:59 a big provoked. i mentioned “vegetarian” in a previous tweet and now some veggie tweeter has followed me… #

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One of the side-effects of beta-blockers is vivid dreams. I think this has more to do with affecting your wakefulness rather than making your dreams more vivid. When you are closer to being awake your dreams are more memorable, I think.

Anyway, I was on a flight, which landed, then instead of picking up my luggage immediately I waited a day (have no idea why). I found myself at a bizarre luggage carousel, which featured an airline employee standing on a flat metal plate above the carousel and hopping over any pieces of luggage that came by her. I expected my luggage to arrive first, as I had waited a day, but instead it came last. One piece was OK, but the other one was open and most of its contents were gone. I picked it off the carousel and was looking through the remnants when a mouse came by on the carousel and said, in a high-pitched voice, “Hi there, friend!” I woke up…I guess that even my unconscious mind could not stomach a talking mouse in my dreams and woke me up before anything even more absurd could happen.

Yesterday we went to the White Cube, Hoxton to see an almost totally forgettable exhibit centered around the economic crisis. The most memorable part of it was four pictures showing a Queen of each suit in a pack of cards being washed in a lavabo bowl. These were called “Washing the Queens”. Oh well.

Then we took a 55 bus to the Photographers Gallery. It has moved from its split premises near Leicester Square (pronounced “LES-ter” for all you non-UKans) to an un-split premises on Romilley St. near Oxford Circus. The cafe is crowded beyond belief and is next to the shop. Much milling around ensued. There is no lift, and the main gallery is on the second (=USan third) floor. We huffed up and then down the stairs. The exhibit was photos, first of two transvestites gamboling in the dunes, then a woman with a baby. Not horribly interesting to me, but HWMBO liked it. We often disagree about the merits of art in the galleries we visit.

Then to a Coffee Republic down the street for coffee and a snack, and then home. We had leftovers for dinner, and that was our day.

• 09:00 @jonk : well, to each his own, as the lady said when she kissed her cow. it’s not for everyone. #
• 09:06 @MrPandaBehr : hope you had a good flight home. #
• 09:07 morning tweeters all. had a very restful night, weird beta-blocker-induced dreams though. White Cube today, I think. #
• 18:23 @jonk : the guy who did mine is an RN and he gave me a local anesthetic. no pain! #
• 18:29 @MrPandaBehr : you look really good with your new haircut. #
• 19:15 @jonk : why did u abandon your piercings? #

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• 18:47 have been out with my friend the circumciser from Atlanta. What a delightful chap! A real artist. #
• 21:59 @jonk : pa’s are fun. i got up to 7mm ring, very heavy and feels quite good. #
• 22:00 tired, should go to bed but it’s only 2200… #

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As you will no doubt be aware, singer Eartha Kitt, Catwoman and wonderful singer, died on Christmas Day. Michael Bedwell has written a wonderful tribute in the Washington Blade, and you should read it for all its Eartha goodness. Thanks to towleroad for the link.

Thursday breezed into town from Manchester to get his student visa for the United States. I met him at Euston Station (which has changed quite a bit even since August 2008, the last time I was there) and we went to Belgo at Kingsway (where HWMBO and I ate last week…). I had a burger, and had chicken. I had my usual beer, a Hoegaarten, and he had a cherry beer which, frankly, was a bit sweet for me.

Now, what to do? We shopped, of course. At Covent Garden, I bought a bow tie which shows four different patterns depending on how you tie it. All four are pretty bright. I think it’s spiffy but we’ll see what the general public thinks when I wear it. wanted to buy a Jack-in-the-Box toy for his teacher’s child, but everyone was out after Christmas (this would be an antique one, I think). The closest we got is a J-i-t-B Christmas tree ornament, not quite what he had in mind.

Then we decided to go off to Canary Wharf so that could check into his hotel. When we got off the Jubilee Line there, it was cloudy but clear under the clouds. By the time we got to the hotel and looked out the window, the fog had rolled in and you could hardly see your hand in front of your face. Lovely hotel, though–but lousy pictures on the walls.

We then went off to the Passport Photographer on Oxford Street west of Bond Street to get his photos taken for the visa. I’ve used them for my last two passports and they are really good, very quick, and relatively cheap. What to do then?

Go to a pub, of course. We ended up first at the Admiral Duncan, where had two frou-frou drinks and I had two bourbons-and-Diet-Cokes. Not much interesting action there, and we still had an hour and a half to go before we met HWMBO at Queensway to go to dinner. What to do?

Go to Ku bar, Chinatown’s only gay pub, for another drink. Another bourbon-and-Diet-Coke for me. No Chinese other than were there, as it’s kind of dangerous to go into a gay pub in Chinatown when you’re Chinese–after all, your auntie may see you in there while she’s going to the store for some bak choi.

Off to Queensway to medet HWMBO and go to Kiasu, our current favourite Singaporean restaurant. Well, they must have changed chefs because, when my beef rendang arrived, the beef was in huge chunks (one bigger than my BlackBerry) and it hadn’t been simmered long enough, thus it was stringy rather than meltingly tender. Sigh. We will give them another chance in a few months to see whether the old chef has come back, or the new chef has finally gotten his act together.

So, we’re finished with dinner. What to do?

Go to a pub, of course. wanted to go back to Ku bar, so we did. HWMBO and I each had a bottle of Bulmer’s Perry, and it was quite good–rather dry. The sound system was absolutely deafening by then, and a strange gentleman sitting next to us was acting out a bit and was duly ejected. We finished our drinks and wended our way homeward. I was bushed. , on the other hand, was still fresh as a daisy and wanted to par-tay a bit more.

This morning dawned cloudy and cool. But today the visitor to London I was meeting for lunch was the famous Dr. David Cornell, the urologist who is the head of The Circumcision Center™ in Atlanta, GA. I met Dr. David online as moderator of various email groups, but we have always missed each other here. Luckily we connected this time. Dr. David is a couple of months younger than I am, and is just the most delightful lunch companion. We discussed the state of the economy, medical care here in the UK vs. that in the US, and so on and so forth. We went to Eathai Thai restaurant on Wardour Street. What a great restaurant! I even tried calamari, which being seafood doesn’t normally appeal, and it was really good. The green Thai curry was absolutely great. The pea aubergines (eggplant) were tender, rather than hard little balls that pop in your mouth.

We parted at Piccadilly Circus, and I decided to go out to Westfield shopping center in West London near the BBC Broadcast Center at White City. It has just opened within the past few months, so I thought it was worth a trip. It was really a worthwhile trip. It reminds me of Vivocity in Singapore, and is better designed than Bluewater in Kent, and is certainly easier to get to. Bakerloo to Oxford Circus, then Central Line to White City, take a left outside the station and walk for 250 yards. It’s worth another trip (and I will drag HWMBO there shortly). I bought him a belated Christmas/birthday gift, a Sudoku machine, which he loved, and went into Starbucks, but the queue was too long and the seating too crowded. So what to do?

I took the Hammersmith and City Line from the newly-opened Wood Lane station to Aldgate East, and walked to the Beigel Bake on Brick Lane, where I bought a large rye bread (“Don’t cut it!”) and then took the 35 bus home.

, by the way, went to his appointment at the US Fortress^WEmbassy in Mayfair, and got his visa in only a few minutes, which is good, as he was a bit apprehensive about it. He’s off to bring flowers and chocolates to his former cello teacher in Greenwich. We may see him tomorrow before he goes back to Manchester.

This has turned out longer than I thought it would be, but it’s been an interesting couple of days and I thought it would be good to get it down for posterity.

• 09:42 @jallen285 : i had the same reaction. only dracula could have watched the entire thing. cautionary tale: don’t sit on your glasses. #
• 10:09 @k : wiz of id toon: beggar sez “Quarter for a coffee”. King throws quarter in cup. Beggar sez “You’ve just thrown a quarter in your coffee” #
• 10:20 morning tweeters. going to euston station for noon to meet celloboi for a day of food and visiting… #

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Been to Thailand? Want to go to Thailand? Then go buy a ticket, but watch this video first.

…shocked, I tell you!

While shopping in the Elephant and Castle Tesco’s today I saw (wait for it) chocolate Easter eggs and Easter bunnies.

Jesus wept!

A reporter for The New York Times named, oddly, Jennifer 8. Lee (I haven’t yet discovered what the “8” stands for but that’s how it’s written everywhere I’ve found it) has done some research on Chinese food throughout America. It is riveting for anyone who loves Chinese food, as I do, as well as very very funny. You won’t look at Beef with broccoli the same way ever again, and Chop Suey will appear in its real form.

Thanks to degenerasian for this.

• 08:16 morning tweeters. quite day today, meeting this afternoon. continuing to load up my iTunes with my CD collection. #
• 13:38 @seashellseller : congratulations! Many happy returns of the day! #
• 13:40 i have now archived my Livejournal blog in case the company goes under: they’ve had massive layoffs and who knows what might happen… #

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• 08:30 morning tweeters. first work day of the new year so chins up, everyone! #
• 23:02 goodnight tweeters. was going to watch extreme forensics but it’s a repeat. so probably will just turn in. see you tomorrow. #

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…the Lutheran Church of Iceland.