白米粥

小时候家境虽然过得去，但不算特别好。中午时候一般吃白米粥配菜心、江鱼仔。偶尔换换口味，会吃番薯粥，或配配腐乳、肉松、罐头花生。妈妈比较喜欢我吃江鱼仔，说比较有营养，头脑会厉害些。

这回芬妈妈过来伦敦， 特地炸了江鱼仔，还带了菜心、肉松、面筋、橄榄菜。就连麻油、蚝油和安培娜香米也分成小瓶小袋给我带来了。（我是泰国香米的忠实支持者，去到美国中国英国都不变。）

 夏天，有碗白米粥吃真幸福！

十点才天黑的感觉

2010:06:16 22:00:35

许多年前在美国找到后，我就一直惦记着。

十点才天黑的感觉，终于，又与你重逢了。

Dear Summer

Dear Summer,

We are so happy to have you stay with us in England, but we wish you didn't bring along your friend who thinks revving his Lamborghini* engine around Mecklenburgh Square every midnight is the coolest gig in the world. Please, tell him that Mecklenburgh Square is only 80 metres by 80 metres; it's not impressing any chicks. If you could leave him behind with winter the next time you visit, we would be so delighted - you can stay one more month for free.

Yours truly,
Talljoanne


*Unverified. Could be just a Lamborghini-wannabe.

Frosty the window

A city like this

7.15 pm on a summer Saturday, Bus 55 chugged merrily along. Somewhere near Goodge Street, I stopped daydreaming.

A lady standing on the pavement was earnestly pleading with the bus driver with many variations of 'Please, pleeeease wait, she is coming right now'. Presumably an old folk.

A pause. About twenty pair of eyes waited to see who it was.

But suddenly, the bus started moving. Everyone let out a hugely disapproving 'Ohh!'.

It was so disapproving that the person standing nearest to the bus-driver had to defend him: 'He's just pulling over to wait for her.'

And then a collective 'Ahh'.

Three seconds later, the heroine stepped up onto the bus. The punkish-looking teenage girl nearest to the entrance stood up from her seat.

(I have great respect for punkish-looking folks; they are often the most decent people.)

When I'm 70 and walk like a snail, a city like this is where I'd like to be.




Clarification: London is not the city like this. I'm happy to say I've written several letters over the years (often prompted by my mum) to commend bus drivers in Singapore for their kindness. One particularly stood out. He didn't just stop and wait. He got out of his driver seat, helped the shakey 80-year-old passenger to a seat then got back in to drive on.

More ridiculous fun

Ridiculously fun

Such a simple idea - buy a parachute sheet, place a 1- to 8-year-old in the middle, get everyone to walk a few circles and PULL!

I wanna be a kid at Goodenough.

The Tiley and Tolley foot stool

Thank you for everyone's interest. For those not in the know, here's how it looks like. The Tiley and Tolley foot stool is 8" tall and is available for the very reasonable price for £2.  (Original price: £80)

Hope

The pelican that got a shower in time, and the pelican that didn't

   

Credits: »Jim Wilson, Gerald Herbert | New York Times

The BP oil spill. Appalling, the amount of damage we are doing to this earth.



Postscript: A painter at the brunch table a couple of days ago remarked that the media has been so focused on the ecological damage that we seem to forget that 11 men who also died in the explosion.   They are remembered here, this minute, this Bank holiday.

Fear mongering

Such as »this is not just analysis. It is irresponsible.

So what's the point of doomsday predictions with no solutions? To tell everyone to short Greece? So that the prophecy will fulfil itself and you can become famous?

Clever tube ads

Suffolk Festival of Music, Dance and Speech -
"Come to your senses."

Sperm bank seeking donors (apparently demand always outstrips supply) -
"This is the real banking crisis."

This is after all the city where you see book ads on tube station billboards.

ETAs for London-bound postcards

From Guatemala: 22 days
From New Orleans: 5 days
From Hong Kong: 17 days (volcanic ash period)
From Pittsburgh: 6 days (Christmas period, first-class mail)
From Taipei: 6 days

From Tibet?  Based on a previous journey to Singapore, 6 months by mule express.

Yoshimaninov

I laughed. That's a name fit for an aficionado.

It seems like he's a Japanese concert pianist who also »hosts a impressive collection of classical music videos on youtube.

Better days

Currently: May 11, 5ºC, heater on, socks on.

Why bother jumping out of the way of a speeding car?

Because it is interesting to set yourself a challenge in an age of abundance.

(In addition to far more urgent and obvious reasons of course.)

I »pledge to:

1. Continue doing laundry at the lowest temperatures because it is also good for my clothes.
2. Continue relying on natural light in the day because I also have the most gorgeous view.
3. Continue separating out my trash because they have already made it so easy.
4. Chuck a folded plastic bag in every of my bags, because conference pears and fresh milk keep badgering me to bring them home. 
5. Spend only on good quality and design, picking up mundane items like holepunchers from thriftshops. (There're a ton of mundane stuff in our lives that don't need to be new at all.)
6. Never throw another battery into the trash out of laziness unless »the country doesn't have battery recycling bins.
7. Plug my phone charger in a conspicuous socket so that I will turn it off when not in use.
8. Use the stairs on the way up, instead of just on the way down.
9. Reduce the amount of trash I generate to one bag per week.  (Currently 1.5)
10. Switch off common area lights in the day even though I don't pay the utility bills.

Finally, I pledge not be affected by sniggering folks who are too cool to do anything, or too blasé to have hope.


P.S. I'm still reeling from the revelation that flying is the worst thing an individual can do to her carbon footprint.  I'd have to think of how I can adjust my penchant for travel to this unfortunate fact of life.

Not Queen's English

US Internal Revenue Code (1986), §954(c)(6).

I checked: thru is not picked up by Microsoft spell-check.

总有一扇门走得过

Salomé

Salomé and the beheaded St John the Baptist in »Saura's rendition of the biblical story.

The bewitching Dance of the Seven Veils scene is »here.  His other films look so delicious too, especially Fados.

End of my indulgent diversion from work.  Must get back now. 

Goodenough Colours

Both Beer on Piano and Snowy Prints had the good fortune to be shortlisted and blown up into A3. I was flattered and happy.

Then Magic Hour took home the cake. Super many thanks to Ms K for the über surprise by keeping things so secretive!

For those who haven't, you can see them »here.