Aloha! Cath and I had our first Hula Boogie jive lesson yesterday and it was great. It was down at South London Pacific, still by far my favourite bar in town, which was the only Hula collection as far as I could make out. Not that I'm disapointed.

We learned 3 moves:
- the hand bounce
- the classic turn
- the push turn
And it turns out that with 3 such moves and a bit of the Andrews Sisters giving it some in the background, you are ready to boogie! It's great. Apparently we get a new move every week to build into our routine. We are going to miss next week but have promised to practice on holiday.

Now I need to work on my outfit. My standard ageing B-boy look isn't really going to cut the mustard. I'm quite keen on an "off-duty airman" look: one of the Few, popped into the NAAFI looking to pick up some WRENS. However it probably features Brylcreem and my barnet's not going to play ball.

Choices, choices...

Just heard a hilarious (OK you can be the judge of that) version on the classic "What's your Porn Star name" game (Flipper Crace if you are interested) on the Mark Radcliffe show on R2.

Take the President of the United States at the time of your birth [ need help? ].

Then take the name of the last British seaside town you visited.

Put them together and what have you got?

Your West Indian cricketer name, of course!

Coming in off his long run, from the Vauxhall End, it's Nixon Woolacombe

I don't often ride my bike to work. Usually I can find some reasonable excuse from the following list:
- It's raining
- It might rain
- I'm going out tonight
- I might go out tonight
- It's too far and I can't be arsed

But when I do bike it, I never regret it. I take a great route down to Kew Bridge and then beside the Thames, past Kew Gardens, Syon House and The Old Deer Park in Richmond and out to Twickenham. Comming home is even better: I do the whole route along the river to Hammersmith. It's a long way (or at least it seems like that to me!) but if the evening is free and it's a sunny day it's great.

Finally I've taken my camera along with me so that you, dear reader, can share this delightful rus in urbe.

In the morning - it's never crowded..


Mind you it's not crowded on the way home either. I usually see more herons than people.


Opposite Kew Gardens is the London home of the Dukes of Northumberland: Syon House.


And further along, just as outside Richmond I cross the original Prime Meridian (before it got moved to Greenwich) and there's a great view of the old Royal Observatory:


I must say if ever work anywhere else I would miss this journey.

Heron closeup..

The website offers: a hint of politics and opinion, a dapper dog singing and the cutest puppy pianist on the planet... .

Sounds good to me. And it is. Behold the ID Cards song.

Monocles off to everyone concerned. I even signed the pledge on http://www.no2id.net/.

I saw it and I couldn't believe it. So it's lucky I had my camera phone (and I never thought I'd say that)...



I know it's only twenty20 cricket, crashes and bashes and not the Ashes, but last night England HAMMERED Australia! - by 100 runs!

Australia all out for 79!!!.

Now blah blah blah keep this in perspective blah blah blah still a lot of cricket to be played but Lawrence Booth in the Guardian says it's OK to be excited about last night. So I am.

I know that at 35 it may not be right to be celebrating my one-month anniversary with my fabulous girlfriend. But I am and today's the day. We are off to Ottolenghi for posh nosh. yum

Cath and I are taking our business overseas next month. To Croatia!

We'll be staying in the town of Bol, on an island not far from Split. I can't wait. The hotel promises us that:

- Located in the center of the town, it is an ideal combination of modern interior in a baroque fortress.
- 5-meter distance from the sea provides perfect conditions for rest and relaxation, while the proximity to all cultural events and sports facilities enables one to stay in the center of events.
- Kind service people ensure a pleasant stay for you and an unforgettable fun time.

woo and indeed hoo

I love the word corollary. And I tell you what else I love at the moment... Wikipedia. It really is the perfect format for an encyclopedia, it is (almost exactly) what hyperlinking was invented for: you can view one thing then slide off and read about a related item. Of course there is my inate distrust of any "facts" found on the internet, not to mention that North American habit of over-intellectualising everything. But it's still fascinating and I could spend hours reading up about things.

I've recently been on Wikipedia finding out about Godwin's Rule:

As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one

This lead me to discover one of it's marvellous corollaries: The Lileks Principium:

In the future, everyone will be Hitler for fifteen minutes.

You've been warned.

Finally got a chance to catch Australian comedy Kath and Kim on BBC2 last night - a whole episode for once. I'd seen a bit of an earlier episode and some trailers. It's fantastic and I commend it to the house. Fizzing dialogue, unusual characters and played with real comic gusto. All of which made it stand out from the show beforehand The Robinsons. I just felt that I had seen all the characters before. I think it's the sit-com equivalent of the boardgame Cranium where you take the best bits of every other well known game and merge them into one:

The thrusting-older-buck-business-brother is basically the Robert Bathurst character from Cold Feet. Hugh Bonneville is very good but it's all been done.

Martin Freeman is loveable and funny as Martin Freeman but being a 30-something bloke terrified because his ex-wife says he's crap in bed is hardly a Copernican revolution in mirth.

Then there's the career focussed sister who decides she wants a baby but not a partner, but get this: the man in the office who she selects for procreative duties is gay! And there's the bitchy parents....

Sorry it won't do. If I think of my favourite TV comedy over the last 10 years - things like Spaced, Frasier, Father Ted, Black Books and The Office they all brought us characters that were new yet recognisable. That's the secret of great comedy. That and timing.