Sometimes I find it tricky identifying the dishes going past on the sushi conveyor belt. That’s part of the fun. But it’s good to know sometimes it takes a huddle of three sushi chefs to name-that-dish if you ask them….
Author: richard
Colorado: Part 1
Those people who have travelled with me know that I’m the one who tends to get “extra attention” when going through security. On our way out to Colorado my bag spent quite a lot of time in the x-ray machine. Security personnel explained that I was carrying a pair of scissors. Not a little pair of nail scissors, but a big pair. This was a shock, as I was pretty sure I hadn’t done something that dumb, but I started to doubt myself when people armed with big scanning technology forcefully insisted that in fact I did, and I’d have to hang around for a search. The way she said it implied that I really should know better, and that they see people like me all the time, and although clearly not a terrorist, I shouldn’t even bother to try to fool them, or expect to get something as obvious as scissors through security, I mean who do I think I am, and what was I thinking, wasting valuable time, and frankly I should be ejected from the airport now, as a simpleton, and have my airport privileges removed for life. Hmmm…yes, that about captures her tone.
There were no scissors in my bag. The security guy swabbing my bag (in that “I’m just checking your bag as an objective and open-minded observer, but I know you’re hiding something” way they do) was very surprised. I wonder who’s bag they mistook mine for, and which flight the big scissors went on?
Which all reminds me: Apologies to my fellow traveller yesterday, a lady at Gatwick North security, who I punched in the forehead while I was putting my jacket back on.
But…Colorado. It’s a remarkable place. Arriving at Denver you see what appears to be the flattest expanse of land anywhere, but turn around and… wow! There are The Rockies. At this point, I didn’t feel any different, but Denver itself is already 1.6km above sea level, and some of the places we were visiting were getting on for 4km up. As a result some shortness of breath and other problems followed. But nothing serious. It does, however, explain why supermarkets stock oxygen.
Congratulations to Julie and
Congratulations to Julie and Craig on a great party with some lovely people, oh, and also on getting married. A roast for dinner (mmmm) and the band were cracking. Later, when the disco kicked off, being the designated driver, I was able to contemplate the physics of “It’s raining men“, and I conclude it’s messy. Ah-uhuh.
What else… plenty of men in kilts, which was possibly something to do with their surname. Allegedly the best man would show you the contents of his kilt if you asked nicely. How friendly’s that?!
ve used melatonin few
I’ve used melatonin a few times, especially when flying between the UK and North America. I’m pretty sure it’s helped me re-adjust to UK time, but new research says I’m wrong.
We had tough time
We had a tough time of it trying to find a restaurant when
Mitül and Ash visited this weekend. All these places we called were full. We couldn’t understand why. One place didn’t have a table for four, but said they did have two tables for two. I think it took a good cocktail to wake us up to the fact it’s the weekend before Valentine’s day…
About the photos: 1) The shop on Western Road only had one large sheep, and didn’t seem too keen to part with it. 2) After Ash and Mitül headed off to the station, we walked into the North Laine where a shop is selling plaster cast wall-mountable over-sized Love Hearts.
Dallaway family: locations 1881 to 1998
You can have a couple of minutes of fun over at spatial-literacy.org tracking the distribution of your family surname. Turns out that “Dallaway” isn’t terribly diverse.
If you re planning
If you’re planning a snowboarding trip, and you’ve already installed Google Earth, then take a look at the resorts map. Very useful, as indeed are many things people are doing over at Google Earth Blog.
The Christmas edition of
The Christmas edition of the Economist ran a feature on human evolution. I found one of the sections in particular quite interesting: the suggestion that the brain is like a peacock’s tail. That’s to say, it’s a over-the-top demonstration of the owner’s genetic fitness. It’s clear that brains are expensive (2% of the body, using 20% of the energy intake) and there are a bunch of things we do which it could be argued don’t help us survive, but might help us mate: dancing, painting, music, language.
The article caused me to remember the book Galapagos . One idea in that novel is that brains—when they get to a certain size—are more trouble than they’re worth. The evidence offered to support this is the fact we spent so much time trying to silence our brains with alcohol 🙂
forgot to say thanks
I forgot to say thanks to Karen: when she visited in November she handed over some fairly unusual gifts from the airports she passed through.
What do we want
What do we want? Monorail! But in fact the Brighton (Area?) Rapid Transport system will probably be a funky looking New Zealand built electric bus, judging by the pictures at the council web site. Should be good for anyone wanting to get into town without sitting in traffic, but I’m not sure of the status of the proposal at the moment.
Anyone looking for rat runs through town could turn to page 24 of the original proposal (PDF), where you’ll find a map of the areas of peak congestion:
