You're viewing the archived site. This is a snapshot of the site as it existed up until April 2017. To view the live site click here.
Siderodromophobia
Mar05

Siderodromophobia

I used to have a not-quite-phobia, not-quite-fear of trains. Let's call it an apprehension of them. I could watch them on television – not that I ever would; they're trains, not entertainment – and I could travel on them with no real problem other than the standard sort that accompanies any form of rail travel in this country (South West Trains, I'm looking at you). But my general unease would manifest itself if I happened to walk near a track or cross a pedestrian bridge over tracks while a train was approaching. There's this noise, you see. It's metallic and quite high-pitched, and it builds. It's the vibration of the metal rails and the air being pushed ahead of the approaching train. It's something eerie and threatening and, being industrial, it's unnatural which makes it worse. It doesn't help that I'm plagued with an active imagination (I'm picturing you completely naked right now) and half-thoughts of a derailed locomotive lurching and leaping from the rails and directly at me were commonplace. I don't know when this apprehension faded exactly. At some point the rational part of my brain took control, gave me a mental slap across the chops, and told me to pull myself together. It's nice to not feel that mild terror when near trains now. The accompanying trauma of travel (South West Trains again) and other imaginative processes in my cranium (has anyone told you you look good naked?) remain in place. #monochrome #blackandwhitephotography #blackandwhite #travel #train #railway   Google+: View post on...

Read More
Star Trek Endings
Mar01

Star Trek Endings

Today I watched the final ever episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a mere fifteen years after it aired. The reason for the slight delay is one of bad luck and odd repeat-showing practices by the people in charge of such things. I never saw the final series of DS9 when it was first shown and every time I’ve seen the series being repeated, for some reason, the last season was never part of the cycle. Sure, I could have bought the last season on DVD but then I would have had to buy all of them because anybody who just purchases the final season of a television show gets put on a list of suspected psychopaths. That’s a fact. But anyway, SyFy finally came through and delivered season seven of Deep Space Nine and that meant that over the last few weeks I have finally, finally watched every single episode of every single Star Trek franchise. And… relax. And that means I can now give my thoughts about Deep Space Nine’s last season as well as a comparison of the endings of each of the series. Overall, I liked Deep Space Nine. The setting and general story arc worked well and if I were to rate the four non-TOS series (I’m not counting the original series because, well, I’m not and you can’t make me) in order of how much I liked them then – and this probably runs counter to a lot of people but that’s what makes the world a special place – for me it would be Enterprise, then Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and finally The Next Generation. Controversial, eh? As for the final season of Deep Space Nine itself there was one thing I didn’t like at all: Ezri Dax. Ezri Dax and all things Ezri Dax-related. The Worf/Jadzia/Ezri problem. The Ezri/Bashir love explosion. The counsellor on a warship bridge problem. The space sickness crap. The fact she looks younger than Nog. The acting using facial expressions (this is my confused face… and this is my worried face… and this is my worried and confused face). I didn’t buy into her at all. She was a decidedly weak link. I did like Vic Fontaine, though, but that may harbour back to my love of all things retro. And who doesn’t like a crooner? Nobody, that’s who. The one thing that really struck me about Vic, however, was how familiar he looked. At first I assumed he was a real singer but it took me a while to look him up (on those internets no less!) and that’s when I realised where I knew...

Read More
Cartoon Opening Titles Triple
Feb22

Cartoon Opening Titles Triple

Have three opening titles to cartoons I remember fondly from the 1980s. Dungeons and Dragons Always associated myself mostly with Venger. Ulysses 31 Probably my most favourite cartoon series as a kid. Some dark, dark storylines. Battle of the Planets Based on my social media presence I’m obligated to include...

Read More
Against The Wall
Feb12

Against The Wall

You had one job to do. You had one little job to do. And you failed. Worse than that, you failed on purpose. Your comrades bravely suffered the abhorrence of the enemy as it crawled past them, but not you. You abandoned your posts in a time of great conflict. You allowed… Ugh! I can barely bring myself to say it! You allowed cars to drive freely. You failed to maintain the contraflow. You have been found guilty of desertion by a court of your peers. Firing squad, take aim. Google+: View post on...

Read More
Super Bowl Sunday
Feb02

Super Bowl Sunday

I'm one of those people. I'm a non-American who loves American Football. And today is the big day of the year for us fans of the sport closest to chess in padded armour there is (excluding actual chess in padded armour (which isn't half as exciting as it sounds)): it's Super Bowl Sunday! I took the time to introduce my wife to the sport when we first started dating and I'm pleased to say that she's a massive fan of the game now too. Subsequently, we've entered into a little tradition in our home where the pair of us book the Monday following the game off and spend the entire day subjecting our bodies to the best and worst that America can offer from the food and drink aisles of the local supermarket. Note: there are some non-American drinks in there too; we're not completely crazy. As for tonight's game, after some careful thought we have decided we dislike both teams and really don't mind who loses. But if we were pressed to support a team we might ever-so-slightly lean in the direction of Denver. As a Patriots fan I have no love for Peyton Manning but I do respect him and regard him as the greatest quarterback in the NFL. My wife is a Minnesota Vikings fan and so would quite like Seattle not to win so that they both remain in that select crowd of franchises who've never picked up the greatest prize in the sport. But so long as it's a good game we don't really mind who is ultimately victorious. #NFL #superbowl2014 #Nokia #nokialumia #lumia1020 #fhotoroom Google+: View post on...

Read More
The Fratton Road, Portsmouth Mini Pub Crawl
Jan30

The Fratton Road, Portsmouth Mini Pub Crawl

We had plans! Oh, the plans we had! Plans involving trains and travelling, a meal in a far-flung destination with friends, maybe a few drinks (to be sociable), and then return trips home in carriages of blazing blue! The thing about plans is that they have a fantastic ability to go horribly wrong terribly quickly. Take this plan, for instance. Step one of the plan involved getting to the train. This involved a half hour walk from our house to the station and for the first fifteen minutes of this half hour walk everything went according to the plan. And then the wind picked up. And the rain came down. And the rain turned to hailstones. And the wind surged to storm force. And by the time we arrived at the station we were drenched. But we knew that a half hour train journey would dry us out. We boarded the train and the train moved onto the next station. Fratton station. And there it remained for another hour while announcements informed us of downed trees and landslips and promises of buses and cancellations of buses and termination of the service and claims we could use our tickets on other lines with potential for buses despite Twitter announcements that bus services were being hampered by trees on roads too and… we had enough. We got off the train, we got our money back from the ticket office, and we decided to walk home. The plan was no more. Walking home involved walking up Fratton Road in Portsmouth and that also meant walking past a number of pubs we would never normally enter or that we hadn’t visited in probably close to two decades. We could always have a mini pub crawl up Fratton Road, we thought. And then we voiced those thoughts as telepathy between me and my wife is flaky at the best of times. We had a new plan! The John Jacques The John Jacques is a Wetherspoon’s pub which means one thing as far as I’m concerned: good, wide range of real ales. It didn’t disappoint in that area. I find that many Wetherspoon pubs are quiet (noise-wise rather than patronage) but this one bucked that trend in the form of some rather loud and obnoxious gits in one corner. A shame, as an otherwise decent pub. The Electric Arms The Electric Arms may well be an example of a pub with a spelling mistake as Eclectic Arms would work just as well. What’s the theme of the pub? Is it “Irish”? Well, yes, sort of. But also “Hollywood Stars”. And “Local Art”. And mostly “Let’s...

Read More