The Electronic Firefly - 100th Post

Well blow me down!!! Who would have thought that I would actually ever get to 100 posts on this site?!
Time to take stock at this monumental achievement:

First post published:
On 4th April 2006

Total number of visits to ‘The Fly’ so far:
Nearly 4000

Visitors so far were from:
United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Holland, India, Sweden, France and the United Kingdom

Pictures posted on ‘The Fly’:
Over 100

So, what can I say about this Blogsite?

It is not the most visited site nor the best liked one.
It has not got the most interesting or individually stimulating posts in the (uni)verse but over these days, weeks and months the electronic firefly has in a strange sort of way become part of me.
The people who read it are dear to me and their own blogsites are brilliant.

Some people have criticised this site as inane drivel and mindless nonsense!
Since I am the only one posting stuff here, you cannot think much of me either.
To you I say: “Congratulation on your highly intellectual (if somewhat boring) life and your expensive taste! Sorry ‘The Fly’ is not to your liking!”

To all of you who still pay a visit and leave the odd comment:
“Thanks for your encouragement! It just would be awful lonely out these in the blogsphere without you!”

If you are one of the people reading this site, maybe you could leave a comment (use 'anonymous' if you haven't got a logon) for once?!

Walking on Sunshine!

As promised, today the Firefly is publishing a few photos from the Notting Hill walk we did on Saturday.
Things got off to a bit of a shaky start when London Underground transport (Tube) elected to close part of the Central Line, forcing us to change Tubes more often than we would have liked to and thus making us late for the rendezvous with Fran, who was patiently waiting at Notting Hill Gate Tube station.
We eventually got there and began the walk - admittedly taking the wrong road and therefore doing the entire walk the wrong way around. (Shhh!! I don't think they noticed!!)

As per usual, just click on the pictures to enlarge!

We walked past impressive large Victorian houses wondering who on earth could possibly afford to live there.


Who lives in a house like this?

The little mishap of walking anti-clockwise was however soon forgotten when we came across a lovely Italian delicatessen shop.
It was with great effort that we managed to crow-bar Gill, Jan and Victoria out of this shop - not however before they had bought some cakes and nibbles even though the walk hadn’t even started in earnest!!


The Italian shop

Everyone seemed to be in a good mood and the sun was shining on us as we walked up Westbourne Grove past the church and some nice clothes shops, food shops and restaurants towards Portobello Road.


At least we picked the right weather!

We soon arrived at Portobello Road with its nicely painted houses and its many shops selling everything from antiques, fashionable items to wear and ceramic pots to modern jewellery and pictures at the upper part of this road.


Portobello Road's multi-coloured houses

Looking past the sea of people into one of the little side streets, you could almost imagine living there. You’d have the best of all worlds - the cosmopolitan bustle of Portobello Road just around the corner from a quiet street, London at your feet and a property worth a mint!!


Pretty little side street off Portobello Road

Walking the other way, Portobello Road meanders down the hill towards Blenheim Crescent.
The shops and stalls here are stacked with ‘objets d’art’ and collectibles of all types and your eyes are drawn to so many different things that it is virtually impossible to keep track of each other.
This is where our mobile phones came in handy, as we only managed to re-group after informing each other of our whereabouts.


Silver . . .


. . . and all sorts of other stuff sold on Portobello Road

Just around the corner from Portobello Road in Blenheim Crescent you find the little Travel Bookshop made famous by the film “Notting Hill”, where Hugh Grant first met Julia Roberts. We just had to stop there and take a picture.


The gang in front of the Travel Bookshop, made famous by the film "Notting Hill"

Back at Portobello Road the market now turns into a food market selling fruit & vegetables, bread and other food stuff such as olives, feta cheese, cakes, herbs & spices to name but a few.


Portobello Food Market

We just took a little detour here to take a snapshot of the multi-coloured houses in Lancaster Road and see the old record shop in All Saints Road, the owner of which is sporting the most gigantic afro hairstyle ever seen! He definitely will scare children as well as the elderly and infirm and those of a nervous disposition.


I love those different colours!


From here the scenery deteriorates somewhat as we have nearly arrived at the Westway flyover. Chris is trying to blend into the surrounding and almost succeeds!


So, who's the animal?

By now everyone was getting hungry, prompting a ‘Why did you not organise a restaurant, Erik?? You always used to organise everything so well.’ outburst from Jan.
All my attempts to explain that I could not have possibly known at what time we would arrive where and that I thought we’d just grab a bite somewhere fell on deaf ears.
Luckily Jan found a little Greek place just under the flyover and I didn’t argue.


Jan spotted this Greek pitstop

We ordered some stuff and this arrived! It tasted great even though the owner of this place was a bit of a miserable son of a b*tch!!


Chilly Chicken Wrap! Mmmmm!

Towards the end of our walk we strolled past what was supposed to be the Portuguese area but as we looked at the shops and restaurants framed in the distance by Trellick Tower, all we could see was Moroccan stuff! Odd!!


Trellick Tower, the 31-storey concrete tower, completed by Hungarian architect Erno Goldfinger in 1972. For years it was a symbol of urban decay and disaffection, but now some of the flats are privately owned and the tower has become a fashionable place to live.

By now the sun had disappeared and there was an unpleasant breeze chilling nose, ears and fingers so we decided to call it a day and return to the Tube station.


Time to go home for a hot tea or coffee!

Personally I thought this was a great walk with much to see and with great company and would certainly do it again or recommend it to anyone.
Erik

==========================

My target weight is 199 pounds and if you haven’t sponsored me yet, please do so by going to http://www.justgiving.com/firefly and adding yourself to the list.

Throughout the next weeks you will be able to follow my progess (O God, I hope it will indeed be progress!!) on my Biff-o-meter and can comment on this blogsite with words of encouragment or by throwing abuse at me.

Here then is the Biff-o-meter after week 6 of my Challenge!






Weight now = 211 pounds
Weight lost so far = 18 pounds

Notting Hill (as seen on DVD)

This post is for all you people who might be thinking of visiting London and not want to partake in the usual "Oh, let's see Big Ben and Buckingham Palace" tourist malakee!

We will actually do this walk tomorrow, so on Monday there should be pictures about it.

The Walk

Distance: 3 miles approx
Type of walk: circular.

Starts and finishes at Notting Hill tube station (central, circle and district lines)
This walk is planned for a Saturday, which is the best time to explore the Portobello antiques market at the south end of Portobello Road, which only opens on Saturdays.

We come out of Notting Hill tube station on the north side of Notting Hill Gate and take the first right into Pembridge Road. We branch immediately left into Kensington Park Road and left again into Ladbroke Road past a row of delectable white stucco Victorian villas characteristic of the new affluent Notting Hill.
Turning right into Ladbroke Terrace we reach Ladbroke Square, one of many private garden squares in this area of London. Only residents of the tall Victorian houses in the square have keys to the three hectares of wooded gardens hidden behind iron railings in Ladbroke Square Gardens. We now turn left into Ladbroke Square with the gardens on our right and take a right into Ladbroke Grove, the area’s main traffic artery, and cross at the crossing into Lansdowne Crescent with St John’s Church on our right.
This and the sweeping surrounding crescents of stucco houses with carved Italianate buildings and pillared porches form the heart of the Ladbroke Estate. If you think the estate’s distinctive circular shape on the A-Z looks a bit like a racetrack, this is because it originally was. The area was opened as the Hippodrome racecourse in 1837 circling the hill, but the venture failed and the racecourse closed in 1841. The Ladbroke estate was developed on the land in the 1840s with the church marking the Hippodrome’s central point.

We now follow Lansdowne Crescent round to come out at Ladbroke Grove and walk northwards with the blue railway bridge carrying the tube over the road in front of us. Shops and streets quickly become dirtier and shabbier, with small ethnic supermarkets and takeaways, as we get nearer the Westway, the concrete motorway flyover which carves Notting Hill in two.
This is one of the few remnants of an ambitious scheme in the 1960s to build a series of ringways throughout London, with what is now the M25 as the outermost ring. But planners were stopped in their tracks in inner London by a combination of mounting costs and public outrage and the ringways were abandoned in the 1970s.
Now the spaces under the Westway are occupied by cafes, a fitness centre and the north end of Portobello Market.

We go under the Westway and turn immediately right into Cambridge Gardens, where you can see the Westway on our right, incongruous against the backdrop of Victorian terraces on our left. Then we turn left into Portobello Road past a clutch of furniture and antique clothing shops and right into Golborne Road. This is the shopping and cultural centre of the area’s Portuguese community, with the Lisbon Patisserie, Lisboa delicatessen and Café Oporto all busy with customers talking to each other in Portuguese.
We now turn right into Wornington Road and right into Malvern Close looking for a path leading half left past the Malvern pub and we keep ahead across the end of Acklam Road to pick up Portobello Road under the Westway.
The northern end of Portobello Road under the Westway is much less touristy and upmarket than the well-known antiques market further south but still worth exploring. Shops sell New Age and grunge clothes, pubs and cafes serve Thai food and Spanish wine, and market stalls sell a vast variety of fruit and vegetables.

Turning left into Lancaster Road we take the second right into All Saints Road. In the 1950s and 1960s, this and surrounding roads were slums, the large houses divided up into bed sits, many lived in by West Indians who had recently arrived in London. Tensions between whites, blacks and the police led to the Notting Hill riots of 1958 and continuing unrest throughout the 1960s.
All this is difficult to imagine now, looking at the multicoloured house fronts newly painted red, green, yellow and black, the elegant contemporary art galleries and furniture shops and offices of architects and designers. The only reminder of recent history is the People’s Sound record shop with reggae music blaring out of the door.

We now turn right into Westbourne Park Road and left into Portobello Road. This is where the shops get smarter and the Saturday antiques market starts with stalls out on the road in front of shops crammed with ‘objets d’art’ and collectibles. Blenheim Crescent off Portobello Road on our right is worth a detour to explore its eclectic selection of bookshops including The Travel Bookshop, famous as Hugh Grant’s bookshop in the film Notting Hill, and Books for Cooks. Coming back to Portobello Road, the lush interior of the Electric Cinema was restored in 2001 after years of neglect. The Electric has a Brasserie if we want to stop off for a meal or a drink. Otherwise Portobello Road and Blenheim Road have a wide choice of pubs, restaurants and takeaways.

We continue up Portobello Road to Westbourne Grove on our left, with its designer loo incorporating a flower stall on the island in the middle of the road. Westbourne Grove is lined with upmarket clothes chain stores including Whistles and Joseph, alongside bars and restaurants.
To return to Notting Hill Gate station and the end of the walk, we continue up Westbourne Grove and turn left into Pembridge Villas, which becomes Pembridge Road which leads back to the Notting Hill tube station.

Click on picture to enlarge!

Keeping your Poop in a Jar!

Last night ‘yours truly’ met up with Keith (the one from the sponsored haircut fame) to once again be delighted by the wonderfully competent and funny Hayseed Dixie.

The long journey was well worth it for the following reasons:

* I finally saw for myself how much (or how little) Keith’s hair has grown back. (Can you tell that he was not amused about me taking this picture??)

* We spent a good time together catching up on each other’s news

* Hayseed Dixie were utterly brilliant and I am still smiling just thinking of the performance of the song "Keeping your poop in a jar".




Today unfortunately I am slightly on the tired side having only arrived back home at one o’clock in the morning.

I feel a rant coming on!! Wait for it . . . wait for it . . . yup! Here it is!!

Loyal Firefly readers may recall my rant about Aylesbury (were I work) and the traffic mess in this town (see here).
Well today we got this letter from the Council which about sums up their level of I.Q.:
Click on the photo to read it!



So, if I read this correctly, the increase in the amount of congestion is due to what??
Aaahhh!! Yes!!! It is due to a number of improvements being made!! Classic!!
The statement: “This could be eased if there were fewer cars on the road” is an amazing achievement of deduction! Well done!!
It could also be eased by not making ‘improvements’ or by sacking the gorram lot of you, you stupid, incompetent, dozy sons of b*tches!!
(End of rant!)

I am off to get coffee!!

We gonna get ya, sucker!!

Well done all you Americans who voted against Bush!!




Here are some comments left on the BBC Website regarding this vote:

Today, for the first time since Clinton, I am proud to hold an american passport.

President Bush, America has given you the first boot. It won’t be long before you get the second boot too. You will go down in the history for being a liar.

Hopefully he will be remembered as the worst president in history. Thank you America for finally coming back into the real world. The international community, the environment and every person on this planet welcomes this turn.

All I can say is 'Yippeee'!
It's easy to say that democracy has triumphed when the result goes your way - but it certainly feels that way this morning - even to a non-American. I have always felt uncomfortable criticising a leader / administration that is not my own, but I still think Americans are not fully aware of their true impact on the rest of world. I'm sure millions around the world will be breathing a collective sigh-of-relief.

At last the American public have woken up and rejected the corruption, greed and misguided policies of George Bush and his cronies and to a latter extent the Republican party.
Hopefully the momentum will last till through the Presidential elections of 2008.

The American people have given their verdict on President Bush now the UK needs to do the same with Blair and the whole Labour government. The support they got from their people to wage war on Iraq was due only to the total fabrication of them having WMD, not to illegally unseat Saddam.
They have been responsible for mass killings and opened more doors for Al Quaeda to operate making the world more dangerous than before.
We will all have to watch our backs now since their big ego trip went wrong.

God bless America!!

For all Firefly Groopies!!

Here is a picture to take 'pride of place' in your home!



Wot??? No takers???
Phah!!

The great weekend!!

What a great weekend it was!

Friday night I made a nice dish which I picked up from ‘A. Novelist’ on her brilliant culinary blogsite. I just added some crème fraiche to it and it was superb!! Thanks, Novelist!!



Then I bought myself a Tassimo coffee, espresso, cappuccino, café crème, chocolate, tea maker and it is wonderful, quick and ever so tasty!



In the evening we went to see the local fireworks and bonfire display and had a meal back at home with our friends and yesterday I got all those repairs done around the house which I have been avoiding for months!







And then to top it all my football team ‘Tottenham Hotspurs’ produced the first home-win against local opposition ‘Chelsea’ for about 16 years!
Stunning, boys!!!



On top of all this I managed to lose some more weight, so I am a very happy bunny!!

Here is a neat trick for all of you people who always wanted a quick way of folding your T-Shirts!
Enjoy

Click here!!

==========================

My target weight is 199 pounds and if you haven’t sponsored me yet, please do so by going to http://www.justgiving.com/firefly and adding yourself to the list.

Throughout the next weeks you will be able to follow my progess (O God, I hope it will indeed be progress!!) on my Biff-o-meter and can comment on this blogsite with words of encouragment or by throwing abuse at me.

Here then is the Biff-o-meter after week 5 of my Challenge!






Weight now = 214 pounds
Weight lost so far = 15 pounds (Half-way there! Yeah!!)

Poor State of Nanny in Nanny State

Here in England things we are turning more and more into a Nanny State where the government prohibits a lot of things which (according to the Do-Gooders) will harm us!
Here are some prime examples of some of those most important rules and regulations:

No longer can you
* Smack your children (even if they smack you!)
* Play with conkers in the school yard (in case you have someone’s eye out! Oh, yes!)
* Fly an English flag on your car if you are a taxi driver (in case you upset visitors)
* Wear a cross around your neck (in case you upset Muslims)
* Call someone an “Old-timer” (in case you upset the elderly)
* Go on a fairground ride unless you are a certain height (in case you fall out)
to name but a few!!

This weekend is Bonfire Night Weekend and each town has its own magnificent display, staged by professionals for the viewing pleasure of the masses.

Here then is a strange one for you:
How come that any half-witted Herbert can walk into any supermarket and buy a huge cluster of highly explosive fireworks which he/she (must be politically correct here and include the female variety) can let off anywhere without the slightest regard for children, adults, the elderly and pets??
We had some knob-head(s) let off an array of fireworks this morning at about 4 a.m. in the morning, waking everybody up and frightening the Bejeesus out of the dogs, cats, hamsters (and I guess infants) in the entire area.













Here are some official statistics:

How many children are injured in firework accidents?
In Great Britain in the four weeks surrounding Bonfire Night, 1362 people were treated in hospital casualty departments after an accident involving a firework.
685 children under 16 were treated in hospital for injuries caused by fireworks – that is over half of all cases in Great Britain. Many more boys than girls were injured by fireworks– particularly in the 12 to 15 age group.

Are firework accidents increasing?
Firework injuries went up by over 40 per cent. There had been an eight per cent decrease the previous year – although this was shown to coincide with a 30 per cent reduction in sales of fireworks over the same time period. Numbers of firework injuries have fluctuated in the past five years making it difficult to identify trends.

Where do most firework accidents happen?
Just over 40 per cent of all accidents involving fireworks happened at a family or private party. A further 30 per cent of accidents were the result of casual incidents in the street or other public place. Only just over 10 per cent of accidents happened at large, public displays.

What type of fireworks cause the most accidents?
As in previous years - rockets (yes . . ROCKETS!!) caused more accidents than any other
type of firework.
Each year there are a large number of accidents caused by sparklers with young children being particularly at risk. In 2001 nearly one in ten firework accidents were caused by sparklers. Nearly seven in ten sparkler accidents happened at a family or private party.

What type of injuries are caused by fireworks?
Most firework accidents result in injuries to the eyes, head, hands or more than one of these areas.
Over 60 per cent of injuries require ongoing treatment from a GP or hospital and may leave permanent scarring.

Talking about the Nanny State . . . a Nanny who does not allow smacking but permits children to play with ROCKETS is like a Nanny who takes a spoon off the child in case it hurts itself and then has full-on sex in front of it whilst smoking pot and leaving the chip pan boiling on the gas stove in the kitchen.

So, this post is for all you governmental Do-Gooders and self-appointed police dogs.
My message to you:
“You suck!!"

EGGstra-ordinarily stupid!

As I opened the door to our little garden this morning in order to have a look at the thermometer and take a picture, I noticed that some ‘nice’ person had thrown an egg at our back wall (See evidence below! ) probably as retaliation for an unsuccessful Trick-or-Treat session on Halloween Night when Jameson, our dog, threatened to rip your arm off if you ring that doorbell one more time.




















To the egg-thrower:
I just wanted to let you in on a few secrets.
* In order to throw the egg, you had to go to the back of the property, which is very muddy and full of dog shit! Checked your shoes lately??
* You needed to buy, steal or (knowing your kind) just take eggs from your Mom
* You had to be careful not to break the eggs in your pocket, bag or whatever else you were carrying them in
* All your mates (if you have mates) think you are a real hero now but on reflection will soon realise that you are in fact a sad, under-endowed little Muppet!
* Your Mom will no doubt have barked at you for entering the house with mud- and shit-caked shoes.
* You missed the double patio door you were aiming at even though it is as big as a f*cking barn door!!
* You still didn’t get any treats from us!!

On top of all this, you need to consider:
* The egg doesn’t care (as it was never meant to be turned into a chicken anyway)
* The wall doesn’t care (being immune to salmonella)
* Jameson doesn’t care (at least you stopped ringing that f*cking bell)
* My kids don’t care (as they now enjoy the sweets you didn’t get!)
* I don’t care (the egg washes right off, ya know!)

So . . . Trick-or-Treat to you, Bozo!!

BETA Bloggers!

Today we had the first frost on the windscreen of the car but . . my car has a heated windscreen (Yeah!!!). So, no more scraping of ice!

What else is new?? (Scratches head). Oh, yes!
Not sure whether I have done the right thing but for better or worse I have now moved over to the new BETA version of Blogger!
So, I hope that this doesn’t mean that nobody can leave comments now!
Just in case I need to re-advertise, here are some ideas!
What do you think??