“Right. We catch the tube into Camden and head for the nearest bog-standard Indie oriented bar…”

On Saturday night, as the slowly fading stamp on the back of my hand suggests, we headed out in our new neighbourhood to enjoy the delights of drinking in a couple of slightly too crowded venues. After a few drinks at the typically heaving Lock Tavern, where we were forced out onto the terrace, we made our way to the Barfly for what we had hoped would be a suitably indie-themed evening of randomness. The…

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It’s Indie Rock and Roll For Me

To the Brixton Academy, on Saturday night, to see the 21st century’s answer to Shed Seven: The Killers. It was a particularly crowded academy, too, and there was a palpable sense of expectation in the air when we arrived. Somehow we managed to squeeze into a spot down the front just in time before the band took to the stage, but in the event it probably wouldn’t have mattered where we had been located in…

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Customer Service

Ok, so I know I haven’t posted anything for a week, and I imagine the last thing that any of you want to read is yet another post from me complaining about some company that’s annoyed me (no, really, I don’t spend all my time complaining about things, honestly…), but I’ve been ill, I’ve been busy, and I don’t care–I’m going to do it anyway… The latest customer service hilarity is down to Virgin.net, who…

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And So It Begins Again

Well, we are all moved in to our new place. Or at least we have stuff piled high all over the living room floor, and I’m still not quite sure when and how I acquired all this stuff and whether we really need it, but the hard part is over. Or so I thought. The other day, I had a strange sense of deja vu as I listened to the bloke at London Energy explain…

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Makes the World go Around

It’s quite possible these days, armed only with an Internet banking login and a wallet full of small plastic cards, to live life without ever needing to carry around more than a few pounds in cash. I remember when I was younger, credit cards still seemed to have some rarity value. These were the heady days of the 1980s, an era of annual fees and adverts for Access on the telly (“does she does or…

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Gmail

Well, the public availability of Gmail can’t be far away: like most other Gmail users, I have just been given 50 invites. I didn’t have 6 friends to invite, let alone 50… Anyone? Leave an email address (might be an idea to disguise it in some way, if you intend to use it again) in the comments and a shiny new account with 1GB storage is all yours.

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Cold Call

Her: Hello, is that Matthew? It’s [inaudible] calling from [inaudible]. Me: I’m sorry? Her: It’s [inaudible] calling from [inaudible]. Me: (still with no idea who this woman works for, or why she might be calling, but not wanting to ask again) Ok…. Her: Are you free to talk? Me: Er… yes… Her: Are you still looking? Me: (thinking: looking? looking for what?) Me: (realising this must be a recruitment agent) Oh, no I’m not, thanks……

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Paranoia, Paranoia, Everybody’s Coming To Get Me

Like most website owners, I check the website logs every now and again. It always makes for interesting reading, whether it turns up a new incoming link, or some interesting search string that has led some unwitting surfer to these pages. Unfortunately, although I can go back to the original log files if I need to see something specific, many of the statistics presented to me on my webalizer summary for the month of February…

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Ecoutez et Repetez

Sal and I spent a thoroughly pleasant weekend in a Paris seemingly filled with kilted Scots, bagpiping their way around town, and in surprisingly high spirits even after their narrow defeat to the French on Saturday afternoon (that said, although a crowd of young chaps belting out Flower of Scotland on the streets of Montmartre might be entertaining for a few minutes, I’m not sure I’d have been quite so happy if we’d unwittingly chosen…

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Blog Lite*

Finding myself up by London Bridge at lunchtime yesterday, I spotted that they were giving out copies of the new free lunchtime version of the Evening Standard (inexplicably, Standard Lite: what was wrong with Lunchtime Standard?) I’m not quite sure what game Associated is playing here: will saturating London’s commuters with free papers at all times of the day really encourage those same commuters to go out and pay money for the evening edition? (“Finished…

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