shop window displays

london 7.52pm 8C dry wednesday 2020

KODAK Digital Still Camera

KODAK Digital Still Camera

this is the window display near the chelsea sports centre, lots of bling, and through their doorway i can see those fur coats. i wonder if they are real fur or fake ones. nowadays with the dislike of killing animals for sport or their fur, not many want to wear real fur anymore.

all that bling in the window is very attractive, and easily catches my eye. so even to me who is not that interested it has drawn my attention.

no wonder people are drawn to bright and sparkling objects, we are like magpies.

but going down the high road, chelsea, practically all the shops are advertising huge reductions and final reductions… it must be that time of year when shops are having their winter sales. it used to be people look forward to this, but i dont see any of the long queues for the first day of the sales nowadays. old timers like me can remember the excitement of those sales, but it is a long time ago, long before the internet came. i have never seen any ladies wearing those coats which i see through the shop window of this store. in fact, most times we see people wear duvet like coats. so how come i never see anyone wearing those fake fur coats. it would be nice to see them actually on people and see how they hang on real people instead of on mannequins. 

added 2.51pm thurs 16.1.20. i just realised why i dont see any person wearing those coats, those i see on the mannequins in that store. it is likely to be very expensive coats, and people who can afford them will most probably go everywhere in their cars, and dont really need such warm coats as they nip out from their cars into the hotels or restaurants that they frequent. they are not the kind of person to be walking the high st haha or travelling on the buses. 

will this snooker ever end on tv?

london 3.19pm 14C rain tuesday 2020

it looks like storm brandan has caught up with london and we are seeing it here. though if it is a storm it is well behaved, not much wind, and not much rain… though i expect it will get the worst part later in the day, at night when it is forecast to be stormier.

but life for me now is quite routine, pottering around in my flat, or pottering around in the local area, (and that means going to the local library. haha). simon has the pools snooker it is called, showing live on tv, so that keeps him busy… watching it. it does seem to go on and on… unfortunately i find it boring. but nothing else going on tv so it is not that i am missing anything whilst he is watching it.

i guess this period in the year is a doldrums period, where nothing is happening.

i suppose it is a good news break for the media, something for them to write about at this quiet time for news, that there is all that fuss about meghan and harry wanting to go their own way. i think people will realise it is a good thing for them, as being 6th in line to the throne, he will be having a very boring life if he continues as a senior royal. this chance to break free is a good one to take i think. it is a gamble to try to make their own way and make a living away from the royal circus, but it is better than the old merry go round of inane royal duties that will be their lot if they dont.

 i see on tv now in the snooker program people carrying trophies aloft, so it looks like the winner is chosen, and that means the tournament is over then. well, thank goodness if it means they will get rid of this snooker on tv, and show something else. i asked simon if it is over, he said no. so why are they showing all those guys holding the trophies aloft. what a stupid thing !!

soft shell crab sandwich

london 1.32pm 9C cloudy monday 2020

KODAK Digital Still Camera

KODAK Digital Still Camera

this is the lovely soft shell crab sandwich given away free by gunpowder, an indian restaurant in their branch near tower bridge today. only 50 lunches given out to promote their grab and go bags. one of the three choices was this crab sandwich, the others were spinach paneer(cheese) and venison minced . i have never eaten a soft shelled crab, so this one is the obvious choice for me. it is really nice, mainly for the crunchy sensation, but strangely i dont get the taste of crab meat. unlike if i were to eat hard shelled crab. so maybe these crabs are so young, that they dont have built up much meat inside the body. they cost £9.50 usually, with the others  £1 less. the whole gang was there, waiting and being first in the queue, when i arrived, so i just joined them, instead of going to the end of the queue. it was very early, so i can do that. and we enjoy the wait by chatting to each other and exchange news of new offers or old ones. 

i read now that there are strong winds up north, so much so that it has a name,storm brandon, but here in london we did not get even a whiff of it. its very mild down south too. its been about 9C all day and all night.

and when i got back i see simon has cooked the chicken that i had frozen . he was clearing the freezer of the ice , and the chicken must have reminded him that he fancies a roast chicken. i shall eat it for dinner, as i am too full now with my crab sandwich.

people here are recovering from the excesses and debts of the new year and christmas, so just as well they are not chinese and dont need to celebrate the chinese new year (of the rat) that is coming soon.

we will have the usual celebration in trafalgar square and chinatown but that is a public affair, and no families need to spend money on it. i hear it is the biggest celebration of the chinese new year outside of the usual places like china or south east asia. san francisco might compete with it for that accolade. as a coincidence, that day 25th jan, is also the day when all routemaster buses makes all rear doors exit only.

i also read that bangbang oriental food centre in colindale are also doing an event on friday 24th jan. i remember it was well known for its malaysian food stalls, and was like the food halls we see in malaysia, so it was ahead of its time then, and more in keeping with the spirit of those street stalls, as their prices are much lower. todays new food halls, now popping up all over central london  try to mimic those in malaysia but are pricey.

but i have not been for ages to colindale because the old food hall closed,  and a new one rose instead.  i wonder if it is still so. maybe other countries cuisine are now included. colindale is in zone 4, and on the northern line, edgeware branch. it is quite a journey from central london. i wonder if i should visit it and see what it is like.

added. 7.33pm

this is a really funny thing, what if all animals are round? something to make me laugh .

 

ed sheeran giving me free veggie nuggets

london 4.29pm 9.6C dry cloudy sunday 2020

i went to this promotion today at shoreditch, near liverpool st , giving away veggie nuggets, by ed sheeran. when i was waiting in the queue, they interupted the proceedings to tell us that that man on the other side of the street and approaching us was someone famous, and i looked and recognised him as ed sheeran. he is a singer. interesting that he agreed to come here, it is a simple pop -up van cooking the food, hardly something that a famous person like ed would lend himself to do. but here he is , behind the counter giving out the food, haha. and he handed it to me. even i can recognise him, so he is famous indeed. not that i have heard his songs, so maybe others can tell me why he is famous. are his songs that good?

actually him being there slowed things down , because they began to restrict the numbers approaching the van, so that those others there can pose with him, so if anything his presence slowed down the speed of us getting the food. 

what about the food, you might ask, and i am surprised that it is very meat like, even to the look like meat. so quite a good similacrum of meat. if u have not told me it is veggie, i would be fooled into thinking it was meat. i could not find out what company is doing this. there was no name that i can see on the van to tell us who is behind all this. but i think they got a good contender for the veggie stake. 

KODAK Digital Still Camera

KODAK Digital Still Camera

KODAK Digital Still Camera

from the sign , it must be made from soya beans, and wheat. 

maybe i can see him being featured in twitter, or instagram, and they might know what company is this making these nuggets.

on the way there i took a bus from liverpool st station, and it is a routemaster, and they ahve completely shut down the fare reader at the exits, so everyone have to board the bus at the front , near the driver.

i have read of this, that they are doing it to solve the fare evaders, who enter from the exit and dont log in. not all buses are doing this, this one i boarded was the number 8, but later when i boarded the bus 27 at paddington station, all the exit readers were working. but i guess eventually all will be one entrance boarding only. later i found out that they used the number 8 to trial the scheme. 

added 8.34pm, well, it seems that guy is a double. not the real ed sheeran. haha. he is very like the image of the real thing, that is why so many got fooled. quite a clever trick, like saying their vegan nugget is so much like the real thing you too would be fooled. haha. now i recall, they did not exactly say his name , just said it was someone famous, and we looked and thought we can  recognise him. many of us have never seen the real guy in person, so it is a easy mistake to make. its all quite funny of course. 

a free coffee and cake from john lewis

london 3.30pm 8C cloudy friday 2020 john lewis cafe oxford st

start of the weekend, and i got a email from john lewis , it is their monthly newsletter, and inside it tells me that i can find out my rewards if i log into my account with them. luckily they provide a link, because i have forgotten how the url of my account. and there i found they have given me a free cake and coffee. i felt like it, so i went today.

sitting now in their cafe, having eaten my cheesecake and coffee. very nice , with the cashier laughing when i showed her the email on my chrome book. she said it was a huge gadget, and it was, being 14inch screen size. there is a plug socket nearby too so i can charge up my chromebook as well. 

i was surprised that they are still giving me free coffee and cakes. i have not heard from them for sometime .  i expected them to send me a letter like they did before, and have not got any letter from them, so i assumed they have stopped doing it.   but they have changed it to email notification, which is much cheaper for them than sending me a letter. i must have got an email from them last month, but did not read it and so must have miss out on that months free coffee and cake… assuming they give me one each month rather than one each 3 months.

also, i read recently that they have to sack their CEO, because they have made a loss or something this year. for years they have always reported massive profits, so i wonder what is happening now with them making a loss. i guess i will never be a good business man, as i have no idea why some businesses do such good trade, whilst others fail.

i am glad i dont have to work anymore and can stop work so early.so all this profit and loss of businesses i dont have to bother about haha.  

sun and rain

london 3.30pm 12C rain thursday 2020

this was how the sky looked earlier in the morning. the tree surgeons have come and gone, and it looked like they are done for this year at least… trimming some trees but leaving others untrimmed. i wonder how they chose which ones to trim and which to leave alone. they wont be back for another 2 years i think.

earlier, i was out and about, and the sky was so blue. now i have come back home and it is raining. and quite heavily too. it is quite common to have this swift change in the weather, so that one must grab the good weather when it comes and not expect it to continue. it makes you expect that things dont last, and depanding on how you look at it, you can say it is a good thing, because it applies to bad things too, it too will pass.

or you could lament and ask why cant good things last. if u live in the tropical countries, you will realise that good weather lasting a long time is not that great. after all just look at australia now, all that hot sun, and what do u get? bush fires that last for ever it seems.what they wouldn’t give for a lot of rain right now.

it makes me see this rain we are having as a lovely sight and refreshing. 

cooking for one

london 8.22pm 11C dry night wednesday 2020

i am seeing a tv program, eat well for less, and i hear this guy saying he is only cooking for himself and he thinks it is a waste of time because no one else in the family likes to eat what he cooks. i always hear people say that, they dont like cooking for themselves.

but to me, it is just wonderful, to cook for myself only. it means i can cook anything i like without worrying if the other people will like it or not. and also if i do make a mistake it would not matter, as i have only myself to please, and i am very easy to please haha. also i dont have to worry about cooking enough, because if u are cooking for others as well, you are rather afraid that u might not cook enough to fill them up. so all in all, it is very relaxing just to cook for myself. that is why i can never understand why others want to cook for others. i cannot be the only one who likes cooking just for myself surely?