casting shadows on the soul

Hunting Elephants

2010-05-06T21:57:00.003+01:00

There be Pachyderms in London town, roaming free. Here's some i bagged earlier

for more info go to http://elephantparadelondon.org/

no s**t sherlock

2009-11-12T14:40:00.002Z

Sign in Pub window only a few yards from my office, in the middle of a student area. I know students are dumb these days but this takes the biscuit

Is this a new month?

2009-11-04T20:29:00.003Z

This was a sign outside King's College Chapel in Cambridge. You'd think they would be able to spell in a University Town now wouldn't you?

the perils of musak and rock's revenge

2009-09-22T20:24:00.002+01:00

I've never posted a video before but I love this

Can anybody translate, please?

2009-09-13T20:07:00.002+01:00

I was sent this job spec recently. I'd love to know what the job actually entails

Herewith thoughts for a potential 6 month project for our secondee.

Objective - To develop a pipeline of compelling Value Propositions for priority segments in corporate/government markets

–Which adjacent markets are ‘closer’ to home and present quick win opportunities?
–In which adjacent markets can we fast track Value Propositions (VP’s) that require little development and less capability stretch?
–Where are the ‘further out’ opportunities in attractive adjacent market segments that may require additional capabilities or partnerships but that will help you leapfrog competitors and will be the foundation of the future business.

The challenge: To find propositions that have maximum traction in a broad range of verticals and workflow types

VP’s by workflow types?
Case management
Claims
Fulfilment
Complaints
Quotations
Expense management
Risk Management?

VP’s by corporate vertical?
Insurance
Banking
FMCG
Telecommunications
?
VP’s by Government vertical?
Regulators
Ombudsman
Local Authorities
Services (police, health)
?

Suggested process –

1. Prioritise, (through competitor/ market analysis and internal interviews), attractive segments within the corporate and government markets for work flow solutions
2. Gain market leading insight into the pain points, unmet needs, purchasing barriers for workflow solutions within the attractive segments
3.Build & validate a portfolio of quick win and breakthrough VP’s that will capitalise on unmet needs, displaying strong commercial potential and that are deliverable for LN
4. Recommend through a robust financial & commercial evaluation which value propositions LN should prioritise for immediate & longer term development

Ssh Geriatric footballers at play!

2009-08-24T20:14:00.001+01:00

Another R.I.P- Dedicated to you but you weren't listening

2009-06-12T19:30:00.005+01:00

It's been a long time since I posted. The Computer has been monopolised by my eldest who has been revising AND constantly on MSN at the same time. But I could not let the passing of one of my musical heroes pass without comment.

Many people will have not heard of Hugh Hopper. Nobody ever remembers the Bass player Yet Hugh was a crucial part of the Canterbury Scene. Without him Robert Wyatt would never have started playing as they were best friends at School. He replaced Kevin Ayers in Soft Machine and was ever present during that band's best period (albums Two to Six) Soft Machine and it's various derivatives has always been a personal favourite and rarely a week goes by without at least one of tehir tracks coming up at random on my MP3 player or else I conciously play an album or bootleg. As robert Wyatt's vocals are so distinctive so was Hugh's bass playing

I learnt of his death from leukemia today when I read his obit in the paper. May he rest in peace

forza venenzia

2009-03-05T20:08:00.004Z

A weekend away, the rest of the week running to catch up. Music, Arts, Canals and no kids

On slips such as this new religions are made

2009-02-26T15:18:00.003Z

It was Ash Wednesday yesterday. Part of the first reading should have been

"O Lord, do not give up your heritage to shame, so that the nations become their rulers"

The Reader read

"O Lord, do not give up your herrings to shame, so that the natures become their rulers"

I had to stifle a giggle but the general congregation remained unmoved

An overweight penguin?

2009-02-18T20:27:00.004Z

Lubetkin's classic design has been devoid of penguins for some time, but a different animal was spotted there on a visit today - The greater spotted painter/decorator. Note the classic non- working pose, hand in pocket, about to light fag

London is closed

2009-02-02T19:58:00.005Z

This was the view from my office window this morning,

only 10 of the 300 odd people who work in my office made it in today.

Moscow gets more snow in an hour than we had last night yet everything works perfectly.

still some people had fun

John Martyn R.I.P

2009-01-29T15:02:00.003Z

I will leave it to others to post his music but the news today that he died aged only 60 was a shock. Of all the musicians I love I probably saw him live the most starting at The Reading Hexagon back in 1981 at the insistence of my co-student, Ivor. He (John Martyn that is, not Ivor!) lived life to the full and often his lyrics were incomprehensible but you could always be sure of a great show.

Not Seventeenth Century living

2009-01-09T19:49:00.002Z

Ralph asked for photos of where we staying in Romsey. We've stayed there so often that I cannot actually find any pictures of the house. I'll have to take some next time. So instead I'll put up some random pictures of Bournemouth trees and Angels!

Happy Christmas

2008-12-22T19:22:00.003Z

A few years ago we were just about to repaint the room after Christmas so we went with the do it yourself effect!

Not expecting much traffic then?

2008-12-19T19:28:00.001Z

What happens when a tandem comes along?

Bus rage

2008-12-09T21:28:00.003Z

Why oh why do passengers stand downstairs when there are plenty of seats up stairs. I was accused of being rude pushing past someone today as I got on the bus as I tried to get upstairs. There were probably 60 people downstairs where there are seats for 20 and standing room for another 10 -15 when there were only 10 people upstairs and seats for 40!

A poem found in my Dad's papers

2008-11-07T13:32:00.002Z

Drink

The horse and cow live thirty years

and nothing know of wines and beers,

The Goat and sheep at twenty die

with ne'er a tast of scotch or rye,

The sow drinks water by the ton

and at eighteen is nearly done,

the dog of fifteen cashes in

without the aid of rum and gin,

The cat in milk and water soaks

and then at twelve short years it croaks,

the modest,sober, bone-dry hen

lays eggs for years and dies at ten.

All animals are strictly dry,

they sinless live and swiftly die.

But sinful, ginful, rum-soaked men

survives to three score years and ten.

An some of them, the mighty few

Stay pickled until they're ninety two.

Seen locally by my daughter

2008-10-19T17:29:00.004+01:00

I saw this in the paper...

2008-10-16T19:08:00.001+01:00

A £3,000 blank wall built for teenage graffiti artists by a Cornish council was painted by a disgruntled taxpayer with the slogan

Run over by A Go kart

2008-10-13T18:57:00.005+01:00

Looks innocent that car to the right there doesn't it? Don't beleive it! My youngest is currently laid up with a suspected fracture in her foot after being run over by one of these things. I do not recommend going to the nearest hospital to Wembley when england are playing at home with a child with a "minor" injury. We were there nearly six hours and that's not counting the half hour wait for an ambulance.

By the way these are not my kids this image was taken directly from their website

If you are anywhere near Wembley Don't go to Fantasy Island Play Area it's dangerous. At my daughter's recent birthday party one of the guests split is head open on an unprotected steel bar

2008-10-04T19:50:00.003+01:00

From today's Financial Times

TONY MCNULTY - London minister
Seen as an articulate bruiser, Mr McNulty will be expected to act as a foil to Boris Johnson, the popular Tory mayor for London. MP for Harrow East since 1997, the former lecturer worked as a whip from 1999 to 2002 and moved on to be immigration minister in 2005 and police minister from Mary 2006

Mc Nulty was a prefect at my secondary school (High school) when I arrived fresh faced at 11. I remember him as an inarticulate bully who once sent me off to "write an essay on the inside of a table tennis ball" because I had dared to speak in the dinner queue. Now I leave it up to you to decide whether I had to someone inscribe the inside of a plastic sphere or to write many words of existensialism on what might be inside a plastic sphere

pay restraint?

2008-10-01T12:12:00.000+01:00

From the letters page of today's Independent newspaper

Now that banks are being taken over by the Government, can we expect banking executives to be subject to public-sector pay restraint?

Geoffrey Payne
London W5

It would be nice to see how bankers manage on a 2% increase to my salary that I'll be getting this year. Certainly no £1M bonuses in the Civil Service!

Sailing

2008-09-21T18:39:00.004+01:00

No, not the Rod Stewart version but the reason why I've not been posting much at weekends lately

Thats my girl that is

on the left

and that's my boy on the right (you know the one with DS(you know that thing that they murder babies for because they won't be able to do anything if they're allowed to live))

only in non league football

2008-09-17T07:54:00.002+01:00

I follow a non-league football team (soccer to you Yanks that read this!) called Wealdstone. This season they moved to a new ground replacing another team who have since gone on to change their name to Tokyngton Manor. I noticed their official result this saturday was

Tokyngton Manor 3 v Cranfield United2 Attendance 2

only in non league could you have only 2 paying customers. Were they indeed one man and his dog?

( as a matter of interest Wealdstone drew 2-2 with an official attendance of 312)

I t was sunny, occasionally

2008-09-02T19:19:00.004+01:00

And just to prove that it was sunny at least one day.

And the mountain in the distance is Snowdon. This was only the second time in a week that we had seen the top!

Wales

2008-09-02T19:13:00.003+01:00

I've mentioned on other comments How I enjoyed Wales. Just to share a few photos to show the scenery.

open Plan?

2008-07-11T07:11:00.000+01:00

As my profile says I work in "Government". We are currently going through an office rationalisation programme whereby we have all been converted to open plan and our desk space has been reduced. I couldn't resist taking the attached picture which suggests that they are taking open plan to extremes

from form to from

2008-07-10T15:00:00.002+01:00

All was well with E. When I got home she was building a tower with the garden chairs and climbing up to get her frisbee stuck in the tree!

The title if this post reflects one of my major gripes with auto correct. In my job i often have to write letters and memos referring to a specific form. Word always auto corrects this to form. And whenever, I type From it autocorrects to form. VERY Frustrating. But I am also involved in the editing of internal guidance so I have had the great delight of sending an e-mail today saying " this guidance was fine except you will have to change "from" from "from" to "form". It sent Word into a veritable tizzy!

worrying about children

2008-07-08T07:52:00.000+01:00

The end of the book I have just finished "Bringing it all back home" by Ian Clayton takes an unexpected turn. The book as a whole is a celebration of music told in a succession of anecdotes about singers and songs. The last chapter however deals with the unexpected death of his daughter, Billie in a canoeing accident. This chapter is very moving and reflects the anguish of a father grieving for a child.

Although not on the same level I felt some of that anguish last night as my youngest E had to go to Casualty, suffering from concussion. It is a long and boring story as to how it happened but suffice it to say she fell off a chair and banged her head on our ceramic tiled floor. After E vomited twice my wife rushed her off to the Hospital. I am usually in bed by 10 as I get up for work at 4:45 everyday. I stayed up watching crap TV until 1:30 a.m. until I heard word of what was happening. I was woken again at 3:45 when they returned. Even now I feel guilty being here at work typing this, not knowing how she is feeling.

A long overdue post

2008-07-03T14:57:00.001+01:00

Now that I seem to have attracted the attention of the weblog community I'd better start posting more regularly! Thanks Ib for adding me to your links.

IA believe it or not has just come back from a holiday in France. His school ( a special needs school) takes the Year 6's to France every year. It's an amazing undertaking, given that there are other kids who have more fundamental needs than IA. But they are a great school (I might be biased because I am a governor there) check out their website

http://www.alexandra-school.co.uk/index.htm

But with him being away I was able to see my Daughter play Viola at a reknowned classical music venue. see the picture posted by a proud father

easter pics

2008-04-15T19:06:00.000+01:00

as promised a few pictures. Which ones are the monkeys?

Easter Holidays

2008-04-15T07:53:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since I posted but as no-one reads it that's not a problem.

Holiday time again and a trip to the Zoo and a trip up the river to Greenwich was fun.

2007-10-30T12:22:00.000Z

this is just an experiment to see if I can blog from my office

half term

2007-10-20T10:01:00.000+01:00

Ia has started asking "what are we going to do tomorrow?": it has become his new mantra. Usually the answer is easy: you're going to school you're going to your club or you're going to church. However, with the stretch of half term ahead and no holidays boooked what are we going to do?

2007-10-19T19:51:00.000+01:00

And this is the boy's view of his Dad!!!!!

2007-10-19T19:24:00.000+01:00

E's view of me

2007-10-19T19:07:00.000+01:00

This is what it's all about!

you never know what life or he will throw at you (Tomato Ketchup tonight!)

IA is special but often frustrating. K and E his sisters have a lot to endure but they love him unreservedly