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Being the statistic of me in London.

It's kind of nuts, really, to try to fathom just how many people that actually is. It mightn't be all that high a figure in the grand scheme of things vis. Chongqing with 31M, Mumbai with 13M, Sao Paolo with 11M, or Seoul with 10M, but it's pretty staggering all the same. We're just a smidgen behind New York, though in terms of community, I get the distinct impression from my Atlantic-straddling friends that it's a lot less easy to feel isolated in London than it is in New York.

Give me a sense of community any day.

Yesterday, I undertook the everyday task of walking from London Bridge all the way west along the river to Wimbledon. This took about four hours at a friendly pace, since the river route is quite a bit longer than the direct one, but it was incredible fun, and perhaps all the more so for being alone. Not to suggest that I didn't want the company -- I really did -- but it was nice to get in some me-time with my favourite Big City, and my how she roared in the hot Spring sunshine.

There was talk and laughter, food and drink, some of the best street musicians I've ever heard in this city, and even a whole lot of gaïety to boot. According to Google Earth, the walk home was a respectable 16.7 kilometres (10.4 miles), and during that time I passed at least four gay couples holding hands, and handful of less obvious candidates too.

I guess the warm-gooeyness must have got to me, because a pair of men took me to task on my smile -- they evidently misconstrued it as my thinking that they were an amusing sight to see, a pair of men holding hands.

"No," I said, "I'm really very jealous - I think it's totally lovely, but the hand I usually hold is stuck behind an office desk today!"

"Don't mind him; he's just a bit militant", one apologised.

And fair enough; some people do smirk, and for various reasons, but most of the looks all of these guys were getting seemed to be positive.

It's always a reaffirming thing to see. Even if it was only because they were all plain gorgeous.

This entry comes as an audio post (140 kb - low quality and it shows; sorry; bandwidth). The events in London have really put my work on hold -- they were a hard thing to ignore -- but I have to make headway, so a time saving audio it must be.

I'm so ready to sleep off this day; it has been more draining than I realised. Two friends were, in fact, affected, but walked away unscathed.

Reassured to know that all of the people I've been able to contact in London are alright, if stuck in funny places as a result of the slew of explosions across the northern part of Zone 1. Explained away initially as the result of a power surge on the Underground, the detonation of an explosive on the upper floor of a double decker bus at Tavistock Square has put paid to that.

Information is sketchy and infuriating; I have no reason to be in a panic myself, but I find this assault on my city disquieting and saddening. Part of me wishes I could be there to document some of it, but I know I'm better off being as removed as I am from home.

People can be so selfish and disappointing.

Though it was, by all accounts, cold, overcast and sometimes windy, a couple of hours were taken out of my working week yesterday when friends drove some two hundred and fifty [thousand] miles over to Cambridge to have a barbecue with me. In some respects, I feel guilty for taking time away from the work I have to do for my thesis, but then overdoing it is a very real possibility, and everyone is entitled to relax every here and there. Especially when four or five people are taking time out their day to do it with you. Hot coals, delectable munchies and a troop of hungry loved ones does plenty to dispel all sorts of grey.

On the camera front, I was asked yesterday (via email) how a student could afford the hefty price tag of Canon's EOS 10D (originally £1275 ex. VAT). There's only one answer: eBay!

In July 2004, I learned that the model was to be superseded by the most luscious EOS 20D come August; I figured that some professionals would be selling off their "outdated equipment" (it's so sinful), so I sold an ancient SLR body to raise capital, ate cornflakes and endured scurvy for two months, taught some extra developmental biology classes to undergraduates, and then sat at my computer waiting for something to happen.
Within two weeks of the 20D coming out, there were dozens of 10D bodies on eBay at shocking prices; I got mine for less than the more recent, non-professional EOS 300D (itself superseded by the new entry level 350D - mrrow!) still sells for on eBay when second-hand, despite its being a more rugged camera (magnesium alloy versus aluminium-plastic body), if functionally similar. Savings: greater than £725, and the seller threw in extra parts when he discovered I was a student - I finally came to understand the true value of market research and cutting-edge professionals with a heart.

Watching the A380 take off was just incredible. Though I may be a retired [closet] aeroplane spotter, the beasts are still heart-gripping, and seeing her maiden flight streamed live was enough to make me well up just a little. To answer the reporter's question, they'll have the undercarriage down for pretty much the entire flight bar a high-altitude test of the wheel mechanisms; this appears to be a standard that can be seen in video footage going back to the seventies and beyond... aieee!

Now if I could just pick up some tickets to Singapore for late 2006...

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[EDIT] I missed the landing (mentioned in the comments), alas, but for a cause that many people will approve. Yes indeed, today Kim Cattrall put her hand up my shirt.

Okay, so that part's not true, but she could have had I been more opportunistic.

I'm greatly reassured that my understanding of British political party politics isn't quite in the toilet yet; since online questionnaires are utterly infallible and always spot-on correct, it's fair reason that the following example be shared with anyone voting in the upcoming election. Though traditionally a Labour supporter, I suspected that I might end up a Liberal Democrat, and sure enough, did. I feel kind of dirty.

	Labour 4
Conservative -30
	Liberal Democrat 32
UK Independence Party -17
	Green 20

The LibDems take a strong stand against tax cuts and a strong one in favour of public services: they would make long-term residential care for the elderly free across the UK, and scrap university tuition fees. They are in favour of a ban on smoking in public places, but would relax laws on cannabis. They propose to change vehicle taxation to be based on usage rather than ownership.

Take the test at Who Should You Vote For

Dear Masochists,

It is time to nominate this year's Christmas carol.

Thank you,

Hapless Victim.

EDIT: Following an email enquiry: You are nominating a carol for ME TO SING, as last year!

Yes Quin, I wish they'd bug off too; too many memories of answering the door in my underpants, only to be simultaneously blasted by icy-cold air and a group of trillers too busy singing their piece to give me a chance to run and put something on. "No, you can't have any change, but if you like you can see just how hard nipples can get when snap frozen to 0°C."

A pile of the white stuff arrived overnight. No, not Colombia's finest, but about 3 inches of snow, which is even more fun. Alas, my commute is three minutes on foot, so today will not be a snow day.

It's nearly three and I haven't even begun to feel tired; after polishing off half a bottle of Colombier during the afternoon, and spending a rather lengthy period of time over an exquisite dinner, Japanese at a jazzy place called Nobu, before drifting through the met bar (not my thing), I'd expected to feel a little more sleepy than I do. Alas.

In any case, back in the warm and dry; the season's festivities are over, the living space is fairly clean, and almost everything has returned to normal in the Robinson household. The giant redwood in the basement notwithstanding. As usual, a hundred and three photographs to document the proceedings - patchily distributed - and I've finally brought myself around to looking at them. This one I liked; it features the huggable monkey-girl responsible for my continued existence, foiling, as she did, one of my many spectacular attempts to nix myself. Sweet guardian of the demented.

And this one, taken earlier today, highlights one of the most novel pairs of socks I've ever received in a Christmas stocking; I don't mean the hallucinogenic coloured stripes or the glitter - lookit, toes! I used to sense something sinister in mittens for their lack of fingers. Well, it works the other way too; I look down and feel like a minion of the underlord. Delighted.

From a colleague:
In a weird addition to an experiment i'm doing i need to use some sound clips that are associated with different emotions. I could do with any suggestions you might have; basically, if you can think of any sounds you might associate with -
Fear (e.g. thunder? gunfire?)
Disgust
Anger
Happiness
Sadness
Surprise

- it would be most helpful! Thanks people!

Apparently there are Cliff Richard records which cover fear, disgust, anger and sadness, but individual ideas are preferable. There we go; all suggestions welcome. And if you're reading this at work, I suggest that the least you can do is lend him some of your processing power.