Simon Rumble’s blog

Last Friday, Holly and I managed to make it along to a party on the Circle Line. For those who don't know London, the Circle Line is the tube line that loops around the centre of London, the party advantages of which I'll explain later.

Anyway, the premise of the party was for people to turn up in disguise, looking like ordinary commuters on their way home. The crew who organised it, Space Hijackers, have done it once before on a much smaller scale. Internet-speed communications meant that word on this one spread like wildfire and they estimate about 600 people turned up!

Holly and I were actually a bit miffed because we'd bought tickets to see Tipsy, a San Franciscan space-age pop band on DJ Spooky's Asphodel label. I'd booked these about a week before finding out about the Circle Line party and Tipsy were certainly on my "must see" band, particularly with Luke Vibert DJing.

So anyway, we go to the gig. It actually turned out to be a bit of a fizzer. They hadn't sold many tickets, evidently, and in the cavernous Queen Elizabeth Hall, the atmosphere was, shall we say, sparse. Anyway, after Tipsy's remarkably short set, we figured bugger it and headed across the bridge to Embankment tube station to see if we could find the party.

Now the Circle Line is pretty big and it would take about 45 minutes to make a full circuit, so our chances of catching the party were pretty slim. Regardless we thought we'd try. As we descended into the station, a train pulled in. We ran down to check it out and it wasn't the right one. However, the train that pulled in on the opposite platform actually was! Amazing. So we sprinted up and over to just make it onto the train. What's more, a couple of stops later we wandered further down the train and managed to find a bunch of our mates.

So we made it, and it was excellent. Here's some pictures and reports: http://www.spacehijackers.co.uk/html/projects/circle2/party.html, http://oskarlin.ath.cx/pictures/030314/ and http://community.webshots.com/album/66539919EpQbYH. Fantastic party with music blaring from a guitar amplifier and everyone dancing and singing along.

At Edgeware Road, the train stopped. Clearly the Underground thought this would be a good place to stop the train and get all the revellers off. This is where the choice of the Circle Line is brilliant. The problem with London Underground's plan is that if the train was stopped, every other train on the Circle Line, and the three other lines that share sections of it, would be heavily delayed while ours was taken out of service. So everyone ended going around until Barbican, when the party ended.

Great party and keep an eye out for the next one. I can see this becoming a real tradition!

It's funny what you see going through your web server logs. Whenever you hit a web page, your browser sends the address of the site from which you linked, known as the referrer. This gives the web site owner some idea of who is linking to the site.

Looking through my server logs, I found someone had actually stuck one of my photos into a forum. It's a photo of Holly emerging from the Cu Chi Tunnels near Saigon.

What's really funny about this is that the forum thread is this: Is America Ready for Vietnam War Re-Enactments? Holly and I used to live with a guy who actually did exactly those sort of re-enactments, with all the right GI kit. Of course his re-enactments were in the not particularly authentic jungles of Surrey.

Anyway, due to the way the forum links to the photo, I can replace the image with something else. I was thinking a George Bush/Chimp comparison with "Vote Nader" or something. Anyone got anything cleverer?

Rupert's southern subs are getting their metaphors confused. Fires are supposedly laying "siege" to Sydney. Now we get Fires pound south-west Sydney, which conjures up all sorts of images.

Then again, what can you expect from subs who can't even capitalise South-West correctly?

Well we just arrived back in London. I'm surfing the jetlag express. Oh what fun! Pretty soon, I'll be hallucinating, no doubt. Just as soon as I finish chatting to the purple numbat sitting on my monitor.

Oh dear. I really need to stay up at least 2.5 hours more.

Flight was relatively uneventful. We managed to spend a few hours in Vienna during the (planned) six hour stopover. Nice town! We plan to go back for a long weekend. Reckon winter would be a nice time, with snow and stuff.

Oh there was the small problem of the wings falling off the plane we were supposed to be flying Vienna to London, or whatever "technical problems" really means. We ended up on a little Canadair, and loads of others getting bumped. Finally got to London.

Jetlag permitting, I'll be back at work tomorrow. It doesn't look promising from how I feel right now, but you never know what "sleep of the dead" will do.

Next thing to do is find somewhere to live. Oh joy.

They say travel broadens the mind. Well I guess it does. Tonight I was reminded that the horrors of BBC Radio 1 are nothing compared to the pain of Eurotrash radio stations. Sitting in a pizza joint in Ljubjana we heard over the restaurant's PA the disturbing sounds of Midnight Oil's Beds Are Burning, the Eurodisco cover. Eek! Peter Garrett would be turning in his Australian Conservation Foundation office.

And now I've found the song.

I'm sitting in my hotel room nursing a beer (they stop selling take away beers at 9pm, so it's a minibar one that will have to be replaced before the maid gets here and counts them) and revelling in a wonderful day. I've been out here in Slovenia since last Sunday working for the TV station here. It's been very hectic, but we're making real progress.

Today I spent the day with the production manager, Igor, and his family. We started at 08:30 and went up into the mountains for cross-country skiing. I've only ever been alpine skiing, so this was a new experience for me. After a few pointers, Igor and his wife Biljana took off on the more difficult circuit into the forest. Still trying to get the knack of the technique, I clambered on down the easy run alongside the road. It was mostly downhill, so I made good progress. There were moments when I got the technique down, swishing along at a decent pace, but as quickly as I got into the right rhythm I managed to lose balance and tumble into the snow. Still, I think I'll get the technique with practise. It's good fun and seems like it would be like hiking only with alpine scenery. Something to try again!

The rest of the day was spent with Igor's family. Biljana cooked up a great meal and we sat around chatting and drinking wine for the rest of the afternoon. His kids regalled me with stories of their recent ski trips and practised their (already excellent) English on me.

In other news, my mate Saul has made the news for winning the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for his invention that can mould glasses for less than US$1 a pair, aiming to improve sight around the world. Well done Saul!

I had some frequent flyer points that were about to expire, so we went to Glasgow for the weekend. We had a very nice time in lovely weather, actually warmer than London. The Scottish Riviera?

Anyway, was a great weekend. Got to catch up with Juz and Gav, check out Justine's amazing new apartment in the centre of town. Also saw Thea Gilmore at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut. Worth it just for the venue name!

Photos are here.

I'm off to Ljubljana on Sunday night for two weeks doing test support on a client site. I'm looking forward to seeing a new city and country.

Spring is on its way here in London. Leaving work at 17:30 last night, there was still a glimmer of light on the horizon. Some of the early buds on trees are sprouting and the daffodils are punching their way up. Looking forward to some nicer weather.

And we're moving to Barons Court soonish. It's a much nicer area to our current place and it's about halfway between my work in Wembley and Holly's new job in Balham. Less than ten kilometres each so it'll be a nice cycle commute.

My parents have been in town, though they're heading back to Sydney tonight. We've been out and about a lot, including a week in France and a weekend in Norfolk. This weekend we spent in London.

Yesterday we went to Borough Market and then wandered around the Square Mile. Photos here.

Today we went to Greenwich with Louise, Mike, Deidre, Andy and Lorna. We caught the ferry in and took the scenic route, then had a picnic and went to a pub. A great day but it's perhaps getting a little brisk for picnics. Photos here.