Another good weekend in the big smoke. The only bad thing is the public transport. It’s not that bad but the distances between places can drain every last bit of energy out of your body. On Saturday I left my house at 12.35 and walked down through Crookes, the University, Division Street, Town, the Peace Gardens, the Winter Gardens, had a 10 minute look in the Art Gallery, bought lunch and still caught my train at 13.27… Go get anywhere in London takes about an hour of your life.. Oh well once in a while it’s ok!

Headed for our regular haunt, the Foundry, where they do a Great Organic lager (I think it’s Pitfield’s lager they sell). Then decided to be slightly decadent by quaffing a bottle of Champers on Hoxton Square. Food and beers later we went to the Cross Central event near King’s Cross. Can’t really remember what/who we saw apart from Spank Rock. But it was a great night. Nice vibe and venue.

Sunday and Monday were spent at the carnival. Sunday we headed to Good Times and the soundsystems in that area.

Monday was crazily busy. Having to walk through police lines to get anywhere was mad and literally spending 30 minutes to get 100m down each road. Still actually saw a bit of the carnival for once, rather than just the soundsystem.

More on flickr. Also had a night out in between in some Arches near to London Bridge which was also a great night. Only 2 weeks til I’m next in London then that’s gonna be it for a while I think! The course starts soon…

Off to London in a bit. Back to the hustle and bustle and away from the peace and tranquility and “other worldness” of the allotment! I’ve never watched Gardeners World before but last night it was a Sheffield special from the Botanical gardens and they also featured the allotments next to mine.

Last weekend was Shefstock, a free festival in the “middle of nowhere” but you could see the M1 about a mile away in the distance which was quite surreal. There was a band tent and about 6 dance tents. We had a lot of fun! No photos unfortunately but maybe some videos of us rolling a hula-hoop down a huge hill will be posted at some point! I’ve spent the best part of the week recovering from that by eating well, visiting the allotments a lot and cycling everywhere!
This weekend I’m also going to the TDK Cross Central event, well tonight actually. Looks like a good line up. I’m sure we will have a good evening! And then a drum n bass night called Traffic tomorrow night. Phew!

I wrote a letter to the Guardian yesterday (ok emailed not wrote) in reference to this Leader article on the state of the UK Economy. I have an issue about the Vested Interests ramping up property prices for their own means. Anyway, I digress. Here is what I wrote

I’m disappointed that you talk about rising house prices and increased mortgage approvals (Twenty years on, Leader, 16th August 2006) as if they were a good thing for the economy. This is a false economy; rising house prices give a false feeling of stability when the economy is built on easily available credit and remortgaging. The Bank of England has an inflation target of 2% which it is currently overshooting. The price of “sofas” (!) may have reduced inflation this month to 2.4% but come this winter millions of people will see inflation busting energy bills, rising unemployment, reduced consumer confidence and wonder why the CPI doesn’t appear to reflect reality.

They actually emailed me back asking for my full address and phone number so I thought it had a chance of getting in. Suffice to say, at 6.30am this morning I sprinted up to the newsagent, bought the paper, excitedly opened it. And nothing. Oh well better luck next time I suppose. As you can see it’s not the most interesting read but the “fiddling” of inflation figures annoys me! Especially when gas prices have gone up 50% this year. It’s all about whats in the basket though.

Also discovered Craig Murray’s blog. He is the ex-Ambassador of Uzbekistan. He wrote about the torture that went on there with the expectation that someone in the foreign office may be interested in doing something about it. Of course, as our government is probably more responsible for terror than many others, they tried to stifle him and smear his reputation. What a great government we have. Anyway in this piece he writes about the so called UK Terror plot and it sums up everything I feel about it. Oh yeah and The Register have an article about how it isn’t exactly easy to produce this liquid explosive on the plane. It’s all a joke.

What else have I found? Well, this girl, “Babs” is going overland to her friend’s wedding in Brisbane. I found out about it through the CAT website (where she works). I’ve looked into this and it’s “easy” to get to Singapore but then there aren’t any boats so it looks like that bit could be impossible/expensive… I’m looking forward to seeing what will happen.

Greg Palast has written a great piece about the “so called” War on Terror and how the fear grips Americans despite nothing happening since September 11th. Whereas millions have no healthcare, people are living in poverty etc. etc. Local politics gets brushed aside while CNN and Fox News beam terror across the airwaves.

Also I’m starting out on a new adventure this September, I’m starting a Masters at the Centre of Alternative Technology in Mid-Wales. The full title is “Msc Architecure: Advanced Environmental and Energy Studies“. Going to be doing it part time, it’s residential so I’ll be ‘holidaying’ (i.e. working) in Wales for the next couple of years. Still, I’m really excited about the challenge, maybe definitely at the end of it I want a new career but I have no idea what yet! Going to be a bit strange being a student again but as its only part time I won’t get a railcard.. Grrr.. Annoying as I’ll have to get the train there everytime.

The modules are a mix of practical information about building Environmentally friendly buildings, Use of solar/wind power, environmental law and polticis, hands-on advice and a 16,000 word thesis at the end.

Hopefull I’ll be able to put my essays/coursework up on the site as a reference for people.

Ok so I’m not a lotto millionnaire (impossible as I don’t play it) and my premium bonds haven’t been picked by Ernie but my photo of the fine Beauty of Bath has been selected as “Pick of the Week” on the Sheffield Phlickrblog!

I don’t think it’s the best photo ever but I suppose it’s topical for this time of year and I like the way the knife is primed and ready to slice it up.