tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53780042011-12-15T03:35:51.538+01:00Wigan ExpressOne man's struggle to come to terms with leaving Wigan.Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.comBlogger1221100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-14981987334997700302007-09-14T10:51:00.000+02:002007-09-14T11:40:42.972+02:00So... no baby yet. If it's not here by Wednesday they're going to get the jump leads out I think. Isobel was induced, too - she came out at a whopping 4.2kg.Talking of Isobel, she's starting a dance class next week. Here in France nothing is simple, though. So when we signed her up for the year we didn't just hand over a cheque: we had to show her certificate of accident insurance (nobody likes Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-23893554079251184892007-09-12T15:15:00.000+02:002007-09-12T15:38:33.974+02:00So... what's been happening with me?Well, I'm still in Paris, and still in the same job (which is a bit of a record for me). I've moved out to the 'burbs though and bought an apartment in a nice leafy suburb. It's good to be out of the city and away from the tramps, the trannies and the dogshit. We used to live in an area that was cosmopolitan to say the least - so it'll be good not to be woken Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-27818492705485109052007-09-12T13:31:00.002+02:002007-09-12T13:38:17.637+02:00Crikey, it's been a long time. June 9th 2006 was the last time I posted here, so I thought I'd bring myself up to date a bit.Wigan Express started as a blog about six years ago now, right when having a blog was quite a hip thing to do (I notice while I'm writing this that the word 'blog' isn't recognised by the Firefox British English spellchecker). But I gave up when blogging was the big thing. Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1118321853795644282005-06-09T14:53:00.000+02:002005-06-09T14:57:33.800+02:00Things I am old enough to remember.Number One - TV1. Three channels2. No TV in the daytime apart from Pebble bloody Mill. I knew it was crap when I was four.3. The test card4. Waiting for the set to warm up5. No remote controls6. Programmes in black and white7. Announcements like 'John Inman is apprearing in Aladdin at the Octogon theatre, Bolton'8. Actors reading the news9. Ken and Deirdre Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1118181771279406862005-06-08T00:02:00.000+02:002005-06-08T00:02:51.283+02:00This is my new nephew, Alex. Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1118138168111357972005-06-07T11:54:00.000+02:002005-06-07T11:56:08.110+02:00But an even more exciting thing happened on Monday, when I became an uncle for the first time. Alex James Steed was born at 11.35 in England, weighing in at a healthy 4kg. Everyone is well, but tired.Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1118138092397949192005-06-07T11:45:00.000+02:002005-06-07T11:54:52.403+02:00Interesting day on Sunday, when we took a trip to the Champs Elysées for a look at the Champs Olympiques, which they did for the Paris 2012 Olympic bid.Basically, what they'd done was transform the whole avenue, from the Place de l'étoile down to below the Rond-Point, into an exhibition of all the Olympic Sports. the most spectacular thing was the running track they'd laid from Avene George V up Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1115977787276703122005-05-13T11:46:00.000+02:002005-05-13T11:49:47.276+02:00You wait ages for a post, then three come along at once.It seems Wigan is going to get its own version of Monopoly after it saw off (what must have been tough) competition from Bolton and Preston.Needless to say, we shall be buying our copy. After all, it'll teach Isobel both how to play Monopoly AND about the geography of the NorthWest's most depressing town. Actually thinking about it, that's Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1115977454469492572005-05-13T11:43:00.000+02:002005-05-13T11:44:14.740+02:00All those people wandering around Manchester carrying 'MUFC NOT FOR SALE' banners haven't quite grasped the idea of a public company, have they?Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1115977372139957552005-05-13T11:41:00.000+02:002005-05-13T11:42:52.146+02:00Well, it went for £67. I did quite well, actually. Two more have been up for sale, and the most either of them has gone for was £40. Wahey!You have to be careful with eBay though - it can take over your life.In other news, my nephew is imminent but not yet here.Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1115121448498713862005-05-03T13:56:00.000+02:002005-05-03T13:57:28.500+02:00Two days and three hours to go, and the mystery package is up to £31. I have a feeling it may go through the roof...Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1115023727064703412005-05-02T10:29:00.000+02:002005-05-02T10:48:47.066+02:00Gosh. No posts for six weeks.What's been happening? Not a lot, frankly. I've been working away, we went to Brittany for the weekend last weekend, and we had some friends over this weekend.One thing that's happened is that I was doing a bit of research into Internet games for one of my clients the other week, and found out about something called Perplex City - which is one of those big puzzle Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1110736914831924262005-03-13T19:01:00.000+01:002005-03-13T19:01:54.830+01:00Isobel's official birthday portrait... Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1110723482857300132005-03-13T15:18:00.000+01:002005-03-13T15:18:02.856+01:00Isobel's Third birthday today - and she wanted to go up the Eiffel Tower for a treat. As you can see, it was a little cold, but here we are looking out over towards where we live.Everything was going swimmingly first thing this morning. Isobel woke up about 7 as usual, and we gave her a new DVD my brother had sent to watch while we got a little bit of a lie-in. Then half an hour later or so she Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1110631029015996782005-03-12T13:37:00.000+01:002005-03-12T13:37:09.016+01:00The IOC were in town this week Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1109721598446710482005-03-02T00:59:00.000+01:002005-03-02T00:59:58.446+01:00Here's an interesting article from the BBC about school dinners. the section about France was written by someone I know!Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1109669048818320112005-03-01T10:11:00.000+01:002005-03-02T00:58:18.343+01:00My parents are here this weekend, so Samantha and I took advantage of a bit of free babysitting to go to the Louvre. It's not a place we could really take Isobel, and I feel a bit guilty for not having been there before.Well, as you can imagine it's huge - and we barely scratched the surface in the time we could decently take advantage of my folks' generosity. But being shallow philistines, we Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1109584154685618572005-02-28T10:48:00.001+01:002005-02-28T10:50:04.346+01:00Samantha and I have been together ten years this week. Which is nice.Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1108257009074941682005-02-13T02:08:00.000+01:002005-02-13T02:10:09.076+01:00When I was a kid, school dinners were school dinners. They consisted of meat pie (what sort of meat exactly was never really discussed), potatoes and vegetables that had been cooked with reference to a calendar rather than a kitchen timer. You ate what was in front of you, and if you were lucky there was some weird psychedelic dessert like blancmange, sponge pudding with pink custard or (and I Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1107768646224144662005-02-07T10:14:00.000+01:002005-02-10T23:28:43.713+01:00No smoke without fire
I have a theory that the cost of living, if you aggregate everything, is pretty much the same all over the world. Take the comparison between Singapore and Sweden, which are at two ends of the spectrum in terms of how their economies are run.
In Sweden, you pay a lot of tax - up to 50 or 60%. But that means healthcare is pretty much free, the transport network is very Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1107506092068291332005-02-04T09:32:00.000+01:002005-02-04T09:34:52.070+01:00Toilet Humour
This internal email was forwarded to me by a friend who'd better remain nameless. I think it speaks for itself:
We have the situation where someone deliberately blocked toilets in both of the Gents situated in the Office area of the factory, sometime between 2.00 and 2.30 pm this afternoon (Wednesday). If you heard a lot of "rustling" (as almost a complete roll of paper was Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1106574966295673802005-01-24T14:55:00.001+01:002005-01-24T14:56:06.296+01:00Bit of a trauma last night. We bought some new furniture at the weekend that necessitated me moving my PC. Not a problem, as it gave me a chance to take the system apart, dust everything down and untangle all the spaghetti at the back.
Everything went swimmingly, until I plugged everything back in and switched on the monitor. Not a sausage.
I eventually tracked the problem down. I’d plugged theJustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1106573825562814682005-01-24T14:36:00.000+01:002005-01-24T14:37:05.563+01:00Only in France
There was a bit of a commotion outside the office today. When I went to look, it turned out it was an office over the other side of the Avenue George V that is on strike, and the noise was the usual picket with megaphones and so on. This is France after all, so there was nothing unusual about that.
Except for one tiny thing. The office over the road is La Croix Rouge Française.
Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1106300642942368732005-01-21T10:38:00.000+01:002005-01-21T10:44:02.943+01:00As I think I may have written here before, I didn’t like living in Singapore much. After all, the country that gave us the merlion as a national symbol can’t really have too much going for it, now can it? And boy, is it humid. All the time.
In fact, apart from a few colleagues, the only thing I really miss about Singapore is the food, which was fantastic. Although I worked a long way out of townJustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1106129443077708992005-01-19T11:10:00.000+01:002005-01-19T11:10:43.076+01:00Yay! I can post pictures to my blog at last. here's one of Isobel wearing a crown she made at playgroup. Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1105350845152194872005-01-10T10:45:00.000+01:002005-01-10T10:55:46.410+01:00I am very lucky.
I have a lovely wife that I finally appreciate for what she's worth, a beautiful daughter with a sunny disposition (and the ability to count up to 24 in French) and a supportive family. I have a nephew on the way, who will be born at the end of May.
I have a job that pays quite well - especially so considering it's not really very hard work. I get to live within walking Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1104831175876343152005-01-04T10:19:00.000+01:002005-01-04T10:32:55.876+01:00So I spoke to one Swedish person yesterday, and one person that lives in Sweden. The Swede had lost a former colleague in Thailand, who was also a distant relative, and the American guy I know who works in the National Archives in Stockholm went to see a colleague to talk about an email she'd sent him before the holidays, only to find out she's dead.
There are 3,000 Swedes dead. It's incredible Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1103275327162880592004-12-17T09:58:00.000+01:002004-12-17T10:23:13.876+01:00Norton? No thanks.
Well there's not point in having this blog if I don't use it to tell you how I feel about things, so here goes.
DO NOT BUY NORTON SECURITY PRODUCTS
They suck. I bought Norton Internet Security 2004 about a year ago, and installed it on my old computer. It worked, kind of. But it slowed everything down so much that I figured after a while that it was more hassle than it was Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1102589645433600112004-12-09T11:39:00.000+01:002004-12-09T11:54:05.433+01:00Seeing SARS
My walk to the Métro on my way home takes me up the Champs Elysées, so as you can imagine I see a few tourists. Usually they're just doing goofy stuff like trying to take photos that won't POSSIBLY work (like a shot of the Arc de Triomphe with the sun in front of them whilst standing in the middle of eight lanes of traffic, or a shot of the Louis Vuitton store (why?) 100m away with Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1102335829302492382004-12-06T13:23:00.000+01:002004-12-06T13:23:49.303+01:00Does not compute
Well, that was a fun weekend. The computer I have at home has been making a terrible noise for some time (imagine the old tone you used to get when the TV stations shut down in the evening), and I thought it was time I did something about it. Now when a computer makes a whining noise it can be one of two things: the cooling fans (which are easy to fix and cheap to replace) or Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1101816084445943942004-11-30T13:00:00.000+01:002004-11-30T13:01:24.446+01:00Quick – pass me a bucket!
I like a nice burger. And every couple of weeks I treat myself to a Suprême Cheese from Quick – the French/Belgian burger chain that knocks McDonalds into a cocked hat.
A couple of weeks ago I got back from my Quick lunch and found I couldn’t concentrate at all. I felt fine physically, but my head was all fuzzy and I simply couldn’t read a brief I got that afternoon. IJustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1101722774722378432004-11-29T11:05:00.000+01:002004-11-29T11:06:34.390+01:00An irritating whine at an ad agency. Who'd a thunk it?
I have a new computer at work. Thinking about it, it’s the first time since I’ve been working as a writer that I’ve had a new one. It’s an IBM, and it’s very nice. Except for one thing: it’s making a very high-pitched whine that is driving me and my colleagues (and probably every dog in the 8th arrondissement) nuts.
I know it’s not Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1101378486959916132004-11-25T11:27:00.000+01:002004-11-25T11:28:06.960+01:00I like this story from the Guardian in the UK.Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1101202992130862012004-11-23T10:19:00.000+01:002004-11-23T10:43:12.130+01:00The picture of health
Until quite recently, and unless you were genuinely very sick, you could often wait over a week to get an appointment with a doctor in the UK. For most people, of course, that meant that they were either recovered from or struck down much worse by their illness, of they'd have to suffer the pain of an ear infection or ingrowing toenail or whatever for ages before it was Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1101115106361503352004-11-22T10:15:00.000+01:002004-11-22T10:23:09.403+01:00Right product, wrong market?
I’m a bit of a radio junkie – and a speech radio junkie at that. I think I mentioned here a couple of years ago that I once found myself on my way out for the evening in Singapore listening on the bus on my walkman to a 30 minute documentary about the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel (as you can imagine I am a whizz at parties). So you can see how deep my Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1100854688899411382004-11-19T09:47:00.002+01:002004-11-19T10:18:06.050+01:00Porn Star names
Do you remember that game you uised to play on slow afternoons at work a few years ago? It was to find your porn star name. What you do is combine your first pet's name with your mother's maiden name, and that's your porn star name. Good for a few giggles.
I was always excused. Not only because my porn star name is crap, but also because my real name apparently sounds like a Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1100512494733596972004-11-15T10:43:00.000+01:002004-11-15T11:00:48.630+01:00Well, we had a lovely weekend - we went to Stockholm for the first time since we left three years ago.
It was a bit weird, as I'm sure you can imagine. It felt in one way that we'd been away for a hundred years - and in others that it was just last week. We caught up with some old friends which was great - and of course bought some of the Swedish things we've missed - like Dumle, bilar, Kalles Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1100011197139908282004-11-09T15:39:00.000+01:002004-11-09T15:39:57.140+01:00Yasser Arafat ruined my lunch
I became an unwitting victim of the Middle East crisis (is the Middle East ever out of crisis?) last week. I know one of the BBC correspondents here in Paris vaguely, and every month or so we have lunch. Unfortunately, it’s a fact of life when you have a job like that that occasionally the news agenda takes over, and our latest lunch date was called off as Arafat Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1099558939484676632004-11-04T09:54:00.000+01:002004-11-04T10:02:19.483+01:00It's curious, but I feel strangely unmoved by the election result. Obviously I'd have been happier if the other guy had won and everythign, but if Bush won by 3,000,000 or so votes on a record turnout, then who am I to argue? After all, you get the government you deserve.
And there are a few chickens that should come home to roost over the next few years (like that budget deficit that will sink Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1099432686069894632004-11-02T22:57:00.000+01:002004-11-02T22:58:06.070+01:00This is from salon
Then there are the dirty tricks which have been cropping up all over the country. In Milwaukee today, Election Protection reports that African American voters received automated phone calls reminding them to vote on November 3. In Ohio and Michigan, automated phone calls allegedly from the Teamsters Union have been directing people to the wrong polling places. In Tuscon, Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1098963013392891972004-10-28T13:30:00.000+02:002004-10-28T13:32:04.556+02:00And if you want to see Bush at his smirking frat boy best, just click hereJustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1098697800236356232004-10-25T11:27:00.001+02:002004-10-26T10:45:09.586+02:00When we lived in Sweden, we had cable TV. It was quite handy, really - as well as getting broadband, we could watch a bunch of TV in English - as the Swedes subtitle rather than dub. But the two channels we were most grateful of were BBC World and BBC Prime. After all, it's always nice to relax with a bit of telly from your own country - even if BBC Prime did show an alarming tendency to show Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1097742090815590522004-10-14T10:15:00.000+02:002004-10-14T10:23:44.850+02:00I try to keep my computer reasonably tidy. I defragment, I delete unnecessary files using the wondows cleanup utility, and I regularly check for spyware and adware. My firewall works wonders and I'm always up to date with my security patches.
My Dad's computer, on the other hand, is struggling. It's old, it's not very powerful, and it's s l o w. Really slow.
So I was looking into ways I can tryJustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1097741692101332762004-10-14T10:14:00.000+02:002004-10-14T10:14:52.100+02:00I found out something interesting(ish) yesterday. The computer giant HP apparently makes a loss or barely breaks even on all its computers and other hardware.
All its profits come from printers, and all the profit in its printers comes from the ink cartridges they sell you for about €30 a pop.
Now I don’t know about you, but I think that’s interesting. Not least because I’ve had two HP printersJustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1097134078985616832004-10-07T09:26:00.000+02:002004-10-07T09:28:40.270+02:00I see Cheney told some bare-faced lies on Tuesday night:
1. That he'd never met Edwards before the debate (a dig at his alleged lack of commitment in the Senate). In fact they'd met at least twice previously.
2. That he'd never suggested a link between Al-Qaida and Iraq. Yeah, right.
These people are liars.Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1096880655076482032004-10-04T10:48:00.000+02:002004-10-04T11:04:15.076+02:00I used to be a teacher long ago. And one of the things that pisses teachers in the UK off more than anything else when they're slogging their guts out every day (not that I was, you understand - I'm talking about GOOD teachers here)is the constant whine of the tabloid press that kids today can't add up, read or tie their shoelaces when they leave school.
It isn't true.
But here in France, it Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1096289364295699872004-09-27T14:44:00.000+02:002004-09-27T14:50:02.310+02:00Here's a strange thing that happened to me today.
I was gaily (not THAT gaily, you understand) working away in the office, when an email arrives from someone at one of our sister agencies in the wonderful world of WPP. Turns out it was sent to me by mistake: the sender had meant to send it to one of their clients with the same surname as me, and our fabulous internal email system had picked my Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1096020816985115212004-09-24T11:56:00.000+02:002004-09-24T12:20:36.983+02:00I have lots of otherwise perfectly sane and rational British friends and relatives who have a terrible superiority complex when it comes to Americans. It's a British thing: the US used to be a colony, they have adapted the English language, they've voted for three consecutive Republican presidents who are fucking idiots - and some Brits like to think they're better than the vulgar Americans.
Me,Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1095671202263365182004-09-20T11:01:00.000+02:002004-09-20T11:06:42.263+02:00Further to yesterday's post, I've found out that the Carousel in the Champ de Mars at the foot of la Tour Eiffel was built in 1913 - so my guess of 100 years wasn't TOO far out...
You can read more about it here.Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1095626688645250042004-09-19T22:43:00.000+02:002004-09-20T10:56:40.536+02:00We took Isobel to see the Eiffel Tower today (not to go up it, mind: at her age the excitement is all about seeing it from the outside. The view from the top is so abstract there wouldn't be any point).
Anyway – she was rather more impressed than I hoped, and it was almost an effort to get her into the playground to run off a bit of steam.
When she'd finished sliding and rocking and climbing, Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1095586770613556232004-09-19T11:35:00.000+02:002004-09-19T11:39:30.613+02:00If ever you wanted to understand the power and importance of branding, you might do worse than consider my relationship with Royal Crown cola. The first time I encountered the brand was in Prague in 1993. I was 21, and was doing my round Europe trip with my friend Gareth. For reasons that are far too long to go into here we were eschewing the normal trains in favour of Business Class on LufthansaJustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1095334463816931942004-09-16T13:19:00.000+02:002004-09-16T13:35:24.960+02:00I went to another of those Expat things last night, this time to the Ritz Hotel, which is latterly famous for being the place rincess Diana had her last meal, but which is one of those big, famous hotels like Raffles, the Savoy, the Waldorf Astoria, the Peninsular and all the rest of it. It's not that often I get to be glamorous these days, so I was quite looking forward to going.
Just like Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1094827505113274522004-09-10T16:40:00.000+02:002004-09-10T16:45:05.113+02:00If you're looking for quality English training at home or work and you live in or near the Swedish capital, Stockholm (in Sweden), you should contact Dave Murphy at Word of Mouth. As well as providing top-quality professional and conversational English training, he's a top bloke. That's Word of Mouth for all your English needs in Sweden.
If that doesn't get him a Google listing, I don't know Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1094031795864341262004-09-01T11:37:00.000+02:002004-09-01T11:43:15.863+02:00If I had any reguular readers, they'd know that I spend ather too much time talking about trains. But since I have no car, trains can sometimes loom large in my life.
Take yesterday, when I took the Eurostar back from the UK to Paris.
It's fab.
But just to redress the balance, I feel I should give a special mention to Avis, who provided me with a Vauxhall Vectra SRi instead of the Vauxhall Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1094020880847924322004-09-01T08:34:00.000+02:002004-09-03T11:12:52.683+02:00If you're an expatriate Brit like me, there are some things about Britain you're guaranteed not to miss (like the London underground, British railways, the Conservative party and carpeted bathrooms) - and an equal number of things you'll miss like crazy (cheese, a nice cup of tea, the BBC, marmite and people smiling).
A friend of a friend has started a service that will make at least one aspect Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1093597460043476602004-08-27T10:54:00.001+02:002004-08-27T13:15:33.346+02:00One of the things about moving so often is that it can be a little hard to make friends in a new city. In Stockholm we were lucky, in that a ready-made supply of what turned out to be very good friends came gift-wrapped when we started our Swedish lessons. In Singapore Isobel was too young for us to think about making friends (and Sam met a lot of people through her mother and baby group). But Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1093428020980916122004-08-25T11:57:00.000+02:002004-08-25T12:00:20.980+02:00Today's the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Paris from the Nazis. I was walking to work this morning down the Champs Elysées and a column of Free French armoured vehicles drove past, which was both a sight and a sound to behold. It's just one of the events scheduled for today, including a huge public ball this evenoing at the Bastille. It's something the French do very well.
But to watch Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1093427605299032382004-08-25T11:52:00.000+02:002004-08-25T11:53:43.456+02:00You may have noticed some ads at the top of my blog. They're all for high-quality products and services, and I highly recommend you click on them.Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1093353442809818622004-08-24T15:16:00.000+02:002004-08-24T15:17:22.810+02:00For reasons too dull to go into here, I've spent a lot of the last couple of weekends on the train.
Last weekend I was on a combination of Virgin, Central and First NorthWestern trains in the UK - while this weekend I've been on the TGV here in France.
You know what I'm going to say, don't you?
The trains in Britain were variable at best. One that I caught from Birmingham to Worcester was Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1092140416625206382004-08-10T14:12:00.000+02:002004-08-10T14:20:16.626+02:00There are many, many reasons why I don't want ever to have to work in London. But here's one of the major ones.
I work in advertising.
People who work in this industry in London are a funny lot. For a start, they think they work in the CENTRE OF THE WORLD, and that anyone anywhere else is a hick. Apart from New York. They may be arrogant, but even they kowtow to our friends in the big apple.
IJustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1091703933354670522004-08-05T13:05:00.000+02:002004-08-05T13:05:33.353+02:00Think kebab and what do you think? If you're British, Swedish, Dutch and probably most European nationalities, you probably think of low-rent fast-food outlets staffed by people of middle-eastern descent basically selling food late at night to drunk people.
Believe me, I've tried to eat a doner kebab from Kebab King in Wigan sober, and it's not a pleasant experience. Actually, it's not that Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1091173552438676542004-07-30T09:39:00.000+02:002004-07-30T09:46:26.433+02:00Etymology corner
The term 'cliché' Note to the Americans: the stress is on the FIRST syllable, not the second. Why not start pronouncing words properly? has its origins in France, as you might expect.
It comes from the era of hot metal printing, when words were literally typeset using metal letters a bit like those John Bull printing sets we all had when we were kids. As you can imagine, Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1091174191416807262004-07-29T09:49:00.000+02:002004-07-30T09:56:31.416+02:00Yesterday I went, with the rest of my team at the agency, to Deauville - a once very chic resort on the Normandy coast. It still has a certain something actually.
We had a jolly nice meal by the seaside, marred only by the fact I really fancied some fruits de mer - but it wasn't really made clear which menu we were ordering from, I wasn't paying and I didn't want to take the piss. Eventually I Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1090915591458356642004-07-27T09:58:00.000+02:002004-07-27T10:06:31.456+02:00Very exciting Parisian day on Sunday. Rollerblading in the morning, then a lovely lunch, followed by a look at the final stage of the Tour de France. Bunt to buggery (hot afternoon), but had a really nice time.
I like it here.
Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1090592031235211592004-07-23T16:01:00.000+02:002004-07-23T16:13:51.236+02:00The office I work in in Paris is about two doors down from the main Louis Vuitton shop. When I arrived this morning (a little later than normal), I noticed there was a bit of a crowd on the pavement outside. For a moment I wondered if there was something going on in the window (like the human statues they used occasionally to have in Singapore), but just as I got to the door of my office, the Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1089719986793661182004-07-13T13:56:00.000+02:002004-07-13T13:59:46.793+02:00Refund news
Following my disastrous experience with Hertz as detailed below, I wrote them a stiff email telling them that this really wasn't the sort of service I expected from them.
I got a reply the other day full of apologies and including a USD50 refund, which I think is just about right. So well done them, and I hope this post redresses the balance.
Still won't be using them again in a Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1089283098242512382004-07-08T12:25:00.000+02:002004-07-08T12:38:18.243+02:00It seems a lifetime ago, but cast your mind back three years. Sam and I were living in Stockholm, Isobel was an as-yet unnanounced lump in her Mummy's tummy, and we went over to the UK to tell everyone the good news.
My Dad lent me his car, so that we could drive down to the south coast and stay with Sam's sister and her boyfriend (the ones that now live 10 minutes away from us in Paris). We gotJustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1089040376388439482004-07-05T17:12:00.000+02:002004-07-05T17:18:10.966+02:00For those of you who need a bit of peace, tranquility and quiet, here's a lovely Flash game called Starry Night that you can play.
It's just one of a whole bunch of games, all of which are worth a look.Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1088585776414184632004-06-30T10:45:00.000+02:002004-06-30T10:58:57.956+02:00***Warning: Geek content below***
Yeserday I made a big decision, and ditched Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer. I've been wanting to do it for ages, but you know how it is: MS products are very familiar, and you think there's no alternative.
These were the main things that had been stopping me:
1. Everyone expects you to send them files in .doc, .xls or .ppt format
2. My Palm syncs with Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1088429780965701642004-06-28T15:29:00.000+02:002004-06-29T13:39:48.876+02:00Had a great time at the end of last week. Sam and I (without Isobel for the first time) went over to Ireland for the wedding of our friend Dave, who we knew in Stockholm.
It all started badly. Being cheap, we'd opted to travel Ryanair, which is one of those no-frills airlines you hear about. They fly from Beauvais Airport, which they rather optimistically call Paris, but which is in fact in the Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1087553389069467812004-06-18T12:09:00.000+02:002004-06-18T12:09:49.070+02:00Things I own but never use
1. A Bluetooth Headset.
2. A Scandinavian Airlines Frequent Flyer card
3. A toaster. You can’t get the bread here
4. An FM/AM walkman
5. A bunch of VHS films
6. Some ties
7. A bamboo steamer
8. A 35mm camera
9. Some earplugs
10. A Swedish/English dictionary
Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1087191992439828572004-06-14T07:45:00.000+02:002004-06-14T07:46:32.440+02:00McDonalds is, along with all the other fast food companies, trying to clean up its act. Go into a McDonalds at the moment anywhere in the world and you’ll see they’re promoting salads, grilled meat, fruit, mineral water and all the rest of it. None of which can be a bad thing.
The company is also a major sponsor of the Euro 2004 football championships. And in France, they’re running a huge Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-108635181148908202004-06-04T14:23:00.000+02:002004-06-04T14:23:31.490+02:00If you want to see what a bunch of arses the BNP are, check out this link.
JULIAN LEPPART - BNP MAYORAL CANDIDATE Interviewed on BBC London radios John Gaunt showJustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1086169993572127692004-06-02T11:35:00.000+02:002004-06-02T11:53:13.573+02:00My postal ballot form arrived yesterday for the European elections. Unusually for me, I was sufficiently organised to arrange a vote this year.
I wasn't sure who to vote for. I've always voted Labour before (the party of the current government). But this time I just couldn't. They've been such a disappointment, constantly chasing the polls instead of doing the right thing, giving Bush legitimacyJustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1086084304339411192004-06-01T12:01:00.001+02:002004-06-01T12:05:04.340+02:00They showed the last episode of 'Friends' on British TV last Friday, apparently. There was the usual wailing and gnashing of teeth.
It wasn't a show I ever made a point of watching (I always found the teeth a little dazzling for regular viewing), but like most people I saw the odd episode and it was pretty funny. Good characters, a good situation and al the rest of it - and there were always a Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1085738162639587602004-05-28T11:54:00.000+02:002004-05-28T11:58:18.843+02:00I've made the exciting discovery that you can see the Eiffel Tower from our front room. Admittedly you have to stand on a ladder and crane your neck somewhat, but you can definitely see the top of it.Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1085651349966725482004-05-27T11:41:00.000+02:002004-05-28T12:02:55.590+02:00I love the Métro.
There, I've said it. Yes, it's smelly and yes it's impossible to negotiate with a wheelchair or a pushchair, but I love it.
I love the fact that the trains have tyres so the ride is smooth. I love the fact that he stations are sometimes so close that you can see people waiting at the next station down the line. I love those little levers that Parisians can flick effortlessly Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1085555441350156632004-05-26T09:10:00.000+02:002004-05-26T09:10:41.350+02:00It’s funny. When I walk around Paris, it all seems very familiar. I know how the Métro works, I know a bit (a bit) of the language and I know basically where everything is in relation to everything else. I’ve been here dozens of times before, and now I live here. Obviously that makes for a rather different experience, but I do feel strangely at home.
When I’ve moved to other countries before, Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1084959417808782222004-05-19T11:22:00.000+02:002004-05-19T11:36:57.806+02:00I seem to take my habits I develop in one job to the next. After I was in Asia, I came back using lots of exclamation marks, which is the done thing there, but it a bit of a faux pas in the UK. They're loolked on with such disdain, in fact, that they're commonly known as 'screamers' or worse still 'dogs' cocks'. I managed to get out of that habit, thank God.
In the UK, I was mostly working on Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-108495564803207892004-05-19T10:28:00.000+02:002004-05-19T10:39:03.040+02:00I got this comment from a reader yesterday. At least it means there are some, I guess.
Here we go - the next Rough Guide to ________
It was an anonymous comment, naturally. Now I don't know why, but I have a funny feeling this person lives within a few km of their parents (or quite possibly with their parents or some surrogate mother of a girlfriend) in some godforsaken area of the UK. Which Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1084787935246823502004-05-17T11:52:00.000+02:002004-05-17T11:58:55.246+02:00Speaking of tiny little scraps of life, Isobel and Sam arrived in Paris on Friday.
Sam liked the apartment, which is a relief, and we had a lovely day on Sunday doing the tourist thing. Isobel had a whale of a time in the Tuileries, riding on the carousel and running about in the sunshine. I think she's going to like it here.Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1084787448348887382004-05-17T11:44:00.000+02:002004-05-17T11:50:48.346+02:00While I was walking to the boulanger on Sunday morning (I know that sounds poncey and 'look at me, aren't I French' but it happens to be true) I spotted a tiny little baby bird that must have fallen out of a nest and was lying on the pavement dead.
I don't know why, but the idea of this tiny little scrap of life that had been snuffed out almost as soon as it had come into the world really got toJustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1084356578903886022004-05-12T12:08:00.000+02:002004-05-12T12:09:38.903+02:00I went to our new apartment last night.
the French take EVERYTHING. There are no light fittings, no bathroom fittings, no curtain rails, nothing.
Ah well. C'est la vie, I guess.Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1084271815293524222004-05-11T12:16:00.000+02:002004-05-11T12:36:55.293+02:00So last Saturday I decide, since the weather was bad here in Paris and I couldn't face a weekend stuck in my room with only CNN for company, to go back and see the family, aho are in the UK until next week, when we move into our new apartment.
I got a cheap flight, and set my alarm so I'd just be able to slip out of the hotel ans onto the Air France bus, which leaves just up the road from Place Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1084176001555834062004-05-10T09:49:00.000+02:002004-05-10T11:15:45.810+02:00Right. This time it's serious. I AM going to keep this blog more up to date, and I AM going to make it interesting, dammit.
Here's interesting fact number one: I now live in Paris. I've been here a week now and I love it. Even though I'm living in a tiny hotel room on my own, and even though I'm eating in McDonalds more than I (or indeed anyone except the population of the midwest) would like - Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1081585291105572992004-04-10T10:21:00.000+02:002004-04-10T10:24:17.793+02:00Well here’s an interesting turn up for the books. Regular readers (and there must be some somewhere, mustn’t there) will remember that I was after a job with Wunderman in Paris a year or so ago, and that I returned from Singapore on the understanding that I’d be getting a job with WPP in France.
Well, one thing didn’t lead to another and I was left high and dry. I ended up working in the agency Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1077027243078545212004-02-17T15:14:00.000+01:002004-02-17T15:15:57.106+01:00Sometimes God moves in mysterious ways. Last week I was told I had to go to some ball or other for a bit of corporate schmoozing. Not my idea of heaven (free booze, admittedly – but also the problem that I can’t get smashed in front of the client), but needs must.
The problem is, I don’t have a dinner suit, and my finances are a little stretched at the moment what with having just moved house (Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1076252993391663712004-02-08T16:09:00.001+01:002004-02-08T16:11:38.403+01:00There was a bit of a disaster here in the UK the other day, when 19 people drowned collecting cockles on Morecambe Bay, which isn’t all that far from where I grew up.
The funny thing about this tragedy was that these people were all Chinese (and the Chinese population in the UK isn’t known for its fondness for shellfish), they were picking cockles at high tide, and it was the middle of the nightJustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1076252984506405872004-02-08T16:09:00.000+01:002004-02-08T16:11:29.513+01:00There was a bit of a disaster here in the UK the other day, when 19 people drowned collecting cockles on Morecambe Bay, which isn’t all that far from where I grew up.
The funny thing about this tragedy was that these people were all Chinese (and the Chinese population in the UK isn’t known for its fondness for shellfish), they were picking cockles at high tide, and it was the middle of the nightJustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1074787454441298432004-01-22T17:04:00.000+01:002004-01-22T17:05:42.590+01:00There’s a story in the papers here in the UK about a girl who was put in prison in Florida for telling the security people at Miami Airport who were screening her luggage to “be careful, because I have three bombs in there.”
From what I gather from the reports, the security guard, seeing that this was a very white, very middle class and very British (not to mention apparently very stupid) girl, Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1074786926856261052004-01-22T16:55:00.000+01:002004-01-22T16:56:54.263+01:00Sorry – haven’t written for a while, because I’ve been busy. It’s quite good actually – I’ve never really had a job where I’ve been busy all the time before. In Sweden and Singapore I spent a lot of time sitting on my thumbs, to be frank – although I did get VERY good at Midtown Madness 2.
We have a flat now in Leeds, which is OK – it’s rented, because we’re not really familiar with the area andJustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1074080918055295772004-01-14T12:48:00.000+01:002004-01-14T12:49:57.513+01:00Bad habits I picked up in Asia:
1. Leaving the whole basket of supermarket shopping on the conveyor belt and expecting the checkout girl to unload it, scan it and pack it
2. Using exclamation marks in copy. They’re almost compulsory in Asia, but not really the done thing here
3. Using the word “rewarding” – although I’ve managed to avoid “indulge”, which is the first refuge of the Asian Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1073397149154898672004-01-06T14:52:00.000+01:002004-01-06T14:53:40.733+01:00Hooray! Have a new job!
Started yesterday at the agency I've been freelancing at for the last few months in Leeds.
Now all I have to do is find somewhere to live...Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1073237409656371142004-01-04T18:30:00.000+01:002004-01-04T18:31:19.670+01:00Sorry - Had a bit of a trauma with the template, so things should be back to normal soon...Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1073231267492478662004-01-04T16:47:00.000+01:002004-01-04T16:48:57.216+01:00I got a DAB digital radio from my lovely wife for Christmas. Apart from the fact I can now get my favourite AM radio station in crystal clear quality, the best thing about it is that you can now get the BBC world service in the UK without having to resort to short wave or t'internet.
I used to listen to the World Service a lot in Singapore (and if you'd heard Mediacorp radio you'd know why), andJustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1071827241659377032003-12-19T10:47:00.000+01:002003-12-19T10:48:15.340+01:00Talking of having a wee, I popped into the gents at Preston station this morning before boarding the Arriva TransPennine TraumaTrain™ for the very last time before Christmas (thank God).
Like a lot of public comfort stations (and with a bladder like mine I've seen a LOT), these have a little chart on the door stating that some lowly, underpaid drone has done his duty in the last hour and checkedJustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1071751282434886642003-12-18T13:41:00.000+01:002003-12-18T13:42:15.356+01:00Things I’ve seen number two: public pissing
Two episodes of broad-daylight urination that stand out:
The first, Stockholm in 2001, at my local systembolaget (state liquor store) – at about 2pm (so broad daylight even in Sweden).
A guy walking out as I was walking in. Business suit, obviously not poor – but clutching the week’s special bottle of gin, whisky, vodka or whatever to his chest like Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1071583292123324792003-12-16T15:01:00.000+01:002003-12-16T15:02:58.170+01:00Things I've seen Number 1
One summer's day in Cambridge, on one of the main shopping streets (opposite John Lewis - but that's not important right now).
A guy accompanied by three women (apparently his wife and two daughters). He was carrying a cup of tea and a handful of those little pots of UHT milk you get.
He opens the tea, pours one of the pots of milk into it, then passes two each to theJustinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1071247305090240302003-12-12T17:41:00.000+01:002003-12-12T17:43:19.030+01:00I know another copywriter, who's looking for some freelance right now. His website (which is jolly good) is www.mighter-than.com.
Obviously you should offer me the work before you give it to him, but he's a good second choice.Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5378004.post-1071228591549076472003-12-12T12:29:00.000+01:002003-12-12T12:30:38.590+01:00However much I moan about the copywriting you see in Britain (like a 48-sheet ad for Tescos that said "Chart CD's"), it's as nothing compared to what you see in Singapore. Like this, which is a press release for some New Year party:
"NEW YEAR STREET PARTY - WED 31 DEC
The whole of Pekin Street is going to be turn into a massive party on New
Years Eve and it is definitely the place to be to Justinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07973817929300637389noreply@blogger.com0