Frizzworld

Been listening to demo’s (still at the Apple Store). Some good, some not. Ears hurt a bit. If you are in town over the next few days check out City Showcase – there’s lots of new music being played in shops – quite fun.

To prove a point… last Saturday Sandy, I and a friend went for a walk… an hours walk turned into a glorious four hour walk… if there had been parking charges, it just wouldn’t have happened…

OK, so it’s always been free to park in Richmond Park and now the government is proposing to start charging.  The park has pretty poor to non-existent public transport.  It’s also the place to bring bikes – A and I taught John to cycle without stabilizers  (well mostly A).  That day we had two small children, two bikes and Sandy – how we would have got there without a car I have no idea.  The walk from the gate is in inself longer than the kids could manage.  It’s a marvelously large park, I think at least three times the size of Hampstead Heath (as per D’s map of London at the weekend). Lots and lots of locals who live just that little bit too far to walk to the park take their dogs there everyday.  It’s safe for them to walk, their dogs can be off the lead, and away from traffic.  The  proposal is to start charging by the hour at rates in line with roads in local areas eg. Richmond and Kingston.  If you use the Park on a regular basis to walk your dog or just yourself that could mean something like £400 a  year or more.

The argument is that it will mean less traffic in the Park.  But also part of the proposal is to start to allow private taxis to use the park.  OK so you can then go to the park if you can either afford to pay for the car park or afford to arrive in a taxi.  The reality will be that the taxis will use the Park as a cut through avoiding traffic outside the Park.  This seems kinda crazy.

One of the best things about the Park is that the whole experience is stress free – an evening walk can be half an hour, two hours or even three hours.  Having to have the right change to pay or getting back before the hour is out – is just against everything the Park has always been about – it’s about exploring the park and going where the path takes you.  Richmond Park is not like other Royal Parks – it’s more like a Common.

What can you do?

Respond to the consultation paper – has to be done by the 1st May

Sign the petition: on the number 10 site

Sign the petition on Susan Kramer’s site

Join the Facebook group

Walked into the tube station reading (haven’t done that in a while) and this lovely Labrador comes up to me and sniffs me and I think how sweet and then I think it’s owner should really keep the lead a bit shorter and then it’s ‘owner’ tells me to move on, which I think is a bit forward.  Book down – I realize it’s a police dog and I’m being sniffed for drugs, explosives, who knows… just curious was it smelling Sandy or something else?

If ever there was a day to make me claustrophobic this would be it.  I made my way down into a hospital basement.  Used a toilet that was lit with ultraviolet light for “clinical and safety” reasons (anyone heard of this?)  Then found where I was supposed to be, as an aside it turned out to be a private unit, there was a magic door which took me from grim public building to smart office reception (white walls with modern art, smiling staff). I was there to have an MRI (see I got to the claustrophobic bit eventually).  I’ve had MRI’s before, they were short-ish.  This one took the best part of an hour, that’s an awful long time to spend in a tunnel not much wider than my body, I defy anyone not to have a glimmer of claustrophobia as they are projected into the white space. The autogenic training came into it’s own.  Tip if you have to have an MRI ask for earplugs, makes a big difference.  So after an age in the tunnel (makes me shudder just thinking about it) they gave me an injection and some other things I’ll save you from knowing.  Then back into the tunnel.  Then when it was all over and I got up, my eyes (which are doing weird things anyway) wouldn’t focus (I was in my own tunnel of blurredness), so they checked me out and had me lying down and it turned out to be a rare side effect of the drug they had injected.  Relief.  Forty-five minutes later it had mostly worn off and I made my way late, to a meeting… only to have someone pull the emergency handle on the tube (high-pitched bleeping noise) and the train come to a halt… There was a noticeable panic on my fellow passengers faces.  My thoughts went straight back to being in the MRI and suddenly I couldn’t help but see the similarities, only I was underground.  Really, it didn’t feel like a good idea.  It turned out to be a kid in my carriage that had pulled the lever by accident. Relief.  I think I might take the bus home.

The park is looking lovely…. all afternoon tea colours… orange, pink and yellow.

March for Tibet – tomorrow in London.

I’m feeling rather proud. I managed to complete my first march… from beginning to end in the actual crowd, not off on the sidelines somewhere, leaving before the end, or only arriving after it’s finished – all things I’ve done in the past. I have a problem with marches they make me feel uncomfortable, I think it was passed down to me through my mothers milk. So true to form when the march started I had this almost overwhelming sensation to ‘get the hell out of there’, but as I said I stood my ground, it helped that the atmosphere couldn’t have been more friendly. Hearing the first car that slowed down to honk in support had a real feel good factor feeling – as did the woman watching us go by clapping. What was sad though was the poultry paltry numbers that turned up, we certainly weren’t a million women rising, we weren’t even close to the expected twenty thousand.

As a side point it was great to be able to walk along Park Lane and Piccadilly in the road – much better to see all those incredible buildings. And the best was Hyde Park Corner.

Banana Republic’s new London store opens March 20th on Regents Street. Start saving?  Last time I was in the States I thought it was a bit over priced – for a Gap store - you know what I mean.  Still they had some lovely things, a bag I fell in love with, but even after checking it out in a zillion stores, I resisted, because as I say it was just that bit pricey for what it was.  So I’m curious if you just did a straight swap $’s for £’s, which is what so often seems to happen, it’s going to be expensive.