Archive for February, 2007

In some ways, I suppose it was just as well that we were offline last weekend, which was the 13th anniversary of Angie and me getting it together. Being cut off from the virtual world meant that we could spend time with each other in the real world without being distracted by emails etc.

We went for a walk along the Thames from London Bridge eastwards to Rotherhithe, taking in views towards London across the river that we had never seen before. It was a gloriously sunny day, and deliciously warm for early February. The warehouses and docks along the south bank of the river had now been transformed into lovely apartments and housing right up against historic pubs and important archaeological sites.

We came across the Mayflower pub right on the river, where 400 years ago, the Mayflower taking the Pilgrim Fathers to America was berthed. The Rotherhithe Tunnel that now features on daily traffic reports was built by the Brunels, father and son, its location marked by a giant red iron machine that looked like iconic modern art.

For foodies, I really recommend Borough market by London Bridge station on a Saturday. We headed there for lunch after our walk and it was thronging with trendy crowds, buying organic foodstuffs from the stalls and chomping on freshly made roast meat baguettes and spicy oriental barbecued dishes as they strolled along the streets. We had lunch at Fish! Restaurant with superb views of Southwark cathedral through its glass ceiling – I had yummy grilled swordfish and Angie had fish pie, followed by sticky toffee pudding: perfect for a winter’s day.

It was good to be reminded of these things that we’ve always loved doing together (apart from being netheads) – exploring hidden corners of London, taking long walks and indulging in good food!

We woke up this morning to more snow. I was the third person to walk along the pavement outside our house - I could tell from the other two trails of footprints across the snow as I crunched along. Snowflakes blew into my eyes and the whole landscape looked orange and blue as the sun tried to bring us the dawn.

I wrapped up in thermal underwear and several layers of clothing with my woolly hat and gloves and two scarves to stay warm. I felt very brave - like Omar Sharif in Dr Zhivago, trudging through the snow.

And then I find this pic by Chris Caig on the BBC London website of robust Londoners taking a dip in Hampstead Ponds this morning….!

Sigh. I now feel very much less brave - a weedy native of the tropics, shivering in an alien icy landscape.

My name is Yang-May and I’m a netaholic. We lost our broadband connection last week and I found myself having a panic attack. I couldn’t breathe, my gut churned, I felt anxious and stressed. And as with all junkies, Angie was my partner in crime, too and she paced the house, fretting about where we were going to get our fix.

We called our PC repairman like junkies calling their supplier. When Roger arrived, Angie hovered tensely by as he tested the router, checked the wired connections and spoke at length with the broadband help desk. I called in regularly from my office for a moment to moment update. Would we get our supply by the end of the day?

No, Roger said, there was nothing more he could do – the problem was at the supplier end and it would take them a couple of days to give us a call back to let us know when we would be re-connected. A couple of days! Aaaaargh!

Our emails! My blog! YouTube! Shopping on Amazon! My supply of podcasts from iTunes! Angie and I have been in a state of shock since last week. The call from the supplier never came and I have chased in a state of desperation but we are still off-line. Our universe feels like it has come to an end.

But we are going to be strong. I hold in my mind Frank Sinatra in “The Man with the Golden Arm” going cold turkey for days in a locked room and Ewan McGregor in “Trainspotting” being swallowed by his bed as he de-toxed. If they can do it, we can do it.

So I took the opportunity of time offline to express my existential netaholic crisis in art. This post is illustrated with the result of my expressionistic efforts last week of My Hell Without Broadband.

I wouldn’t say we are exactly “clean” as yet. We are hanging on by a thread while we wait for re-connection. And if we have to wait too long, we shall have to change suppliers, whatever the cost…

~~~

PS. To keep Fusion View going, I am writing this on a Word document, taking it in to work on my flash memory stick and uploading it to the blog in my lunch hour.

After post the other week about foul language, racism and the Big Brother hoo-ha, I came across this great spoof of the whole reality TV genre, filmed in a real Ikea store, without the company’s knowledge - with foul language and racism and household fights and everything, handled with just enough realism to shock while being just extreme enough to be clearly satiricial. Interestingly, the video appears to have been posted on YouTube in May last year, long before the current controversy and

I also love the advice session given by the Chinese lady shopper who has somehow got drawn into the “household” drama…

(You need to have the sound switched on on your PC to enjoy the best moments of dialogue on this video.)

Unfortunately, my broadband connection at home seems to be playing up this week so I haven’t been able to to write a detailed post for today. (I’m writing this note quickly from my work PC!)

Things should be back to normal next week so do drop by again then ….