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Below are the 9 most recent journal entries recorded in
jameswebbe's LiveJournal:
| Friday, August 11th, 2006 | | 11:49 am |
Japan Photos For those of you who I have not spoken to since I got back, I had a wonderful time in Japan. Here is a link to some photos: http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jameswebbe/album?.dir=/40d4re2&.src=ph&.tok=phKcwUFBTWspRjEvI have also managed to find a flat in London. It is very expensive, but in a fantastic location. It is in Islington, very close to Angel tube and just round the corner from where certain Anthony Charles Linton Blair used to live. Plus there are two great pubs nearby. What more could you want? | | Sunday, July 30th, 2006 | | 10:33 am |
Result
I managed to get a distinction on that law course thing I have been doing. I was quite chuffed, although it makes no real difference as long as I passed. Work starts in two weeks, during which time I need to fly home from my current location in Beijing, find a flat in London, attend a stag do, go home for my Dad's birthday and star in the inaugurual posse cricket match. No problem! | | Thursday, July 20th, 2006 | | 8:29 pm |
A simple hotel booking
Have you ever wondered whether your hotel will have lost your booking when you arrive? Well a similar thing happen to me and my travel companions here in China the other day when we tried to find Fuzi Miao Youth Hostel in Nanjing. Despite the excellent directions on the web-site we were unable to find the location of our hostel on the ground. We had made a reservation in advance and had even received a confimation booking from the web-site we had used. So, imagine our surprise when we walked into a nearby restaurant to discover from the mobile phone of the person on the desk that the hotel had been "to remove, to demolish, to destroy". This explained not only why we were unable to find the hotel, but also the huge pile of rubble across the street. Bizarrely the phone number we had been giving seemed to still work, and through the assistance of a local student who happened to speak some English we were able to check into a nearby hotel and not lose our valuable $2 deposit we had paid to the considerably less than useless booking web-site. I was unable to ascertain from our student friend how he was able to talk to a man who apparently worked at a hotel which no longer existed, but there we are. Just another day in China, just more confusion. | | Saturday, January 21st, 2006 | | 12:27 pm |
| | Monday, June 13th, 2005 | | 12:06 pm |
Das Ende
Over the past few weeks I have been feeling like Wotan, and just wanting Das Ende. Well now it has come, although not quite in a comparitively dramatic form and the evil that is law exams has come to completion. I don't think I have ever tried to cram so much information into my brain at once, but at least some of it stuck for the period of the examination, which is arguably a good thing.
Now that the exams are over, I can get my life back. I had a most enjoyable weekend. I went punting from the wrong end on Saturday, which was fun, although we almost got our heads chopped off. If you thought that bridges were low over the Cam, you have another thing coming. We were forced to lie down in our punt to get under these ones, which would have been a decidedly cosy experience if there had been more people in the punt!
However, yesterday was the real hectic social day. At the end of our road there was a carnival, The Cowley Road Carnival, in fact, with lots of bands playing and acts performing and shops selling their ethnic wares. We wandered along and soaked it all in, and then went to buy herbs from the garden centre near the mosque. After a spot of late lunch, we had a slight change of scene and went to watch the varsity second team polo match. I had not realised, but there are only four riders on each team. However, the sport is ridiculously expensive on account of the fact that you are supposed to change horses for each Chukkar. A Chukkar lasts seven and a half minutes and there are four of them in the match. They change ends after a goal is scored, which makes it quite confusing to watch if you are not paying attention, as you are not sure which way they are supposed to be running. I cannot claim to be an expert on polo, but it was a fairly low quality match: the riders kept missing the ball, which I'm sure is very difficult to do, but it was a bit lame! Polo may be elitist (and it is), but it is egalitarian: all the players aprat from one were female in this match - there are so few people that can afford to play that they have to make it mixed! Polo is also a participation sport for spectators. At half time, i.e. after the end of the second Chukkar, the spectators are asked to help with the treading in, which means wandering onto the pitch to put back in place any divets. But anyone who has seen Pretty Woman would know that already.
Our socialising did not end there. Claire and I went to a barbeque at Linacre in the evening followed by desserts at Johns with Philip. They have a great tradition in the MCR at John's where they buy in a load of desserts and drink and offer them to students and their guests - it is marvelous. Well after that we went to the Lamb and Flag (effectively John's bar) and had a chat with Philip's French contingent, one of whom has invited Philip to a garden party with the French Ambassador. I would say that it was the kind of thing that could only happen to Philip, but then he's not the one who went to a polo match yesterday. Oh, by the way - the right team won the polo match, although the dark side claim victory in the proper Varsity match a week earlier. Polo is quite fun to watch, so if you get the chance I say go for it, but perhaps maybe try and see a better game than we did: the exciting parts of play were really, well exciting. | | Friday, April 22nd, 2005 | | 12:59 pm |
Group thrills
Matt wanted to establish some 'rules' for the group to stop it descending into absolute chaos. So can I suggest that each entry that someone writes must end with a cliff hanger or at least a mini one, so that someone can then take the story in the direction they want to from there by way of an 'and then'. What do you think people of the group of the thrills? | | Thursday, April 7th, 2005 | | 5:54 pm |
Paris!!
You may not believe this, but I'm in Paris. I was on the way to the library this morning and I bumped into this guy wo said "do you want a first class ticket to Paris, I don't need it". So I asked him why, but before he could answer he had shoved the ticket into hands and ran off. It was really bizarre, but I was kind of stuck with this ticket, so I thought hey why not go to Paris. So I got on a bus went to Heathrow and then sat in a lovely first class seat sipping Champagne all the way. It was amazing. So here I am sitting in an internet cafe wondering what the hell I'm going to do in Paris this evening. I think I shall go to the Opera, that will be fun. Or maybe not. You see you may not believe this because it's not true. It's up to you really. Other things that aren't true would include the following. Hey, it's a real shame I am here in Paris because it means that I can't do my equity coursework which was really enjoyable. Or how about the sentance: reading case reports is fun, that would also fall into the lesser true species of events.
Incidentally I was thinking about writing an online thriller, but I might get a bit too scared, as I tend to confuse fiction with reality sometimes. Online thriller, what do you reckon? | | Friday, March 11th, 2005 | | 4:16 pm |
The Comic Side of Seven Days
Has anyone else purchance happened upon the marvellous televisual work that is "The Comic Side of Seven Days"? It is broadcast upon a channel known by the acronym BBC and the cardinal number 3 which is available through the medium of "freeview" for those of you who shun and abhore the digital age in which we live. I believe it to be the funniest example of comedy I have had the pleasure of experiencing in recent months. Here is but one example:
7 things Ellen MacArthur thought at sea:
Day two : That’s a very pretty bit of sea
Day twelve : Ooh look at that sky
Day twenty : Did I leave the iron on?
Day thirty : I think I’ll grow a beard
Day forty : Am I mental?
Day fifty : No, I’m not mental, I’m a pirate, I’m a pirate, I’m a pirate, I’m a pirate
Day sixty : The fish are staring at me – bad fish
I believe the sixth entry to be the best. Well it is on next week, if you believe the TV planners, so watch it.
Incidentally, Property Law may have induced an insanity-like state in me through extreme boredom. This information may or may not be relevant. | | Tuesday, October 26th, 2004 | | 12:12 pm |
Beer festival
I had the exciting pleasure of attending the seventh Oxford Beer Festival last Friday. Although I was not the only person without a beard and a huge belly who had turned up I was definitely in the minority. The two long lines of kegs served up an amazing variety of ales, stouts and lagers to those who had rented their two pound glasses and purchased their paper money grid which had been specially designed for the occassion. And all this took place under the exquisite plaster work of the nineteenth century town hall. What must those great men of empire have thought if they knew that their dreams of civic union would turn into the backdrop for CD sales, poster sales, toy fairs and the occasional outporing of hops related produce? My personal favourite was the fruits of the labours of Trossachs Craft, whose malty, red, 'Ruby' ale was a real delight. Not far behind was the Rapier of the Norfolk brewery Reepham, a clean-tasting pale ale, with a supposive 'smoky' aftertaste which seemed more reminiscent of Rochefort cheese. I managed to avoid the perils of a heart attack inducing pie from the handily located pie stand, but many of my fellow festival goers seemed to think it was the perfect accompaniment to their seventh pint. Let me leave you in no doubt that it was all in the name of supporting the Campaign for Real Ale and helping our ailing breweries. Or at least that's what I was told myself and anyone else who would listen as I stumbled home across Magdalene bridge and beyond to the Cowley road, contended and satisfied with my adventure into the land of CAMRA. |
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