Exceptions

I'm always surprised when reading what one might call "the gay personals" at the absolute nature of some people's demands.


They don't quite say "No Blacks, No Gypsies, No Asians", but it's not far off (in fact, some of them do say utterly appalling things like that).


But as well as being indicative of a repellent brain/personality, I'm always struck by how impossible I find it to make such sweeping generalisations.


Not because I'm an angel (Hell, no), but because I have been blessed with an all-encompassing lust.


That means even such potentially unpromising looks as "ginger and freckles" can be a bit of a turn-on.


As, indeed, here.


If I were describing my Ideal Man (assuming Keanu wasn't available, of course), I suspect I wouldn't necessarily put "ginger and freckles" towards the top.


But we can all now see how foolish that might be, when this lovely chap might have been willing and available, only to be turned away by my own slimey prejudices.


Heaven forbid I ever put him -- or me -- in that position.




Though, to be frank, his winkie is a bit on the giant side for my tastes...

Niiice

Am coming to the end of more than a fortnight off work, so feeling all relaxed and stretchy:


I think the sun helps add to this mood, too.

Oh yes.

What I did on my holidays

A few days in Paris, visiting friends and doing the usual touristy things:


Travel by Eurostar, of course, which, despite their best attempts to turn it into some hideous airline-style experience, is still a remarkably civilised way to travel:


There's even a bat-squeak of romance left...

And once in Paris there's fortunately no escaping from many traditional elements of La France:


Many French buildings have a formal, Classical monumentality missing from their English equivalents:


Although sometimes that Classicism topples over into glorious pastiche:


Celebrated on one or other of my blogs before, Paris's promenade plantée is a delightful re-use of a redundant railway viaduct:


The joys of the aerial park contrast sharply with the heavy monumentality of the viaduct's engineering:


But this post is in danger of becoming one long boast, so let's finish with French food -- in this, one of the most joyfully over-the-top restaurants in the city:


Well of course I had to have lunch at Le Train Bleu.

Floating above Paris

Paris has all sorts of pleasures to offer, of course, but for a train geek like me there are very special joys to be had. I'm a bit of a fan of the overhead bits of the Metro -- like this section of Line 2:


There's something joyful about standing above the city, waiting for your train to arrive:


Er... except, of course, that one is arriving at the other platform, Metro trains driving on the right (unlike French mainline trains which, in unacknowledged homage to the influence of British railway engineering, drive on the left).


Many Parisian overhead stations have a lightness and transparency to them (unlike, say, Chicago's, which seem to hunker down beneath the sheer weight of skyscrapery architecture looming overhead) -- here at Barbès-Rochechouart:


As is often the case, paying attention to the detail is rewarded:


Some rather sensitive rebuilding and restoration work has gone on -- the traditional-looking railings in this image are actually rather Modern affairs made of lovely-looking stainless steel:


The trains themselves are also being modernised -- the old, 1960s MF67s being replaced by these rather fine MF2000s, which feature vast, panoramic windows and a sense of openness (unlike Transport for London's rather wretched new fleets which seem to be reducing the amount of glass to the minimum possible):


Although the stations feel light and airy, there is no disguising the heavyweight civil engineering involved in carrying the Metro over the streets of Paris:


But the wide boulevards enable the viaducts to slot in without overwhelming the streets:


There's also no disguising the steepness of some of the gradients, though, and I wonder how steam traction coped with stretches such as this:


And there's something vaguely anticlimactic when the system finally burrows into the ground, leaving behind the panoramic views and the sense of floating above Paris:


God, I am such a geek.

I'm outta here!

Right, that's it: I'm off for a few days.


Don't look surprised -- I haven't been away for ages. It's time for some R&R.


And a couple of days in a different environment will be a refreshing change for me.


I should be back, posting away, on Monday. Or possibly a little bit before. But not much. In the meantime you can amuse yourselves by guessing where I'm going.



PS: Don't forget, your comments won't be published until I get back (those mad automated spammers are still very active, I'm afraid). So don't keep impatiently pressing the "publish" button. Pip pip!

Kicks arse

If you don't know what this is, you need to get to the cinema as soon as possible:


Kick-Ass (for it is that) is just delightful.


With a Strong Female Lead to end all SFLs, and with enough cartoon violence to make Tarantino weep at his own self-restraint, this big, bouncing cartoon of a movie is just delightful.


Cringe-inducing and wince-making, for sure.

But delightful all the same.


And the fact that it stars hot boy totty Aaron Johnson doesn't harm its appeal either.

Rugger bugger

I've been enjoying this now well-established trend towards "naked calendars" and, unsurprisingly, a number of rugby clubs seem to have enthusiastically embraced it.


I'm not talking about Dieu de Stade here, but more local affairs.


This is a "university" rugby team from somewhere Up North -- Sheffield, I think.


They produce an annual effort that features everything but the cock. Which is a bit disappointing, really.


And also surprising, since elsewhere this team seems only too keen to show off their own and each other's winkies.


This is a trend I thoroughly applaud, and is related to the Death of Privacy on the net.


I love the idea of one (or both) of these chaps deciding to pursue political careers -- could this be their "Bullingdon Club" moment?:


I am utterly in love with this next chap and his exuberant nudity:


And that's before we see the hand of Spiderman entering the frame to milk his tiny winkie:


This next chap appears to be being felt-up by some of his comrades.


Although, in this final shot, I hope they're not laughing at him for the ridiculously shaved appearance of his man-parts:


We can all agree that was a Major Aesthetic Mistake, but one shouldn't be ridiculed in public for such things.

Road to nowhere

I seem to have spent a lot of time changing trains over the past couple of weeks. I'm not complaining about this: I love train journeys, and changing is an opportunity to pause and reflect.


However, I've noticed that a lot of the shiny bridges and walkways that have recently been erected are completely sealed, with no exterior views at all. That makes them feel soul-less and disorientating.


And that's before the disorientation experienced in interchange stations like Stratford -- which despite having millions spent on it seems designed as a sculpture rather than a rational, readable building.


I rather liked the external view of the footbridge at the far end of the Jubilee lines at Stratford -- elegant, functional, easily comprehensible. It's just a pity that the footbridge itself was a sealed box (see photo 2, above).


At Fratton, the new footbridge is a little better -- but the view is blocked by heavy-duty wiring. It's as if we're all prisoners being herded from one secure area to another, not to be trusted:


Contrast that with this ancient footbridge at Cosham, accessible from both the main road and the platforms (to allow everyone to cross the railway line when the level crossing is closed):


It's easily readable, totally comprehensible, and absolutely orientable -- you never experience a momentary sense of panic at being lost or disoriented while using this structure.


Of course, I'd add a roof to provide shelter from the rain (although people walking along the pavement to use it have no such shelter). But that's just me being picky.

"And they're orf!"

For my overseas readers, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has finally decided he's ready for a general election (just days before the very last possible date until which he could have waited). In anticipation the Opposition leader has been putting-up posters which, alas for him, have been mercilessly spoofed:


My American friends living in Britain assume this is a presidential-style race, but it really isn't. Although it has been moving in that direction -- hence delightful spoof posters such as that.

Watch out for a slew of exciting new initiatives from Labour including such long-wanted policies as an all-elected second chamber, some form of proportional representation, and movement towards a "living wage". The key question for all these shiny new policies is this: you've been in power for 13 years and haven't bothered to do any of these things (and let's not forget PR was in their 1997 manifesto as a promised commitment). Why didn't you do them years ago? Why should we trust you now?


More annoyingly partisan and childish comments still to come...