Cambridge crane, and that's it.. or is it?

Cambridge crane, and that's it.. or is it?
Originally uploaded by Sly Gentleman.

It is a matter of course that when one goes to Cambridge, one dutifully takes pictures of grand churchesque buildings and quaint quasi-English traditional things like women who cycle and cycle and cycle and never stop. Last time I was in Cambridge I took one picture, and it was of a crane. You can probably see it now, if you look closely. Consider the implications of it, and stop being depressed already.

That was the view of the sky at the time, give or take.

Obscurer Oxford buildings

Obscurer Oxford buildings
Originally uploaded by slyguy135.

The new television

The new television
Originally uploaded by slyguy135.

It still is remarkable, but that doesn't mean I have to remark.

Hello chaps, by the by!

Pinyintastic

Pinyintastic
Originally uploaded by slyguy135.

Monsieur Ghee

Monsieur Ghee
Originally uploaded by slyguy135.

Sans glasses! Avec hair! Delightful boy. I love you so much, you crazy narcissist, you.

Just my room actually, pictorially

Just my room actually, pictorially
Originally uploaded by slyguy135.

By the magic of Picasa and digital photography and relative human intelligence and much else besides, I present: very low-resolution, small pictures that could potentially make an impressive panorama of my room if only I was smart enough to know how!

You're welcome.

After wandering (and wondering) for many days in the wilderness, I ended up in Oxford. Knowing Philip Pullman was controlling my movements, I ignored the philosophical difficulties and moved irresistably to the Botanic(al) Gardens. Only some memories remain, which happily ended up on a Sony MemoryDisk [tm] in my possession in JPEG format. What luck! The incident turned me into a joyful, happy-go-lucky hippy, so I share these pictures with all of you. Fly, my pretties, fly! ((c) 2005 All rights reserved). 

"If flowers took over the world". Quite tempting, actually. 

Looks like flowers, dear. 

More bloody flowers? 

Lots of flowers. Uncaring, carefree flowers. 

Why do trees have a special effect on us? Why do I just want to walk up to one and hug it until I get hungry and go eat a burger? Is it for evolutionary reasons? Is it for creationist reasons? Maybe we'll never know... Maybe we'll never know anything. Goddamn. 

A big flower. Or is it a zoom-in on a small flower? Or does it in fact not exist except as part of a Matrix marketing campaign? Maybe we'll never know... (except I assure you it does exist, for crying out loud). 

See, it's in Oxford. I don't lie for fun, you know. Only for business. 

Tiny little flowers (as opposed to tiny big ones). 

As artistic as this photo is, the truth is that people don't look like this (as well as not looking like this). 

This is the colour I would want my car to have. They should really join up with car manufacturers. I'm such an entrepreneurial spirit. 

Goodness, a flower! 

Another plant, but with different colours. 

Whilst solving a crime as part of a sub-plot on the afterlife and how weird it is, I stumbled on tiny little insects that had nothing to do with God, so were probably excised from the published edition. 

It appears to be a plant. 

So apparently I was in Gregynog, Wales for a few days, and in between listening to pleasantly surprisingly interestingly interesting lectures on statistical matters of all sorts, I managed to take some pictures, and some of them appear below, even though they've already been posted. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong. Now that I think about it, I probably am. Oh well. Enjoy them anyway, if you can. 

I didn't know if he was being welcoming or threatening, so I shook his hand anyway. [No, I don't know what the hell it is either. Beyond being a large, concrete hand, smart ass. Did you touch it? No, you didn't. So don't joke about it. Unless you really need to]. 

Moo! Wait a second.... 

Extreme flower close-up! Preview of hard-hitting report on When Flowers Go Bad. I wish it weren't true. 

I was only astonished for a couple of hours or so, and then recovered before taking this photograph. 

A Greek appears unconcerned by the infamous Welsh Eating Tree about to, well, eat him. 

It was very hard to find places that looked as beautiful as this. 

Some Welsh mushrooms can grow so big they are confused with trees. 

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the British Museum in London with a companion. Amongst all this history and incredible examples of international cultures, all I could take pictures of were some plates, a few pieces of Chinese crockery, a board game, and, erm, something unidentifiable at this juncture. You think I'm joking? I am, but if you think I'm lying, then I posted some evidence below to show I'm not.

It looks like the runway for some fleas, or possibly a great place for ants to have a marketplace, but actually, it's neither of these. It's... something else. Shocking, I know. 

A large Chinese vase from a long, long time ago. If you came here for technical details of this stuff, I hope you've learnt your lesson. 

An old Chinese, erm, object, looking much prettier with the effect of lacquer. Whatever it is. (I tried to find out, but couldn't, even after reading about it. There's always a first). 

Lacquer, whatever it is, does create a wonderful effect for any material. 

Board games based on mathematicians have always been a favourite of mine, though I never realised this as I never saw one until I saw this. 

These plates look are very similar to the ones at home, but -- crucial difference! -- they're not ours. They're copies that are much older. Goddamn pirates. 

A tree looking not just tree-like, but snowy-tree-like, which is much more life-affirming. 

Yet Another Picture of Snow and Things Covered in It. Yes. 

Snow picture 4.5 [minimal boringness avoidance strategy activated] 

Snow picture 3 

Snow picture 2 

Snow picture 1 

A melancholy, thoughtful, Pulitzer-prize-winning photo of the bus ride away from the Venetian Republic's capital... damnit, I've forgotten what it's called. Ah, yes, that's right: Venezia! Bella, bella! 

Apparently, this is the apparatus for the local electioneering. Don't ask, because I don't know. Obviously. Some blog-readers nowadays... Not like the good ol' days when they had to be done on typewriters. 

A boat! 

Two ACTs (maybe [perhaps]). 

The local well. 

Another flipping bridge. 

How the Venetian plebs live 180 degrees away. 

How the Venetian plebs live. 

Minaret / beautiful alien communication tower (ACT). 

Venice street. 

Curious shop window. 

Italians walking lemmingly into a poisonous blue log-monster [I had to stop being boring some time]. 

Some nice building. 

Last week I had the privilege of going to Italy for a few days all expenses paid (including some much-needed beers and grappas). It was worth it even including the number of boring speeches I had to go through to reach those beers, the satisfying Italian dinners, or the opportunity to swim in the hotel's outdoor heated pool in the snow. Best of all, by landing in Venice (after a transfer at Milan, lucky me), I could spend a couple of hours there wondering around. I had planned to perhaps go to the ghetto [which was the first one in the world, Jew-baiting fans], or even, if I was fast, to the centre. Instead, I went the wrong way, and ended up in a residential section, carting around my heavy bag across my shoulder. The pain was tempered though by the exquisite beauty of the place, which wasn't any the less for not being touristed (and probably was actually better for it). To prove I was actually there, I should really post some pictures of it. Luckily, I have some in the required digital format, so I share them with you, the world, and my future employer in the marketing industry, as well as some shots of snow-covered Italiana from my hotel balcony. 

A bridge.