Due to popular demand… Many people have asked… Someone idly asked yesterday… ‘when would this series continue?’ And so, because I am here to give the people what they want, here is what happened on the day The Colonial Went to the B.N.G.

Arising around 8:00 (although the notes for the day state an uncertainty about that time), St. Pancras International Rail Terminal is headed for, with a desire to locate coffee and food. Also, connectivity to confirm that Trudi Topham is still meeting me for the purpose of both delivering some material to me which has been ordered from both small publishers as well as through Amazon UK (which wasn’t available through Canadian sources; mostly books with different editions and/or covers), as well as accompanying me around the National Gallery.

Happily, one can check e-mail over breakfast of coffee and muffin-thing, as St. Pancras Station has free Wi-Fi! HUZZAH!

Sadly, Trudi is at King’s Cross Station on the other side of Pancras Road, but I’m able to see the grandness of this international terminal with its impressive roof of the Train Shed [image, left] which was designed by William Henry Barlow (who’s been immortalised in a statue in the Station). So, in the end, NICE!

I wander across the road, and — after working my way through a teeming mass of humanity down the entire King’s bloody Cross Station’s bloody warren of platforms and levels — locate the lady herself, complete with massive box of books. Huzzah! We head to hotel, dump the shit in my room, and then head to the wilds of the underground, where I buy an Oyster Card so as to be able to move about easily on any number of methods of available public transportation without the need to ensure my tickets not expired, correct change, and so on. For anyone visiting London, this is a boon, as you are only charged for the tickets you would normally need, but the most you can ever pay per day with this card is the maximum daily charge for unlimited use of the system and that flat rate is less than the cost of several tickets. If you plan to use the tube or the bus more than three times a day (go somewhere, go somewhere else, return to where you began), you’ve just saved money, and all you had to worry about was slapping your card on a big yellow disc when entering the tube or when both getting on and off a bus. Brilliant! Get one and make your visit to the City of Western Culture a breeze. You’ll thank me for it, I’m telling you!

The card, oddly, comes in a little yellow wallet with an advert for IKEA on the back. “Oh…! It’s got IKEA on it”, I remark to Trudi, whereupon we say “Oooooooo-OOOOOO!” at each other. Why it’s called an “Oyster Card” and not a BLAN or TORVELD as a consequence of the IKEA sponsorship is good for a few minutes of discussion. It may have something to do with IKEA’s brand-new Family Mobile — a virtual mobile phone network — but I suspect the new London Buses will be built from flat-pack kits. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s reported that there’s to be a new book in the “Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” series (and thereby making a total of six in the trilogy).

Can someone explain what’s wrong with ‘leaving well enough alone’? The Bond novels, the the original Star Wars trilogy, the Silmarillion, the semi-recent sequel to Gone With the Wind… WHY? What more can be added to something that is perfect ‘as is’?

I’ve not read Adams’s work which was left un-finished on his Mac that was published posthumously, and I understand from those who’ve read it that I’m not missing much. ‘A nice start’ was the best reaction to it I got.

WHY???? Are we all fractious ten-year-olds who have become so spoilt that our demands of ‘want more!’ are catered to with the least provocation? Why can’t we shut up and go to bed on time?

Taking some time to tidy-up the office over this Holiday Week-End, I discovered the 90 second promotional film below. This was probably used originally as part of the material shown at cinemas prior to the feature film, and proves just how early Humdrumming dedicated itself to providing well-bound books to the discerning reader.

Head here: Choosing a Strong Book

An idea I have regarding the dimension of books and the inter-relationship of price with same.