Vision In Blue

I went to London to see the queen... well, the queen of children's fiction, J.K. Rowling. The British Library opened their Harry Potter A History Of Magic exhibition last month, and today on Sirius Black's birthday, I went to see it. Muggles wouldn't think anything of it, but when you enter the exhibition you have your bag search by a group of wizards... how did I know this? Well the "security guards" have wands with lights on the end to poke through your bags... I mean, I didn't hear them say lumos, but you've got to imagine that they're so good at it that they don't need to say it out loud anymore. Look up One of the things I like to remember is to always look up. If you don't look up while you're in the gallery then you're going to miss something quite magical. When you queue for entry, look up and you'll see a swarm of winged keys. In the journey portion of the exhibition look up and you'll see open books flyi...

It has been two and a half years since I moved to Bristol. It wasn't all smooth sailing, I lost some sanity somewhere near the beginning, but it's vaguely come back now. At first it was just a place I was living in, now it truly is a place I'm living in. (Same word I know, tricky, just think about it again... it took me a while and I wrote the damn thing!) Anywhere new is always a daunting challenge, there's so much that is different. After a while though, you realise that those differences are both good, and bad. It's never quite like the home you knew, but that isn't actually a bad thing. Bristol in my opinion is London-Lite. It's a bustling place with lots going on but without the hassle of London. Yes you still get the people in a rush, and the slow walking tourists, but everything is just a little bit more laid back than Londoners are used to. Part of me thinks that it's because you can't go anywhere in Bristol without hearing music, ...

There's always something fun to be had in the peculiar and curious. Having just finished London Curiosities by John Wade , I can happily say that this book proves my point. I'm honestly surprised that I knew very little of what was mentioned about London considering my penchant for pointless facts and things that make you go "reeeeeeeeeaaaallly?" One of the things I liked was that we're told the myth and local lore behind some of the oddities. But we're also quickly reminded that little, if any, is provable. It's nice to get the insight into the local area and the local people who probably came up with some of the fanciful ideas. I can almost see an old geezer sitting in a tavern/inn/pub, supping on his pint, regaling some out-of-towners with his idea of how the curio got there, as if it were fact. And that image does make me smile. I did have a little niggle about the book, a couple of times areas/monuments are brought up in a later section, a...

Nerds Assemble! Last weekend I got my nerd on. I was lucky enough to get a friend's plus one to go and see Marvel Universe Live at the O2 in London. Obviously, living in Bristol means that going to London is a bit of a trek, but everyone loves a road trip! My friend kindly offered to drive us up to Hayes and then we trained and tubed it into town. So our adventure was under way with some sunshine and some gossip. Putting the world to rights. Travelling in London I dislike trains with a passion. If I could get the bus everywhere easily then I would. But as long as someone is there to point me in the right direction then it's all good... unless of course you happen to go into London on a day when there are works on. While it's still possible to get around, it generally helps to have that information before you get half way through your journey. So a morning of bad or non-existent announcements and some unhelpful staff really wasn't a fun way to start the d...