Another week another dining hot spot

This week I managed to m eet up with two good friends and ex-Euronews colleagues for a meal on a lovely balmy evening in the heart of London.
Next door to the the Royal Court (where I saw one of my favourite productions Hitchcock Blonde) is the Oriel which offer the atmosphere of a genuine French establishment.

Other news from the week is that Somali TV project may not be dead (it's showing signs of life again) and I'm again providing the Digital Lifestyle with hard hitting reportage.

Vinopolis

So despite it being more than 6 months since Christmas I’m still getting to grips with the presents I received in those long ago winter days one of which was a visit to the above London location where one can stagger through a virtual worldwide wine bar crawl .

Various options are available and on a summers evening it’s fun to visit this part of London (no hangover to report).

Taste of London

Not content with a Saturday indulgence we went off to the lovely Regent’s Park and partook of a traverse of the closed off area that was a Taste of London – great fun it was too with BA in particular doing absolutely no damage to their reputation with a fine spread in their VIP lounge, other notables Debbie and Andrew’s sausages and some fine Rum which we planned to visit again but couldn’t find.
Gordon and Aldo were at the event too- and lesser members of the public looking nice and summery too.

TV spectrum

The move from analogue TV to Digital in the UK will potentially free up valuable radio spectrum and OFCOM are responsible for allocating said freed up spectrum.

There’s a debate going on about the best and most economic (in terms of raising cash for the government) utilisation– the BBC would like to see extra spectrum made available for HD (high definition) TV – is this a good thing? Probably not, will it happen? Really depends on the lobbying and the BBC licence fee settlement. Best method of getting the several Mbits per second required to power the big flat displays are generally understood to be fibre or satellite.

Fire in my heart (of West Ealing)

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Tuesday night demonstrated how quickly fire can take hold.

A burning piece of paper thrown from a loft window, and Ealing fire brigade on the scene to sort it out.

Amazing to see so many people actually talking to each other, hopefully the houses affected were insured!

Devon
So a bit of a gap on the blogging due to a pleasant break in Bideford, had a good look around Westward Ho! and we found a house/cottage to our liking right in the centre of town, we will likely put an offer in but time will tell how the process goes (if it’s still for sale) I gather property buying can be difficult.

This week I’ve had the opportunity to catch up with friends one who I’ve not seen for almost 9 years and others who I worked with until last year.

John is John

So while I was in Hong Kong I used to enjoy my chats with a feed editor who I always thought to be very astute still see him that way but he’s someone who it is said of John is John (it wasn't that one though) – now that doesn’t really mean anything, but on charting his trajectory it occurs to me that there is no inherent advantage in being intelligent (and it is not really achievement for most people).
How do we move on and why do we continue to make the same mistakes, another thought that occurs is that there are (broadly speaking) 2 types of people in the developed world those that consider government/employers/ the establishment are responsible for things and those that try to do things regardless of who might be considered the responsible ‘actors’, I have for far too long been the former but am trying to become the latter.


Restaurants

I’m not sure if it’s a guy thing (think it must be) but both evenings were marked by beer and curries, a very good on here in the heart of London.

Friday night beers

The other socialising started off at Seven dials and I was intrigued by all that has happened in their work lives, since I left my (large) employer about 10 months ago - part of the business is now in the process of being sold to an equity finance company and new management and new structure will be introduced – I was reminded that we (most of us anyway) are only employees and like ‘Ragged trousered philanthropist(s)’ pretty powerless – like Norman Hunter I like to get my retaliation in first. (and it is only now I see what a great name that is, so loaded with meaning).
People re part of larger plans and have to decide how to react but it’s not always easy and I hope it turns out well for those involved.