30 Jan 2008

Hometown

I am moving to London and the first place where I have to go on business trip is ... my hometown.

29 Jan 2008

Fulham


Finally I found a room that meets my standards. I am moving to the lovely district Fulham. Don't know if I will stay there a long time. It is quite expensive: £150pw. We'll see!

27 Jan 2008

Wallerstein

The Russian (see contribution: Russian feudalism) passed me the book After Liberalism of politologist Immanuel Wallerstein (I didn't know him). I have read chapter What hope Africa?. Pass you the last paragraph:

"I do not say Africa will inevitably succeed as it tries. Africa has - we all have - at best a fifty-fifty chanse of coming out of this transition with something better. History is not necessarily on our side, and if we think it is, this belief will work against us. But we are all very much an important and integral part of this process. And if we engage in it in the right way, we may indeed achieve the kind of world-system we want. It is around this realization that we must organize our collectie efforts, though the road is hard and the outcome uncertain, the struggle is worth it."

This is almost poetry!

26 Jan 2008

Warmth of the winter sun

What beautiful days I have lived! It now even feels like the winter sun is giving warmth.

It started on Thursday. A wonderful Spanish connection got me to an art exhib in Hayward. Of course I should have taken pictures but I forgot. In my language, we say: it happens to the best. One artist was shaken hands while his hand was full of white paint. I didn't give him my hand, no. One presentation I didn't understand at first: it seemed a fragment of Gladiator. What was the sense of it. Well, the artist had removed all the audience; you just saw Gladiator in an empty theater. I still don't know what the significance might be. But it keeps me thinking. And that's good.

Yesterday evening I have seen No country for old men of the Coen brothers in Kensington Odeon. The movie is very good, the psychopath is extremely well casted, but the script could be a less more polished to me - there were some lose ends.

Afterwards I had champaign in the flat of a friend.

I have cycled too much last days. I'm tired.

24 Jan 2008

Hooray for Cargo


Yesterday's clubbing was definately good. I went to the Cargo, where the entrance and the drinks were for free (the Cargo celebrated it's seventh birthday). The gig was fine, and I enjoyed the words on the background: "in us we trust". I had a nice chat with a Londoner and his American friend. There were lots of French too. French young professionals became the last years more and more keen to leave their country; Sarkozy didn't fall out of the air!

On my way back home, I had for the first time a chat while cycling. I spoke to a girl who headed in the same direction as I did. She is a theater producer and she loves nightcycling as well.

Now I have to write some Google ads. It would be nice that one day a Google ad I have written appears on the right hand side of this blog (don't forget to click on them!).

I like the Google ad on my website:

Erebuni - Russian Cuisine
Erebuni Russian/Armenian Restaurant and Bar in the heart of London
www.erebuni.ltd.uk

I wrote that Hyde Park should more reassemble the parks in Yerevan, and Google brings an ad of an Armenian restaurant very close to Hyde Park. Do not underestimate artificial intelligence!

23 Jan 2008

The Guardian

I have already chosen a newspaper here, The Guardian. Today I enjoyed this article:


For those too young to remember, this is what a recession looks like

Wednesday January 23, 2008

World markets plunge! Newspapers full of down-pointing graphs and City traders with their heads in their hands. Some of us have been here before, specifically from 1989 to 1992, but for those who are in their 20s and unsure of what to expect, here's a beginner's guide to recession ...

Those weekly shopping sessions will seem like a distant memory, and the merits or otherwise of organic food will suddenly appear less pressing. The empty shop on your high street will no longer be automatically taken over by bouffant-haired estate agents who install a latte-making machine and a 6ft-wide TV as a matter of priority. Instead, nothing will happen to it.

That voice on your mobile answerphone that says, "You have ... no new messages" will begin to sound rather sadistic, and your boss will suddenly seem less like David Brent, and more like the angel of death. You won't know where he'll strike next with the fatal words, "Could you just step into my office, I'd like a quick word ..."

Pop-ups won't pop-up so often; newspapers will become thinner. The "50 different ways to brighten up your garden this spring" by a star horticulturalist will become a small article on daffodils written by a subeditor. Your property begins to seem less like a lifeboat and more like a millstone, and a lot of chickens come home to roost. That mate of yours who played guitar in a band - but not very well - suddenly takes up teacher training.

On the brighter side, though, you will no longer be welcomed into people's houses with the dreaded words, "Do you want the guided tour?", and if you are, you can simply ask, "And how much less is it worth now than when you bought it?"

In a recession, it won't be the people who have got the latest "must-have" gadget who do all the talking. Rather, people who know about root vegetables will come into their own; people who know what to do with a scrag end of lamb or how to fix a broken toaster. Triumphalism will be quelled. Interviewers might cut Victoria Beckham off when she starts talking about the latest additions to her wardrobe, and ask instead whether she leaves the bath water in for David.

Recessions encourage imaginative business ideas, novel-reading, cinema-going, and foster music more akin to the blues than the stridency of Madonna. The last one gave us Wagamama, loft living and Every Day is Like Sunday by Morrissey. Fear not, kids. You have nothing to lose but your credit cards.

22 Jan 2008

Russian feudalism


Yesterday evening I had a talk with a Russian who speaks German, English and French. I tried for a little while to continue the conv in Russian but that was way too ambitious. He prefered French, I suppose because the others couldn't understand us. He talked loudly, like Russians do.

He just has finished his PhD about the Russian system and it is strange: his opinions are totally different from what we read in the western newspapers. We read something like Poetin is kind of a dictator. He says no. He says it is the system who rules. The system of the KGB. It is stalinist inside, and it tries to pretend being democratic towards Europe, its main market of oil and gaz. That is his point. The Russian system would now, to please it's clients, say to Putin: go, and enjoy your 40 billion of dollars.

There is no state in Russia, he says. A state is something based on abstract principles of a functional differentiation. The state is separated from the economy. Not in Russia. Politics, military power and economy always have been strengled, just until today. It is a feudal village. It is like a dog with a long neck, that let himself call a giraffe, but it remains a dog. The feudal system pretends to be a state.

I didn't agree with him. I think some tsars, I think Stalin, I think Putin as personalities emerge above the "feudal system". And I think the sovjet system was more a state than feudalism. The Russian was a Hegel-adept (see picture). I am not. I couldn't remember when it was the last time I have been discussing philosophy.

20 Jan 2008

Upmarket

This afternoon I visited Upmarket, in the east of Central London, a part of the town I fancy. They sell strange stuff, like movies from the Balkan, or 70s underwear. The food over there really looks gorgeous.

Most of the things are artisanal clothes. I have spoken to a friendly Dutchman who attaches capes to suit vests, the combination looks special. As soon as he has a website, I will make a link.

Yesterday evening I tried to club in the After Skool Klub. It took me four minutes to realise I was the only one over there without a face piercing and then I was gone. I considered another club - somebody I know was yesterday as well in No 5 as in Chinawhite - but it was queuing everywhere and I am not born for that. I absorbed the uncomparable saterday night energy that was out on the streets and cycled around. The more I cycle, the more I appreciate this city.

Cyclers are a kind of subculture in London. Some wear short pants in the month of Jan. And they go way too fast for considering it as a means of transport. Two days ago, I was pacing nicely along the Thames when somebody showed up a lot quicker. On a mountainbike! I could not let this happen, so i shifted towards my biggest gear, I put my arms on my triatlon handset and I passed him so fast he couldn't even smell my ass.

My Blackberry doesn't find GPS-satellites any longer (there is still the maps application). The good thing is: in Central London I find my way already. But the problem obviously needs to be fixed.

19 Jan 2008

Blogging friend

Yesterday I have met another London blogger (Strange Maps) with a weblog way more interesting than this one. Certainly because I have a map-love myself.

17 Jan 2008

The Horn


I am a little bit ashamed. Normally I follow what is happening in Africa, but yesterday I passed an African manifestation without knowing what was going on. It was at the same time in favor of the people of Ethiopia as of Somalia. The horn of Africa. If a visitor of this blog can inform me?

In the morning I see the sun arising above London. At the other side, I see the city-skyline.

Chinatown looks stupid to me. The houses are too English to put Chinese constructions in between.

16 Jan 2008

First time clubbing


I went to Notting Hill (the rich and would be trendy region) yesterday evening. Last time I was there, it was with Madonna. She asked me: Max, do you pass the night with me? I said: No Madonna, you are too old now!

But yesterday, in the Notting Hill Arts Club, she wasn't there. I've met 4 Finnish photography students - didn't know that Scandinavian ladies could dance so well - and had a great time. They learned me to curse in Finnish, something like Bergele, but you have to say it with the right intonation.

The young and hip London-Indians were well presented in the club. Logic, it was a Bombay-Bronx evening. Lot's of hip-hop and now and then something that sounded Indian. The place wasn't overcrowded; it was pleasant.

On my way home I discovered how gorgious nightcycling is in London. I could think of only three things in life that are better. You can guess in the comments.

15 Jan 2008

Walkers

One of the interesting things in a new country are the new products in the supermarket. Biggest discovery so far: a meta-packet of crisps. it is a bi-ig packet, not with crisps itself, but with 26 little packs of crisps in all flavours. It is about the most decadent thing I have ever seen in my life. Of course I have bought one. Or do I have to say: I have bought 26 of them?

(yes indeed: when I take pictures with my Blackberry, I should try to keep my hands in rest so the picture is sharp)

14 Jan 2008

Hyde Park

Here it is, my first Blackberry picture. You don't need to be a connaisseur of photography to state it is a dark hole, and there is not enough contrast. I agree. This is Hyde Park (the big park in the centre of London) at night. Yep indeed: new eyes see new things. Like: why is there no evening lightning in the park? Red Ken should go to Yerevan, the nice capital of Armenia. The parks are the best places to go in the evening. Lots of kiosks are selling drinks. Little tabels are everywhere. Off course in Yerevan, the evenings are smooth from April on. And there is less rain.

I wonder how Central Park is doing at night. Is there a visitor of this blog who can tell me?

Blackberry

I won't get lost in London any longer thanks to my Blackberry 8310 GPS. Yihaa. It wasn't easy to obtain one, as I needed a British bank account. So first I headed to NatWest. Poor bank. They were not able to give me an account as they had no official proof of my London address. Lloyds TSB did better: they gave me a current account without credit facilities (I don't need them, not yet). I can do internetbanking with Lloyds TBS just with a username and a password. Very weird, like it is webmail. No digital key at all.

The Londoners believe they are about the most advanced people in the universe. But they aren't. For example there grocery stores ... they are behind in comparison with the continent. They really shouldn't exagerate.

Waiting for me: the heavy job to learn to use the Blackberry. I am not very talented when it comes to handheld devices. But I am very motivated!

And I am getting good on the bike. I am positively surprised by the speed of the other bikers. They are really fast!!

13 Jan 2008

To all new arrivals

How does it feel, arriving in London when you intend to live over there? I still don't know. When I got out of the Eurostar - now at Charing Cross, the official centre of London - I took my bike out of my expensive bicycle bag, put my wheels in the frame and checked my gear system. Everything worked.

Cycling is superior on public transport. You have the feeling of control. I decide my direction and my pace. And I will never go faster than my heart allows. Yes, all this is metaphoric!

I had to ask where the river was. A man said it took a long ride. I said I have long legs, which is fully true. He on the other hand, he lied: the ride wasn't long at all. He doesn't know what cycling is.

I wonder if there is one of all the cycling heroes of London that grew up here. I'm betting no! This city imported them.

The river was only two miles further. I followed it another two miles and arrived at Vauxhall, where I had to be. Vauxhall lies at the river but at the wrong side: south. Central as it is it could do with some gentrification.

The Royal Vauxhall Tavern is a big gay bar with the same name. If I was gay, one thing I know for sure: I wouldn't go to that bar. I don't know where the homosexuals of MI6 head for. I think Soho, altough MI6 is also in Vauxhall.

If I meet the real Bond, I'm gonna report it to you. And if I see him entering the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, I have big scoop!

Hope I find a way tomorrow to upload own pictures.