tree

Shopping today for a Christmas tree, it turned out that the shop had run out of the netting to make the tree compact for travelling. Apparently this weekend was peak for buying trees in the UK so the shop had to send out for netting from another garden centre.

I've also heard my first proper Christmas carols this weekend..."We Three Kings", sung by some carollers and then "Oh, come all ye faithful." on the television tonight.

The Dorchester

Arriving back at Heathrow in the early hours of Saturday, I then had a fast turnaround before travelling to Central London, to the Dorchester, for lunch. We met there at just after one o'clock and managed to make lunch last until five, before heading from Park Lane across to Chelsea.

The always friendly Dorchester was brightly decked out for Christmas, and the bright sunshine of day when we arrived gave way to the darkness and cold of early eveing by the time we left.

jet

A view from my lounger in JFK Airport, just before the flight back to the UK. After the bustle of checking in without wearing shoes and going through metal detectors and all manner of scanner, its eventually pleasant to land softly in the tranquility of the Terraces lounge. Gentle fountains, chirping birds and mood lighting convey a sense of ease. To relax with a cocktail makes a pleasant way to ease into the overnight flight back to London.

no copy whatsoever

I see that the New York Times has evaluated the differences between Microsoft Vista and Apple OS X and made a helpful video.

They report that some are saying that Microsoft's new Aero interface in Vista is a copy of the Apple's Aqua.

Maybe Microsoft did rename "My Documents" and "My Computer" to "Computer" and "Documents," as they are in Mac OS X. Maybe the search icon in Vista is almost identical to Tiger's Spotlight icon, but the magnifying glass icon does turns the other way. If the new Vista buttons and other interface details have a shiny bulbous look similar to those in Mac OS X, perhaps its just coincidence.

And the new 3D chess game in Vista doesn't have the same options for the board as the many year old version in Mac. No there's no Grass in the Microsoft version, but Porcelain instead.

Of course "search as you type" has been in the Mac since 2002, and now its also in Vista, but I suppose this is justa logical extension.

And those smart folders in Mac, which allow (e.g.) everything with the word 'song' in it are now called virtual folders in Vista.

But the video mentioned above explains this very clearly. I expect Microsoft will add it to their web site, just like Apple have done already.

W aiting

At some hotels, waiting for taxis or baggage reclaim can be a somewhat boring experience. The place I stayed in Manhattan seemed to have this problem solved, however. There was a bustling lobby area filled with moving lights and general pyrotechnics. The people moving in and out seemed to be somewhat unique too, so it was a great opportunity for a small amount of people watching.

And over in the corner, a Christmas tree acted as a reminder of the season, even if the world outside looked bright and sunny and somehow more like October than a few days before Christmas.

winter wonderland

Tonight's theme for the party was 'Winter Wonderland', with ice sculptures, icicles and other generally wintery decoration.

It was something of a co-incidence that I was around for this rather large event, and luckily Jennifer had realised I would be in town and invited me.

By the time we arrived, everything was in full swing, with a DJ playing, and plenty of dancing, drinking and chatter from the extensive array of guests.

As the evening progressed, the group I'd arrived with seemed to be about three times as many and very animated. But, as I've got an early start again tomorrow, I was good and left fairly early.

international moments

This continues to be an erratic week for blogging posts because of the way that I am on the road. I've been doing some things that have pretty much used all available hours and I'm still Mac free so my pictorial content will continue to be low.

Yet this evening was one of those sets of mad co-incidences. I finished my day job and was drinking a celebratory coffee in my hotel room when I was called by a New Yorker friend who I haven't seen for the best part of a year. He was in the area and we arranged to meet in a nearby bar in the next town. I grabbed a cab and when I arrived, he was with two other folk I knew from Australia. So a drink and a ceasar salad later we'd all caught up on what each other had been doing.

Then we piled into my friend's Mercedes to head back to my hotel, passing a somewhat dubious bar on the way. Lets say it was called Beamers.

Back at the hotel, I run into another friend from Germany, who was returning from a shopping expedition to 5th Avenue, so we all sit together in the bar. Half an hour later I spot an Irish friend who normally lives in Paris, sitting chatting to someone I don't know. So I say Hi. Then a Belgian and Italian friend arrive, rather sheepishly from the dubious bar I'd passed earlier. They'd been brought back in a rusty car driven by someone they had met outside the bar and we formed an ever increasing circle of conversations. And I'd planned an early night. But its almost one in the morning now and I'm surrendering.

nights on broadway

I may be a tourist in this city, but I do love New York. Just step out of the door and into the white light of the center of the city (see I even used American spelling). I've uploaded a selection of snaps now.

Click the picture above to go for a wander around my flickr stream.

New York New York, its a helluva' town, the Bronx is up and the Battery's down.

Lennon tribute

Checking into the W on Time Square is a fun experience; you enter a lobby at street level on Broadway and 47th where there is a kind of water projection making the whole area seem in permanent movement. Then you take an elevator to the seventh floor where there's a checkin, and in my case then another elevator to my room, which was on the 42nd floor.

As I was going to see Michelle Shocked at the 26th Lennon Tribute on 55th, it was a superbly convenient location, with a short stroll to the venue.

And the people in the Alvin Ailey Theatre were most friendly as it filled for an evening of dance, theatre and music, from various artists. Michelle Shocked and her small troupe played "all you need is love" as well as Michelle's "5am in Amsterdam" (a favourite of mine) complete with an edited version of the backstory about being poor in New York, picked up by police, spending time in an asylum and meeting Isobel the psychiatrist. "Isobel ringing in my ears" as the lyrics go.

No concert pictures, but many from Manhattan, but as I'm operating with a Thinkpad at the moment, I will wait until I have some Mac power to upload and edit the snaps.

nitin

The taxi driver had to drop us 'a hundred yards' from the Jazz Cafe because of a police roadblock. There had been a gas leak in an old house and the road was cordoned off. We started to find another route that was not along the blocked off road, but it was a looong way around and also quite chilly for the first time this year.

So Julie hailed another cab and we all piled in. The ride was a good ten minutes and we were finally dropped outside the bustling Jazz Cafe, where the man on the door was keeping everyone in order. "Strictly no Photography - hand in Cameras and recording devices" said the sign. Oh well.

The venue was already pretty full and we made our way to a table to enjoy both supper and the set from Nitin, which was to start at nine o'clock. Sure enough at nine fifteen, Nitin and his collection of very talented musicians came out and started to play a spellbinding acoustic set which then ran continuously through until eleven o'clock.

The entire venue was captivated by the music and Nitin's troupe received rapturous applause. At the end of the set, it changed a gear as the club shifted into its full night-time mood, for a packed and bangin' club scene.

Great night out.

all you need is love

Love is the Beatles soundtrack to the Cirque du Soleil show of the same name. There's some clever but generally fairly subtle re-mixes of well-known songs, with some interesting a capella pieces and some overdubs from mixed tracks. The remastering is generally strong with a crisp feel to the vocals, a pumped version of the McCartney bass and only the Starr drums a little 'rolled off' presumably becasue of the tape recording quality.

I enjoyed the re-ochestration of some with dashes of other tunes dropped in without really losing the feel of the original, and the sheen of the original Abbey Road record washes in for the tracks from that era. I didn't find it gimmicky and some casual listeners may think its a simple mapping of the original tunes into a blended mix. What is also striking is the simplicity of some of the tracks, with harmonies of voice and very gentle instrumentation.

But there are some classy reconstructions here. "Mr Kite" with "I want you" driving away in the background. "Strawberry Fields" morphing from a demo tape at the beginning into the full production by the end and then adding some extra pieces from "Piggies" and elsewhere on top. "Julia" and "I am the Walrus" juxtaposed and "Within You, Without You" with "Tomorrow Never Knows." Clever, not gimmicky.

Its made me want to listen to some of the originals again and its good enough to make me (a Beatles, not an Elvis person), nearly miss my road turning today whilst I was listening to it in the car. Thats what others say too.

Yup and semolina pilchards, climbing up the Eiffel tower is in there along with the weeping guitars and hand holding. And tomorrow I will be in Strawberry Fields.

eleanor rigby
strawberry fields

no cover up

Well the Diana verdict is finally completed just nine years after the event. It was, allegedly, simply that Henri Paul was drunk and drove the car into a pillar and the new blood samples prove it. It was on the BBC last night.

Everything else must be pure consipracy speculation...

So after they returned from Sardinia, Diana and Dodi were being pursued by paparazzi in Paris, right from their arrival and earlier the same evening when they'd visited Sephora, the perfume shop. So they'd abandoned a plan to go to the Benoit bistro and returned to the Ritz.

Henri Paul - the Ritz security officer - had been to Harry's Bar (which is nearby) and then to pick up his black Mini Cooper from nearby another bar called Champmesle and drove to the Ritz. There are varied reports of him drinking pineapple juice or Pastis - which do look similar.

Diana and Dodi had dinner in the Ritz and during it decide to go to his apartment in Rue Arsene-Houssaye in Dodi's armoured Mercedes 600. Instead they use Ritz security offier Henri Paul as the driver in a different non-armoured Mercedes 280.

Henri Paul was an advanced driver and had special training from Mercedes in Germany. As the map shows, he didn't take the most direct route to Dodi's place. It is speculated that the normal route was blocked by a mystery car (perhaps broken down?) so he had to take the tunnel, which is a most inconvenient route.

Just before the Mercedes entered the tunnel, every police radio in Paris mysteriously died, preventing a quick emergency response in the event of any road accident.

Also the 17 traffic cameras located inside the Point d’Alma tunnel ALL suddenly stopped recording images because the electricity supply in the tunnel mysteriously failed. And never before or since.

Apparently, as the car approached the tunnel, Diana's bodyguard buckled his seatbelt. Unusual for a bodyguard, who normally wants to be free.

Apparently, the paparazzi motorcycles following the car were erratic. Some witnesses say there was a helicopter by the tunnel.

There are reports of a bright light in the tunnel, as well as the confusing story of the white Fiat Uno and a damaged motorcycle seen by some of the witnesses. After the accident, there are varied reports of two cars (including a White Mercedes) and a powerful motorcycle making a fast getaway.

There are also reports of people adjusting things in the crashed car.

Diana's condition is reported to have been 'non catastophic' by the Dr Mailliez, although she allegedly told the doctor she was six weeks pregnant, although this was later denied.

Diana's move to the waiting ambulance was slow, and instead of going to the nearby military hospital used by politicos and with a 24 hour trauma team, they drove slowly to another hospital - the Pitie Salpetriere. The seven minute 'blue light' ambulance journey took over an hour and the ambulance parked for ten minutes before completing the journey. This was so slowly that the hospital wondered if they had got lost.

After arrival at the hospital, the next stages are well documented leading to Diana's death.

The paparazzi had 20 rolls of film confiscated related to the evening which don't seem to be visible. The tunnel was cleaned with disinfectant and put back into service within 2 and a half hours. The Daimler-Mercedes accident investigators were not used. There was an unusual call from the Royal Household to enquire about Diana's jewellery.

And then a former MI6 officer Richard Tomlinson's affidavit said amongst other things that there was a French MI6 undercover operative permanently in the Ritz Hotel, probably a security officer (Henri Paul?) and that there was a standing document produced by MI6 in an un-used plot to assasinate Serbian leader President Slobodan Milosevic. It described cars, a tunnel and high intensity strobe lighting.

Now all of this is irrelevant, because the tragic accident was simply the result of a driver over ther legal limit...