I had an entertaining weekend dismantling a piano. No, it's not a terrible waste since the piano is knackered and beyond economic repair, and I finally decided to get on and do something about it. Nobody was willing to come and dispose of it without charging a good deal of money for the privilege, so I decided to break it up and take it to the dump myself. At this point I can assure you that dismantling a piano is easier said than done! The initial part (removing the keyboard, hammers and dampeners) is easy, but when you get to the cast iron frame and string it gets massively irritating. To get the iron frame off the main wooden piano frame you have to remove all of the strings, which is a time consuming (and blister-inducing) job. It's also rather more noisy than you might think - God only knows what the neighbours thought I was doing! Still, it's almost got to the point where I can separate the iron frame now, at which point it can get into the car. It will be nice to free-up some of my sitting room and paint the bit of wall where the piano was (which remains in the previous owners tasteful 'hot pink'. Out of destruction I can bring order, you see. Sort of like God.

A Delayed Hello to 2006

Well then, I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year? Good.

I spent December in New Zealand on holiday. It was absolutely fantastic. It would be hard to describe a month of doing loads of stuff every day here, so I won't attempt it. Instead, if you want to hear more about it then check out my photos. There are comments on each one so you can get a sort of running commentary, should you wish to.

What else? Well, before I left for NZ I left my job in Reading, and now I'm back working in Bath. No more 5 hours of commuting every day! It's quite a relief, and while I enjoyed my old job and the people were great, I've got a lot of my 'life' back now. After a year and a half of hardly being at home it's nice to actually do something all day other than working and sitting on a train.

In the news, interesting times for the Lib Dems. Short term damage for some long term gain, I think. Tomorrow I'm probably going to a meeting with Sir Menzes Campbell at the constituency office. It should be interesting and there'll be plenty of chances for questions in such a small venue. I think he's an intelligent man and a good politician, but Simon Hughes is still likely to get my vote. He can ride out his current media trials and do well, and he's sufficiently left-leaning for my tastes. I guess we'll see how it turns out.

Italian and French theme night

Last night I met Dave and Luke in London for some food and a film. We met Luke at Bond Street and went to a little Italian in Mayfair (I can't remember the name - it was in a courtyard of small shops and restaurants opposite a tiny sushi place and just down from an interesting looking chocolate shop). The food was good and the service friendly, and after a very good tiramisu we had to dash off to the Curzon Mayfair to see a French film called The Beat That My Heart Skipped on the cinema's cosy Screen 2. It was an excellent film and I'd thoroughly recommend it (as I would the Curzon, probably my favourite London cinema).

After the film we took a stroll back to the tube past the American Embassy. I haven't walked past that since the whole terrorism panic took off so it was the first time I'd see the blocked roads, barriers, guns and whatnot. While it's not a very nice building anyway all of the barriers don't exactly make it look nicer. I don't really think that barricading themselves away like that makes a very good impression anyway - I also disapprove of all of the concrete and security around the Houses of Parliament. Of course it wouldn't be necessary if we didn't go and start pointless and nasty wars everywhere anyway. It makes it all worse somehow. Anyway, the Christmas lights on Oxford Street are very pretty this year so that cancelled-out the grimness of the embassy!

Lille

On Saturday I took the Eurostar to Lille in France. I've not been to Lille before but it is very easy to get to on the Eurostar. The trip from Bath all the way to Lille was painless, and the bonus of getting the train is that you arrive in the centre of the city rather than some airport miles out of town.

We stayed in the Couvent des Minimes, an old convent that has been converted into a hotel. The central courtyard has been covered with a glass roof and how houses the bar and (very good) restaurant. The location of the hotel by the water and close to the centre of town is excellent and I'd recommend it as a place to stay if you're in Lille.

The weather on Saturday wasn't brilliant but on Sunday it was warm and sunny so I managed to catch the sights and get some touristy photos.

Remember remember the 5th of November

...less treason and plot this year, more Chesney Hawkes, bizarrely. One of the largest fireworks displays in Bristol is held on Clifton Down each year by the Rotary Club, and this year I went along. There's more than just fireworks though. Not only was Chesney just starting on 'The One and Only' when we arrived, but he then went on to light the bonfire. It was 80's pop-tastic. The fireworks were pretty good too, although sadly the rain took some of the fun out of everything.

After the fireworks we went back to Jen's house in Clifton where we had a few drinks along with some traditional bonfire night snacks - toasted marshmallows on sticks, roasted bananas in foil and other stuff that could be cooked on a fire. It's funny to think that the next national celebration thing will be Christmas!

Chocolate

Ages since my last update - sorry about that. You know how it is.

Last night I went into London to see More Chocology, a talk about chocolate at the Royal Institution. It always feels quite special hearing lectures there (they always start with a little history about the building... 'almost everything was invented here', or words to that effect), and the two speakers were fascinating. The first guy, Dr Patrick Couzens, works for Nestle (although I didn't hold that against him) and talked about the practical side of making chocolate and the chemistry behind it. The other speaker was Sara Jayne Stanes from the Academy of Chocolate who talked us through a tasting of chocolates from Amedei. The chocolate was absolutely fantastic :) Pricey though! (the 'Chuao' was recently voted the best chocolate in the world, and I agree with that assessment, I have to say).

After the lecture at the RI we went to the Sanderson Hotel (the 'hippest hotel in the world' no less, according to GQ) for chocolate cocktails. It's a funny place - I did wonder if all of the curtains everywhere might be a fire hazard - you just need a Labour politician to go in there and bye-bye hotel. Anyway, the bar was full of hip people busy being hip, as was expected. At least there was an area outside in a courtyard where you could escape them.

After that we went off in search of sushi. We ended-up at the Tokyo Diner, just off Chinatown. I really liked this place - cheap but good food and good value. It's also open until midnight which is why we went there in the first place - our regular sushi choices had closed by then.

Blue Eyes and Heels

Tuesday was 'sushi and a show' night. We went to see blue eyes and heels at the Soho Theatre - a theatre which is rapidly becoming one of my favourites. We went to see Stewart Lee there a couple of weeks ago and there's always lots of stuff on. Stewart Lee was on after a play and before another comedian, and I think something was on after the show this week. It's nice to see a little theatre being so popular (it was sold out both times I've been) and dynamic. Anyway, the play has Martin Freeman (from The Office and HitchHikers Guide To The Galaxy) as an ambitious TV executive tasked with bringing wrestling back to TV. It's very well done and the characters are engaging.

Yet again I found myself wishing that I could write 90 minutes of drama around a simple static set and three actors - it's far harder than writing books/short stories or films. I've tried writing plays and I find it hard anyway, while short stories give you a lot more freedom. It's the constraints that make writing plays such as this one so tricky, and it's an enviable skill.