Monday 6ish, I was in Golders Green having coffee with a friend (in the Costbux right opposite the Northern Rock you kept seeing besieged by queues on the news), and when I left, an hour or so later (on my way to a shiva house in Edgware, if you must know) the road was closed, police and everything, and I had to go all the way round the back, and the traffic was backed up for ages, and there were like eight empty buses at the other side, which I guess had just stopped because of the incident. I really could't see anything.

I googled when I got back, there was a BBC story just saying the road was closed. Then last night, N sent me this video. Wow. Solly's was on fire. I even thought to stop for a felafel, but the road was too busy, and I actually thought it was some kind of (terrorist) "incident" so got out of there pretty quick.

Weird video with soundtrack. You can listen to this one, but what is the soundtrack of a fire? Just people going "oooh, aaaah, nooo".

So, closed for the duration. Solly's is kinda a Golders Green institution, but look, you can share the love/how you feel/anything on facebook.

memories of summer

memories of summer
Originally uploaded by sashinka-uk

Now that it feels wintery and slightly cold - just in time for Sukkot - here's a nice pic that totally reminds me of summer, camping, Derbyshire. How long ago was that?

So I've been complaining like forever that the blogger search (within your own account) was broken, and now I heard it's fixed and it is because I have 32 mentions for humous. Make that 33.

Obviously this is slightly bizzare thing to write on a blog.

You'll see.

Seems like modernity is a 360 degree public appraisal. Every single thing is observed, commented on - nay, blogged about - linked, twittered, facebooked, googled. If you've grown out of LinkedIn you've grown into some Ning sub-group.

And TV. Do you think the next generation will expect their every waking moment to have like a narrator? That constant - generally middle-class - voice saying, "and what will Anastasia and Geroge decide about the house in the French countryside?" or "which young turk with slouchy street style will get the chance of a lifetime from the shouty chef" (Ramsay). Or that constant X-Factor backstory: will they be making the Hero's Journey from council house obscurity to D-list celebrity as soon as they've dropped out in round three and had their story sold to the Daily Mail by a disgruntled ex? Or - alternatively - humiliated for our entertainment because they dare to take their dancing-in-front-of-the-mirror singing-into-a-hairbrush act to the judges.

Is the rest of our lives going to have the white noise of annoying people saying about celebrity- bigbro- chef- model- whatever programme "it's been amazing, I've actually loved it."

Like we care.

Some say the unexamined life is not worth living. That's old school. Now we think the unmoderated, un-commentated, un-observed life's not worth doing.

I'm wondering if the obsessive media scrutiny makes everything a news story even when a lot of it is real life. And sometimes, there aren't any stories. In the words of Tom Clancy: the difference between fiction and reality is that fiction has to make sense.

Reality is messy. Not everyone wins. Not everyone's pretty. Not everyone's sucessful, and certainly not in the same way. Real life is about conversations, people, relationships, not about press mentions, and blog links and knowing that model off the TV.

All this brought on by Hells Kitchen/X Factor/too many house programmes and the constant conversation about Gerry and Kate. Like I know them. That whole McCann thing has turned into something like entertainment when really it's either a terrible family tragedy (abduction version) or a terrible family tragedy (alleged murder version).

I hank after peace, quiet. Countryside.

And I realise I'm contributing to the noise as much as anyone else. Sorry.

We all want to be heard, now. The audience has taken over.

L'shanna tova - to a happy new year. Here's to a creative, sucessful, peaceful and slightly eco new year. I'm feeling good because I waited in all day for British Gas to fix my heating and spoke to them 9 times. All good for the soul.

Calm. Calm. That's the secret. I have a lovely community(ies) and nice friends and lots of internety goodness.

Virtual Worlds Forum HQ
Originally uploaded by vwforum

Here I am, in Second Life (although, as you all know, there are lots of virtual worlds).

I've been pretty busy these last few months making this new thing, the Virtual Worlds Forum Europe. Not blogged as much as I'd like. It's not you, it's me. You know how it is.

Anyway, my friends at RiversRunRed made this lovely place which is our virtual HQ - replete with all logo and corporate colours and a lovely room for meetings and our adverts on the wall. I'm loving it.

Oh, and the real conference? Filling up, great speakers, Lord Puttnam doing the opening keynote and lots of other goodies. October 23 - 26, with 24/25 the main conference. You heard it here last (it's all over the internet, baby).

Anyone have any idea what BigWhiteWall does? It looks very street etc but, er, what does it actually do?

I've just discovered WalkIt, which I really like. Previously, I was using WalkJogRun, which I also liked, but had a slighly clunky interface where sometimes I was in the UK and sometimes I was in the US. But then, you can put in your weight, and it tells you how many personal calories you burn, which is nice. But because people can share your routes, I think they also can share your personal calories, and that's not so great.

Anyway, I'm walking to Kensal Green this afternoon, and that'll be my first test of WalkIt.