Big up the National Portrait Gallery!
If you're around the West End of London, be sure to check out the fabulous 'Circling The Square' photography exhibition, showing pictures taken in the last 160 years in Trafalgar Square.
There's some stunning images of demos, peace protests and drunken Scots footie fans, along with some amazing images featuring the coronation procession, suffragette riots, a young Elizabeth Taylor being mobbed by pigeons, Michael Foot, Bertrand Russell, the poll tax demonstrations of 1990, and football's World Cup in 2002. On the first floor, check out the Photographic Portrait Prize 2003 - there's some top stuff there!

Tonight, I've been quaffing in the Albert, followed by a visit to the extremely lively Hobgoblin: the vibe in both pubs was fantastic.

And now the bad news: my 'kin camera still hasn't turned up despite several emails and calls to the incredibly shite Securicor delivery service ("why have humans when you can have robotic auto-messages") and the mighty Cardiff City lost. At home.

Boo hoooo!

Underground sites
Not 'underground' as in groovy counter culture, but 'underground' as in tube trains, Underground History is stuffed full of information about long forgotten tunnels, tube lines and abandoned stations. There's even an article on the fictional Walford East tube station in East Enders!

Working like a dawg!
I've suddenly got a pile of work taking up my time - a few web projects, some consultancy stuff and a pile of writing work for my chums at Internet Magazine (check out their webcam)

Naturally, my way of dealing with pressing deadlines is to go off and do some non-profit stuff for myself, so today I added two more sets to my Brixton: Then and Now series - the old dairy, Canterbury Rd/Pope's Road and Lambeth Town Hall at war. I've got about another three already photographed, but I forced myself to do some work for now...

Here's today's slightly odd website: Make your own range finder (why?!) .

Still recovering from the weekend!
It turned out to be a bit of a corker, with some industrial sized quaffing at the most excellent People's Republic of Disco at the Windmill.

The place was packed out with a host of 'avin' it large Urbanites who certainly knew the meaning of the words, "get pissed!"

Although I managed to avoid interacting with a dodgy Wham tunes, my resistance crumbled when the Psychedelic Furs hit the decks. Top tune!
(Tim and Marcus - you missed out on a great night, you pussies!)

Great news
Anyone's who sat through my endless camera-purchase related bleating, will be delighted to learn that I've finally ordered a Sony DSC-F717 at the staggeringly cheap price of £398! I'm crossing my fingers that the thing will actually turn up because the price is well cheap.

The cheapest you can find it on the web is around £540, but currys advertised it as a special and I got in there quick! The offer's now been withdrawn, so I'm hoping that they're not going to fob me off with some bollocks.

The camera is due to arrive later this week. Fingers crossed!!

Daytrip to Liverpool
Yesterday I endured seven hours travelling for a meeting in Liverpool and managed to grab a few photos on the way home - I'll slap them in the photo gallery soon.

Long time readers of this blog will recall the inner turmoil, gnashing of teeth and angst I went through trying to decide what camera to buy. Sadly, I'm still faffing over what to get.

The Minolta A1 came very, very close a few weeks ago, but continuing reports of 'hot pixels', dodgy models and noise changed my mind.

The truly fabulous Canon 300D DSLR is a beaut of a camera but too bulky for my tastes - and the lack of a live LCD preview and swivelling lens means it's definitely not for me.

The Sony 828 continues to look mouth-wateringly tasty, but Sony keep messing about with the chuffing release date - it was supposed to be out now, but now there's talk of late December or even next year. And I want a camera now!

After all this, I'm beginning to look longingly at the old Sony 717 as it continues to plummet down in price (it was £900 and now it's down to £500).....decisions! decisions!

Meanwhile my web design book 'Max Hits: designing successful websites' has been republished at a soft back (no need to tell me about it, Mr Publisher!). Amazon are doing a groovy 'Look inside the book' feature.

And now it's the 200,000th best selling book in the US!! (I'll hold the champagne for now).

Finally: tonight's the night when Wales take on Russia. We have to win to qualify for the European Championships so come on Wales!!!
Cymru am byth!!!

kickass weekend!
I'm pleased to report that the mighty Wales held Russia to a 0-0 draw in Moscow on Saturday - an event which immediately triggered some industrial strength quaffing. I popped over to the Reclaim the Beach party on the Southbank, but got there so early there were only a few people plugging in amps and speakers. So I headed back to Brixton, down to the Albert and then on to the most excellent Windmill for an excellent live band and more quaffing.
I recovered today with brunch at the Lounge, Brixton with Emerald, Tim and Marcus and snapped a couple of pics for their soon-come website.
I've just started to watch the film, 'When Saturday Comes' on tele, but quickly realised it was utter crap.
And now I'm babbling because I'm so knackered, so I'll sign off for now.

Come on Wales!
There's a mighty big European Championship game on tomorrow where Wales (pop 2.5 million) take on Russia (pop: 144 million). If Wales win they stand a good chance of progressing to their first major finals since (gulp) 1958!

Come on my lovely boys!*
(*rightly obscure "It ain't 'alf hot, Mum reference)

A quick update to the week's events: on Wednesday, I ventured north (shudder) to the excellent
Foundry Bar in Old Street

Set in an old branch of Barclays Bank (spit!), the pub is owned by members of the very, very fine KLF and is well worth a visit. I got drunk.

Tonight, I've been quaffing in the Albert hearing tales of a less than completely convincing performance by Michael Moore at the Brixton Academy. Apparently he started going on about football for no good reason. I say: you're a top fella but stick to what you know!

My bank sucks
Barclays Bank really are an appalling shower, so I'm off to find a new bank. Trouble is, changing banks is a whole load of hassle, but I'm so pissed off with those money grabbing fuckspuds, I'm going to have a sniff around some online banks like First Direct and Smile...

Today's music
I've been stuck in all day battling against a writing deadline, so inbetween brewing up coffee and drinking Earl Grey, I've been spinning these tunes on my increasingly erratic Sony CD player (it sometimes needs a firm slap to stop it skipping all over the place)
Katheryn Williams "Little Black Dress"
Be Good Tanya's "Blue Horse"
Aztec Camera "High Land Hard Rain"
Best of Morrissey
Flaming Lips "Robots"
Innocence Mission "Befriended"
Craig Armstong "Space Inbetween"

More weekend waffle
Sunday was a cruel morning: I was glued to the TV at 10am to watch the mighty Wales to take on England in the Rugby World Cup. No one had given Wales much of a chance but by halftime they were ahead and looking strong. Foolishly, I let my imagination run away with me during the half time break, dreaming of a triumphant Wales holding the trophy aloft to the amazement of the world's pundits. Well, it didn't happen and we lost, albeit after a fabulous battle. Oh well....

But Cardiff City won again! It really seems strange after decades of lower division drudge to see us doing so well. Woohoo!

It's been a long weekend!
Friday I enjoyed a quaff with loads of chums in the trusty Prince Albert, Brixton before checking out a new club night in the Canterbury Arms - a no-nonsense, Irish bar behind Brixton market.

It's a great pub, with lots of odd idiosyncrasies like a couple of authentic fairground 'bendy' mirrors on the stage and a fabulous 1970s style back-lit, wooden 'Manhattan Skyline' feature by the DJ area.

The blood splattered on the ceiling suggests that it's had the odd bit of rough'n'tumble the over the years, but I'd rather drink in a 'real' community pub than some plastic bar for scoot-stickers.

The club was called How Does it Feel to be Loved, and the DJs played a great eclectic mix of Motown, Dexys, Velvets and The Smiths.

Suffice to say we all got drunk. Very drunk.