WITHIN AN ACE OF THE END OF THE WORLD

Having realised that I can avoid space problems by hosting the graphics files at photobucket, I've put the Barr story on line as

http://www.forgottenfutures.co.uk/barr.htm

I'd be grateful if people could take a look, see if they can find any errors. I'll put in proper links from the front page etc. once I'm sure it's OK.

Riot (for fairly limited values of riot)

This morning I told some worried friends that there had been no problems in this part of London, but I spoke too soon - apparently there was a group of a couple of hundred who met up in Bishops Bridge Road, tried to knock people off motorbikes and steal them, then did some window smashing and looting in Queensway, which is a few hundred yards away, but I only heard about it after I'd left home this morning and I've been off-line all day.

There was some noise and police sirens around eleven last night, and my bike alarm went off and when I looked outside someone ran off from the front garden, but I'd assumed it was just the usual drunks etc. and someone thinking he could take a pee in the garden. But my guess now is that it was someone running from the police, who ran off because he thought the alarm would attract attention (it didn't, apart from me looking out of the kitchen window).

Just to make it clear, for anyone who was wondering - this is not politically motivated, it's just a bunch of people who think that they can get away with a bit of quick looting if they go in mob handed and start a few fires etc. while they're doing it. The people involved don't live here. Since they are in it for the money, and there is going to be a BIG police crackdown, it really isn't going to last.

Seen in passing

On our way out of London today we passed the end of Abbey Road. For some reason I've never driven that way in summer before... four people on the zebra crossing pretending to be the Beatles while someone took their picture, another twenty or so tourists waiting to take their turn - and some very annoyed-looking drivers waiting for them to get the hell off the crossing so that they could get past.

Fortunately we went past the road, rather than through it...