Monthly Archives: March 2025

obituary, Personal

R.I.P Anthony

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I found out yesterday that my friend and work colleague had died at the weekend. He was a qualified barrister, solicitor and loved to play the piano. He never even had a piano lesson in his life, yet he somehow was able to listen to a piece of music and then play it on the piano. He had that special ear for music. And that was his passion.

A few people had seen him playing the piano when walking through St. Pancreas station and some did some videos on him. So you can see some of him on YouTube if you have a browse.

A kind hearted individual, you will be missed.

Personal

Slightly dislocated shoulder

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For the past month I’ve had a slight problem with my shoulder. Pushing up off a chair sent a sharp pain through it, and extending it in reverse, like when I put on a jacket.

I had no idea I had dislocated it, this explains a lot. And partly when sometimes I am miss typing on texts and such. I see sometimes my miss types, other times, I don’t even notice! The strange one is forgetting to put a question mark on the end of a sentence. strange how the dislocation affects my right hand. Doesn’t help having carpal tunnel either.

Simply pushing myself back up from a chair is the worse. I need to wait a week before I can get it reset. Then I will need a little physio.

Wish me luck!

Film

Face Off film protecting the family

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It’s the first time I’ve ever watched this film and one thing I took away from it has to be the family dynamic.

They have switched faces, so the characters switch, but there is the moment when the daughter is protected from her aggressive boyfriend, as he is ripped out of the car. Asked does she have protection for which she wasn’t sure where he was going until she is given a knife.

Later in the film protecting the young boy from all the gun fire. Again there is a sense of duty to protect the children.

Not your family, but still protecting and making sure family is safe regardless of the first thought of destroying each others family a maternal instinct seemed to take effect on each enemies family. Something poetic about that.

Regardless to the beginning of the movie, I honestly believe the bad guy does have some guilt in his heart and this reversal of protecting each others family. I do find this an interesting concept and not really explored in any other movie I know of.

I would love it if anyone can tell me another movie where a bad guy protects the innocent. Is this a more anti hero aspect? The concept of swapping roles, from pure evil to pure good does sound like a great storyline. Maybe if anyone reads this can tell me a good movie to watch from these aspects.

Exploration

Dover Street: Alight here for Green Park

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This TFL Hidden London tour started outside at the Diana statue in Green Park and then took us into for a tour of some of the hidden passages for this tube station. After the close of the old Dover Street station entrance, they moved to the newly opened entrance of Greek Park in 1933 next to the Ritz which is where everyone enters and exits each day.

As a group we made our way down and through another gate. These areas were closed off before the war as they were no longer needed however as WW2 came along the passages were reopened and they created lots of small units and areas for the war effort. This included an underground HQ for the Railway Executive Committee (REC). I was constantly looking for the old wall lines of the partitions to understand how small each unit was. And very small they were.

We carried on round to see more hidden tunnels, where the old lift shafts where, which had been turned into offices and one into a kitchen. Then back we visited a very impressive air shaft. The stairs down and the air shaft itself where you really feel like you’re not supposed to be there. A rather unique experience. This is certainly one of the top experiences on the TFL Hidden London tours. I certainly recommend this one.

Air shaft

Internet, Personal

Following some streamers and my ascent in madness

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For a long time, I’ve always been interested in the travel vlogger and often watch video’s on YouTube. But about two weeks ago after seeing an account on Twitter for one vlogger I noticed a Discord chat room. I’ve used Discord before for gaming chat, but I really had no idea what to expect.

So, I wanted to support this one girl streamer who was kind of cute and did some travel vlogging. She really isn’t very big in this scene, but there was something natural about her. So, I ended up in this chat room. At first, I thought this is okay, but there seemed to be this somewhat toxic immature community there.

After a few days I got hooked trying to communicate with this new chat room community. However, I descended into what can only be described as mental darkness. Their ignorance of the world, not knowing how one should treat a fellow human. There are somethings I like to avoid, as having lost family, friends to suicide. I don’t think these people understood it’s not a subject to joke around about. The immaturity where some users took some of your picture posts and re-edit them to their own needs to annoy you…

I was truly lost here, so at first, I blocked two users because I didn’t want to hear it, but by the third time, I had a feeling the first user I blocked had come back with a duplicate account to agitate me again. The fourth and final time I was driven, this time a user takes my picture of horses and decides to zoom right in on the animal’s rectum to repost it.

I really couldn’t stand that so I departed the chatroom after two weeks. The girl who built this community who was the main streamer seems nice, but I tried to chat to her. Only for the cute bubbly girl to cold shoulder me.

The other aspect is, I really didn’t know anything about twitch.tv as I have never used it. But now, I started to try it out some evenings. I am not really into watching the gamers, but those users who are travelling, I find really interesting. There was one Korean girl who following my football club of Tottenham was also streaming. It was interesting watching her break emotionally as Spurs lost yet another game. I can reflect on that because I am also emotionally scarred by the terrible football that Tottenham have played.

I feel I need to watch these in limited amounts, but I got an idea of how some people get addicted to these things. I also found out that one travel blogger, working out her numbers, she must be earning over £140,000 a year before taxes. But all that travelling must have serious overheads. And I don’t think she is a top streamer; the top people must be making a fortune.In the end, where I thought I might be able to find some new digital friends just felt like a nightmare. In order to keep my sanity, I really need to be careful in this digital world. I could also see how it can drain one’s income or make someone a millionaire. A new world is out there for those that know how to navigate, but I kind of have failed to navigate it properly.

Exploration

The Disappointment of the Brunel Museum

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I decided to go have a look at this small London museum south of the river in Rotherhithe and I wasn’t sure when I first entered. This was a Saturday and there were a fair few people, however this was really a very small venue and it really didn’t take me long to consume what content there was. A little bit of history on the tunnel underneath and transport history and that’s it.

My next problem was the tour itself. I know they are volunteers; however, I couldn’t hear the fella that well at all. This small old knowledgeable man had such a small voice it didn’t travel past the amount of people. So, I then walked away to see the pit shaft. And that’s all it was, a big old pit shaft.

I couldn’t even bring myself to take any photos. I was left feeling very disappointed, I looked at the nice view across the river on the way out and made my way back home. No matter how nice the volunteers were, it didn’t help me what so ever. My disappointment lingers even now as I write this.

Honestly, there are far better places to visit in London.

View across the river Thames.