Happy New Year !!!

Let 2006 be a better year for everyone with plenty of joy... health and love !!!






updates with photos of Xmas in Paris will follow shortly !

My brother is here!!!

He arrived at Gatwick around 5 this afternoon, and we have already been for a couple of pints in my local (pub). We are going to go sightseeing in London for a couple of days, and then spend Xmas in Paris (really posh Xmas holidays for him, two european capitals in a week!!!)

I am going to upload photos ... for sure!

Christmas Gifts...

Almost a week away ... Have you finished your xmas shopping??? I haven't started yet!
I did receive my first xmas gift though. My supervisor in the lab prepared a small xmas party with a tiny Xmas tree, coffee and mince pies and gifts for everyone in the lab! My gift was an Italian Cook Book by Tessa Kiros... Great Gift!

I want to know what is the best Xmas present that you have ever received...or even what will be your ideal gift for these Xmas!

Come on, give me ideas...

Oh... I almost forgot. I am supposed to send Xmas cards, but I am waiting for some Cards (Unicef's ones) to arrive... I hope I get them on time (at least 3-4 days before Xmas) in order to send them to my loved ones.

The article ...

I cannot find it online... You can read more articles about Burgess Hill here.





Oh and I am posting the first page's title on the article!

It is true...

I was correct on my assumption that the article was about a shop that provides the residents of Burgess Hill with undergarments, nighties, pjs etc.
I actually did buy the newspaper this morning to read about the sex toyz scandal...

The article reads "... But one of the people who originally complaint to Burgess Hill Town Council told us this week that the first display was much worse and was only toned down because of the complaints. (...) One of the complainers told the Mid Sussex Times: ... In the window, on full display were a range of vibrators and a poster with a larger than life penis on it. (...) ...Shop manager K.C. said there was a vibrator on display but added: It didn't say it was a vibrator. An adult would have known it, but there is no way a child would. And she adds : At this time of year you can buy chocolate penis from a store, and you can always buy a vibrator off the self from Superdrug or Boots.

The article ends with a remark made by the shop manager: It's time... Let's liven up the town!

I was right... !
About two weeks ago we went for a coffee at the town centre, when we spotted something different. There was a shop which usually sells panties, tights and wooly socks for the (old) ladies, but this time its window was full of sexy underwears, thongs, whips etc. I did not recall spotting any vibrators or dildos on display! Anyway, my immediate thought was : "Am I still in Burgess Hill ???"

Apparently, Yes I am still in Burgess Hill... Come on, you are not supposed to complain to the Town Council for a dildo on display! Especially if it's on display on a Underwear shop!!!

But it was a funny story !

Local News ...

This evening, while I was heading home from work, I read some really funny on the news stand just outside the train station. Here in England, it is a common practice on every news stand to erect posters with the latest local/national front page news.
Tonight's poster read something like : "Burgess Hill shoppers shocked by sex toys display". If this poster is based on actual events and it is actually what I think it is, then IT IS Hillarious!!!
(I am a bit concerned about this article's title. I haven't read the article itself and thus, I am not supposed to comment on it. But I will try to comment on the title, and I will probably try to find the article too.)
If the article is about a newly established underwear shop in the Burgess Hill town centre, then I am right!!!

Some empirical facts on Burgess Hill:
According to my unofficial "census", a Burgess Hill resident has an average age of 65 ! (or at least that's what I've figured out in the past two years that I 've lived here)


So, what was the owner of the underwear shop thinking when he/she took the decision to start this kind of business in our town?

Anyway... I will try to find out more on that and I will update any details...

I hope I am wrong!
I like Burgess Hill, but I think it needs something ... more youth, more shops, more colour ...something... I don't know, just yet!

Greatest TV hoax ever !!!

The new riality show on Channel 4 is called Space Cadets...
12 people (carefully selected out of thousands of applicants), have been told that they are the chosen ones for a trip to remember. Few of the 12 people (probably around 3-4) will be the first British Space tourists. Or so they think...

The producers of the show have transformed a WWII US airforce base in Ipswich into a Russian Cosmonaut-training facility. So, while the contestants think that they are somewhere in Russia, they will spend a few weeks training in an old US airforce base somewhere in Ipswich!

For those that will make it through to the end of the show, I am sure that they will be rather gutted when the door of the space shuttle opens and, instead of martians, all their families and friends will be waiting for them just outside, in deep Space !!!

I can't wait !!!

great TV

Branding and Franchising of Kiosks in Greece...

For those who have visited Greece at least once, I am sure that you have bought a bottle of water, a packet of gums or some crisps from a local kiosk, and you are familiar with the view of a small, cube-like structure, packed with cigarettes packs, ice-cream fridges, newspapers etc, that is called "periptero" or kiosk for the foreigners.

For those who have never been to Greece, I am posting the following photos of a "periptero" (kiosk).



















I hope you got the idea...anyway...
There is a Greek Venture capital Firm called Vectis Capital which came with a brilliant plan "... to build a nationwide chain of the lucrative small businesses... and maybe they can offer franchising options as well..."

I think that is a brilliant idea, for the business aspect of the venture, while it is a horrendous crime against the traditional Greek Periptero...

any how... your comments please!!!

Music News...

Sorry for not being around for a week or so. I won't do it again...

Music news then,
The JCB song by Nizlopi. Great song, lovely lyrics. It's a favourite for nuber 1 in British Xmas chart. Weird story behind the band name etc.

The X&Y album by Coldplay, and especially the "Talk" song... Great music over and over again. I was watching Jonathan Ross last night on BBC, and Coldplay were on, singing "Talk" live. They are great...!

I'd like to hear your comments on music... or any news ... or just anything!