Out-takes 4: Day Five - Petty France, SW1

Is there any finer sight? Pre-Wells/Youngs merger (well, after the announcement but before the brewery was closed) Special being delivered to The Buckingham Arms (currently closed for refurbishment) on Day Five of the blog.

Day Eighty-One - Petty France, SW1

More spooky mirror-imaging bought about by I Ching indeterminacy.

This afternoon I threw 12, Obstruction, with a transforming 5th line. So what was I doing in my office 12 minutes into my commute? Well, I left my overcoat there. By the time I realised (first day of the winter that I'd needed to wear it) I was three-quarters of my way to the library so I went in, returned my book, and then headed back to the office. As you can see, I was on my way back to my desk during that twelfth minute.

The transforming line changes the hexagram into 35, Prospering. so after the initial obstruction of forgetting my coat, "the obstruction is disappearing. That is the right place for you. it will correct the whole situation".

On the discman today: AM and PM - Van Der Graaf Generator The Box Disc 1

Day Seventy-Six - Petty France, SW1

Ha! What did I say yesterday? Well, The coins gave me 64, Not Yet Fording for today.

As I said yesterday, my normal commute lasts about 55 minutes. Today's was blessed with lightning connections and no delays and I was at my desk 47 minutes after leaving my flat - about as fast as it's humanly possible to do. So today's picture shows my desk, taken 17 minutes after I arrived, made a cup of green tea, and while my colleague Steve (not pictured) was talking to me.

Trivia Dept: I bought the mug from Jerry's Home Store in Fulham (not there any more) to take with me on my first day at HQ in 1998. It has probably had no more than a dozen cups of coffee in it in the subsequent nine years as I'm a confirmed tea drinker, but when I bought it I'd not long come back from the USA and was strangely attracted to their diner crockery. It's proved to be very durable.

We moved in to Clive House in April 2004 and it's worrying to see from the telephone list how many people have moved on from my division in that time. Still, I'll be crossing myself off that list before too long.

Oh yes, the reading. "You are on the verge of an important change...do not do it yet. Gather your energy and make sure your plans are in order so you can make the crossing without getting stuck. This will bring you success...imagine you are the small fox and make yourself ready to adapt to whatever might happen...there are forces moving you into the right position."

This all chimes with current changes at work (not going into that here just yet, if ever) and my long term plans (I'm moving to Sydney with my beloved in late summer next year, assuming they'll have me). Hmmm.

On the discman today: AM - Miles Davis On The Corner PM - High Llamas Santa Barbara

Day Fifty-One - Petty France, SW1

Petty France - the road on which my office is situated - along with several other roads in the vicinity of Wellington Barracks was cordoned off to traffic today so that two posh boys and all their posh friends (except wicked stepmother) could remember their Mum, who (apparently) died in an accident ten years ago. It seems she wasn't the brightest bulb in the box, as shown by the fact that she didn't put her seatbelt on when her drunk chauffeur drove her and her lover at speed through Paris at night.

For some reason this requires concrete barriers to be put up all around somewhere which is always full of soldiers, many of them with guns. At least they didn't try to check my bag, else I might have been a bit annoyed.

On the discman today: AM and PM - Photek Modus Operandi

Day Thirty-One - Petty France, SW1

About two years a ago there was a spin-off programme from Channel 4's Location Location, Location where Phil and the divine Kirstie looked at what you could buy for what was then the UK average house price - £180,000 - in the most and least expensive boroughs in the UK.

Westminster was, I believe, the most expensive borough at the time (it usually fights it out with Kensington & Chelsea) and so Kirstie and Phil showed you exactly what you could buy with your £180K - a studio apartment in this block, Vandon Court, which only happens to be right next door to where I work. Look at that link - my offices are the contiguous building.

I must admit that I considered the move. OK, so it's a studio apartment in a block full of (it seems) dotty old women and transient foreigners, but it's right next door to work. Commuting time: 30 seconds. Commuting cost: £0. And within walking distance of St James' Park, Westminster Abbey, The West End...50 yards from two very nice pubs, too.

But then I'd never be able to use the trains as an excuse for being late for work again. People would expect me to work late as "it's not as if you've got a long way to go home, is it?". I'd suddenly have lots more "friends" who wanted to crash the night at my central London pad. And where on earth would I put all my CDs and books? Reluctantly I decided that Vandon Court wasn't for me, not that I could have afforded it at the time anyway.

You might be saying to yourself that I was wrong and the positives far outnumbered the negatives, but consider this: if I had mortgaged myself to the hilt, got rid of 90% of my possessions and installed myself in my SW1 shoebox eyrie I'd never have started this blog. Yes. I did it all for you, dear reader. Thank you, you're welcome.

On the discman today: AM -John Coltrane Ascension PM - nothing, as I couldn't bear another forty minutes of what I'd been listening to in the morning. My tastes appear to have changed.

Day Five - Petty France, SW1

I was a bit earlier into work than I usually am today as I was running a course (went well, thanks for asking). This meant I caught one of the greatest sights known to man, a pub taking delivery of Youngs beer. The Buckingham Arms is a literal stone's throw away from my office, and yet somehow I manage to avoid dropping in there every night on the way home.

On the discman today: AM and PM Phill Niblock Young Person's Guide to Phill Niblock (original Blast First version)