Fable III

A long time ago I saw an advert for a game - by your actions you decided whether your character was good or evil. That game was Fable and as it was only available on the Xbox I had to buy the console to play the game.

Fable was pretty much the first game I ever finished... and not withstanding the irritating guild master who would frequently interject with "Your health is low!" it was a fabulous game. Your hero could wander the world, completing quests, slaying monsters, and casting spells - all the usual fare you would expect from an RPG.

Fable II was set in Albion again, although time had passed and the places changed bits were still recognisable. Fable II introduce online/co-op game play, which as I only have a handful of Xbox friends, wasn't of much interest to me. The guild master was gone (and indeed mocked in one of the loading screens). Otherwise things were much the same, stealing and murder turned your character evil and good deeds were rewarded. There was also now a dog to help the hero find buried treasure and warn when enemies were nearby. I finished Fable II as well, the story at any rate.

I was pretty excited earlier this year to learn that Fable III was in the pipeline and even more excited to learn that it was coming out just at the start of my week off which would afford me unrivalled game playing time. I've read interviews with the people who made the game where they state that they fixed all the annoyances of previous games. I couldn't disagree more.

Fable III is back in Albion again. Time has passed (once more) and the hero this time is the child of the hero in Fable II. Somewhat confusingly the mediaeval world has in a short period of time turned into an industrialist society that seems far more advanced than is logical. The formerly silent hero now irritatingly joins conversations. There are no menus in game any more, having instead to return to the 'Sanctuary' which is a giant inventory/menu. The game is very slow as there are far too many guided scenes and cut scenes. The subtlety of choices for good or for evil has been replaced by requests to press buttons to make a choice.

You can (as with the other games) ignore the main story line and go off and carry out your own quests, and the graphics are still amazing. The voice cast is also pretty impressive - Zoe Wannamaker is back as Teresa, John Cleese voices Jasper the butler and Stephen Fry puts in an excellent performance as villain Reaver. There is still the humour of the other games in the dialogue too; but the good points aren't enough to make up for what is a poor latest instalment to the trilogy.

49ers at Wembley

The famous arch at Wembley

Another grey and wet October Sunday, another game of NFL at Wembley. This year the home team were the San Francisco 49ers who were taking on the Denver Broncos. Hopes for the game were not high as both teams were coming to the game with a losing record (Broncos 2-5 and 49ers 1-6).

Tailgate Party

We'd left home at 2pm and had a completely event free journey which meant that we arrived at the Stadium well in advance of the game! Time to take a leisurely stroll from the tube station to the stadium and look down on the Tailgate Party with their impressive section of the Golden Gate Bridge and giant (slightly scary) linebacker.

Even superheroes like football

Strike a pose!

There were the usual assortment of fans in NFL shirts and some slightly more eccentric characters - walking to the stadium were Superman, Spiderman and Batman; and on the concourse this colourful group.

Despite the stadiums announcers pleas to fans to take their seats for the pre-game entertainment (My Chemical Romance - never heard them so no real desire to see them) we enjoyed a couple of beers on the concourse whilst playing 'team bingo'. The aim of the game is to spot a shirt of every NFL team... by the end of the day we were only missing Detroit, Arizona and Houston.

We went to take our seats and showed our tickets to the steward... who instead of directing us down towards the pitch showed us to the disabled seats. What a wonderfully kind man. It meant that every time my legs or feet started cramping I could stretch them out, and so by the end of the game I could actually walk back to the tube station without being in complete agony.

49ers take the field

Time for the teams to take the field... along side a massive display of pyrotechnics and through the 'honour guard' of the cheerleaders. Once again the seats in the stadium had flags left on them for the home team - so this was accompanied by much flag waving. The crowd do always get very much behind the team that is the 'home' team, in this case the 49ers.

Anthems

The national anthems were the usual show of patriotism. The Star Spangled Banner went first - in previous years God Save the Queen has never come off so well - it just doesn't have the same 'oomph'. This year the problem was solved by getting guitarist Jeff Beck to play the anthem. Big improvement!

Nr 15 Tim Tebow

Time to get on with some football. It took a while to get going - by half time only three points had been scored by the 49ers with a field goal. Things got going a bit in the third quarter when Denver scored a touchdown. What we didn't realise at the time (the play we towards us so we couldn't see the players
shirt numbers) was that Tim Tebow (hero from his days at the Florida Gators, my college team) had come is as quarterback and got the touchdown!

All the scoring happened in the fourth quarter with three touchdowns for the 49ers and a field goal and a touchdown for Denver. The crowd went home happy as the overwhelming support was for the 49ers and they won convincingly. It was a good afternoon for my Fantasy Team as 49ers running back Frank Gore gave a good performance and got plenty of yards.

Many years ago Rich and I unusually ended up supporting the same team in the World Series - the Anaheim Angels (as they were then). One of their starting pitchers was in his first year in the MLB so whenever the commentators spoke of him he was "the Rookie Jon Lackey". We have continued to call him this - even many years later when he is definitely no longer a rookie and playing at Boston. Frank Gore will now forever be "Ball Carrier Frank Gore" due to the plethora of times that the stadium announcer referred to him thus during yesterday's game.

We were fortunate to get out of the stadium pretty promptly - we stopped briefly to thank to lovely steward who had been so kind in giving us the disable seats. We made it all the way to the penultimate horses barrier on the way to the tube before we were held as the congestion eased; and only had to wait a few minutes for a train where we happened to be almost by the doors so we even got a seat. All in all another great day out.

...and they played football	Flags
Drummers drumming	Cheerleaders, of course

The mexican wave

Happy Halloween

Sunrise

Of course the day I don't have my camera there is the most amazing sunrise over the peninsula. I had to get off the bus and capture it with my iPhone

A new paper

Last night in the Evening Standard there was an advertisement for a new paper; I suppose that as the Standard is London only and in the evening they don't see the start-up as direct competition.

Welcome the first new daily paper in a quarter of a century (or thereabouts). It's from the people who bring you the Independent and it's called "i".

A paper for "time-poor" people. My first reaction was - why would I pay 20p for something I can get for free? There were vouchers in the Evening Standard to get the paper for the rest of the week so I thought - why not? Of course today is Tuesday so there wasn't much point me taking Wednesday's voucher this morning, so I still paid 20p.


First reactions. A good size paper. Lasted me from waiting at the bus stop until just around Green Park. Unfortunately still not in the style of the London Lite with ink that doesn't come off on your fingers and a longer read means dirtier fingers! The layout is good - I liked the colour coded sections; I like the little "i" boxes with extra info and I liked the TV guide sorted by 'what you like to watch'.

I didn't much like the journalistic style I found it a little more informal than I would usually expect in a newspaper; in an article about mortgages "lending grew by a measly £1.6bn in September" - I think I expect less adjectives and adverbs in formal writing.

Pretty much my only complaint though. Not as much advertising as I thought there would be... not enough letters, but I suppose that is a bit much to ask in your first edition!!

I did found a read more of the non-news pages than I do with the Metro... I've got today's Metro so at some point I shall do a more detailed comparison - I wouldn't go out of my way to buy "i" but if I have 20p and a passing a newsagent...

Nightmare journeys

This week was a terrible week for anyone who uses the Underground. On Monday there was a power failure which left commuters on the Jubilee Line trapped in tunnels and having to eventually walk back to stations. The same thing happened the following day on the Victoria Line. Then on Wednesday there were sever delays and disruptions due to failures, over-running engineering works and trains taken out of service.

On Thursday a cracked rail was discovered early morning just before the morning rush hour on the Jubilee Line near Green Park. This closed large parts of the line for most of the day and the severe delays continued well into the evening rush hour.

My boss and I arrived at Green Park around 7pm. The indicator boards on the platform were empty. We sat down to read our Evening Standards (that is how few people were bothering with the tube on Thursday night, there were still copies of the Evening Standard left at that hour!). We sat there, and sat there. Every so often the PA system would spring into life and apologise to customers - at which point my boss muttered "Apology not accepted". After about 20 minutes a train eventually turned up... and crawled down the line. An hour after I left the office I arrived at Green Park... this on the same evening that I sat waiting for a train and read that the fares are going up in January.

Giant planets

I was recently sent details of some filming of giant helium filled planets down at the Observatory in Greenwich. I don't usually share this sort of story 'after the event' as it were - but the You Tube video is amazing!



Shame to have missed this as it looks totally amazing... I don't have Sky so I shan't see the TV show either - but it looks well worth watching if you have the right channel!

The press release is below:

To celebrate the launch of Sky 3D, Europe’s first 3D TV channel, spectacular scenes from its forthcoming 3D premiere of The Universe: 7 Wonders of the Solar System were brought to life above London’s Royal Greenwich Observatory. 

Nine helium filled ‘planets’ measuring between two and six metres in diameter were floated and illuminated above London’s skyline creating a unique spectacle ahead of the screening of the new programme from History™.

The Universe: 7 Wonders of the Solar System is the first episode from a new series of the popular History series The Universe and will be screened in 3D. The programme is part of the 3D entertainment line up for Sky’s ground breaking 3D channel, which launched on 1 October 2010. Viewers will be transported to the outer regions of space from the comfort of their sofa on Sunday 24 October at 9pm on Sky 3D.

John Cassy, Sky 3D’s Channel Director comments: “The phenomenal universe we live in has captured the imagination of generations for centuries and we wanted to add yet another dimension. It’s taken a team of 17 people over 100 hours to recreate the Solar System over the London skyline, with the impressive Jupiter dominating this celebration of ‘The Universe’ on Sky 3D.’

Sky’s groundbreaking new 3D channel is Europe’s first domestic 3D TV channel offering a variety of movies, documentaries, sports arts and entertainment. The channel is available through all existing Sky+HD boxes and compatible with all ‘active’ and ‘passive’ 3D TVs being produced by LG, Sony, Samsung, and Panasonic.

The Universe: 7 Wonders of the Solar System will screen on Sky 3D, channel 217, on Sunday 24 October at 9pm.  

Letting sleeping cats lie

Cass and Tink have had a busy week. Getting into things that they oughtn't get into, going places they oughtn't to go and generally getting into trouble where they can find it. Pretty much being kittens.

Now it is time for the little brothers to curl up together and take a nap.

Calling time

If you were going to go to the expense of buying tickets for a concert, if you were going to go to the trouble of travelling to the venue, the least that you would want is to see the entire show.

This would, by all accounts, be quite difficult if you were going to see Guns 'n' Roses at the O2 this week. The band is famous for arriving late for performances - making your way from the inside of the main arena at the O2 back to North Greenwich underground station would probably leave you with no way back to Central London as the last tube going west leaves just after quarter past midnight. Granted you can still go East until gone 1am - and provided that the Blackwall Tunnel is open you can still get the 108 to East London - failing that there are always a reasonable amount of licensed taxis on the taxi rank.

However, I cannot take any venue seriously that has to warn customers to leave early in case they get stranded.

Sight and vision

Yesterday it was time to visit the optician. I used to go every year after the repeated bouts of optic neuritis but as that hadn't bothered me for some time the frequency of my visits had decreased to every two years. This time I wasn't just going to get my eyes checked but to have a contact lenses assessment. I didn't approach this with much optimism due to a) I'm very squeamish about putting things in my eyes (eye drops are enough hard work) and b) the sensory problems in my fingertips might make it difficult. However, nothing ventured, nothing gained.


The eye check went off very well. My prescription is unchanged (for the first time ever in the twenty or so years I've been wearing glasses) and all the other health checks got the green light. Time for the contact lenses. The first time the optician puts them in for you... it took a few tries as I kept flinching each time she came near my eye - and then, wow! Amazing! Total clarity for entire field of vision... which with the modern predilection for small thin glasses you just don't get with spectacles. Easy (almost). Time for me to go and be 'trained' by the dispensing optician, who made it look so easy taking the lenses in and out without even the aid of a mirror.

Not so easy for me. The lack of feeling in my finger tips didn't really seem to hinder my efforts... my comfort with sticking things in my eye was the problem. You have to put them in and take them out three times before they let you go! I spent over two hours at the optician in total - but I will be able to start my free trial - as soon as the lenses turn up that is, with a little practice I think I could be a convert!

London Conversations

Optimistic man at bus stop: Is the tube strike still on do you know?
Me: Oh yes, very much so.
Deflated man at bus stop: Of course it is, silly me.

Objective achieved by unions, chaos on Monday morning.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Coffee break

Crop circles in my coffee cup!

Tube strike - the sequel

From 7pm tonight the staff of two of the unions that staff the underground are going on strike... again. Just what you need to start the week, as if Mondays weren't enough to deal with!

As usual keep an eye on TFL's website for travel info.

If you have a smartphone keep an eye on Twitter by doing a search for '#tubestrike' - if not helpful you'll feel better for knowing others are in the same boat!

Proof reading?

I received an email this morning with a discount code - the terms and conditions at the bottom of the page were very interesting!

Skywatch Friday (33)

Another Canary Wharf sunset

Join in!

Things kittens do

Innocent looking, aren't they? No trouble at all, as long as they are asleep. Both Tink (front) and Cass (back) have an unhealthy fascination with computers. They especially like to walk across the laptop (particularly if I'm using it) and if possible sit on it. 


Tink just walked across my keyboard on his way from A to B (in fact the arm of the sofa to the favoured spot next to me). As he went he managed to press a sequence of key... result, somehow Firefox was put onto full screen (and then some). 

I sat randomly pressing keys until the screen returned to normal service. One key apparently summoned the Firefox help screen. I liked the big yellow box "What do you need help with?". I was quite tempted to try inputting "My kitten has walked over the keyboard and messed up the screen layout".

Garden decoration

Panther

Some of the many frogs

I have been inspired by Esmee over at Plaid Pages and her lovely collection of garden ornaments to share a few of the many in my garden. A good few of them live on our patio - safe from the attentions of garden wildlife!

These poor fellows don't seem to have been made for the weather conditions
that they need to survive. We have two frogs and a cat from the same range
which never made it out of the living room!

These three look after the fish pond - they never fail to raise a smile - especially the jolly duck and the happy turtle.

This frog can be found relaxing, appropriately enough, next to the frog pond. There used to be a ceramic frog with a welcome sign - until a fox knocked it over and the frog broke. It has now been mended, but lives inside out of harms way!

This is a small selection representing some of my favourites... it is an ever growing collection with a couple of new items (at least!) added every summer - lucky we have a large garden!

And here are some, belonging to my nearly-mother-in-law, which I am not so fond of. I don't like gnomes - I find them freaky.

Flourishing plants

2010

2009

I found a photo taken a year ago of my alpine garden - it has really done well in the last twelve months!

London by night

The famous lights in Piccadilly Circus

It's kitsch if you aren't a tourist

Spotting a theme

Big Ben goes green - I'm not sure why

Westminster Abbey

After meeting a friend in a bar just off Piccadilly Circus I made my way back to Westminster to pick up the Jubilee Line. I had forgotten how vibrant and full of life London can be, even after dark.

Wildlife in odd places

Lacewing

Moth

I was surprised to find a burgeoning population of small flying creatures in the ladies toilet at work. Several small moths and an absolute plague of green lacewings. I persuaded the lacewings out the window - probably a better habitat than the toilets.

Free!