Life and Vincent

Monday, August 02, 2010

The Thames

A place to work

This crew was trying to film some kind of pop group.

Wish it had been Vincent...

The river is wide and probably has a one-way system,

but I don't know which way.

On the far bank is a Royal National Lifeboat Institution station.

There used to be dedicated River Police,

but as far as I know they are long gone.

The vessel on the right is old and rusty.

Can't have been used for years, so why is it still there?

If you click on the picture, it should come up bigger.

A place to play

The river is tidal, and this sandy stretch often attracts sand sculptors.

In places they actually add a sandy beach in summer.

Mudlarks have dug for treasure on the banks for centuries.

The metal detector is the modern twist to this.

These fish-faced lamps stretch the length of the Embankment.

One place you will never get me to go!

London Mayor Boris Johnson's latest idea -

bikes for rent for quick half-hour sprints,

sponsored by Barclays Bank.
Apparently they are really heavy.

Think I'll pass.

I had to go into town today for an occupational health appointment. All they needed was a blood sample to see if I was immune to measles and rubella. TB and hepatitis didn't bother them. WTF?

Sunday, August 01, 2010

So, here he is, one of the new LOCI:L.A. team - Alfred Molina.

From the mad look in his eyes, I'd say he'd be more suited to playing a perp, as he did in the mothership, when he was the spoilt rapist son of a rich mother, played, I think, by Angela Lansbury.

From an interview he did in the UK the other day, it appears there have been more Lego versions of characters played by him than by Harrison Ford. He seems to enjoy playing baddies, and was in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Spiderman and The Da Vinci Code.

I was first aware of Molina (who is a Londoner) in the early 1980s, where the most famous thing about him was his marriage to Jill Gascoigne, who was playing Britain's first high-powered female cop. She was born in 1937, he in 1953. It was easy to conclude that he had married this successful older woman to further his own career.

Now she is unheard of, and he is a big success, but I can find no mention of their having divorced or even separated. In which case - kudos, Mr Molina.