Restaurant Review: Chef's Table at The Savoy


A booth looking over a kitchen.

My mate Greg, without meaning to, makes all other husbands look bad. It's not enough that he is a loving partner, devoted father, and pillar of the community. Oh no. He also has to go and make the most amazing reservations for wedding anniversaries. My wife, Liz, and I were running slightly late for our […]

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Theatre Review: Bleak Expectations


Poster for Bleak Expectations.

It's always slightly weird when entertainment transfers from one medium to another. The actors on stage never look like the characters you imagined when you read the book. A prog-rock concept album loses its grandeur when transferred to 27 part Netflix series. And the subversive intent of the comic book is neutered to make a […]

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Lore of the Wild - a musical walk through the woods


people walking through the woods.

Into the woods, it's time to go, I hate to leave, I have to go. Into the woods, it's time, and so I must begin my journey. I live near the ancient Abbey Woods. Site of the derelict Lesnes Abbey, full of flowers, trees, and eternal mysteries. A tattered parchment map fluttered into my hand […]

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Advertising Screens Hacked To Mine BitCoin


The display shows a windows desktop with a variety of icons. There is a window open

Spotted in London, yesterday. A large, Microsoft Windows-powered advertising hoarding has been hijacked. It's not uncommon to see broken-down Windows displays - I run https://windowsisbroken.tumblr.com/ - which is dedicated to pointing and laughing at such mistakes. But this is the first time I've seen a display repurposed for profit! It appears to be running NiceHash […]

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Walking Under The Thames


Earlier this year, I won the BlueLightCamp Hackathon. Usually prizes are a token of appreciation - vouchers, a books, maybe even a new phone if you're lucky. This, however, was a "money can't buy" prize - a trip through the Thames Barrier. And so, during one of London's delightfully wet summer's days, I made my […]

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Goodyear Blimp Docking with The Shard (Time Lapse)


As I was wandering over Waterloo Bridge, I spotted a Blimp flying above London. I find that Blimps have an otherworldly quality. Sleek, silent, and majestic. I fired off a few photos as it flew overhead. It then turned and went to approach The Shard. Where, finally, it docked and her passengers alighted. Here's the […]

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Helicopters Flying Through Tower Bridge


Photo of a helicopter flying near Tower Bridge.

A delightful evening in London spent watching a pair of helicopters fly through Tower Bridge. It appears that it's part of the London™ 2012© Olympics® opening ceremony. First, the practice run: Then the three flights through the bridge Thanks to IanVisits for alerting us to the event, and Tom Scott for organising the picnic.

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TfL QR Followup - 5,000 scans per month!


At the start of 2012, I revealed how many scans TfL's QR campaign was getting. A lot of comments on Twitter & Google+ dismissed these results as a success. A typical response was: 70 scans a day? In a city of millions? Rubbish! This fails to address something that advertisers are conspicuously loathe to reveal […]

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More Real QR Statistics


Wandering through London today, I noticed that Southbank London has put QR codes on its posters. I've mentioned before the dangers of using Bit.ly as a QR code generator - as it allows us to peek at the codes' performance statistics. Here are the codes on the posters - click for bigger. As all the […]

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Real QR Statistics from TfL


Last year, I suggested that TfL should use QR codes to point to their excellent mobile countdown service. Looks like someone was listening! I spotted this poster at a tube station. Nestled in the corner is a QR code pointing at the mobile bus countdown service! This is a close-to-perfect use of QR. Points to […]

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