Happy Halloween

Okay....this is one I made last year. Just didn't get round to it this time. Anyway, have a good one.

A Secret Wedding and a Birthday Surprise

A few weeks ago I received an invitation from my friend Dave (he's the one on the right) asking if Laura and I could meet him and his partner Barbara (she's the one on the left) for a 'pre-birthday' drink in a pub not too far from where we stay. I used to work with Barbara at Gaia Architects, back in 1999 / 2000, and met Dave through her, so I've known them both for a while. (I think you would have met them at my BBQ Wayne if you remember). Dave is also an architect who works for the same company my old flatmate Calum works for, but I digress...

Now, I only received the invitation by email in the morning of the day of he wanted to get together, so I didn't exactly have much notice. Nevertheless, they're good friends and I wanted to make the effort to meet them. Dave's email was also quite insistent that Laura and I should both go and that he'd really appreciate it if we could be there. As it happens, Laura doesn't work too far from where we were supposed to meet, and she was free that night, so we agreed that we would go along.

Barbara's always been good at buying me cool gifts over the years for various occasions, so I wanted to try and get Dave something better than just a lousy card. There's a store that sells great designer stuff just around the corner from my office that opened not too long ago, so I nipped out at lunch time to see if I could find anything suitable. As soon as I walked in this caught my eye. It's called the 'Dombo mug', for obvious reasons, designed by a guy called Richard Hutton. (Coincidentally featured in this month's issue of Dwell, Dom.) I also found a cool box of cardboard drinks coasters made up of metal elements from the periodic chart called 'What's your poison?' I got both of these and a card and headed back to the office to get some lunch.

By coincidence I also work with a mutual friend of Dave and Barbara's, Heather (bear with me, this gets confusing), and I'd assumed that she would be going along too. I bumped into her in the sandwich shop carrying a gift she'd bought from the same store, which as it happened I had also contemplated getting Dave. I mentioned this to her but she seemed utterly perplexed and scurried off back to the office with her lunch. When I got back shortly after she quizzed me about it and wondered what present I'd got for Rob. "Who's Rob?" I replied. The plot thickened.

It turned out that we had both been fed different stories about the reason for the get together. Rob, as it turned out, was a friend of theirs who was turning 40 the next day. Dave's birthday, however, wasn't for a couple of weeks after. Also, it turned out that Barbara's parents were visiting from Germany. When Heather called them to probe the issue there was lots of mumbling and excuses. It soon became apparent that something else was going on.

When we turned up to meet them they revealed that they had in fact gotten married at the weekend! Which to be fair we'd figured out, but still a nice surprise. The picture of them was taken when they were signing the registry book. One of the funniest wedding photos I think I've ever seen. Haven't gotten them a wedding present yet though. I'm still bitter about them lying to me. :)

Paul Live at the Roundhouse

I caught Paul playing live on tv this week. He played a whole set...check it out!

R.E.M. Live

I was drawn in by the latest REM CD. You get a live album AND a DVD (of the same set - recorded in Dublin on their last tour) all for the price of a normal CD. Not a bad deal. I also saw them on this tour (in Loch Lomond, not Dublin) so I thought it would be a nice memento. I've only listened to the album once and haven't gotten round to watching the DVD in full yet. It's OK. Mike Stipe sort of yells a bit more than usual. But for the price it's worth it. Tourfilm is still way better though.

Fonejacker: Fridge Freezer

I love fonejacker. The premise is simple. An actor makes a series of prank calls to complete strangers under the guise of a number of different characters. It's juvenile, but relatively harmless fun. This is one of my favourite clips and characters; Terry Tibbs, a used car salesman with a knack for bartering, trying to buy a used fridge freezer...

www.fonejacker.tv

An apartment in Paris

It's funny the amount of people who, when they find out I'm an architect, ask me for a bit of advice about changes they want to make to their home, whether it be an attic conversion, or an extension, or even a new house! I imagine it's a bit like working in the medical profession, giving people casual advice about their aches and pains, but without the perks of a huge salary. Now don't get me wrong, it's flattering to be asked, and I enjoy designing, so I'm usually happy to try and help, especially as I've taken a temporary break from mainstream practice and don't get the same opportunities to design and draw stuff. (I'm more of an architectural critic / report writer these days). But these things can grow arms and legs and take a hell of a lot of time, and I've been burned in the past, so I'm more wary than I used to be about taking on private work or dishing out advice, but that's another story.

Some friends of Laura's live in Paris. In Montmartre to be precise, near the Sacre Coeur. We visited them a couple of years ago. He's a translater and she's an artist, and they have a very sweet daughter. Anyway, they're moving to a new apartment, still in Montmartre. They've bought what is basically a two-storey empty shell, into which they can design their own interior. So they asked for a bit of advice about how best to fit in the number of rooms they wanted and where to put them.

I took a shot at it this weekend and emailed a sketch to them. It's pretty straight forward, I think. Anyway, it was quite nice to pick up a pen, a piece of tracing paper and scale rule and actually do some designing. I miss it.

Blogs away...

Everyone seems to be blogging and I feel like I'm missing out. So perhaps it's my turn to give it a go...so here goes.