John G's Mobile Weblog

More Gps raving

Sat 06/08/2005 10:17 06082005(002)

Petrol ? Cash till ? No problem. Why can't all mobiles be fitted with this ? You could sell space to advertisers.

Prayer time in Waterloo Station

12:46 22 March 2005
22032005(001)

This is by way of a postscript. As I walked into Waterloo Station at midday today there were I spotted 2 Muslims praying by the escalator - a sight which took me right back to Jeddah. But in contrast they had had to improvise. A major concourse in the UK - 1.5 million Muslims - and no provision for a place to pray. No wonder we're known as infidels.

case closed

8 days after getting back from the Middle East with many fruitless calls my case finally turns up at 10.30pm without explanation or apology from Royal Jordanian. Over the moon. And case closed - a good place to finish the blog for now??

Move along guv

For the benefit of the tourists some poor devils have to dress up as legionaries which was much improved when I caught one of them having a quiet word with white van man - much more interesting.

Last Supper

Da Vinci's Last Supper - the tourist tat includes a lot of sculpture. For example this version of Da Vinci's last supper where by dint of moving from one medium to another the sculptor has had to think about what the Last Supper might have looked like from the back. Answer: lots of flowing locks and male bonding by the looks of things.

Mothers day

I had no time at all to speak of in St Peters - certainly not to appreciate the Pieta - but I did pause for a second and recall that it was mother's day. And the Pieta added something rather special to it.

Emerging from All Saints

Sun 06/03/2005 12:19 06032005

Bishop John Flack and his wife Julia emerging from All Saints Sunday am. He is the Vatican ambassador for the Church of England - interesting job! I had an all day meeting in the Anglican Centre in Rome over the weekend - a fabulous apartment in the Palazzo di Pamphyllii with Caravaggio's just down  a flight of stairs - and John and Julia were hosting. The church layout made every attempt to be as close to the Catholic way of doing things. Apart from being built of red brick imported from England - the only church in Rome not built of marble - you have to hand it to the Anglicans :-)

Sacred art

There isn't a lot of space for posters in Rome. So the council have come up with an ingenious compromise - perpetual renovation which you can hang posters in front of. All of which creates a curious juxtaposition of the sacred and the commercial which is quite interesting.  I've included several to show that it wasn't a one off. And the churches stay under wraps. And the council makes money.

Direct response carpets anybody

I wasn't about to repeat my experiment in Jeddah and photograph  every station but alongside the channels showing erotica - and most of the mainstream channels seemed to on Friday night I was charmed to discover not one but 2 TV channels which seemed to be dedicated to the selling of Persian rugs - I'm amazed that the market would support one. Do you think people flick channels to see if they can get a better bargain on the other one?

Christian Science anybody?

Christian Science are advertising at the airport above the check in desk. Intriguing media placement. A bit obscure isn't it?