As you will see from the photo above, Wise Furnishings in Erith Riverside Centre has finally bitten the dust; no - one I spoke to could ever fathom why they ever opened a store in Erith in the first place; it is not a destination for big ticket purchases, and in any case, hardly offered the kind of goods most locals would have appreciated. I cannot recall ever seeing a customer in the store - the nearest thing to a visitor they would get would be someone sheltering in their doorway during inclement weather whilst they waited for a bus. I feel sorry for their staff, now out of a job in the middle of a horrendous financial crisis, but I had seen it coming from the very moment they opened their doors.
I have been out and about around Erith this afternoon with my trusty Nikon D300 camera, taking advantage of the unseasonal good weather to take some shots to see a mostly nicer side to the town that is Erith. You can view the results on my Flickr site here.
Captain Tweed has been involved in his biggest and most challenging case to date. The Captain's crime fighting lab has been instrumental once again in assisting the powers of law and order. Suffice to say I am unable to recount the events of the last few days in this very public forum. It is enough for me to confirm that collars have been felt, and some very nasty individuals will not be darkening our streets for quite some time.
The photo below is of one of the courtesy wheel chairs offered by Morrison's supermarket for their customers with personal mobility problems - I saw some buck toothed and unwashed chavs playing around with a wheel chair in the store earlier in the week; it would appear that this is what became of it. Given the chance, I would gladly throw the thieving scrotes into the Thames mud to retrieve the chair; the only thing is, I would make sure they were wrapped in thirty or so feet of boat anchor chain, on an incoming tide...
Two video clips this week; the first is the current TV advertisement commemorating the 25th Anniversary of the creation of Virgin Atlantic airlines. The 90 second commercial is one of the most expensive shot in the UK; apparently the budget was a shade over £6 million. The advert goes back to the launch days of the airline back on the 22nd of June 1984, and the whole thing is a glorious eighties retro - fest. You have got Rubik's cubes, Asteroids, Wimpy, and notably Our Price records (remember them?) All featured. The accompanying music track is also a bit of a curiosity; OK, most people will recognise it as the famously banned by the BBC "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, but I doubt that many will realise that it is taken from the New York 12" remix, rather than the original single. Give it a watch and leave a comment below please. Oh, and at 30 seconds into it, check out the young guy outside of the Our Price Records store - he's either got to be a Time Lord, or he's got hold of the Delorean from Back to the Future. You may notice he's holding an LP; it is "Steel Town" by Big Country. Only one slight problem - the album was not released until October 1st 1984. I do these things so you don't have to.
One thing that pleasantly surprised me this week was the updated version of Minder being shown on Channel 5. I did not watch the initial showing, but was bored and waiting for Ian to turn up on Saturday evening, and it was being re-broadcast. I channel hopped and came across it. It was actually not bad at all. Shane Ritchie absolutely channels George Cole, and it is a shameless rip off of the classic original, and has definitely been filmed with the American market in mind, the series is absolutely in love with London, and shows the city in a very positive light.
Here is a trailer giving an idea of how the show compares to the original (actually it is a complete rip - off, but fun anyway).
I have been out and about around Erith this afternoon with my trusty Nikon D300 camera, taking advantage of the unseasonal good weather to take some shots to see a mostly nicer side to the town that is Erith. You can view the results on my Flickr site here.
Captain Tweed has been involved in his biggest and most challenging case to date. The Captain's crime fighting lab has been instrumental once again in assisting the powers of law and order. Suffice to say I am unable to recount the events of the last few days in this very public forum. It is enough for me to confirm that collars have been felt, and some very nasty individuals will not be darkening our streets for quite some time.
The photo below is of one of the courtesy wheel chairs offered by Morrison's supermarket for their customers with personal mobility problems - I saw some buck toothed and unwashed chavs playing around with a wheel chair in the store earlier in the week; it would appear that this is what became of it. Given the chance, I would gladly throw the thieving scrotes into the Thames mud to retrieve the chair; the only thing is, I would make sure they were wrapped in thirty or so feet of boat anchor chain, on an incoming tide...
Two video clips this week; the first is the current TV advertisement commemorating the 25th Anniversary of the creation of Virgin Atlantic airlines. The 90 second commercial is one of the most expensive shot in the UK; apparently the budget was a shade over £6 million. The advert goes back to the launch days of the airline back on the 22nd of June 1984, and the whole thing is a glorious eighties retro - fest. You have got Rubik's cubes, Asteroids, Wimpy, and notably Our Price records (remember them?) All featured. The accompanying music track is also a bit of a curiosity; OK, most people will recognise it as the famously banned by the BBC "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, but I doubt that many will realise that it is taken from the New York 12" remix, rather than the original single. Give it a watch and leave a comment below please. Oh, and at 30 seconds into it, check out the young guy outside of the Our Price Records store - he's either got to be a Time Lord, or he's got hold of the Delorean from Back to the Future. You may notice he's holding an LP; it is "Steel Town" by Big Country. Only one slight problem - the album was not released until October 1st 1984. I do these things so you don't have to.
One thing that pleasantly surprised me this week was the updated version of Minder being shown on Channel 5. I did not watch the initial showing, but was bored and waiting for Ian to turn up on Saturday evening, and it was being re-broadcast. I channel hopped and came across it. It was actually not bad at all. Shane Ritchie absolutely channels George Cole, and it is a shameless rip off of the classic original, and has definitely been filmed with the American market in mind, the series is absolutely in love with London, and shows the city in a very positive light.
Here is a trailer giving an idea of how the show compares to the original (actually it is a complete rip - off, but fun anyway).
Richie is no George Cole, that's for sure. He lacks that 'pained' expression that only Cole can do so well.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, a brave attempt at recreating a classic.
AH!
ReplyDeleteDid you know that the bloke who plays the Terry character..um... Lee Shrapnel is actually the great-great grandson on the man who invented the Shrapnel shell???
Suddenly the new Mider is much more interesting!
lol