My Celebrity Whirl – Panto Edition. November 23, 2009
Posted by pottaz in entertainment.Tags: Aladdin, birthday, Christmas, Dot, EastEnders, Gordon Craig, John Altman, Nasty Nick, Nick Cotton, panto, pantomime, shopping, stevenage, Tesco, theatre
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It never rains, it pours.
Next up in my pantheon of stardom is John Altman, best-known as Nasty Nick Cotton from out of off of off of EastEnders.
Where are the little gems? Behind you!!!
I’d been meaning to mention the panto at Stevenage and John has forced my hand. So there I am in Tesco getting some bits for my son’s birthday party and who’s that inspecting the lettuce – my new best pal John. He’s playing the lead in Aladdin at the Gordon Craig Theatre, cultural beacon of Stevenage and the one landmark you could pick out from the train if you were just passing through.
Must be opening night soon. So are they putting John up in a swanky hotel somewhere nearby (the Ibis is perilously close) or have they found him a nice place to rent for a month? My money’s on the latter.
Checking a YouTube interview, John says he’s staying up in Henlow – that’s about 20 minutes away. Still reckon it’s a house.
In the meantime, you can keep up with rehearsals with this fascinating behind-the-wall, fly-on-the-scenes video-blog!
My celebrity whirl. November 18, 2009
Posted by pottaz in entertainment.Tags: Barclaycard, Cambridge, celebrity, famous, Green Wing, Jeremy Vine, Kings Cross, Kirsty Wark, Lily Cole, magazine, OK, Playboy, screen, spotted, stage, stars, Stephen Mangan, TV, university
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Not everyone’s life has the level of excitement that fills my own. Not everyone can rub shoulders with captains of industry and stars of stage and screen. So I feel it only fair to share the sparkly wondrousness that blesses my daily existence for the benefit of people who don’t occasionally walk within 100 yards of someone vaguely famous.
1. Lily Cole. We’re becoming very close, even though we don’t talk much. At all, in fact. But we do see each other nearly every morning. I’ll be arriving at King’s Cross from Stevenage and she’ll be on her way to catch her train to university in Cambridge.
Hi Lily – if you happen to be Googling yourself.
Summer wardrobe.
It's amazing what a difference a hat makes.
2. Stephen Mangan from out of Green Wing and the Barclaycard adverts. Went to school in Hertfordshire, so we’d have had loads to talk about, but alas I didn’t have that nugget to hand when I walked past him on my way to Pret yesterday. Anyway, he’s my best mate now and needless to say, he thinks I’m HILARIOUS.
A better stalker than I snapped him with Kevin Spacey.
3. Kirsty Wark from out of Newsnight bumping into Jeremy Vine also out of Newsnight. In Carluccio’s. Not much to report here other than they were on separate tables having an informal chat with somebody and then they noticed each other. Small world, eh.
Newsnight's Wark.
Newsnight's Vine
Goodness, it’s better than OK! In nearly both senses of the word.
STOP PRESS: Hat man has new hat! November 10, 2009
Posted by pottaz in Parking, Uncategorized.Tags: Derek, French, General de Gaulle, hat, headwear, kepi, navy, train
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And it’s another kepi – a proper navy blue General de Gaulle job. Do I like it? Well I prefer it to the other one. The white and tan leather job was way too consciously ethnic. “Hey everyone, I’ve got Bob Marley’s entire back catalogue!”
Sorry - it's the best I could do amid all the excitement.
Did I miss a meeting? Are these on-trend? I don’t think so. Derek (I believe) has found his niche and he is working it, baby! What’s going to happen with the other one? Is he going to alternate? I’m not sure I’ll sleep tonight.
A kepi that wasn't moving.
First glove of the season. October 30, 2009
Posted by pottaz in Parking, Uncategorized.Tags: abandoned, bridge, glove, gloves, lost, mittens, Parking, property, reunited, season, shopping, stevenage, trolley, woollen
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Crossing over Lytton Way on the bridge, I see the forlorn shape of a black woollen glove, abandoned, waiting for its owner to return. But lost gloves and glove losers are so rarely reunited.
I wonder, can Parking in Stevenage become a force for good? Could it become a sort of Gloves Reunited site? After all, I’ve already explored my altruistic sensibilities with my shopping trolley rehousing project earlier this year.
But no, there is already too much to report on in this blog. I just can’t afford to offer people with odd gloves false hope. If I see another – like you all undoubtedly will – I shall simply offer up a silent prayer for the fallen.
Parking in Stevenage is One! October 28, 2009
Posted by pottaz in Parking.Tags: Amazon, anniversary, birthday, blog, car, first, Google, happy birthday, internet, one, Parking, stevenage, Swingate, web, year
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Wow. Who knew? One year and 1,556 page views later, Parking in Stevenage is still going strong. We’ve covered shopping trolleys, transvestites, Duncan Norvelle, Lewis Hamilton, hats and gloves – all human life is here!
It feels like such a significant event – like the anniversary of Google or Amazon or the internets.
“Why did you start this blog in the first place?” you’re not asking yourself. Well I’ll tell you. It was as much for my own amusement than for any other audience (fortunately). I don’t have to submit my first draft to anyone else to approve. I’m my own boss. I can write what I like. For better or worse.
So thanks to Swingate, Danesgate, Daneshill, Southgate and St George’s multi-storey for having me. To Stevenage station for giving me somewhere to catch the train from. And to First Capital Connect and National Express for transporting me from East Herts to King’s Cross (and back again).
I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank both my readers for sticking with me. Believe me when I tell you, things can only get better – that’s probably quite easy for you to believe, truth be told.
Here’s to another 365 days of Parking in Stevenage. It’s gonna be real!
Hat man is called Derek. October 21, 2009
Posted by pottaz in Parking.Tags: camera, commute, Derek, hat, kepi, leather, photo, ponytail, rasta tan, train, white
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And he looks like one too. Overheard a mate talking to him as they were getting off the train. I wasn’t earwigging, I just caught it in the wind.
As for the hat, I think it’s some sort of kepi. A colleague of mine also sees Derek and his kepi. He’s shown me his surreptitious photo of the two together. One day it may appear on this blog. This could turn into a sport – a bit like Dick and Dom’s bogey game. They have to say BOGEY as loud as possible in a public place. Our challenge is to get the clearest, closest shot of Derek and kepi. I think I’m winning at the mo’.
A kepi: same shape, different colour and materials.
Duncan Norvelle rides again. October 21, 2009
Posted by pottaz in Parking.Tags: Parking, stevenage, traffic, transvestite, Duncan Norvelle, chase me, heterosexual, homo, gay, married, 80's, eighties, comedian. post, search, tags, terms, stats, pregnant, sister, visitors, Duncan, Norvelle
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The fascinating thing about doing a blog is checking the stats and seeing what people are coming to read.
With WordPress you can even see the search terms that people have used to find a particular post.
So you get the familar ones, like Stevenage, parking and station – no surprises there.
Then you get things like Tesco, shopping trolley and tickets – again, that doesn’t surprise me. I’ve done plenty of posts that have those tags.
So which area of borrowed interest has been the most effective in bringing traffic to PiS?
Two words. Duncan Norvelle. Most of the searches are accompanied by ‘chase me’, ‘married’, ‘gay’ or ‘homosexual’. It seems I was not alone in pondering his lifestyle choice, given his act. Turns out it is just that – an act.
The poster that started it all.
Not only that, I had a reply to the post from someone saying that Duncan had got their sister’s mate pregnant – presumably a woman. Well that pretty much settles it. Though to be fair, neither Google nor Wikipedia could corroborate the story, so who knows (he says, trying to avoid legal proceedings).
So as well as being an excuse to post a traffic-pulling topic that will once again bring high volumes of curious visitors, hopefully this gives you a valuable insight into your fellow browsers. And by the way, another top puller is the word ‘transvestite’. Now I’ve got my best tags all in one post – a sort of greatest hits if you like.
For the original post on Duncan Norvelle, go here:
http://parkinginstevenage.wordpress.com/2009/07/16/5-things-you-never-knew-about-duncan-norvelle/
Roary vs toothbrush October 19, 2009
Posted by pottaz in Parking.Tags: brushing, car, First Capital Connect, racing, Roary, timetable, toothbrush, winter
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According to First Capital Connect, it’s now officially winter. They’ve rejigged the trains so they give themselves an extra few minutes to get into Kings Cross.
My morning 7.07 train has become the 7.04. That shaves 3 minutes off my morning routine. So is that 3 minutes less watching Rory The Racing Car slacked-jawed with my daughter or do I skip brushing my teeth? This is going to need some careful thought.
... or brushing my teeth.
... or watching Roary The Racing Car.
An ad for shadows? October 19, 2009
Posted by pottaz in Parking.Tags: ad, advert, billboard, campaign, platform, shadows, sony ericsson, stevenage
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Thankfully, the Sony Ericsson campaign seems to have lost interest and stopped following me. The billboard on the platform at Stevenage has been replaced by this one; apparently an ad for shadows. And why not. They’ve been under-represented for ages.
- BLANK -
The Britney of King’s Cross. October 14, 2009
Posted by pottaz in Work.Tags: Britney, Britney Spears, commute, Kings Cross, oops I did it again, platform, Spears, stevenage, train, tube
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Occasionally I need to get to work at 8.30. It’s not too much of a hardship. But the last few times I’ve noticed a new character in my cast of fellow commuters: the Britney of King’s Cross.
The real Britney - before rehab/shaving/general loopiness.
Train timetables and habit collude to have me standing at exactly the same spot on the platform and at roughly the same time when aiming for an 8.30 start.
Amid the SuperDry jackets, the Diesel jeans, the pinstripe suits, the jean and jacket combos and the beauty clinic uniforms, one young woman stands apart. Or rather sits.
At precisely my spot on the platform, there she is, sitting and waiting. And dressed a bit like Britney 1.0 – you know, the pseudo-schoolgirl sort of look. Always the knee-high socks, short skirt and bright pink top, along with perilously bleached blonde hair.
I’m way past looking. I see her, but I’m not looking per se – though in a predominately grey/brown/black world, pink/white/flesh does tend to stand out.
But she’s there sitting on her own. I arrive, wait for a train and squeeze on board when space allows. And as it pulls away, there’s Britney, still sitting there. Waiting. For what, I wonder…
Sometimes it’s better not to know. The reason is no doubt extremely dull and unexciting. As with many things in life, the interest is in not knowing.
There. That was nearly deep wasn’t it. I’ll balance it out with another post about Duncan Norvelle soon, I promise.
