The Apple brand is an icon of progressive, hi-tech sophistication - wherever in the world you might be.

Am extremely busy with work for a few days - so not much time to think about what to report here. So I’ll post some (potentially) interesting pictures from time-to-time instead.

Waiting for a tube train on the Eastbound Central Line platform at Bond Street. I was soaked to the skin through my shirt and trousers due to the torrential rain above ground. But in the few minutes that I stood there waiting for the train to arrive - I was “as dry as a bone” as they say. The fiercely warm breezes that occur on the platforms and stairways of the London underground really do serve a good purpose sometimes.

A pint of Australian beer perhaps? No - a remarkable English country hotel - with the most exquisite gardens - and a rich and Royal history dating back to the sixteenth century.

Click on MORE below to conitinue …

You’d have probably guessed that I’ve been absent from here for a few days. I’ve been exceptionally busy with work lately - and one thing that I had to do earlier this week was to attend a one-day business conference at this delightfully-quaint country hotel called Great Fosters. This place just oozes traditional British cuteness.

It’s located in the county of Surrey - near a small town called Egham - which itself is dominated by hi-tech European HQ’s of Silicon Valley companies. It’s actually not too far from Windsor - and I can tell you - it’s well worth dropping by for a visit if you’re in the area: this place just has to be seen to be believed! Officially - it’s a place of significant historic interest - but the gardens and artefacts around the place are the best thing about it in my opinion.

There is a traditional English “walled garden” - as well as a pond garden area, a river with ducks - and also fine grass lawns and hedges dotted with delightful little statuettes. On a nice sunny day - it’s hard to believe that a place like this exists so close to London!

There is a sundial around the side of the house - which according to the historical record - was gifted to the estate by Sir Francis Drake.

This is my new phone.

And what a phone it is: GPRS/Edge, Bluetooth, Infrared Modem, XHTML Browser, TCP/IP, POP3/IMAP4 Email, VGA Camera, MP3/AAC Player, FM Radio, Video Player (with streaming), Java MIDP2.0 Virtual Machine, Alarm Clock, Calendar, Voice-activation, Voice Recorder, Colour, Tri-band, MMC memory card and Loudspeaker just to name but a few of the things that this tiny little thing can do. And I mean tiny ! This thing is barely longer than a cigarette packet! It can comfortably fit in the closed palm of your hand. Being Nokia’s latest and greatest (non-specialist) mobile phone - it’s packed with every single one of the latest features - and is a truly remarkable thing to carry around in your pocket - and includes a number of “start over” developments from Nokia.

Simply amazing. To think that only a few years ago - all that a mobile phone could do was to be a phone. Now the phone is a multi-function entertainment and computing aid that you can fit in your shirt pocket - which will work almost everywhere in the world that you might care to go.

I’ve lived with my new phone for a few days now - and I still haven’t figured out all the things it can do …

Click here, here, here, here or here for some detailed reviews of the Nokia 6230.

There is a famous street in the City of London called “Cheapside”. It’s the only retail shopping street in the “square mile” financial district of Central London. There are a few clothes shops on Cheapside - but they generally only cater for people who work in The City. And, despite the name of the street, the goods on sale there aren’t exactly cheap.

Today I popped inside that shop to check out these “bargain” shirts. I noticed that the collar-label on a few of them said “Made in India”.

So - for those of you readers from India: 100 UK Pounds is (at today’s currency exchange rate) equal to 8271 Rupees. Is that expensive for three shirts?

I sure do hope so! :-)

Those of you who live in UK might be aware that the dominant telecom company is a company called BT. The company was formed in the early 1980s from the privatisation of the UK General Post Office - Telephones division. The famous old traditional “red” telephone box has for many decades been a national icon - and in numerous places around UK there are preservation orders on them - usually in places of historical importance and heritage. However - modern telephone kiosks are much more in tune with 21st century communications - and these days they come in all shapes and sizes - and with many different features - e.g. broadband Internet, multi-currency, touch screens and keyboards etc.

Right outside the headquarters of the modern day BT - in the City near St. Pauls - is the a row of public telephone kiosks (or payphones as BT likes to call them). Being right outside the corporate HQ, as you would expect they are kept very clean and shiny - and almost certainly are never broken or faulty. And these days, like most telephone kiosks, they also carry advertising too. It seems that every public structure in London is an advertising opportunity.

Been a while since I last travelled through Paddington Station. Hundreds of people. Just schlepping about - or waiting for trains. Tasty-looking morsels of clinically-prepared fish and sticky-rice going round and round and round. There are two sides to Paddington - the overground train side which is bright and cheery - and then there’s the dash down to the underground - unearthing a grittier, less glamourous side.

For a while I will be working on and off in the City. For those of you not from these parts - “The City” is the square mile in London that is the financial district. It is said that every bank in the world has a branch here - and this is the place where deals are done and money is made. It’s great being back here - I used to work here a few years back you see.

Passing through Paddington Station - the seller of the Evening Standard reminded us of how the football hooligans that plague our national pride were at least contained to our own shores.

Having been out of town for a few days earlier this week - it satisfies me enormously when I get back to indulge in my own home-cooking. Especially when I’ve been deprived of all things spicy whist I’ve been away - for I will almost always get carried away with firing up my cook-outs with, say, liberal dollops of hot chillie pickle over my roti, or perhaps generous handfulls of hot jalapeno papper over my pizza - or maybe liberally-long splashes of Tabasco over my scrambled eggs.

And in the case of the latter - what’s even more pleasurable is the fact that it’s Tabasco from a gigantic 350ml bottle - and not the itsy-bitsy-cute-little 57ml bottles that you normally get when you shop at places like Safeway, Asda or Tesco. Yep - the act of shaking a humungous 350ml bottle of Tabasco over the plate is a pleasure to behold forever. These large bottles of Tabasco are generally only available at wholesale outlets - selling to restuarants or catering establishments - but in my part of NW London - you can find them gracing the shelves in abundance at the local Indian shop on the High Street.

After being away from home for a few days - there is nothing more pleasurable than a late-night devouring of a heavenly omelette with splashes of Tabasco whilst watching BBC News 24:

The journey home from work on Friday evenings is always crowded - no matter what time I choose to leave the office. By the time I’m on the bus stage of my journey home - the crowding is at its most intense. If you like to observe people and human behaviours in crowds - then looking out of the window onto the crowds from the front seat of the upper deck of the bus is one of the best places to do it.

Today was a special “election day” in London. Citizens of London had a unique opportunity to vote for three different things - all on the same day. Dubbed by the media as “Super Thursday” - Londoners were invited to take part in the democratic process to elect the following:

• The Mayor of London - a first and second choice voting opportunity

• The Greater London Assembly - vote once for a member of your local London constituency - and once for a London-wide member

• The European Parliament - one vote for a member of the European Parliament for your area.

I voted soon after I got home from work - which was around 8pm. Unfortunately - it seems that the entire neigbourhood waited until 8pm to vote - my theory is that this is because Eastenders had just finished on TV - and this meant that I had to wait in a long queue to cast my votes.

Click “MORE” to continue …

If you’re interested - here’s how I voted:

Mayor of London: Ken Livingston - because he is the champion of London Buses - and I depend upon them so greatly. (But actually because I think 4 years is far too short a time for any Mayor to institue badly needed long-term changes.) I gave my second choice vote to the Green Party candidate.

London Assembly: Labour Party - because the other parties seemed utterly disinteresting and non-credible.

European Parliament: Labour Party - because ditto.

So - back in London from Dublin. And another couple of surprises to report back on.

Whilst waiting form my flight back to London at Dublin Airport - I noticed that the terminal building windows afforded a fantastic, unobscured view of the runway and landing strip - and I witnessed many planes taking off and landing whilst waiting for my flight to board.

You may have guessed that I was over in Ireland on business for a couple of days - and on the second day I had an engagement in the heart of Dublin town. But because the office I was visiting had a shortage of meeting rooms - the host of the meeting had booked a room in a building across the road - which was a convent. Yes - a convent. A fully working convent too. It turns out that the enterprising people at this spiritual establishment (presumably the nuns) have spotted a gap in the market - and are hiring out their convent to local businesses to conduct their business in. Simply brilliant!

Before the meeting started - I had a quick opportunity to take a picture of the view out of the window of the convent conference room:

Yesterday I hopped onto a Route 79 bus in London in the morning - and ended up in Dublin, Ireland in the evening.

So - reporting from Dublin - this morning - as the low sun shone brightly in the sky (whilst some people were staring at Venus transiting the Sun) I decided to take a stroll down a street with a canal that runs right through the middle of it. Dublin is full of fascinating surprises like this.

And in Dublin - surprises also seem to come in two’s !

(Apologies for not having responded to recent comments - am struggling to find much time right now - will respond soon!)

I had to leave the office slightly early yesterday (Friday) afternoon. This afforded me an opportunity to gaze outside the bus window at the Route 79 communities at their liveliest and most colourful.

Some time ago I wrote about the expensive Indian/Asian fashion boutiques at the North end of Ealing Road - well having bussed past these shops twice every day for the last few years I have never seen them open for business - and I always put that down to the fact that I pass them in the morning before they are open and pass them in the evening when they are closed. Well - this time I was passing by them in the middle of the afternoon - and, apart from the telltale signs of shop assistants adjusting clothing displays - they all still looked devoid of customers. Perhaps the clothes they sell are so expensive that only handful of customers a day venture into them - or perhaps, like the expensive clothes shops in Rodeo Drive in Beverley Hills, you need to book an appointment to visit the them?

Not 1567 the year - but 1567 the phone number. In the old days there were so few phones - people used to advertise their numbers as 4 digits only.

As the bus passes the traffic lights at the junction of Ealing Road and Wembley High Road there is a two-story brick wall side of what probably was a residential house when it was built - but the ground floor almost certainly got converted into commercial shop front several decades ago - and is now occupied by Krishna Pan Centre. The faded lettering on the wall - which is still clear enough to read - advertises a “Daimler car hire” service that was probably present nearby in times gone by.

The famous “arch” of the new Wembley National Stadium is now partially erected. Spotted whilst on the bus journey home this evening. However - there was dull and grey sky - and I couldn’t get a decent picture in the low light. STOP PRESS: Got some pics now.

The new arch will almost certainly become part of the symbol of London’s skyline soon. But in the absence of a decent picture of its rise to glory - I instead reminded myself that there are other features of London’s skyline that tend to be either forgotten, hated - or simply taken for granted. Mobile phone masts for example. The nearest mobile phone mast to where I live is at the far end of the car park of my local Safeway. It’s mounted on a purpose-built grey, aluminium-finish pole about 30 metres high.

Today’s society probably doesn’t accept the fact that there’s anything at all aesthetic about mobile phone masts - but one day I am sure that someone, somewhere, will appreciate the “architectural beauty” of these artefacts of our 21st century skyline - and there will probably be websites and documentary programmes dedicated to them.

This is a lamb-chop casserole - in a Thai style. It might sound kind of weird - but trust me - it is really very delicious indeed. The Far-East Asian taste goes really well with slow-cooked lamb - and it doesn’t need to be served with anything else - making it a really good low-fat meal.

To learn how to make this really satisfyingly tasty dish - click here.