Stapler's Choice #3

Third in an occasional series of choice links:

My favourite childhood read is going to be a film.

Commenting on the comments on the BBC; Yes, some people are this stupid. (>Monty)

Google Streetviewer's notable places. (>Daf)

The Streets take to the information superhighway; his twitter is worth checking out too.

Paris, mon amour - this is flaneuring in the best possible way. (>Kempt)

And finally, a gorgeous pair of shoes which actually appeared in a dream last night. (GQ Magazine>Thingbox)

The Staple - Tring

A Country Mile...or 8

I've blogged before about my love of getting out of London; for I am a country boy at heart (and in years gone by). So last weekend I was rather pleased that the fantastic Alvin had arranged a daytrip to everyone's favourite commuter town in the Buckinghamshire countryisde, Tring. Now he's organised a few before, and I've always meant to attend, but an 8am rendezvous at Euston on a Saturday morning is a tough target to hit. However, this time, I made it and I'm SO glad I did. While the environs of Tring may not offer the panoramic vistas I've seen in the Cairngorms, Alps or Rockies, it's a million miles away from the concrete cityscape of London. I even dressed up in my country gent outfit of black wellies, cream jeans and green military coat. It was utterly glorious. We did an 8-mile loop, with the Ivinghoe Beacon forming the centrepiece. A brief climb up to the top and the view was, by all accounts, pretty spectacular. As the weather was bright, you could see for MILES. And the wander was enhanced by some brilliant company, and a fantastically invigorating wind that blew the cobwebs away - just what you need on a Saturday morning. This was rounded off with a visit to the aptly-named Valiant Trooper pub in Almondbury, where I polished off a three-course pub lunch (deep-fried brie; fish pie; brownie), three pints of Honeydew beer and an Amaretto. I've not been that satisfied in a long time. It's so good for the soul to get some miles under the feet and a pretty vista in front of your eyes; I've been taken on walks since I was a little kid, and it's something that is easy to dismiss on a mad weekend in town, but it's so accessible (the fast train gets there in 25 minutes) and totally free. Delicious. Hopefully we'll be able to organise a few more in the coming months (I'll post details) and maybe even a trip to the Lake District...Other Staples this week:
A lovely walk in Tring on a Saturday
Gmail's smileys (only discovered these today!)
New issue of Fantastic Man
The Camden Tup
Aqualung's album 'Still Life' (rediscovery of old CDs continues)
Warburton's Hot Cross Bun Loaf
JG Ballard's novel, 'Kingdom Come'

The Staple - Silk Scarf

Why Have Cotton...?

Seeing Steve's post over on StyleSalvage has got me thinking. I'm going to come back to it later this week (hopefully), as the last few times I've been shopping, there has been a guilt element associated. Even my All Saints shop, where everything I got was 70% off seemed a little unnecessary at the time. But it provided my most recent Staple; a beautiful 100% silk scarf. It's enormous, silver, and practically the size of a single bedsheet, with a screen-printed billowing Union Jack, in muted silvery tones. I love the way the entire scarf waves in even the lightest breeze, and that despite being so thin, it's fabulously warm. It's also so large that I have already used it as a sheet for a quick powernap at home; when we were in Berlin, it made a handy protective headscarf against the 9am harshness, and more than once we have run down the street waving it like a huge pennant. Items like this - accessories, and scarves particularly (a well-documented obsession for me!) - add a whole new layer to an existing outfit, and for the princely sum of £17.50, they're well worth it. It reminds me of a Tamara de Lempicka painting with a woman driving a Bentley or some sort of roaring 30s classic, with a huge swath of silk flowing from her (I think it's also how the woman died; wish I could remember the specific picture); but also, the scarf creates new shapes with my velvet blazer, recalling a recent Carolyn Massey jacket. Following all the coverage of MAN, that's definitely an association I'd like to make. Now, for a cape...The rest of this week's Staples:
Huge silver silk scarf from All Saints
Matthew Herbert's albums
Fantastic parties this weekend courtesy of Rhea and Wayne
The comfort of PJ bottoms
Pancakes with maple-flavoured Golden Syrup
Being properly paid for DJing at ClubRees
Spending too much time on Twitter (id: sebulous)