Ceiling Tins on Pine Street

I saw these ceiling tins for sale outside a shop on Pine St. I think it was $40 for a large one. I would have liked to buy 6 and make into a coffee table top - except I'm running out of space.

These are the exact same type of tiles they sell in Estilo Home in Wimbledon, made into picture frames which cost over £100 - so that's a pretty big mark-up.

Polish Mountaineer's Belt

I saw this belt in the Polish American Center. I like those places - I did my Masters dissertation on ethnic groups' museums in Chicago, so I have been to quite a few. This is a Polish Mountaineer's belt - but I thought it looked just like something I might wear now!

A day in Philadelphia

I had a very nice day trip to Philadelphia.

This is on Ben Franklin Parkway. This is supposed to be a replica of the Champs Elysees in Paris.

Napoleon's brother's house.

Nice houses on Pine Street - older and more Southern, with shutters.

The City Hall, which is supposed to be an exact replica of the Paris City Hall, except for the tower.

I had a very informative tour of an old Jewish graveyard by a guide called Jordan. Well, what could I do, he didn't have any other customers and was sitting there on his own.

On the Bolt Bus to Philadelphia

Extra leg room.

Plugs for your laptop.

All in all, a very pleasant experience on the Bolt Bus.

When the cat's away...

This is what spare keyholders get up to....

This is my new kitchen in this Real Food video for Times Online with the BBC Chinese chef Ching-He Huang. I love how they've styled it...I'm sure I didn't leave my kettle and cookbooks in the back..

Coldplay on Today Show

Right now I should be at the Coldplay early morning concert at Rockefeller Centre- but I couldn't get out of bed in time. I'll post a You Tube clip later if I can find one. It looks really busy though, I'm sure I wouldn't have got anywhere near it. I think Gwyneth Paltrow is very lucky to be married to Chris Martin.

Christie's Pop Culture Auction

On Wednesday afternoon I went to watch the Pop Culture Auction at Christies. It was pretty relaxed, you could walk in and out whenever you want, so it's worth going even for a short while. It was very entertaining. Someone should hire the auctioneer for tv, he was good-looking and had a bit of banter with the beautiful women on the telephone bids. Most of the bids were telephone bids, but I did feel bad for the man in the room who bid for quite a few things but didn't win. You can actually watch the auctions online too.

At the front of the room were some large clothes, and I couldn't figure out who they belonged to. I was thinking Elvis, but there was a blood-stained shirt. Finally I looked in a catalogue and it was Tony Soprano's shirt from the Sopranos. You can see the results online - looks like that outfit went for nearly $44,000. There were lots of interesting things for sale; old Disney stills, stills from King Kong 1933, lots of rock memorabilia.

Photo is from the Christie's website.