One of my favourite college buildings. I love the clarity of the design and the contrasting circular and angular masonry and dormers. The building is the Fellows' Building in the Second Court of Christ's College. Built between 1640 and 1643 its lines remain timeless, even modern. I'm annoyed that the lamppost, well - any lamppost actually, immediately makes me expect to see Mr Tumnus come prancing around the corner.
What annoys me a little more is that there seems to be no one way to spell lamppost. It seems lamp post and Lamp-post are also acceptable. I'm all for diversity (ask my bank manager) but this seems a little slack. It reminds me of my early years when I spent months agonising on the pronunciation of garage. Whether the 2nd syllable should rhyme with fridge a la garridge; or whether it should be like my grandmother pronounces it (like the Queen) a la 'gerahge'or, finally, the non-denominational GARage where the 2nd syllable slips gently away without inflection. Nowadays I say carport.
And while I'm here can i just mention this: The Times drew my attention to the Das Keyboard which has completely blank keys. That's great - it's exactly what I need to increase my typing speed. Yet it's 50 quid. Now they say it's gold-plated and has 'high-end mechanical key switches' but still, £50? Of course, I'm not a professional typist or coding freak so I'm sure I'm unaware of the life-altering ramifications of these benefits or even of it's special 'sonore feedback'. But it's black and looks cool. So while I'm saving the pennies to get my own I've spent £1 on a permanent marker and just blacked-up my trusty 10 year-old bog-standard one. Now I'm typing with 2 fingers, watching the screen with one eye and sneakily checking out my unaltered laptop keyboard with the other...
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Simply Stunning
