2004 - Byzantium / Bristol - Oj

Delish food although the menu was ultra thin

2004 - Watershed Cafe Bar / Bristol - Philippe & Claire

August: A sad day finally arrives - Philippe and Claire emigrate to Canada (Montreal); it's been on the cards for 18 months now - so this was thier final night in Bristol. End of an era for me. I met Philippe (along with David M) in Joe Cubas cafe back in Spring of '96 after I gave up work to write God Seed - he and David became truly close friends of mine - aka The Crazy Frenchmen. Memories of the trip to Amsterdam '97. David moved back to France but Philippe stayed and for most of that time worked at Joe Cubas. He met Claire around '98 and they've been an item ever since - top girl - very individual.

So we all went out in style - a final boogie at the Arc Bar and then that... was that. Hope they keep in touch and hope I see them in Montreal!

2004 - Watershed Cafe Bar - Frederiko

A later addition to the Crazy Frenchmen - Fred also worked briefly at Joe Cubas before finally telling bossman to fek-off - he and I struck up a good bond - he joined me during some of my crazy clubbing days in '98 when I went through some nutty weeks with little sleep - days and nights and days with Daisy and Co.

2004 - Bristol - Harriet

August: one day I bumped into Harriet, a girl I used to ride with on the #1 bus, way back in 97-98. I'd not seen her since then, and was stunned to learn she had been living in Brislington all that time, in a house just across the road from the back of the Happy Flat. Bizarre.

She invited me to meet her at the Bristol Regatta one night where she was singing an aria. Totally spellbinding.

2004 - Bath - Vega$, Oj

August: a few weeks earlier, Matthias handed in his notice at the Agency, terminated his tennancy at Ashley Road, and moved out of Bristol, and into Bath.

I had not seen Matthias since he moved so I was greatly looking forward to this day; met up, bought old fashioned sweets, space dust!, went to a great cafe (Tanya's regular) ate some good food and back to thier place for more wine and giggles. The move has been very good for Matthias.

2004 - Bath - Tanya

The lady herself - a voice artist.

2004 - Copenhagen / Nyhavn - OJ

August: I knew nothing about Copenhagen, I was thinking: big city, globalised so that nothing of local flavour would stand out, expensive, noisy, no nature....

We landed - we jumped on a bus from Airport to right outside our hotel - totally easy - the ride was really nice and allowed us to realise how friendly Copenhagen was - got checked in - dropped our bags - muched on pots of Sainsbury's pasta and started walking. Found a small plaza lined with bars. First drink. Huge glass of Carlsberg: delish. £5. But delish. I suddenly knew I was going to love this city.

Moved on to Nyhavn - the atmosphere of the place was fantastic - again, ultra friendly and relaxed. We walked on to see the Little Mermaid - passing some impressive yatchts - then strolled back and spent the rest of the night drinking coffee and cognac outside by this harbour.

2004 - Copenhagen - The Little Mermaid

A lot of on-line tourist boards say "don't bother with the Little Mermaid- it's a long walk for not very much".

I think the statue is lovely - very simple - the walk is very long but I like long walks.

2004 - Copenhagen - carving on Aboulevard

Every morning and every night Jo and I would walk 20 mins from/or back to the hotel we were staying at. During the walk we passed a huge fallen tree trunk, which somebody had carved this figure out of an upright standing tree limb.

2004 - Copenhagen - near Gammel Strand

I quickly got into my swing of things - explore the city with Jo, then find myself a cafe where I can spend a few hours sitting and writing. I found a fab place overlooking Thorvaldsen's Museum and the Christiansborg Palace, where I could sit outside supping delish coffee, working on written notes for Dragoon.

2004 - Copenhagen - near Gemmel Strand

2004 - Copenhagen - near Slotsholmsgade

I found Spirals everywhere in Copenhagen.

2004 - Copenhagen - Our Saviours Church

More spirals - the baroque spire has broad wooden stairwell that leads up to much narrower platforms and almost vertical stairs, which lead higher into cramped spaces beside the solid grey bells, with ladders that take you ever higher until you find yourself clambering out onto a narrow ridge - way way up - that goes around the base of the spire, and then climbs up, as a spiralling ramp, around the outside of the spire to the very top.

2004 - Copenhagen

2004 - Copenhagen / Tivoli - OJ

Again, a lot of on-line tourist rags warns about going to this place. I disagree. Okay, so in the day time it is full of hyper-active kids, but by time the darkness comes to the sky and all the lights are on, the whole place is thoroughly old-world and magical. I didn't do any of the rides, but walking around, enjoying the atmosphere and spending an hour or so in a dark but very cosey bar supping beer, perfect.

2004 - Copenhagen / Tivoli

2004 - Copenhagen / Tivoli

Tivoli has a history spanning centuries - and has a long association with Clowns

2004 - Helsingor

Helsingor sounds like it should be in Lord of The Rings. It was my birthday and I wanted to see Kronborg Castle, where Shakesphere based his Hamlet (all linked in with Saxo and Kydd).

It was all easy. Grabbed a train direct to Helsingor and the walked 20 minutes to the castle; Helsingor probably has many facets to it but the part I saw was tinged with the smell of sea brine, and had this old-world port atmosphere I really liked.

2004 - Helsingor

Part of the walk to Kronborg castle - very Old World.

2004 - Helsingor - Kronborg Castle

I don't know what I was expecting but nothing as majestic - radiating cold power - old and yet still beautiful as this. Started in the 12th Century, it's been in this current form since the 1500's.

2004 - Helsingor - Kronborg Castle

Dark tower; I took this from inside the castle forecourt, which is surrounded on all sides by the imposing inner walls and is lined with small turrets and towers. This image reminds me of something from a horror film, especially with the creatures flapping around it against a brooding sky.

2004 - Helsingor - Kronborg Castle

Big 'H' - part of Danish myth and folklore; this is a larger than life statue of a Danish warrior who fought his way to Spain and was then abandoned; he had to walk back from Spain to Copenhagen - when he got back he was so tired he went to sleep... and still hasn't woken.

2004 - Helsingor - Kronborg Castle

Climbing out from the subterrenean passages and chambers that honeycomb the whole area beneath the castle; perpetually cold and damp all year round it must have been a grim existence for the 1000's of soldiers who had to live down here.

2004 - Train back from Helsingor - Djr

August: these are my new glasses.

At work, events have taken a dramatic and unbelievable turn for the worse for me. I recieve word that my team and I are being merged with the generic mass of the IT 1st line support.

Everybody at work is stunned. The decision does not make sense. But the middle-managers running the restructuring programme refuse to listen to anybody. I try to show the mistake about to be made. How can 50 people, spread across three disparate geographical locations manage the day-to-day real-time drama of virtual communications...? What good is a 4 hour response SLA, when a videoconference has failed, and needs somebody NOW.

Worse, my job description has been changed beyond recognition. Everything I've fought and struggled to achieve is about to be pulled from beneath my feet, and mismanaged to death. My new job description is a desk-jockey sitting on a glorified call centre. No more responsibility for video conferencing, 6 years of experience from the foundations up is about to be thrown away just so a demented middle-manager (J-N) can make things neat and tidy.

Meanwhile, my mum taps me for another several thousand pounds, cash, to keep the builder going. I am suddenly aware that I won't be able to 'work from home' anymore. My work-life balance is about to be trashed by J-N.

2004 - Copenhagen - Round Tower

This was one of my favourite parts of the city - true Old World and very Cthulhu Mythos. This illustration is of the tower when it was built in the 1640's! Built as an observatory - it provides a fantastic view across the city, but getting to the top is just as much part of the pleasure. There are almost no rooms inside. The whole interior of the tower is like climbing up inside a sea-shell, one vast spirally ramp, with curved vaulted ceilings. Notice the windows on the illustration are not level; all the windows are rising up with the ramp. I could picture dark minds participating in Cthulhoid rites during this fervent period of Occultism.

2004 - Copenhagen / Round Tower - Oj

My girlfriend? or a dark occultist waiting for her Call to the outer Chaos to be heard?

2004 - Copenhagen - Round Tower

Another spiral - this is the interior of the tower: it goes up and round from the entrace doorway, right up to the roof.

2004 - Copenhagen - Round Tower

And as the tower looks from below

2004 - Return flight from Copenhagen

Quite beautiful