Rather a beautiful temple roof detail, don’t you agree?
Roof Detail
Month: November 2005
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Lord of the Rings
“The cameras go live to the nation in 1 minute … please tell us about your design concept …”
Arriving at a client to find five teams of cameramen with journalists is alarming. And being told to talk to five blinking red LEDs about your concept with 35 seconds of preparation time is certainly a new experience for me. Welcome to the world of Celebrity Wedding Ring Design!
The ring leader
Smile for the cameraTwo months ago Demos – my boss – was on Taiwanese celebrity Tao Zi’s television show being interviewed. Unfortunately for him, he lost a bet which ended with him committing to design her wedding ring. Famous across Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and the whole Asian region (think Chinese Oprah), I am sure it seemed logical to ask a Brit designer with no jewelery experience to deliver the goods.
The end result – a diamond, cut in half and concealed under an ergonomic bulge … more details of the design to follow, I am sureI knew on Thursday that the press release had been passed onto the media. Finding out it was in every major daily paper on Friday was rather a shock – especially since I had not seen it in the flesh at that point. I had been warned to dress up a bit on Friday (obviously, I still didn’t shave) but I was not so prepared to speak into six microphones at short notice with a brace of pretty interviewers fluttering around me. A blur.
Tao Zi on the left – also with a bump. Demos looking cheeky down belowAs I left work, in a daze after the afternoon, text messages and phone calls started arriving from friends who had seen me on different channels (in between reports of the election – it wasn’t even a slow news day). I headed over to Nelson’s place to watch the TV and make use of the split screen function to keep track of the TV stations. Typically, two hours passed before I saw myself, and Nelson had to endure my jumping around pointing and screaming at the TV.
My five minutes of fame!
Deeply surreal -
18 months.
I realised that last week was the 18 months anniversary of being in Taiwan. Quite a strange feeling, being on the straight to 2 years away from home. Very strange.
The next few months will see a few of the crew moving to different locations in Asia, so there will be several large parties in the coming months, and more than a few sad goodbyes.
For now, I am battling through to Christmas and some deserved time with my family and friends!
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Johnnie Wa*ker
We do quite a bit of work for Diageo at DEM – something I rarely complain about. Friday saw a large party in aid of their ‘Centenary Blend’ Johnnie Walker Gold product. The result was a large amount of free Whiskey and a storming hangover which seemed to last the duration of the weekend. I would say I have learnt my lesson, but that is blatantly untrue.
My crazy new white shoes – one-offs from HK
The dance floor at the end
Nelson & Christina give it the attitude … and next weekend will be a bit more healthy 😉 -
The Great Sausage Experiment
My Mother sent me a hilarious package of things which arrived this Friday. Key among the items was a pack of 6 Newmarket sausages which we wanted to send via post to see if they survived the journey. Or, at least, if I survived when I ate them.
They certainly did not smell bad, and there seemed to be a good trick – included in the parcel was a pack of Cadbury’s chocolate. The shape had been maintained, so I can only assume that the temperature during transit never got too high.
Slap UpThe final test of course came in the eating. I had all the ingredients for a full English breakfast, which I woke up George for as I bounced around the apartment cooking. Sausages, Bacon (American Style), Mushrooms (Grilled with Olive oil and Thyme), Beans (HP, sadly), HP Sauce (HP, gladly), Tea (Tetley’s), and Orange Juice.
I am hungry again thinking about it!
It was all fantastic, but the sausages certainly had a certain special additional … bouquet. Half way between lemon and vinegar in the background, they did taste a tiny little bit strange. However, I have had more than my fair share of dodgy kebabs without (many) problems so I ploughed straight through them and enjoyed every last bite.
So, if I am still alive tonight and my gizzards have not fallen into the toilet I’ll make a sausage salad or something tomorrow. Yum.
Full EnglishAs a post-script to this exercise, I went to Taipei’s newest high class restaurant a few weeks ago – ‘The Frying Scotsman’. Taipei’s first Fish N Chip shop! Not bad, but the owner, a heavy Glasgwegian guy, has managed to make the entire place authentically AVERAGE. It is not even really very great. Which, in a way I was rather pleased about. No Haute Cuisine. Just a nice nosh up. I think I’ll be heading back when I feel the need, but it is not the same as my Histon Fryer. -
Stairway to Heaven
I had one of the best rides of the last few months on Saturday. Several sections have been intimidating me for some time, especially because some of the rest of the crew are a bit more daring than me when doing bigger stuff.
However, I was feeling strong and confident (all important) and the conditions were excellent. For the record, the weather in Taipei in November is truly wonderful – a light English summer day with clear skies and none of the usual horrendous humidity. A perfect set-up for mountain biking heroics!
My primary nemsis in the past few months has been a very demanding set of steps to climb up. A series of steps, placed about 2 metres apart get progressivly higher until the final step with is over a foot tall. Several of the more experienced riders demonstrate a technique of gently lifting the front wheel up the step and then bunny-hopping the rear up, without losing balance for the next one. I have attempted it in more times than I care to remember, usually ending up in swearing at the hill, which does not help, but certainly it feels good!
This, however, was my day. The technique, finally was correct, the speed slow but confident and I smoothly lifted the bike up step by step until I collapsed in a heap of glee, a wave of intense joy hitting me. Finally!
Jonny 1 – Hill 15This return to confidence continued in two further sections of hard, technical downhilling that I had previously walked down. So, all in all, a wonderful giant-killing day. Perfect for a balls out night on the town!
Bishan Camping Ground…
Information signs at the stairway
Taiwanese people are a bit neurotic about their little fluffy dogs!
George of the jungle
First attempt at the dreaded step drops ended in success (and a sore bum)
Team 7117 in effect! -
Telly
Edward works itI had an amusing reminder that my boss is a celebrity in Taiwan when TV crews arrived for an interview for a local fashion show. Bertie, Kate, Charlotte and I more or less took the piss for the whole time, contemplating ringing Edward’s cell phone, but wisely we restrained ourselves. The two brothers – Edward and Demos Chiang – are more or less a cross between Richard Branson and Prince William, and as such telling girls who you work for more or less has them on the floor. I would never do such a thing, of course!As an amusing post-script, when the crew left they popped the power for the building, and as such I lost a bunch of ProE development … after some swearing and looking less than friendly, the fashion model host came over to apologise to me. Again, I had no idea who she was, but apparently she is quite a celebrity. I should find out her name and the name of the show really, eh.