Still been taking pictures - unfortunately haven't had time to upload them so here for your viewing pleasure are three more days combined into one...

27th November

This Mosque is huge - this picture only shows about half the building. It used to be a dairy before it was converted to Islam...

The approaches to Morden which as I have mentioned before has to be the most depressing town centre in the UK. The teall building in the background is Crown House which serves as the offices for Merton Borough Council.

29th November

The exhaust on my car packed in over the weekend so I had to put it in for an overnight service. As a result it was public transport for me. Here are a couple of random shots from Mitcham Junction tram stop...

The tram is great - the only reason I don't get it everyday is because it tends to be completely overcrowded as it only consist of two carriages and - which basically means that I everyone is packed in like sardines.

30th November

As I mentioned previously I have a new mobile phone which I am still trying to master. As a result I do tend to get a few freaky looking images particularly as I tend to snap on the go. Here are three from my latest commute.

I liked the look of the sky in this one. I always prefer cold but clear mornings however in London we normally get more mild and grey

I really like the next one. Don't really know why. Maybe its a resurgence of my childhood fascination with cranes

Well here you go. Two more pictures from my daily commute. You may notice a slight difference in quality and the fact that both pictures now have a time/date stamp on them. That's because I have a new phone - in fact it's not just a phone but an O2 Mini S XDA.

Still getting to grips with the things hence the poor picture quality today. I am looking forward to mastering all its intricacies.

A random road on my way in - usually its jammed but for some reason was very quiet this morning.

This one (below) is a view of Raynes Park. Again very few cars around...weird.

Yes - two more wonderful pictures from South London suburbia for you all.

The above is Goat Road. No idea why it's called that - never seen any around.

A scenic view of the St. Helier estate - which I have been told is the largest 'council/social housing' estate in the UK - not sure if that's true though - although it certainly spreads for miles.

See how they added electricity pylons to brighten the place up. Who wouldn't want to live here?

Well a slight change to routine today. A visit to the cinema and some drinks meant that I abandoned my car at the office - meaning that I had to use public transport and my own feet to get in today.

Here are three pictures collected during my walk:

A road near where I live... exciting...

A pink taxi... woohooo - I bet you wished you had one of these in your neighbourhood...

Enroute to Mitcham Junction railway station / tram stop. At least it wasn't raining

Clouds were very pretty today...

Wimbledon Common does provide a scenic background...

And in the same theme two more pictures... Really really sucky weather today:

A random cut through somewhere in between Morden and Wimbledon Chase:

Wimbledon Chase railway bridge - looks cool doesn't it :p

More tomorrow

Well it's been a while - mainly because I have been pretty busy with 'real life' issues over the past few weeks. One of the things sucking up my time at the moment is my commute to and from work.

Thanks to a variety of idiotic road works and road closures my usual 40 minute journey is now taking me anywhere between 90 minutes and two hours.

Anyway I was sitting there in another traffic jam wondering what I could do to amuse myself when I remembered by battered old mobile has a camera.

I have therefore decided to provide you all with random grainy pictures of my wonderful South London suburban commute...

15th November

A church on the edge of Morden - quite pretty really. Which as Morden proper has to be the most godawful place in London:

A pond on Wimbledon Common - home of the Wombles - and dog walkers

My sister got married at the weekend.

Anyway, I volunteered to drive her and the new hubby to the airport for their honeymoon in Kenya. As I am cursed with bad luck when it comes to traffic (I actually missed the stag flight to Cork a couple of weeks ago) we set out at 3pm to Heathrow (normally a 60/75 minute drive) for their 8pm flight.

What I didn't know was that some eejit had managed to crash his scrap metal lorry on the M25 - simultaneously ripping up three lanes of tarmac which needed to be relaid. After 3 hrs sitting in traffic going literally nowhere things began to get a bit tense in the car. Fortunately, we finally got past the crash site (littered with old ovens and fridges) and I managed to deliver the happy couple just in time to check-in.

It was now London rush hour and I had heard (and seen) that the M25 was also blocked across three lanes on my return journey. I therefore decided to set out across country. Ten minutes down the road my mobile goes. 'Hi, I am afraid I left my hand luggage in the boot of your car'.

Anyway, I got back to Heathrow and handed over the bag - and once again set off on my way home through monumental traffic. By now I was pretty pissed off - and in desperate need of a pee.

A drivethrough McDonalds came to the rescue and feeling much more relaxed continued on my route home. I was just passing through Kingston-Upon-Thames when something happened to cheer me up even further.

I was on the inside of two lanes of traffic - and we were all stopped at some traffic lights. Two policemen crossed the road in front of us which obviously had an effect on one of the drivers a few cars up. Despite being in solid traffic he decided to move into the left hand lane - but obviously had never heard of the 'blind-spot' and proceeded to ram into the car on his inside.

The two policemen hearing the crash turned round to see what had happened - which obviously freaked the driver out some more - to such an extent that he then reversed into the car directly behind him. It was like something off a hidden camera show and brightened up my whole evening.

I know I shouldn't laugh at anyone elses misfortune but it was really so funny and after the crap day I had had I needed all the laughs I could get. I eventually made it home at 9pm - 6 hrs after setting out.

London traffic sucks...

As I am being lazy I just thought I would post an RP battle report here. This is from a fight we had with the Minmatar Ushra'Khan alliance last night. Enjoy (I hope...)

Battle Report - The raid on 9UY

Over the past few weeks the terrorist Ushra'Khan alliance has been stepping up attacks on Amarrian CVA space.

While most of these attacks have been beaten off easily they have been causing some minor disruptions to day-to-day life in the 'Deliverance' region.

It was clearly time to put these murderous terrorists back in their place and demonstrate the superiority of Amarrian tactics and intelligence.

Yesterday evening my sister Siobhan organised an ad-hoc punishment raid to the terrorist's home system. Within minutes of the call to arms over 20 brave Amarrian pilots had volunteered to stick their head into their enemy's most fortified system.

The trip over to Ushra'Khan space was uneventful and the CVA fleet under the able command of pilots Equinox Deadalus and Solusar reached the dark gate to 9UY without incident.

Upon arrival in the system the Amarrian forces realised that a third force was in play. It seemed the ugly Minmatar Outpost was being beseiged by a group calling themselves 'SolaR KillerS'. The CVA had not encountered this group before and our usual policy is to consider everyone neutral until they aggress against us or pirate within Amarr space.

Nevertheless, it soon became clear that this group of pirates were hostile not only to the Ushra'Khan but also to the CVA when they opened fire on pilot Ramruqai who had bravely exposed himself at the Minmatar Outpost.

The foolish pirates soon learned that loyal Amarrians should not be trifled with as Kincajou Niten warped in and dropped an interdictor bubble on their camp. The rest of the CVA fleet warped to prearranged spots panicking the 'SolaR KillerS' who immediately started to flee - not before the CVA fleet demolished two of their Caracals and an Arbitrator.

With the piratical infidels out of the picture the CVA's full attention once again turned on the terrorist Minmatars who cowered in their Outpost and at their orbital deathstars. Taking this opportunity Siobhan decided to engage in a little education in local. Despite her best preaching none of the Minmatars were willing to accept Amarrian enlightenment - leading to the obvious conclusion that at least this bunch of Minmatars are almost beyond Amarrian slavation.. erm salvation...

Spurred by Siobhan's words one foolhardy terrorist undocked in a Scorpion battleship and singlehandedly engaged the Amarrian support fleet clustered around the slave's Outpost. A slight miscommunication delayed the arrival of the Amarrian heavy hitters and I am sad to report that Kincajou Niten's interdictor was lost in the engagement. However, the brave - but foolish - terrorist also paid the price for his temerity in attacking his betters when his Scorpion was also reduced to blazing ashes.

With the Minmatars seemingly reluctant to fight, the CVA punishment party left the Minmatar HQ system and went on a hunt for pirates in the area - for it is well known that Ushra'Khan space is rife with nefarious characters. However, it seems as if the Minmatars may finally have gotten a grip on this problem as very few characters of ill-repute were actually found. After several hours on patrol the CVA pilots were getting a little weary and so the decision was taken to return home - but not before paying a final visit to 9UY.

When we jumped to the system we discovered that the terrorists had been busy in our absence and had called in further reinforcements - including three carriers.

Undaunted, the CVA support fleet warped into the Minmatar Outpost and at precisely the right moment CountingCurses - another interdictor pilot - dropped a bubble at the station, just as a wave of Ushra'khan suicide frigates accompanied by fighters and cruisers warped in.

The battle outside the station was fierce - with both Kincajou Niten (who had returned in a Malediction) and Counting Curses losing their ships in the engagement. However, the Minmatar ships caught in the bubble were easy prey for the CVA's heavy hitters sitting at long range, who proceeded to decimate the terrorist's fleet.

A Rook, Stabber, Celestis and Caracal quickly succumbed to the cleansing light of holy Amarrian firepower. These were joined by a Jaguar, four Rifters, a Tristan and a Incursus as the terrorist fleet was decimated. In addition, several terrorist pilots were returned to their cloning vats. We can only hope that their new clones show more sense than their old ones.

With the battlefield empty - and righteous punishment delivered - the CVA pilots returned to 'Deliverance' space for a well earned rest.

Unfortunately, the stubborn Minmatar's do not seem to have learned their lesson as later that night a group of Stormriders attacked shipping in R3 (they were of course punished for this).

Eventually the Minmatar terrorists will understand the futility of their actions and realise that their future lies within the warm embrace of Amarrian civilisation.

Amarr Victor...

D2 (Dusk To Dawn) Alliance are probably the third largest alliance in EVE after ASCN and BoB.

Anyway they must have got bored recenty because they decided to come down and visit the 'South' and generally wander round looking for fights.

CVA had been doing quite well against them - until I took a fleet down to HED-GP to pay them a visit. Our scout reported 35 in local and  Dominix battleship on the gate - real obvious bait.

Nevertheless I took the bait (based on some faulty intel - my own - and overconfidence as we had been doing pretty good against D2 up until that point). Anyway, I jumped the fleet in and we pwned the Dominix and a couple of smaller support.

Unfortunately, the rest of their fleet showed up immediately at sniper range (sniping is for pussies ) and proceeded to killed four or five of us as we slowboated back to the gate.

Anyway, I jumped the fleet out. Now at this point after having a fleet reduced from around 20 to about 15 and with 35 or so hostiles next door you would think it was time to back off. But no - I decided to wait on the gate and catch D2 jumping in. I have no idea why I took leave of my senses like this but D2 capitalised on my poor judgement (and no I hadn't been drinking) and proceeded to rape the rest of my fleet when they jumped in.

We did take out another of their battleships and a few support but it was a Rourkes Drift kind of fight. After I went down I ordered the rest of the gang to escape. Amazingly, 10 of the 20 who set out actually made it home :p

Anyway, after this monumental example of bad fleet commanding on my part I was commited to resigning my position - however no one in CVA would let me... They were quite nice about it too - almost made me blush

A few days after this Siobhan (my PvP account) was doing some scouting in a speed executioner (a small, fast, lightly armed frigate) when she came across a D2 fleet. Unable to contain herself she sprung into action. You can view the results here:

http://myeve.eve-online.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=414047

Now at the top I mentioned BoB and ASCN - the two largest alliances in EVE. Well they have been trying to kick the shit out of each other for the past few weeks - but as I don't have that much time I won't go into too much detail on that right now. However, the in space warfare has spilled over onto the forums - where propagandists on both sides have been trying to make their opponents look evil.

Here is a fantastic thread detailing a number of the 'signatures' created by both sides 'forum' warriors. Some are pretty amusing (although some do require 'inside' information) -

http://myeve.eve-online.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=413660

Bye for now...