Phil Meloy

Happy birthday Kenny.

This person needs to get out more.

Reports now say that four individual bombs have exploded. A London bus was destroyed in Woburn Place which runs between Tavistock Square and Russell Square . It appears now that Russell Square tube station itself was not targeted. Bombings also appear to have taken place at or near Edgware Road, Kings Cross and Aldgate East stations. At least one bomb may have gone off in the tunnel rather than at the station itself causing initial reports to come in from stations either side. Still only two confirmed fatalities from Aldgate East so far but it seems almost cetain to rise but it seems it will not go near the scale of the Madrid tragedy. In general everything in London is pretty calm at the moment while the authorites continue their investigations and the emergency services get on with it.

Not that it matters much but athough the the Northern line also happens to pass through a couple of the stations (Moorgate & Kings Cross) where interchanges between lines exist they were essentially all apart from Russell Square (Piccadilly line) connected by the District/Circle/Metropolitan line system - the two other lines sort of merge into the Circle line when they come into central London and share the same track. An explosion occured at Edgeware Road station which is in this system rather than at Edgeware which is a station right at the end of the Northern line. Tavistock Square where the bus explosion occured is literally yards away from Russell Square tube. I used to go to college in Tavistock Square and commute via Russell Square tube station to get there.

That sounds like Russell Square and Tavistock Square. An undisclosed number of fatalities has just been announced at Edgeware Road.

There's still only three confirmed fatalities two at Algate East and one elsewhere however the bus incident is worrying and it is now suspected that this was the work of a suicide bomber on the top deck of the bus which was completely ripped off. It looks possible that some of the other explosions may have been electrical explosions caused by a bomb elsewhere in the underground system as a lot of people coming out of the stations seem to be only treated fpr minor injuries and the stations involved are connected to each other rather than on different lines. Mobile phone service seem to be coming back on although I'm in central London and still have no signal at all. Also now looks lke seven explosions with one on the bus at Russell Square tube and the bus around the corner in Tavistock Square appearing to be different explosions.

I my experience, the first things that crash down are the mobile networks. Everybody want to make a call in a small area and the networks simply stop functioning almost at once. ← This happened too but I think they have now cut the network in central London as a precaution.

The info coming through is all a bit garbled at the moment. Mobile phone networks appear to have been closed down in central London as a precaution against them being used to trigger bombs. Reports of explosions are now coming in of six explosions at Liverpool Street, Russell Square (Tavistock Square is just around the corner), Moorgate, Algate East, Kings Cross and Edgeware Road. It is unclear if all these are actually terrorist attacks. It is possible that some of these may be electical explosions which have occurred because of terrorist attacks on the tube system elsewhere. There are a lot of people injured but as yet no reports of serious injuries or fatalities but it is still very unclear what the extent of the terrorist attack has been. There is still no official confimation of a terrorist attack as yet but the bus incident at Tavistock Square certainly seems to point to this.

What he said ← Details are just starting to come through. So far at least one bus has been blown apart in Tavisock Square and there has been an explosion in Edgeware Road tube station.

Don't worry - it's protected by English Heritage.

It's bad luck for Paris and Madrid, they both had good bids - I don't really think the New York and Moscow bids were all that strong - but Stratford the area in east London that will be the main site for the Olympics is seriously in need of the regeneration that the Olympics will bring. As you lived here for a while Chris you're probably aware of how run down some parts of the East End were. Of course London will have all the usual problems over the next few years of escalating cost, construction delays and conjestion caused by mass construction but the long term benefits of new transport links, new modern sporting arenas, new housing stock (much of which is to be used for affordable social housing) and the complete rejuvenation of a depressed area of the city I think will be well worth it. I get the impression that the majority of Londoners are very positive about the fact that they will now host the games and the benefits to the city that they will bring.

I listened to London's final presentation this morning on the radio. Tony Blair amazed everyone by delivering his speech via a live video link from Gleneagles in FRENCH which he is completely fluent in. From all reports it went down extremely well and possibly swung the vote in London's favour. Seb Coe was pretty good too.

At least the French can have some fun blaming Chirac.

I think that Tilapia is originally from the Nile river but it's been commercially farmed here in the UK for quite a few years now. That could be the case in the States also.

Here's a recent short review I found... Chez Georges Cuisine: Traditional French Hours: Mon-Sat noon-2pm and 7-9:45pm Address: 1 rue du Mail Location: 2e, 2nd Arrondissement (La Bourse) Transportation: Métro: Bourse Reservations: Reservations required Phone: 01-42-60-07-11 Prices: Main courses 25€-27€ ($29-$31) Credit Cards: AE, MC, V Season Closed 3 weeks in Aug Review This bistro was opened in 1964 near La Bourse (stock exchange), and is run by three generations of the same family. At lunch it's packed with stock exchange members. The owners serve la cuisine bourgeoise (comfort food). Waiters bring around bowls of appetizers, like celery rémoulade, to get you started. You can follow with sweetbreads with morels, duck breast with cèpe mushrooms, cassoulet, or pot-au-feu (beef simmered with vegetables). A delight is sole filet with a sauce made from Pouilly wine and crème fraîche. Beaujolais goes great with this hearty food. and another... "If you were to ask Parisian bankers, aristocrats, or antiques dealers to name their favorite bistro, many would choose Georges. The traditional fare, written in authentically hard-to-decipher handwriting, is good -- chicken liver terrine, curly endive salad with bacon and a poached egg, steak with béarnaise -- and the atmosphere is better. In the dining room a white-clothed stretch of tables lines the mirrored walls; attentive waiters sweep efficiently up and down its length. Order one of the wines indicated in colored ink on the menu and you can drink as much or as little of it as you want (and be charged accordingly); there's also a separate wine list that has grander bottles. AE, DC, MC, V. Closed Sun. and 3 wks in Aug. Métro: Sentier."

I spoke to my friend who works in the restaurant business here in London and he recommended Chez George - 1 r. Mail e2 - as his favourite restaurant in Paris. It's a classic French bistro with excellent food which is not outrageously expensive. Maybe brownie has heard of it? My friend also completely agreed with brownie's opinion of Maxim's. P.S You will need to make a reservation.

Haven't been to Paris for years so I can't give you any up to date info myself but one publication that may be helpful is the "Time Out" guide to Paris. What makes these guides different to some of the more traditional travel guides is that "Time Out" is London's weekly entertainment, events, leisure and listings magazine. Consequently their series of travel guides to various cities while still containing all the traditional information such as the historic sites etc. - are also strongly orientated towards information about going out when you're in town - for a start they list all the top jazz clubs in Paris! You'll also find recommendations for accomodation, other music venues, restaurants, radio stations, theatre ect. They have just published a new Paris edition in February 2005 (pictured below) which is available from amazon.co.uk - be careful they may still only have the 2004 edition available in the States at the moment. I think amazon.com are still displaying the previous edition.

Happy birthday Lazaro.

Happy birthday Tpm.

Geez Berigan awful glad it looks like your mum's gonna get through this. Must have been a real rough time for you all. Hope you and your Mum and Dad are all home again together real soon. Thanks for letting us all know what's been happening. Hang in there comrade.

Happy birthday comrade Berigan. Na zdorovye!

tried this and they cancelled order, computer error they said,,, oh well....... Yeah me too clunky. I got 16 emails saying they were displayed at the wrong price and my credit card was being refunded. Drats! They've now been removed from the Amazon site.

The musicians select what categories they're listed under themselves.

A little tip for UK based board members - there's quite a few of these OJC titles available at the moment from one of amazon.co.uk's marketplace sellers musicexpress.com for £1.81 each plus £1.24 postage (I don't know how this works for you guys in the US). I've just picked up the following fifteen titles for £3.05 each (incuding postage): Buck and Buddy - Buck Clayton with Buddy Tate Blue Stompin' - Hal Singer We Three - Roy Haynes Evenin' Blues - Jimmy Witherspoon Memorial - Clifford Brown Milt Jackson, Vol. 1 - Milt Jackson; Count Basie In San Francisco - Cannonball Adderley In New York - Cannonball Adderley Very Saxy - Eddie Davis Carl's Blues - Curtis Counce Bourbon Street - Louis Cottrell Blues & Ballads Vol.1 - Lonnie Johnson/Elmer Snowden Swingville - Coleman Hawkins Mood Indigo - Doc Cheatham plus... All Star Sessions (Milestone) - Elmo Hope Not a bad haul for £45.75! I really have no idea why they are going so cheaply but it's certainly worth having a dig around Amazon UK for OJC titles at the moment. I don't know how long they'll be available at this price so I figured I'd better grab some now.

Is this available on CD ghost?