Loved the docking station for the iPod

The mood-lights

The mood-lights you can adjust to your liking and then the hotel outside will look like a ever changing mosaic. 

I headed out to get me breakfast – partly because I felt that I could not eat my 25 Pounds worth but mostly cause the nearby Cafe Monmouth is just the best place to get you a coffee.

It feels a little strange to know I’ll not be back for a while. I really enjoyed my time here in London – it’s a fabulous city and with the Yahoo! offices right in the middle of it I did get the best of it for the best part of two years. But I have to agree with Klaus that the standard of living compared to the cost of it is far cry from great. 

I do really look forward to the weeks ahead as I will have some time off to travel and sort out a flat in Munich.

As some of you have mailed me about what’s going on and what I’ll be doing next. Well I’ll be working for Microsoft in more specific on their Live Search team in their Munich offices. As it seems I’m in good company.

I’m pretty excited about this and will keep you updated on how this pans out.

this is a blog post as originally posted on locallytype

My Last day in London – so what’s next?

The Londonpaper reports in his yesterday edition that Google’s advertising revenue has outstripped ITV’s for the first time ever. They call this a

significant landmark in the astonishing rise of new media

In the third quarter of 2007 the Searchengine generated £327 million in ad revenue compared to an estimated £317 million for ITV across the UK for the same quarter. This is the first time they outperform UK’s top commercial channel. Even more astonishingly because of the boost the ad revenues for ITV have seen through the 2007 rugby world cup during the last weeks.

In the first nine month of 07 Google has earned £925 million in ad revenue and is set to earn ~£1.25 billion for the year.

1 British pound = 2.0579 U.S. dollars

this is a blog post as originally posted on locallytype

Google hits significant landmark in the astonishing rise of new media

In their own words

We started roasting and retailing coffee from this site in 1978. In our sampling room you can try any of our single estate and single origin coffees before buying beans to take home. We have a range of pastries and cakes from Villandry and Paul to have with your coffee to stay or take away. We also sell the things you need to make a single cup filter coffee at home including filter cones and papers. During winter, we sell chocolate from Pralus, as well as chocolate truffles from Sally Clarke.

I go there every single morning before work to get me a latte to go and a plain croissant. Going back outside sitting at the seven dials smoking a ciggy and watching people heading to work is the best time of the day – at least for most of the days. This is what I would call quality time. This addiction btw is more expensive to me as my monthly travel pass for the 2 central zones of London public transport.

this is a blog post as originally posted on locallytype

Coffee Monmouth – Coffee heaven in London

Well that wasn’t quite right and after I rediscovered the problogger site and fortunately found his series of the “rediscover your groove” postings – I didn’t feel that alone anymore and in time like these this is the first step out of the dark – this is dramatized.

So how did it all start? Well I guess one reason was that there are loads of things going on at Yahoo! at the moment – not only do we have a new CEO but as well a new European leader in London.

For us in search and more specific in local search and maps there is just too many things happening at a time right now … you have to be a great juggler to keep all balls in the air at one time – reminder to myself hand back a couple of balls after the holidays.

What else – well I don’t travel so often lately mostly because I’m now in London and people come to visit us as instead of us travelling somewhere else which is another reson to blog less – as being on a plane often gives you time to write and think.

I’ve been to Paris two weeks ago but didn’t bother blogging on the eurostar cause I felt it was not spacious enough. Paris was beautiful as ever but I still have to find my love for the taxi drivers in Paris – I guess.
 

Live Earth concert London

Uh I’ve been to the Live Earth concert on the 7th of July at the New Wembley Stadium. That was fu**ing awesome. Thanks very very much to Dahlia, who won the tickets and invited me to come along! We saw not only Madonna, Metallica, Red Hot Chilly Peppers, James Blunt, Black Eyed Peas and many more but we had a wonderful day.

I had my first really delicious English breakfast at the same day. Really I’ve tried it a couple of times at hotels in London but always switched back to continental the next day. This one we had at a place pretty close to Dahlia’s place – somewhere round Notting Hill Area.
Really lovely and rather small place – and refreshing to a lot of restaurants and coffee places in London not a chain.

Uh I’ve been to Germany the last week for HOLIDAYS. Going back there and meeting family, dog and friends was awesome! Happened to be that it was my birthday on the 20th so we had a great excuse to go to my favourite Italian place and do some very nice dinner and drinks.

I need to mention that compared to London, where we do right now have temperatures of round about 20 degrees centigrade – in Bavaria Germany we had up to 35 degrees at the same time – It was fu**ing hot and quite some humidity – which made working unbearable – lucky me I didn’t have to work.

So I’m right now travelling back to London. And seems like I’ve found my groove again – this has to be the longest post I’ve ever done before.

I’ll do a separate dedicated one on the Live Earth concert later and promise to get back on topic as well. Loads of things happened during the silent time of no blogging. But I’ve read a lot and got some Ideas I want to share – not only on who will win the Bundesliga in Germany or the Premier League in the UK.

this is a blog post as originally posted on locallytype

Lost my groove and found it again …

Luck because if my dear colleague Dahlia would not have asked me if I wanted to fill in for a friend who couldn’t go I would very likely not have gone.

And it was a real pleasure which made me change my mind about the title of this post. Why?
Well all I’ve really heard about the play before was that one of the lead roles Alan Strang was played by Daniel Radcliffe, most of you will know from the Harry Potter movies, would be naked for almost half of the play.

So I figured “Harry Potter Naked” could work wonderful & catchy as a post title.

Richard Griffiths

But for one he did a pretty good job – way better than I would have expected and Richard Griffiths (Naked Gun 2 ½, James Bond Golden Eye, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy)  who played the other lead role was absolutely fantastic, playing Martin Dysart a psychiatrist – outperforming all other actors of this play.

this is a blog post as originally posted on locallytype

EQUUS – A Play That Changed This Title

London Yahoo! office

My dear flatmate helped me big times to find my way to work and back – told me that you have to register with a doctor first to get an appointment afterwards. And as the doctors only have registration services on some days of the week you should get registered first and get ill afterwards. There seem to be thousands of little things like that and I’m really glad and lucky to have someone helping me “master” these hurdles… I’ve done my first food shopping in the UK yesterday and have to say that was a new experience as well.

So Big Kiss for Suzy to show me around and helping me not to get lost in this wonderful but huge monster that is London.

Those of you not familiar with Battersea but with a Pink Floyd addiction – like me – will probably know the emblem of Battersea – The Battersea Power Station. It’s on the cover of the album Animals. I haven’t spotted the flying pig so… But some really nice Pubs and there are loads of pubs in London Battersea.

Animals – Pink Floyd

Uh and I’ve got an oyster card now – the access pass for public transport in London which makes me a little less a tourist and a little more a Londoner

oyster card

On Friday a dear old friend Jan Gänsler from back in the PANGORA days came to London for a long weekend which made me the “Local” and I had the pleasure to take him to the pub, show him around and we then had a very nice dinner at the Belgo … 

this is a blog post as originally posted on locallytype

No Flying Pigs over Battersea and My Oyster Card