Things I learned last week, in no particular order:

1. Gareth thinks I update this thing too often.
But I only update it once or twice a week, not every day, so I guess he'll have to make more of an effort to read it, or he'll just have to keep on marking it all as read on his Google Reader. Sorry, Gareth. (It's lovely to have you home, though.)

2. It's mating season for the herons in Regent's Park.
And presumably elsewhere too, but last week there was an RSPB trailer there with telescopes and binoculars to watch them closer. Annoyingly, they closed at 4:00pm so most of us didn't get a chance to watch the birds closer. I did get a couple of photos of one bird who was stalking the people with bread and seed at the edge of the lake. I also managed to get a neat vintage effect to my picture when I was messing around in Photoshop, which I am pleased with.

3. There are no decent sunglasses in the shops at the moment.
I must have tried on at least twelve pairs in several different shops and nothing suited me at all. Maybe I'm just being too fussy, but I don't suit really boxy square frames or completely round ones, either, and I need to have frames that dip a bit over the nose-bridge, as sunglasses with frames that go in a straight line right across the top just look bloody awful on me. I like quite big lenses, as my face is too round for small ones, but not ginormous ones that make me look like an insect. The only trouble is that all the ones with decent-shaped frames are ruined by tacky bling on the sides. I don't want fake gold trimmings and diamante on my shades. I just want a simple, classy pair that doesn't cost a bomb (£10 or less) — I always buy cheap ones because they end up broken or lost all too easily. Suggestions gratefully received, leave 'em in the comments…

4. Sometimes whining on Twitter leads to being invited to fun evenings drinking with lovely people in lovely pubs.

5. There is a cash machine near Borough tube, if you turn left.
(hat tip to the real gent for letting me know)

6. That thing about policemen getting younger is true.
I passed two coming out of Southwark police station on Thursday evening and they both looked about twelve years old.

5. Easter eggs come from Chocodiles.
But we still don't know why it's a rabbit that delivers them.

6. The Lord Clyde is a lovely pub with lovely staff.
It's a proper old-fashioned boozer with a nice range of beers and a back room that we could take over. (Southwark seems to have so many great well-preserved pubs tucked into the most unpromising corners; it's one of the things I miss most about living in Waterloo.)

7. As far as American-style dining experiences in London go, The Diner is preferable to Bodeans.
It's more relaxed and although the prices aren't way cheaper they do seem a bit more reasonable. Plus the cocktails are really good.

8. There is no sci-fi or action movie which cannot be improved by the presence of nuns.

9. In The Loop is very very funny and very very sweary.
First film I've seen in ages where the audience regularly broke out into spontaneous applause at their favourite bits. Peter Capaldi is brilliant — his character is an intensely unpleasant person but gets all the best lines so you can't help but cheer him on, even when he's being relentlessly nasty for no reason. There's a great bit near the end when the camera lingers on him in a beat of quietude that brilliantly demonstrates the hidden depths of his character and the stresses he finds himself under. I was a bit disappointed by James Gandolfini, who seemed a bit half-arsed and never quite filled his character with enough convincing life to escape the fact that he was being played by James Gandolfini. I did have a great time playing "spot the location" though — there are lots of times when parts of the Royal Festival Hall double up for departmental toilets and meeting rooms in Washington, or the United Nations building in New York. The distinctive carpets (designed by Peter Moro) are a dead giveaway.

10. The website for In The Loop is rather good, too.
Although be warned because it has audio which may cause colleagues to look at you funny. Though if you've a sense of humour you'll be laughing so loud they'll already be looking at you funny.