Friday 31/1/14 - Trips To The Beach, Trip 35s & This Week's Wristwatches.

Friday 6:58pm AEST

 

Nothing really Earth-shattering this week. Just getting the kids ready for their return to school on Thursday. We picked up my son's laptop and I can't say I'm too thrilled with how much a reliance the school will place on this thing as the year progresses. They've assured us that the kids will still maintain the pen-and-paper aspect of their studies, but I feel a little dubious about that. We'll just have to wait and see, I suppose.

 

Last Saturday

Where did all this ironing come from!? Okay, crank up the iron, grab some coat-hangers, plug the iPod into the dock, and don't stop until the soundtrack's finished. Hmm, brooding score indeed. And a no-nonsense Omega Railmaster strapped to my wrist.

 

Sunday

Up onto the roof to give the guttering an undercoat. Somehow, I managed to bruise my right eyelid. My wife thought I painted while wearing some of her eye-shadow. I don't know how it happened. She thinks I must have rubbed my eye a little too aggressively. I've no idea.

Switched over to the modded Seiko 7002 'beater' for the painting.

 

 

Monday

It was the Australia Day public holiday. Another hot day, too. My wife took the kids to the beach. I stayed home. I got a little sunburned on my neck the day before, so I thought I'd stay out of the sun for a while. I grabbed my laptop and deleted some video file double-ups which were taking a lot of space on the hard drive. It took a little longer than I thought. Nothing that a cup of coffee couldn't fix. Switched over to the Omega Planet Ocean.

 

An eight-dollar wooden sign from one of those stores that sells cheap stuff, like no-name brand AA batteries that last an hour and Corey Haim DVDs for five bucks (too expensive). I liked the 1940s-style aesthetic of it. Maybe Robert Mitchum will swing by for a cup'a Joe.

Tuesday

Another scorcher. We hit the pool at my gym, but they were doing swimming lessons, so the pool wasn't open to members till after six.

Plan B- the beach. Fifteen or so minutes later, we scuttled across hot sand and made a bee-line for the water.

I'd bought a new pair of bathers (swimming trunks) the day before and I wasn't happy with them once I got into the water. The waist-band kept folding over itself every time I dived under water. I should've spent the extra fifteen bucks on that pair of Speedos. You get what you pay for. And, being bathers, there's no refund or exchange on them. Ah well, they'll do as spares for the gym pool.

 

Wednesday

I loaded some film into the Voigtlander Vito B rangefinder camera. I thought I'd see if I could get some better photos out of it this time. Maybe this time around, I'll pay a little more attention to what I'm doing. Switched over to the Hamilton Khaki Officer's Mechanical.

Maybe the Special Photography Issue of National Geographic that my wife found in a thrift store that day may have been the inspiration behind my wanting to use film.

Thursday

I bought another Olympus Trip 35 film camera off eBay. The one I have already might have some issues with it, so I wanted to compare the two of them. Luckily, I was the only bidder and ended up scoring it for twenty bucks.

 

I really like the Trip 35. Simple to use, classic design, built to last. Olympus sold over ten million of them between 1967 and 1984. Probably not a bad idea to have a spare one. Can't wait. My current model dates back to December '67, so I'll be curious to learn the age of this next one, even though there's one lady I know who couldn't care less.

 

Hottest day of the week and she decides to sleep in our washing basket. My wife was about to get her out of there because she thought the cat looked all scrunched up and uncomfortable.

"Do you honestly think she'd go anywhere that was uncomfortable?", I replied.

 

Today

And so, with a new camera due to arrive, I took a look at my other cameras and thought it might be an idea to get rid of one. Since getting my Olympus OM-2n a year ago, I haven't used my Nikon EM all that much. It's an auto-only SLR, whereas the OM-2n has both manual and automatic settings. Still had the Planet Ocean on when I took some pictures of the Nikon for the eBay listing.

 

And that's my week, folks. Sent an enquiry e-mail to another recruitment agency on Wednesday. Ain't heard back. I'll give them a call first thing Monday before I commence my next wave of job hunting.

Classes start up again next Wednesday. Holiday time is over.

That's cool. I'm all set.

 

 

 

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend, all!

 

Friday 24/1/14 - Broken-Down Refrigerators, Job Hunting & This Week's Wristwatches.

Friday 5:18pm AEST

I will NEVER purchase another refrigerator made by Bosch. I'll get that out of the way first off.

Last Sunday

We woke up to find that the milk carton in the fridge didn't feel as cool to the touch as it should. As the morning progressed, the other contents in the fridge felt as though they were at just below room temperature. I went and bought two bags of ice and transferred the plastic trays and compartments from the fridge to the bathtub and then packed it all with ice. Later that day, I bought three more bags of ice.

Tuesday

Our fridge man took a look at the rear of the machine after plugging it in and informed me that the compressor was leaking gas. It would need to be repaired by Bosch. I called Bosch and they told me that the soonest a technician could get over here would be next Tuesday. The call-out fee would be $98.oo for the first fifteen minutes and then $22.oo for each fifteen minutes after that.
My God, were they sending out a fridge repairman or a Paramedic!?
They gave me the names and numbers of two other accredited repairers. The first one that I called told me that it sounded like the compressor had gone. A new compressor would cost me around $800.oo, supplied and fitted, he told me.

Now, I didn't want to have to wait a week to be told by a Bosch technician (after he's charged us a hundred bucks just to come out to us) that we'd be up for eight hundred bucks to fix our fridge. Meanwhile, my wife and I had already thrown out a tonne of food that had spoiled in the last two days. We decided we would go buy a bar-fridge in the interim. We drove down to a nearby whitegoods retailer and had a look at a few bar fridges.

Most of them were around $350-$400. If we bought one, and then got our busted fridge repaired, we will have spent around twelve hundred bucks, when all was said and done.

And, while it might come in handy, we would be stuck with a bar fridge that we just have nowhere to store. Our garage is full enough already.

While looking around at fridges, we spotted a Westinghouse full-sized model that was on sale for $895.oo.

Now, here's what irked me about this entire episode;

We purchased the Bosch fridge new in late March, 2009. It has, therefore, lasted us four years, nine months. Back then, we paid $1,400.oo for it, which was around five to seven hundred dollars more than comparable refrigerators in other brands. We went for this one because we felt that its German engineering might prove more reliable than its counterparts. And now, to have to spend around $800.oo to repair it (as well as $300-$400 bucks for an interim mini-fridge) when we could REPLACE it for around nine hundred bucks really began to tick me off.

So, we purchased the Westinghouse model, called Bosch, told them to cancel the repair booking for next week, and asked them for the Customer Resolution Form to be sent out to us. This form is designed for customers to outline any issues they may have with Bosch products with a view to allowing them to rectify the situation. However, I've worked in retail long enough to know that a company is not going to replace a four year-old product for free.

Any way they want to cut it, the fridge is less than five years old, has always been used according to manufacturer's instructions, and shouldn't require such an expensive repair so soon. Simple as that.
Okay, deep breath, teeritz. Moving on.

Wednesday

I got a call from the delivery men saying they would deliver the new fridge between three and five pm. I grabbed a Texta (Magic Marker) and got to work.

I have a few other products made by Bosch and have no issue with them. They work fine. But, if a company wants to branch out into other areas, they should make certain that they can stand by their products. Having sold wristwatches for so long, I am fully aware that products do indeed break down and do require repairs, but I would have expected a much longer life-span from this item, especially when you consider that most of us have probably owned a fridge that lasted ten, fifteen or even twenty years before they gave up. Think about the refrigerator in your house when you were a kid.
I asked the delivery guys if they were taking the Bosch away for repairs. I was told that it would be taken to a scrap metal place.
In an age where this world is running out of space and built-in obsolescence means that we have to replace household items sooner than our parents used to, it would be refreshing for a company to produce a product that performed for ten or fifteen years without any issues. Because, when it finally does break down, we are more inclined to return to that brand, based on how well its product performed. This episode has ensured that I will never buy a Bosch white-good ever again. And now, I get a little nervous when I think of the cordless drill in the garage.

And man, it's only Wednesday!

Thursday
Went to re-enrol in further subjects of my course. That's Wednesdays taken care of. For first semester, anyway.

Today
I got a call the other day from one of the recruitment agencies that I e-mailed. We arranged an appointment for me to go in and speak to them. The meeting was for midday today, so off I went. I took off the Sinn and put on the '68 Seamaster. I needed something a little more business-like.

"So, what kind of work are you looking for?", he asked me.
Man, didn't he read the cover letter I sent with my resume?
"Well, primarily, I'm looking for part-time work to fit around my studies", I replied.
"Oh, I wish you'd told me you were looking for part-time. We don't tend to get a lot of that."
By now, I began to suspect that he didn't really read my e-mail carefully. And here I am, entrusting him and his agency to help me find work.
"Maybe you should try looking for work in the field that you're studying."
Holy unemployment, Batman, why didn't I think of that?!! I'm glad I had him there to tell me this. (That's sarcasm, by the way.)

I can see that I'm just going to have to rely on my own wits and initiative to find work. As my wife has said to me lately, paraphrasing Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) in "30 Rock"; "You have to climb down further into the abyss in order to find your way out."
Onwards and upwards, buddy, onwards and upwards.

And that's how this week ends. Pardon the negative undercurrent of this post. There hasn't been much sweetness and light this week. Although, to be honest, it hasn't been a total disaster, either. Just an unexpected major expense regarding the new fridge, and culminating with a wasted trip into town to a recruitment agency that doesn't sound like it'll be of much help to me.
Still, I have more important things that make me happy. One of them is sitting on the couch reading the newspaper, another is in her room listening to a Taylor Swift CD, and the other one is in his room reading a Batman comic.
It's all good.


Thanks for reading and have a good weekend, all!

Sunday, January 19th - Short Despatch.

 

 

Madame sprawled out in the kitchen doorway. The non-working fridge in the background. (Man, that kitchen's gonna need a paint-job soon.)

 

Friday 17/1/2014 - Heatwaves, Sleepless Nights, Gin Shortages & This Week's Wristwatch.

Friday,   10:52pm AEST

Based on the kind of weather we've had in Melbourne this week, if I died today and went to Hell, I'm pretty sure I could handle the temperature. Although, I probably shouldn't tempt fate. Day's not over yet.

I'm writing this post from one of the libraries where my wife works. It was her idea to bring the kids in, in an effort to escape another day of searing heat. Forecast is for a cool change later this afternoon/evening, but first, we have to get through the maximum temperature of 44 degrees.

I've been enjoying wearing my Sinn 103 St Sa chronograph lately.

It ticks a lot of boxes regarding what I expect from a wristwatch of this type;

*  200m water-resistant - More than I'll ever need, but when it comes to water-resistance, overkill can be a good thing.

* Sapphire crystal - Extremely scratch-resistant. The anti-reflective coating on the crystal has a couple of minor scratches on it, but a wristwatch is meant to be worn, after all.

*  Great legibility - The hands and numerals are coated in SuperLuminova which provides readability in low light and makes the watch readable in the wee small hours.
* Mechanical - And not just any mechanical. This watch houses the legendary Valjoux 7750 chronograph movement. Tried and tested since the mid Seventies, it's a veritable workhorse.

Saturday

I wore the watch on its bracelet when we watched "Red 2" on Lolly Night. I liked this sequel, even though the reviews at the time of its release were less than favourable. I suppose it lacked some of the quirkiness of the first film, and it seemed that Mary-Louise Parker (a Goddess in my book, and I've never seen an episode of "Weeds") wasn't utilised to best capacity, but the action scenes in this one were well handled. And Helen Mirren with a sniper rifle is always fun to see.

Sunday
Took a few snaps for my watch forum signature pic. Wasn't happy with the lighting on this one.

Didn't like the lack of detail in this one.

I was happy with this one, so that's the one I used.

Later that day, I decided to put the Sinn onto a strap. This way, I can alter the fit of the watch as the day progresses, to allow for the swelling of my wrist as it warms up throughout the day. I had a few straps to choose from and, even though I don't wear straps in Summer (because perspiration can really eat through leather), I thought I'd do it to see how much wear and tear I could put the strap through.

I chose a brown ZRC calf-skin strap with the alligator print embossed on it. And then proceeded to hammer it over the next few days.

Tuesday

My daughter and I went to the local Apple Store for an iPad seminar where she would get to make a short film using the iMovie and GarageBand software. Needless to say, the place was crowded.

When my wife got home from work, we all hit the pool at my gym and then went to the beach for another dip before the sun came down. The leather strap got broken in nicely.

 

Back from the beach as it got dark. The house is brick veneer and has a flat, tin roof. Therefore, it stays quite hot, even as it cools down outside. although, if there's a breeze going, opening up most of the windows allows for a nice flow-through of air.

Wednesday

Another 40+ degree day and my wife and I thought we should all do something to take our minds off the heat. We would head into town. No real game-plan, just park at a meter on St Kilda Road and see where it takes us. We walked over to Federation Square, which was jazzed up about ten years ago and is now home to a few cafes and bars as well as the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, where regular exhibitions to do with film, video, gaming, etc, are held.

Outside in Federation Square, a large screen was showing a game from The Australian Open tennis tournament. There were rows of chairs set out and those who could stand the heat were seated there watching the game.

Inside the Ian Potter Gallery at Federation Square, there was an art installation made up of cake icing. It was titled "At Home With The Hotham Street Ladies". Here is an exhibit of a lounge room. Except for the coffee table and chairs, everything else  is made up of icing, including the patchwork quilt draped across the back of the sofa.

Yep, even the butts are made from sugar icing.

In keeping with Melbourne's varied and, at times, eccentric arts culture, there are numerous upright pianos scattered throughout the city where people can sit down and tickle the ivories. This kid played a nice tune.

And they've also gotten somebody to crochet some woolen cosies for the trees. 

I love this city.

As we headed back to the car, we stopped at the National Gallery of Victoria. The curved-arch entrance is famous for its water-wall.

It's a glass wall with water running down it. Naturally, we made a bee-line for it. I was sorely tempted to press my back against it for an hour or two.

picture courtesy of www.melbournestaycation.com

Instead, I settled for a cooling bath for my watch. I could have stayed there all day;

When we got home, it was time for a drink. But there was just one thing wrong;

There was enough Bombay Sapphire for one decent drink. I was going to need some more. And soon.

Anyway, I had enough for this drink. One thing, though, is that I've begun garnishing my Gin & Tonics with slices of cucumber instead of lemon. When I went back to the Designing 007 Exhibition last week with my cousin, we hit the bar afterwards and had a couple of drinks. They garnished the first round with a slice of lemon, but the second lot of drinks had cucumber slices in them. I thought it was odd. Until I had a sip. Yes, the gin and the tonic were still in abundance on my palate, but there was a follow-on taste of cucumber which was instantly refreshing as it conjured up images and memories of summers long ago, and salads, and barbecues. 

So, I've been taking my G&Ts with cucumber since then.

I took the watch off briefly. The strap was holding up rather well. Some darkening of the leather and the white stitching, but otherwise, it's doing okay. Since I've gotten it wet so many times this week, it's now molded nicely to the curvature of my wrist.

Thursday

It was gonna get to 43 degrees today. I took the kids in to the library where my wife works and we sat at a table and read magazines and books in air-conditioned comfort. Another good reason to join your local library, folks. There are worse ways to pass the time. We were there a few hours and I actually began to feel cold (I was wearing shorts), but I knew better than to grumble about it since I'd be getting back into my car with lousy air conditioning for the drive home. 

Later that night, we hit the beach. It had gotten overcast, but the heat was still with us. I wore my bathers, but didn't go into the water. Ever since that damn Spielberg movie back in '75, I'm always thinking about sharks whenever I go to the beach. I got quite interested in them after I saw "Jaws" and used to know a lot about them. 

And so, I sat on the beach with my camera and attempted to get a shot of my wife emerging from the surf like Ursula Andress in "Dr No." 

She hates me taking her picture. 

So, I took one of my watch;

Plus, a Diorama-effect photo of the folks on the beach at 8:34pm.

And so, this brings us full-circle to today, Friday, January 17th, 2014. On the way home from the library today, we stopped at an Op Shop and I found two rolls of ASA400 35mm film and four rolls of ASA200 film. The only catch was that I had to but the two cameras that they came with. Still, it all only cost me fifteen bucks. And I'll take the cameras to another Op Shop next week to keep things moving.

I took the kids to the gym pool for another dip earlier this evening. The door to the place was locked and I went into the gym to enquire. They told me that they've had a lot of non-members sneaking in to use the pool. I suddenly recalled that line from the brilliant neo-noir "Body Heat" (Dir: Lawrence Kasdan, 1981) where lawyer Ned Racine's (William Hurt) police detective friend, Oscar, explains the spike in crime during Florida heatwaves;

                                                           NED
                                          How's the cop business, Oscar?

                           OSCAR
                 Real Good. Always starts hopping
                 in weather like this. When it 
                 gets this hot, people try to 
                 kill each other, figuring the 
                 rules don't apply. 

The cool change kicked in about three hours ago and the house is slowly cooling down. Our cat has gone AWOL. Poor thing was sweltering over the last few days. She insists on wearing fur, and spent much of her days laid out on the floor in some kind of stupor. We wiped her down a few times with a wet wash-cloth. I don't think that impressed her very much. 

Anyway, that's another week wrapped up. I'll leave you with a shot that I sneaked at the Designing 007 exhibition last week.

"For a golden girl knows when he's kissed her,
it's the kiss of death
From Mr. Goldfinger..." 

And I just never got sick of looking at this car.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend, all!

New Year. Time For A New Banner.

When I first started this blog, I wanted an eye-catching picture at the top of the page. Given the title of this blog, with it's Ludlumesque (in my view) overtones, I wanted a picture that reminded me of those classic airport-thriller book covers that I bought in the Seventies and Eighties;

picture courtesy of www.existentialennui.com
pic courtesy of www.doubleosection.blogspot.com

picture courtesy of www.bearalley.blogspot.com.au
(I almost called this blog "The Teeritz Protocol"  when I first set it up, but felt that Agenda seemed like the better choice of wording.)

However, I wanted the picture to reflect as many of my interests as I could cram into the frame, while still leaving room for the blog title to appear. And, since I would be using a bold, upper-case block font, I didn't want to obscure the title.
So, I spent quite some time arranging the items in the photo so that they would not obscure the text when viewed on a computer screen.

This here picture was my first attempt;

It worked well-enough, I suppose, and it showed a neat little mix of my wristwatches (my main love), a short snippet of my Bond fan-fiction, and a fountain pen and corner of a typewriter. This seemed to reflect what I was into when I first started this blog.

This picture was okay for a while, but I wasn't crazy about using a manila folder for the background because a corner of the table was visible underneath. My wife liked this banner picture and was surprised when I decided to change it.
The next photo would be a little more ambitious. A few more items strategically arranged, but still needing to keep a percentage of the frame blank for where the blog title would appear. And, since I'd just recently purchased a new camera with some interesting filter software in it, I decided to have a play around and see what I could come up with;

Sure, it was okay, but it always seemed a little too wide for my liking. I wanted it to look a little more widescreen to subliminally reflect my interest in film. And, to mimic the cover-art of the vintage Ian Fleming hardbacks of the '50s and '60s...

  

...I wanted the photo to look a little more like a water-colour or trompe l'oeil-style painting like the Bond book art painted by the legendary Richard Chopping. 

I was reasonably happy with the end result, but something about it always niggled at me. Maybe it looked to me like there was too much dead space in the frame. 

Although, I have to say it looked pretty neat seeing it through Google Translate;

German

Japanese (very anime)

Russian (ahh, yes, The Cold War)

And so, over the past couple of days, I thought about re-doing the banner. It's was as good an idea as any, I suppose, and I may switch it back to the old photo anyway if I tire of this one. 

I still wanted the picture to reflect the things I'm into, but I couldn't find a way to add some of my own creative writing. Looking back, I should have typed up half a page of a screenplay and left it sticking out of the Royal QDL. Ah, well...

Still, the watches are well represented, as are the books. I'm into classic American crime fiction and you would all know by now that I'm a Bond fan. The auto-focus was set to capture the Omega planet Ocean dive watch and the book spines clearly enough. The Persol sunglasses were thrown in to provide some more contrast against all of the warm tones. Looking at it now, some psychoanalyst would say that it would "signify your wish to remain anonymous on the internet, Herr Teeritz." Perhaps. I suppose this is why you'll not see any detailed pics of me or my family on this blog.

There's enough of the Royal QDL visible for even a novice to recognise it as a typewriter. I chose the Royal because it has a real typewriter look to it. To my mind, anyway. And it was a scorching hot day yesterday when I took the photos, so this provided a glow through the venetian blinds. Man, when we move to our next house, I'm gonna have to install wooden venetians first thing. They're so photogenic.

Lord knows, I have numerous versions of this photo, plus others that I took, to choose from;

The picture below shows the same effect as what's been up for the past year. I chose not to use a picture with a camera in it since I don't consider my photographic skills to be sufficient, and I don't want to confuse any readers who may stumble across this blog thinking that it's a photographic blog.

Soft-focus effect for that old Hollywood look.

Black and white to make it look like some kind of surveillance photo.

Again, if I decide to change the banner picture, I'll have to crop the replacement so that it's narrower than these.
Anyway, this seemed like a pleasant way to while away an hour or so as the temperature climbs to 43 degrees Celsius.
Man, it's hot! Sorry, I know that many of you out there are currently struggling through Winter, but man, it's hot here in my town today! 

Thanks for reading, and looking, all!

Friday 10/1/14 - Creepy Playstation Games, Gin & Tonics & This Week's Watches

Friday, 3:15pm AEST

 

Last Saturday

It was my birthday, so the kids came running into the bedroom at some ungodly hour (probably 9:00am) to give me my presents/gifts;

It'll take me about six months to get through that bag of Kettle Chips. The bag is just slightly smaller than the pillow on my bed.

The Capi Tonic Water will come in very handy, and I  played the first level of the PS3 game, "The Last of Us", later that night after the kids had gone to bed. I have to say that I don't normally go in for survivalist horror games. They can be pretty creepy, but this particular game has been very well-received in the gaming press.

 I remember playing "Resident Evil 2" on the Playstation 2 many years ago and I had some very vivid and violent dreams before I decided that I didn't like that kind of game. Needless to say, I'll be playing this one cautiously. On my own.

I was touched by the effort that the kids put in to making the birthday cards. That would explain the mild swearing that I heard from my son's room the day before. Must've driven him nuts doing that drawing, so I admire the effort. And my daughter's card has a typewriter theme going on. Nice.

 

Later in the afternoon, I busted open the Tonic Water, wearing the Omega Seamaster AquaTerra;

 

 

I love the label on this bottle. Very 1960. Perhaps I was waiting for Jack Lemmon or Audrey Hepburn to come around for a G&T.

 

We went out to Grill'd for a burger. We decided to go someplace local. The Christmas/New Year period was fairly low-key in our house and we continued the theme with a nice, pleasant family outing. It was a cool evening, weather-wise. And here we are, in the middle of Summer here in Australia. I wore my Hard Yakka Flying Jacket, which is based on the classic MA1 Bomber jackets that were first designed in the 1950s. I felt like Chuck Yeager.

Well, I had the Right Stuff on my wrist, at least.

The Omega Seamaster 300 on a TrueBond NATO strap.

Felt a little bored that afternoon, so I got to work on one of these;

 

Monday Evening

Felt like a drink before dinner, It was time for an Old fashioned. The only bourbon I had was Slate. It's okay, I suppose, but I gotta get a bottle of something else. I'd switched over to the Omega Railmaster;

Tuesday

Some purple typewriter ribbons arrived from eBay. These are great. They make your writing look like carbon copies and, since I see enough black ink in newspapers, magazines and books, I'd decided to get some ribbons that had a little more colour. Might look at getting a few more of these and perhaps a blue one as well. Although, the blue ribbons do print a little lighter than I'd prefer;

Tuesday Evening

We all sat down to watch the last few episodes of the final season of "30 Rock". Tina Fey is a comedy genius and Alec Baldwin was perfectly cast as slick business shark, Jack Donaghy. The rest of the cast were superb. Tracy Morgan, Jack McBrayer and Jane Krakowski were wonderful throughout the seven-year run of the show. Given how much generic and predictable crap there is on the small screen, to say nothing of all the reality-TV garbage, this is one show that I'll miss, given that I don't tend to watch much TV these days.

Thursday
Time to finish painting the garage door. However, the weather had reached a hot 30 degrees Celsius (Hello, Summer, did ya finally decide to turn up?). Still, that door wasn't gonna paint itself.
Switched over to the Seiko 7002. Didn't bother setting it to the correct date;

Man, it got hot out there! Finally. Later that night, it was Gin & Tonic o'clock and I switched to the Sinn 103;

 

 

Today

It's currently 33 degrees Celsius as I write this. I'll be heading out later this afternoon. My cousin called me earlier this week about going to the Designing 007 exhibition. As you may know, I've already been, but I haven't seen my cousin in over a year, so this'll be a good chance to catch up. I'll be switching to more tropical attire. A pair of bone-coloured chinos and a light blue, short-sleeved cotton shirt with epaulettes to give me a slight Ian-Fleming-at-Goldeneye vibe. And, I'll switch over to a watch on a strap.

Normally over Summer, I tend to wear watches that have metal bracelets rather than straps. This way, the leather doesn't get undue wear-and-tear from perspiration, water, sun-tan/moisturising creams, etc.
However, tonight's watch is the Camy Club-Star, on a nylon NATO strap in red, white and blue.
Team USA! Rule Britannia! Vive Le France!

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend, all!