Christmas Lights
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A London photo every day. Some pictures will be there for their own sake, some because they are places you may like to see, all because they are part of what makes London what it is. Requests welcome!
Raising funds for Breast Cancer Care
Last Friday I was fortunate to be invited to a blogger's screening of Bunny and the Bull, with an introductory (short) talk by the Director and and actor. Most people were enthusiastic about the "Mighty Boosh" connection, but as I had only heard the original radio show, I didn't know what to expect. What was delivered was a well executed exercise in original writing, very reminiscent in its way of old style Ealing comedy. You might say it isn't subtle, but actually the direction and the photography is rather good and, for me, lifted it into a "must see" category. See a trailer here, or the website here. But there's something rather good about going to a London screening, even if you do have to sit in lime leather chairs ...
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Grayson Perry won the Turner Prize (in 2003), which did little to endear his work to me. But then I felt I had to see anything called the Walthamstow Tapestry and I was surprisingly interested. I left still uncertain of his work's long term value, but fascinated with what I saw, I recommend it. Originally, the exhibition was scheduled to finish on Saturday, but it has been extended by another week. (I'll try to add some detail photos later today)
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On the eleventh hour of the eleventh month the guns fell silent. The Cenotaph commemorates the event and those who died. Each year, the closest Sunday to November 11 is Rememberance Sunday.posted by Ham at 00:02 -- |
You may have heard about the re-designed Oxford Circus junction, where traffic is stopped from both directions and lets pedestrians cross diagonaly, here it is in operation. Makes sense to me.
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Some time ago, when I took this photo in Kensington, I thought I might find out what Hans Town was all about. I think it's probably more fascinating that there is a blog dedicated to London Bollards....
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It's the monthly City Daily Photo theme day time agan, one of the most spectacular entrances in London is for the Queen at Buckingham Palace, which is how it should be.I'm still gallivanting around the world, Click here to see the theme day interpretations from around the world.
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The Internet is a great place to find out about London, but I'm still of the opinion that nothing is quite the same as holding a book in your hand. And one of the best collections of books is in Stanfords Long Acre
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By rights, Venus in Sloane Square should have been foaming at the mouth. After all, some people had gone to the trouble of emptying in a bottle of washing up liquid. This is what the the overall scene looked like. All a bit of a let down, really. Maybe it had been livelier when it was first done.
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It's been several years now since the Swiss Centre in Leicester square was demoloshed, but the spirit of Switzerland lives on. These are the shields of the twenty six Swiss Cantons, standing in the north west corner of the square. The redevlopment of the old building is supposed to include a Swiss flavour - we'll have to see that when it happens.
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It is very encouraging to see a growth of cycle clothing for ordinary people, that know that a bike is the best form of transport in London, but come out in a rash at the thought of Lycra. These people at Cyclodelic make clothes you'd be happy being seen in, and Cyclechic have a great range of stylish bike stuff.
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... but we do change with the times. The Windmill Theater is famous for two things: shows involving scantily clad ladies started in the 30's, inspired my the Moulin Rouge in Paris. Back then, it was decided that the girls had to stand stock still, living statues or "Tableux Vivants" (a few pictures here). If they moved, it was RUDE. They also never shut during WWII with shows running all through the Blitz. It appears, that they have moved with the times and now, the girls move too.
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If you want to step back 100 years, or for that matter if you want a hat, you can do no better in London than to go to Bates of Jermyn Street.
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How fast can you cycle? How fast do you think anyone can cycle? This is the Ultimate Cycle, built by Bruce Bursford using F1 racing technology, seen here at the cycle show. He used it to create the cycling speed record of 207 mph (yes, 334kph) on rollers in 1999. If you aren't impressed by that ("it wasn't on a road") how about the road cycling speed record of 127 mph set in 1962? The story doesn't have a happy ending, Bruce was run over and killed in 2000.
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Looking at the Deco frontage of Earl's Court Exhibition Centre, I realised that I didn't know it's history. Turns out to be more interesting than I thought... " In the late 19th century the site had been home to Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and a huge observation wheel. A plaque in the press centre commemorates both of these facts and that Queen Victoria was a frequent visitor to the show." I like that idea. Read the Wikipedia article here. Oh, was there a cycle show on? Who knows, there may be a shot from there, too.
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A link to Amazon for one of the best reads on London. I'll do a review of it shortly.
Buy any book!