Time & Life

Here's another of London's hidden gems: as ever, look up. This sculpture is on the top of the somewhat ugly Time & Life building in New Bond Street. Like me, you may first be unsure whether you like it or not. Stand there a while, and I reckon you will. A bit longer and you may start to see more and more in it. When you go away and look it up, you'll find it was created by Henry Moore.


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Heal's Cat

And I couldn't leave Heal's without showing you the Heal's Cat, who sits on the staircase. Ambrose Heal refused all offers to sell it, have a look as you go up and you'll see it's head polished smooth by people giving it a stroke as they pass. Hope you've enjoyed the visit to Heals, years ago Tottenham Court Road was the centre for furniture sales in London, these days it is electronics. Some historic photos of Heals are here.


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Heal's Staircase

In Heals proper, nice furniture and nice things rub shoulders with nice prices. It certainly should be on a list of places to visit - of not for the things then at least for this staircase.


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Habitat

Heals used to be an extraordinary store, with cutting edge design and a manufacturer that became a byword for quality. They were taken over by Conran in 1983, who transformed half into Habitat - bringing affordable style to the UK before we'd heard of Ikea. Of course, they quality of some of the stuff led to the nickname "Shabby Tat".


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Heal's Curved Windows

The Heal's Building in Tottenham Court Road, has quite a few items of interest, today the photo is of the curved window frontage from the 30's that is unlike anything I have seen anywhere. These days, they are only on half the building, I seem to remember that the other half got ripped out because they occupied too much showroom space, and the removal of the second half was blocked by the council as they are listed. Not sure how much truth there is in that, though.


I'm away for a few weeks, daily photos will continue to appear courtesy of Blogger's automated feature - as long as it is working.

Up, Up and Away....

As you read this, Mrs Ham & I shall be making our way to Beijing for a holiday. All we have booked is a hotel in Beijing to start, and Shanghai at the end. For the rest, I'm hoping that my six months of Chinese lessons will get us by.

So today's photo is of London's Chinatown, Gerard Street in Soho. I have almost 100Gb of flash memory with me, so I may bring back a photo or two.

See you all when I get back, posts continue daily (as long as blogger works, it has been a bit flaky lately)

Greenway Blues

I've never actually featured the Greenway here before, the "Green" bit is a little overstatement, it is an off road route that follows the northern sewer outfall, an awesome engineering feat and one that saved thousands of lives. Now, while work on the Olympic Park proceeds, a great chunk of it is closed. Diamond Geezer walked and documented the area before it was closed off and changed forever. If you look at the sign on the hoarding, the red line is where the Greenway used to run, the green is the route around it. And yes, it was the visual pun and title rather than the occular excitement that earned this photo its place here.

39 Cornhill

I was admiring the exterior of a city building, a fine example of Victorian grandeur, when a chap that worked there asked me if I wanted to see the oldest free standing balcony in London. You can guess my answer and see the result.

A small haven

Just behind Fenchurch Street Station, there is a small peaceful haven, not essentially open to the public but nobody seems to throw you out. I'd recommend a visit. This is the very marine like fountain, harking back to Lloyds shipping background, see the full view over here here

St Katherine's Dock

Considering the number of people that visit the Tower of London, St Katherine's Docks is a neglected backwater. Well worth a visit.

Interesting to note that back in 1828 when it was built, 11,000 people were kicked out that lived on the site.

Hat tip from London to Seattle

Wandering through Seattle, I came across this penguin, so in recognition I thought I'd visit Vigo Street in Mayfair, where Penguin Books started, 74 years ago.

Frolicking

Hyde Park is conveniently large for dropping the odd fountain or statue without noticing too much. I confess, I must have passed by this one by Grosvenor Street many time over the years, without noticing.

Business as Usual

I've always wondered, if scaffolding is so good it can hold buildings up, why not build them out of it in the first place? You might have thought that in this time of recession, there would be a reduction in the number of buildings being built in London; I'm here to tell you that doesn't seem to be the case. In previous recessions, you've always been able to see stalled building projects that ran out of money. Not this time, it seems.

Before you dismiss this picture, take a moment to look at the shades and tones of colour in the tubes, which caught my eye.

Big Brother's Little Brother is Watching You

As if we - the most CCTV country in Europe, possibly the world - were not being watched enough, these little Smart cars have hit the streets over recent years. They are mostly employed by local councils to rake in more money enfore traffic regulations.

To KnowThe Causes of Things

It's the motto of the London School of Economics, a London Univeristy very highly respected worldwide.The aim of the university when it was started was "The betterment of society", I think they probably succeeded. Oh, and nice beaver, too.

Gibraltar has its Knockers

This fine door knocker hangs on the door of Gibraltar House, the English representative of the Gibraltar government.

A Sombre Moment

Roughly once a week, somewhere along the Thames, a body is washed up. They don't make the news, they aren't news. The note attached to this bunch of flowers is from Billy's mum, saying how much she and the family love him and miss him, from ten years ago. You make up your own story. Two days after I took this, the flowers were gone, too.

London can be a very harsh place sometimes.

Carnival Time

London's summer weekends are filled with events,like the carnival in Waltham Forest, a local borough. Not one of the biggest or most flamboyant, but the kids loved it all the same. Quite pleased with some of the photos, more here.

One and Other

If you haven't heard about the new scheme to occupy the 4th plinth in Trafalgar Square, where have you been hiding?

For the 100 days there will be a continual stream of people occupying the plinth for an hour a time. doing whatever they like, and they like some pretty strange stuff. The website with streaming video is fairly addictive, you always hope that something is going to happen. This scene is a changeover from a young man who was interactive - communicating with his audience with a bag lowered on string - and this lady, who held a teddy bear's picnic. Go figger.

Smooth Operator

This van plies its trade around Southbank, selling smoothies. Curious how attractive it appears, even though it is quintessentially French.

Picture This

Another piece of fun on the Southbank is their photobooth. Step inside, write what you want on a board and have your photo taken and uploaded to Flickr. I quite liked this photo-op, a general shot of the booth is here. Me? I can't even spell my own website.

Let's Wrap It Up

The section of Southbank between Waterloo and Hungerford bridges has sprouted polka dots on all the trees; part of Yayoi Kusama's exhibition in the Hayward Gallery called "Walking in my Mind". Over the weeks they've been here I've grown quite fond of the toy-like atmosphere they create, and the dots themselves are now host to a myriad of messages. See some other pictures and messages here. There's a two-for one offer to the exhibition on their site or through my facebook

I Knit London

I like the idea of a Sanctuary for Knitters, and I'm proud to find a place like this in London. I knit but it has been many, many years since I have had time to do any.

More Food?

London's constantly changing face means that what was for years a substandard sandwich bar can change - practically overnight - into an interesting place to eat. More is opposite More London, serves food all day and has a menu that provides interesting choices. I ate there one evening and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of food and service, with reasonable prices. I would recommend it.

The Duke of Uke

There must be some sort of burgeoning underground ukulele scene, they have featured here twice before. And now, from the rich diversity that is London, I bring you The Duke of Uke, a dedicated ukulele shop in Hanbury Street in the East End.

The Beach, The End

After riding through the night, this is Dunwich beach. My total distance for the day was about 240Km, and if you want to see my fizzog, that's here, I got there just after 5:00 am. I'm rather tired now.

I was doing it to raise money for Breast Cancer Care, thanks to all that have helped so far, you can read about it and donate here http://www.bmycharity.com/londondailyphoto

2012 Getting Closer

Guest photograph today, courtesy of Mrs Ham, as she was visiting a very special location:the 2012 viewing platform. Yes, that one, the one the queen visited, the one on top of 21 floors of sheltered accommodation. You can quite clearly see how the site is taking shape. And that building in front of the main stadium that is moving along faster than anything else? The shopping centre.

Talking of rolling along, don't forget you can sponsor my 200Km bike ride and help Breast Cancer Care here http://www.bmycharity.com/londondailyphoto

Anyone interested will be able to follow my progress on Twitter: http://twitter.com/LondonHam

Roll up, Roll up!

Bowls has a history in England going back hundreds of years, Francis Drake famously finished his game before sailing to the Spanish Armarda. This is in Finsbury Circus, in the heart of the City of London, very little is more sedate than rolling lumps of wood over a lawn.

Talking of rolling along, don't forget you can sponsor my 200Km bike ride and help Breast Cancer Care here http://www.bmycharity.com/londondailyphoto

Anyone interested will be able to follow my progress on Twitter: http://twitter.com/LondonHam

Can You Dig It?

This is the patch of sand on the Thames Southbank, featured here before on several occasions. On this oneI cam across a treasure hunter, busy digging up bottletops. Or maybe, treasure. Who knows?

Talking of treasure, I'm collecting for Breast Cancer Care and asking for people to sponsor my 200Km overnight ride on http://www.bmycharity.com/londondailyphoto. ;-)

I want to ride my bicycle

I love seeing families and young children out on bikes, The more people use them, the more bikes will be safer on London streets, and the better it will be for everyone: Those that have to drive will have less congestion, those that need to travel will get there more quickly, those that have to breathe with have more air.

And I'm using this as an exuse to re-launch my fundraising for Breast Cancer Care. Thanks to everyone, together we raised an impressive £1,400 last year. This year with your help I'm hoping to match and exceed that.

On Saturday, I'm riding the Dunwich Dynamo - 200Km through the night. To keep me going when I start thinking at 3 a.m. in cold and dark country lanes "I don't know why I'm doing this", please sponsor me with a donation on this page - as much or as little as you like. To make it more interesting, I'm giving away some copies of a book - full details on the page: http://www.bmycharity.com/londondailyphoto

Background info why I'm now using BmyCharity.com: Justgiving.com, the site I used last year was great, but over a week ago they upgraded their site with disastrous results, so I have moved to BmyCharity.