Red Carpet Treatment

Passing through Leicester Square on Wednesday evening, there was a scrummage over the red carpet. Turned out that it was the premiere of The Inbetweeners (which I had to find out was a TV sit-com) and that I managed to capture James Buckley signing stuff.

Barking Creek

One hundred and sixty years ago, Barking Creek was home to London and England's largest fishing fleet. It is a little quieter these days.

Elvis has left the building

Thirty four years ago on the 16th of August, Elvis Presley died. I heard that the theatre showing Million Dollar Quartet was holding a contest with free tickets to the show for anyone who turned up dressed as Elvis. As I was in the area, I thought I'd capture the moment for you all, but ..... nobody turned up. Not even the East End Elvises. Where has our spirit gone?

Holiday Snap #1 - The Monastry at Petra

I always share a photo or two, so here is the monastery at Petra, Jordan. Dating from the 1st century BC, it is not built but hewn out the rock, as are all the buildings in Petra (including the Treasury, the most famous of the Petra sights and known to all from the Indiana Jones movie). To get up here, you have to climb around 800 steps but it is worth it. You can read more about Petra on the Wikipedia page.

The Aftermath

Hi all, I'm back! Wasn't that some fuss while I was away? Everyone I met was fascinated to talk to someone who came from where the troubles were. Now that is ironic. Take note US readers ;-)

My locality, Ilford, was amongst the areas reported as having disturbances so I had to go to see what there was to see. And what was there to see? precious nothing, one shop with a window boarded up. Turns out that most of the action was around the back doors where people were breaking in to steal. And they are looking for social reasons for rioting? Do me a favour. Lowlife thieves, the lot of them.

Danger of Death

That notice on the left, showing a person being struck down is not, regrettably, the architect that designed this power station. Did we not learn anything from the Victorians? Ugly things don't have to look ugly.

Holiday time again, so blog is set to autopilot, see you all in August sometime.

Shree Sanatan Hindu Mandir

A little bit of detail from the stonework of the temple, but it does nothing to convey the magnificence. Do go an d look, it is open to all, all week long. (I haven't been inside yet, but I shall - no photos allowed inside though)

Holiday time again, so blog is set to autopilot, see you all in August sometime.

All Inclusive Temple

I had heard about the Shree Sanatan Hindu Mandir when it opened last year, it made the news, but has taken me till now to go past. I was left speechless, it is a true work of art, and should be on every Londoner's itinerary to visit. A photo of some detail tomorrow.


Holiday time again, so blog is set to autopilot, see you all in August sometime.

Wembley Stadium

Wembley Stadium is one of those building that is quite pleasing to look at, but quite difficult to photograph as it is very large, and stuck in an industrial wasteland. Still you get the idea of the vast roof arch, anyway. Trivia of the day, that arch has to have warning beacons for low flying aircraft.


Holiday time again, so blog is set to autopilot, see you all in August sometime.

Do you want to say goobye to Golders Green?

This sums up Golders Green today. A once grand shop turned into a coffee house with a small sad dog sat outside. Probably deeply meaningful.

Holiday time again, so blog is set to autopilot, see you all in August sometime.

Do you hear a trumpet?

Golders Green is also known as one of London's main neighbourhoods for orthodox Jews, which makes it an excellent place if you want to pick up a ram's horn or shofar

Holiday time again, so blog is set to autopilot, see you all in August sometime.

Do you want the large size?

Along Golders Green High Road, and everything has changed over the years. This ugly sixties shop still manages to raise some degree of affection, as you really don't find many independent shops like this any more. There may be a reason for that....

Holiday time again, so blog is set to autopilot, see you all in August sometime.

Do you like quality?

Into Golders Green proper, and the quality of the architecture when it was designed is quite astonishingly good. Unfortunately that didn't last through the sixties.

Holiday time again, so blog is set to autopilot, see you all in August sometime.

Do you pray?

The Golders Green Hippodrome was for years one of the more interesting off-west end venues. For many years run by the BBC ("...Friday Night is MUSIC night"), they left it empty and deteriorating. At least this church seems to be looking after it well.

Holiday time again, so blog is set to autopilot, see you all in August sometime.

Do you remember?

The war memorial at Golders Green tells the same story - there are not that many in London that commemorate only the dead of the Second World War.

Holiday time again, so blog is set to autopilot, see you all in August sometime.

Do you feel like confessing?

Moving up Finchley Road, we find the church of St Edward the Confessor, built in 1915, the castle like aspect may have been to defend themselves from the hordes of builders that must have been around at the time.

Holiday time again, so blog is set to autopilot, see you all in August sometime.

Do you feel fortunate?

We're off to North West London for a few days, now. It's an interesting area dating as it does from the thirties and forties. Temple Fortune was the gateway to Hampstead Garden suburb, but has always seemed to me to be the poor relation.

Holiday time again, so blog is set to autopilot, see you all in August sometime.

Do you give a flying buttress?

This space is at the bottom of one of the City's new skyscrapers, the Broadgate Tower. I think this modern interpretation of flying buttresses is rather good, and I'd like to think they help hold it up as well.

Holiday time again, so blog is set to autopilot, see you all in August sometime.

Postcard From London

It's the monthly worldwide City Daily Photo theme day again, and this month the theme is "Postcardworthy". Well, a chicken and banana fighting outside Oxford Circus Underground would be worth sending, wouldn't it?

To see how others around the world have treated this theme, click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Holiday time again, so blog is set to autopilot, see you all in August sometime.

We do NOT.

Staying in the East End, this business has an air of the world changing around it, whilst it soldiers on regardless. And they really don't want to be part of it, do they? You may need to click for the bigger picture to read what I'm talking about.

Holiday time again, so blog is set to autopilot, see you all in August sometime.

Osch

Today it's the turn of Osch. Yes it was part of the image yesterday, but you might well have missed this. Not the finger, although that has a certain humour, but the mouse's trainers.

Holiday time again, so blog is set to autopilot, see you all in August sometime.

Steve Smyth

Another two-parter, today the turn of Steve Smyth, who's brilliant work has brightened up quite a few walls around London.

Holiday time again, so blog is set to autopilot, see you all in August sometime.

LSO St Lukes

This magnificent church in Old Street is now the home to the London Symphony Orchestra and used for rehearsals and recitals. The church itself, while visible from the road, is worth walking around (and the churchyard is "bench 1 from a few days ago)

Holiday time again, so blog is set to autopilot, see you all in August sometime.

The Last Tuesday Society

The answer to yesterday's question is the Last Tuesday Society, more than just a shop, it is a fascinating recreating of the spirit of establishments you would have though disappeared more than fifty years ago. In the words of their website:

The Shop is perhaps best seen as an attempt to recreate or reinterpret, within 21st century sensibilities, a 17th century Wunderkabinett; a collection of objects assembled at a whim on the basis of their aesthetic or historical appeal. There is no attempt at creating or explaining, meta-narratives or educating anyone. It is merely a display of Naturalia and Artificialia designed to give pleasure to the creators of the Museum, who hope that you too will enjoy it.

Some will doubtless be gratefull I chose not to illustrate this with a photo of a stuffed kitten.

Holiday time again, so blog is set to autopilot, see you all in August sometime.

Muskrat Love

Muskrat skulls, anyone? I wonder if anyone knows where to find these in London? Answer comes out tomorrow, in the meantime, you can watch this

Holiday time again, so blog is set to autopilot, see you all in August sometime.

Core Femme

Alongside yesterday's shot in Cavendish Square, is this sculpture, Core Femme by Jill Berelowitz. While it looks like a spinal column, look more closely and you will see it is made up of female torsos.

Holiday time again, so blog is set to autopilot, see you all in August sometime.

A tale of two benches - day 2

And today, sharing an umbrella in the rain tells another story.


Holiday time again, so blog is set to autopilot, see you all in August sometime.

A tale of two benches - day 1

There's something about watching people sitting on a bench that makes me wonder about them. So today and tomorrow, a two part series. A man with a bag and a can of special brew tells one story.

Holiday time again, so blog is set to autopilot, see you all in August sometime.

Many Rivers to Cross

It has been very wet in London lately.

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44% DONE. Installation Failed. 404 Error: Season Not Found.

Workshops

In common with most other cities around, the inner city used used not to be the exclusive preserve of finance houses and coffee shops. Instead, they were a hive of manufacturing, mostly smaller workshops and businesses. Great Portland Street, for example, had the fabric trade, Hatton Garden, jewellery. The East End city outskirts was where a lot of small businesses started, these workshops built in the sixties would likely have been chock full. Times change, don't they?

Salmon Chanted Evening

Hansen & Lydersen may have started their business 80 years ago in Norway, but these days they are very firmly in London, and can also be found in Broadway Market. And I can confirm it is delicious stuff.

Lets Get Trendy

A few years ago, this would have been called a junk shop. Now, with a trendy name and a trendy sign in a trendy place near trendy Broadway Market it sells the same stuff at trendy prices. If you want a closer look at what is on sale, that's here.

In The Pink

Sunday saw Cancer Research UK's "Race for Life" in Hyde Park. Despite the occasional torrential downpours, spirits seemed generally high for everyone. Everyone, that is, except this dog possibly.

Deli-cious

Deli is one of those vastly overused words these days; it should refer to delicacies or fine foods. Have you seen the "deli" counter at your local supermarket? But here at the Deli Downstairs in Hackney you can see they mean what they say. Looks good enough to eat.

A Bow Window

This window is part of a school built in Bow around the turn of the last century. As it happens, there is suggestion that the name Bow derives from an architectural feature, but that of a bridge over the river. The "Coburn" piece of the inscription refers to the benefactor who endowed the funding for the school; the story is quite interesting and you can read it here.

That Condor Moment

As excitement of the Tour de France builds, I would just remind you about team Rapha Condor, probably the best truly British team cycling today - they don't enter the big European races though. Condor make the bikes, Rapha make very nice but very expensive bike clothing.

For the Love of Dog

The street furniture around Whitecross St Market (near Old Street) has been livened up rather creatively.

London's Elephant - Not in a series

Following yesterday's show, I thought I'd mention the Dome, London's very own white elephant - or at least so went public opinion after the Year 2000 celebrations. But here we are, 11 years later and it is a vibrant, successful, venue that London can rightfully be proud of, opening up what was previously a derelict area. I've even got used to calling it the "O2", too. Shades of the Olympic Park anyone?

A Diamond Geezer

No, not this one, but the Neil Diamond geezer, currently belting it out at London's O2. He cranked out a two hour set without pause, fitting in all a lot of his big hits - there are rather a number of them.

Oil be seeing you

...In Broadway Market, Hackney. This stall was selling some fantastic olive oil.

Keep Off The Grass

A more cheerful car picture today, it seems this is one of a fleet.

And then, the plan fell down

If you leave a car without Vehicle Excise Duty (Road Tax) on London's streets there is a good chance these days that your car will be clamped. But of course, that plan hits the buffers when the person that owns the car doesn't think it worthwhile retrieving. It then turns into a slowly mouldering eyesore by the side of the road.

Water Way

The canal system does not seem to have been used as the green transport option that we were led to believe it would be. Rather nice place to live though, wouldn't you say? These houses predated the Olympics coming to the area - I wonder if they managed to get any tickets?

Not a Good Sign

No, not the No Entry sign, but the air ambulance taking off from London Hospital. I hope whoever needed it makes a full recovery.

Flatpack Graffiti

Here's a new take on graffiti - paint it at home and put it up on the fence. Far faster and less likely to get caught, one supposes.

Invaded!

As you move about London, you will often see small mosaics of Space Invader characters, often in odd corners, nooks and crannies. This one is the largest I have ever seen, behind Kingsland and Hackney Roads. A Google image search turns up a load more.

Bee Surprised

Be very surprised. I was, when I came across these urban bee keepers in Hackney. I know that they exist, but I didn't expect to see them in action. It looked to me as if this was a training session.

The Park Keeper's House

This house, at the eastern end of Victoria Park, I assume is where the park keeper would have lived, surrounded by the park. Quite a good perk, I would have thought.

The unknown scupture

This abstract sculpture appeared in Spitalfields a couple of weeks ago. Mostly, I think it is a woman, but then I look again and I'm not so sure. Kind of fun, though, and without any information on it. I think I'm getting the hang of my cameraphone, though.

July Theme Day - Green

The City Daily Photo theme day for July is "Green", and it struck me that one of the unique features of a lot of London towns are the village greens, remaining from before the city swallowed them up. Very often cricket is played on them, like this one here in Woodford. If you look closely at the large image, you can see that I have just captured the moment the batsman has missed the ball, just before it hits middle stump. The shot of him walking is here.

See how others around the world have interpreted the theme, click here to view thumbnails for all participants