Nature Calls

If you are looking for nature in London, an organic lettuce is a good place to start - at least, it was for me today. We've hit the Spring equinox, nature is bursting forth and so are blogs. Or, at least, one particular Daily Photo Blog - London Daily Nature Photo. Not satisfied with his prime blog, Planarchy, Nic (a regular comentor here) has started this one. I have to tell you, his photos are really quite good and likely to be well worth the entry price (your time).

I also love the idea of meeting the bits of London's nature scene I mostly tend to pass by.

In Memory of Adam Regis

The dark side of London surfaces from time to time - what happened last Saturday night was dreadful.

A fifteen year old boy, Adam Regis, was murdered.

What an utter waste.

Take a minute out your day, think of Adam, a boy you never knew and now never will. Think of what it takes for a society to value life so cheaply. If you carry a knife because you think it protects you, or to make yourself feel bigger, think about this.

The story is here. Why does it feel worse that it was three miles from where I live? Is it better that a fifteen your old is murdered hundreds of miles away?

Another, poignant, photo showing some of the messages from his classmates is here.

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(next day) It looks like Google have done their stuff and people are coming here to find out about Adam. I'd like to do something, so if you were a friend, or just have something to say, do make your voice known in the comments box. Anonymous comments are fine, I won't censor anything. If you have a website, I'll add a link here. Let's remind people Adam was a real person, not a statistic:

Jay's site

Memorial Site
Lynn's UK blog

The Blewcoat School

Two reasons to visit the Blewcoat School, just by Victoria Station. First, it's an old building, built by a brewer to educate the poor (to 'read, write, cast accounts and the catechism') and it's free to get in. Second, the reason it's free is that it is the National Trust London shop, and they have some nice stuff if you are looking for a more unusual souvenir or gift. a win-win situation.

London's Organ

Pollution melts bikes, I'm sure of it.

This does look a litle like strange organ pipes, doesn't it? However, what it is doing is measuring London's lungs - the pollution on our streets. These instruments are just by the side of Marylebone Road. Amusingly, Marylebone Road was the first bypass ever built int he 17th Century so that the steenkin' animals didn't have to go through town.

Here is the output from the site.

Molten Bikes

I'm fascinated how in all major cities, you can find molten bikes by the roadside. What causes it? I reckon it's the pollution.

The London Eye and 25,000,000 passengers

The London Eye are approaching their 25,000,000th passenger and they thought it would be a good idea to stage a photo competition to mark the event. As, along with almost all other Londoners I've taken the Eye to my heart, I confess to being chuffed to the knickers when I was included in the invite list. The Diamond Geezer has an excellent write up of the detail, so I'll just talk about pictures.

I tried to make my photos different, not an easy task with something so thoroughly photographed from every angle, it was a tough call whether this or the "zoom" one on the Eye website picture is my favourite.from the session (or maybe, the "Lighthouse" one...) There are quite a lot of rather good entries, though. The Eye has been used in several of the Londonists Touch Up London series, too.

Can I encourage you (yes, that's right, you) to upload your photos to the site? This has to be an occasion where the more, the merrier. Come on, join in the fun!

Eye do not believe it!

Tonight, I was invited in the illustrious company of the Diamond Geezer and Others to an event to celebrate the 25,000,000 visitor to the Eye. However, their site is not properly online yet and I'm knackered, so I'll leave you with a picture of what you see as you walk up to the Eye for tonight, and I'll carry on the story tomorrow.

Let this be a warning to you

This area in Wapping used to be called "Execution Dock" and was where pirates were executed. The pub, The Prospect of Whitby keeps the gibbet maintained - I don't suppose they have much of a problem with rowdiness.

Local Politics

Forget election frenzy, local politics is all about people who care sufficiently to get involved because they want to make a difference. It doesn't matter which party - left, right, centre. No glory, just hard work. Would you give up your Saturday morning to stand around to listen to people who want to complain?

(Which is what this chap is doign for the Labour party. I should point out that I think all the political parties are as bad as each other. Odd how they (politicians) always start out as people that care. Maybe they still do.)

Yes, we are still in Marchmont Street. I hope that this small photographic slice over the last three days (shot in a random ten minute session) gives you a small flavour of what the area is like

Well, well, well, you can never tell

Dont tell me this town aint got no heart.
When I can hear it beat out loud!

That line from Grateful Dead's Shakedown Street could have been written for Marchmont Street.

Hemmed in by corporate London on all sides, less than a mile from Oxford Street, this is one of the relics of a city mostly long gone - a place with genuine community. You saw the Ghanain community yesterday, today I've gone into "Perhaps", a small, privately run gift shop where you will find more than just the choice of Mr Hallmark, or Mrs Tie Rack. Their gift card selection is excellent, too. Marchmont Street is also this weeks TWWSI location

I used to live close by. I've watched it change - go now, see and support - before the future claims it for its own.

If you are psychic, you may see the shade of a twenty year old Ham, taking his washing to the laundrette each Sunday with his guitar, occasionally in ludicrous clothes, but that's another story.

Come to think of it, Shakedown Street could be the LDP anthem...

Dont tell me this town ain't got no heart,
you just gotta poke around.

Reaching out

When I first came across this scene, with people sitting on the pavement surrounded by odd household goods, I thought I was witnessing some sort of domestic problem. Turns out, nothing could be farther from the truth. What it is, is the the Ghana community in Bloomsbury who send all manner of stuff back to the needy in their country on a regular basis. Unfortunately, they don't have a website yet.

Don't forget, you can visit Ghana too!

London's Private Clubs

London used to be full of small private members clubs of varying degrees of respectability. These days, they are much rarer. One such is adverised by this discreet brass plaque - the "Club for Acts and Actors", or the Concert Artistes Association in Bedford Street, Covent Garden. The've been around since 1897. Whenever I see one of these old clubs I feel a small sadness that I'm not part of it.Checkout the website to find out what they offer behind this closed door.

London's Elephants - No. 14 in a series

Nobody guessed, it's elephant time again. I particularly like this one because it was a visitor to London that brought it to my attention. I had The Adelphi down to visit sometime, and knew of the friezes, but I knew nothing of the elephants. You can find them right around the building.



Click for No 1 in the series.
Click for No 2 in the series.
Click for No 3 in the series.
Click for No 4 in the series.
Click for No 5 in the series.
Click for No 6 in the series.
Click for No 7 in the series.
Click for No 7 1/2 in the series.
Click for No 8 in the series.
Click for No 9 in the series.
Click for No 10 in the series.
Click for No 11 in the series.
Click for No 11 1/2 in the series.
Click for No 12 in the series.
Click for No 13 in the series.

The Adelphi Building

Tucked away behind the Strand is the Adelphi Building, one of London's Art Deco gems. If you want to see it, you'll need to go looking for it - you can see it from the Southbank, but you will miss most of the detail.

I wonder if anyone will guess why I'll be here again tomorrow.

Fancy a pizza?

Just opposite the Crown & Sceptre pub (from a few days ago) is an Italian restaurant. I rather liked the friendly chef that was there to persuade you to come in.

Drinking Troughs

As you go around London, you will often come across drinking troughs like this. They were put there by the philantropic Victorians that didn't want to see animals suffering. These days, it is hard to imagine herds of animals - cows, sheep, pigs - being driven down the roads that only cars drive down now.

This one, tastefully planted, is in Mornington Crescent, this week's The Way We See It location.

Sunday League Footie

This is where football starts, kicking around a ball on a muddy field on a wet Sunday morning. There still a large number of football pitches around London, and a surprising number of teams.

Those dreadful shop names

What is it that makes people choose awful names for shops? Mostly it's hairdressers - Curl Up and Dye is one of my favourites, Is this a peculiarly British foible?

The Handlebar Club

A special treat for those of you who still visit on weekends(yes I know a lot of you only drop in from work, that's OK by me), I present for your edification the Handlebar Club.

I don't think you could get more idiosyncratically British than this. Tonight I visited the monthly meeting of the handlebar club at the Most Excellent pub, the Windsor Castle in Crawford Street. the criteria for memebrship? "a hirsute appendage of the upper lip, with graspable extremities" I couldn't join myself, but I nominated my dad posthumously as a member.

A pub worth visiting any time, and particularly on the first Friday of each month. A nicer bunch of folks you couldn't hope to meet.

Bunhill Fields

In honour of St David's day (yes, I KNOW they are narcissus, not daffodils, it's called poetic licence) Here is a shot inside Bunhill Fields, a fascinating place that deserves some explanation.

It is the last remaining London burial ground (as distinct from churchyard), a non-conformist cemetary from the early 1700. William Blake, John Bunyan and Daniel Defoe are all buried here.

It is also another contender for one of London's most hidden spaces, you could pass by for years without knowing it is here.