London's Morning - No.7

Hope might be here, but not for everyone. While they are not as common in London as they once might have been, the embankment is still where you can find vagrants each night. Those who don't trust the hostels, those who choose not to receive the charity of strangers. Those who are fogotten. Sleep easy for a little while longer, you will be moved on soon.


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A few days ago, I got up at five o'clock on Saturday morning to take photos of the London skyline as the sun came up. As I am on holiday for the next week, I thought I'd show them to you, a subtly different one each day.

The morning is a fantastic time in London, the day is fresh and full of hope. You watch the quality of light change by the second.

I hope you enjoy these pictures, don't forget as with any of them, you have to click to see the larger picture as intended. I may be able to log in, but I'll see you all later today.

London's Morning - No.6

Morning is here, like damp fire. Ghosts could drift easy now. Light is here, another night is survived. In a short while, the bustle will begin and few if any will consider the drama played out each morning. Hope is here.


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A few days ago, I got up at five o'clock on Saturday morning to take photos of the London skyline as the sun came up. As I am on holiday for the next week, I thought I'd show them to you, a subtly different one each day.

The morning is a fantastic time in London, the day is fresh and full of hope. You watch the quality of light change by the second.

I hope you enjoy these pictures, don't forget as with any of them, you have to click to see the larger picture as intended. I may be able to log in, but I'll see you all on the 4th.

London's Morning - No.5

Turn west, and the night still hasn't given up its grip, but it won't be long now.

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A few days ago, I got up at five o'clock on Saturday morning to take photos of the London skyline as the sun came up. As I am on holiday for the next week, I thought I'd show them to you, a subtly different one each day.

The morning is a fantastic time in London, the day is fresh and full of hope. You watch the quality of light change by the second.

I hope you enjoy these pictures, don't forget as with any of them, you have to click to see the larger picture as intended. I may be able to log in, but I'll see you all on the 4th.

Theme Day - Cemeteries

October's theme day brings a hiatus to the London Morning series, and the worldwide theme this month is Cemeteries. So I’d like to take you to one of London’s most obscure cemeteries, the PDSA Pets Cemetery.

The People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals is a charity who believe that animals shouldn’t suffer because their owners can’t afford treatment - "For pets in need of Vets" is their mantra. This cemetery (closed now) houses animals who were heroes in war and those who are just family pets. This is Billy’s grave, he must have been loved. It’s an interesting place to wander around.

(I'm still away on holiday so cannot respond)

Lots of others have said they will be joining this theme day, due to time differences they may not have posted their picture yet:

St. Louis (MO), USA - San Diego (CA), USA - Cleveland (OH), USA - New York City (NY), USA - Boston (MA), USA - Mainz, Germany - Hyde, UK - Arlington (VA), USA - Cape Town, South Africa - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Toulouse, France - Arradon, France - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Montego Bay, Jamaica - Ampang (Selangor), Malaysia - Joplin (MO), USA - Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Mexico (DF), Mexico - Seattle (WA), USA - Baziège, France - Baltimore (MD), USA - Chandler (AZ), USA - Sequim (WA), USA - Stayton (OR), USA - Stockholm, Sweden - Austin (TX), USA - Singapore, Singapore - Grenoble, France - Seoul, South Korea - Greenville (SC), USA - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Nashville (TN), USA - Tenerife, Spain - Manila, Philippines - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Jacksonville (FL), USA - River Falls (WI), USA - Chateaubriant, France - Quincy (MA), USA - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Buenos Aires, Argentina - Crystal Lake (IL), USA - Inverness (IL), usa - Lubbock (TX), USA - Phoenix (AZ), USA - Moscow, Russia - Norwich (Norfolk), UK - Crepy-en-Valois, France - Melbourne, Australia - New Orleans (LA), USA - Montréal (QC), Canada - Miami (FL), USA - Torun, Poland - Philadelphia (PA), USA - Christchurch, New Zealand - London, England - Paderborn, Germany - The Hague, Netherlands - Selma (AL), USA - Sunderland, UK - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Stavanger, Norway - Fort Lauderdale (FL), USA - Weston (FL), USA - Portland (OR), USA - Forks (WA), USA - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Boston (MA), USA - Sydney, Australia - Wellington, New Zealand - Montpellier, France - Jackson (MS), USA - Wailea (HI), USA - Petaling Jaya (Selangor), Malaysia - Evry, France

London's Morning - No.4

Turn south, and see the wedge of light force its way into the world, night is levered away by the fulcrum of hte sun.

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A few days ago, I got up at five o'clock on Saturday morning to take photos of the London skyline as the sun came up. As I am on holiday for the next week, I thought I'd show them to you, a subtly different one each day.

The morning is a fantastic time in London, the day is fresh and full of hope. You watch the quality of light change by the second.

I hope you enjoy these pictures, don't forget as with any of them, you have to click to see the larger picture as intended. I may be able to log in, but I'll see you all on the 4th.

London's Morning - No.3

Hurry now - what strange shapes can be made from the shapes of London, before the light brings the famililar back. The Hungerford bridge looks like a strange spider web against the spreading light.

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A few days ago, I got up at five o'clock on Saturday morning to take photos of the London skyline as the sun came up. As I am on holiday for the next week, I thought I'd show them to you, a subtly different one each day.

The morning is a fantastic time in London, the day is fresh and full of hope. You watch the quality of light change by the second.

I hope you enjoy these pictures, don't forget as with any of them, you have to click to see the larger picture as intended. I may be able to log in, but I'll see you all on the 4th.

London's Morning - No.2

A few moments later and the dawn has control. People are moving, the world has started turning. London begins to yawn and stretch.

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A few days ago, I got up at five o'clock on Saturday morning to take photos of the London skyline as the sun came up. As I am on holiday for the next week, I thought I'd show them to you, a subtly different one each day.

The morning is a fantastic time in London, the day is fresh and full of hope. You watch the quality of light change by the second.

I hope you enjoy these pictures, don't forget as with any of them, you have to click to see the larger picture as intended. I may be able to log in, but I'll see you all on the 4th.

London's Morning - No.1

Face east and see the morning ready itself for the world. The puppets have stationed themselves against the backcloth, ready for their building games. The world is getting ready, and London holds its breath.

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A few days ago, I got up at five o'clock on Saturday morning to take photos of the London skyline as the sun came up. As I am on holiday for the next week, I thought I'd show them to you, a subtly different one each day.

The morning is a fantastic time in London, the day is fresh and full of hope. You watch the quality of light change by the second.

I hope you enjoy these pictures, don't forget as with any of them, you have to click to see the larger picture as intended. I may be able to log in, but I'll see you all on the 4th.

St Columba's, Pont Street

Walking down Pont Street for The Way We See It this week, I came across this rather beautiful Scottish Church, St Columba's. you can read the history of the church here. But having never heard of that saint I thought I'd resarch a little, and I was delighted to find he was responsible for possibly the first copyright dispute.

Sketch a Wall in Warmrain

Give the wall a single coat,will you? When I came across this, I had no idea why there were so many coats hanging outside, so I thought I would try to confuse you a little with my title.

I still don't know quite why it was there, but it appears that a rather creative London design company, warmrain were doing a .... thing .... at Sketch, the gallery/bistro in Conduit Street. (I think both their websites are rather fun, by the way).

That's it, really. If I find out what it was, I'll let you know. Unfortunately, it has disapeared now, but it was rather fun while it lasted.

London's Better by Bike - Hovis Freewheel 2007

On Sunday, motorised traffic was banned for 14Km of roads in the centre of London and over 30,000 38,000 cyclists of all ages piled in to enjoy the experience. It is the first time this has been done - Hovis sponsored it and gave away sandwiches to everyone, lots of other stuff being handed out too, the favourite objects of munificence were cycle water bottles, all gratefully received. I laughed out loud when I got one from Thames Water. It leaked. So did the second. You couldn't have made it up.

There was a real party atmosphere and it showed just how many people could move about freely and safely and with no more pollution than the odd burst of methane. More photos here.

Other cyclists went too. Onionbagblog report here

Free Nelson Mandela

Can I have one please? It's funny, twenty odd years ago when I chanted the slogans along with everyone else, I didn't really know what I was saying. And now, the world has moved. The tectonic plates have shifted.The established order has changed. And Nelson Mandela has a statue in Parliament Square.

The change that we have seen in our lives is truly awesome. In years to come, I believe this period will be seen as pivotal in our history.

If you want to be transported back 23 years, click here.

Seaford House

I must squeeze in to this week the other Open House propoerty I visited. It was completely at random - I passed by and decided to drop in. Seaford House is the "Defence Acadamy" where the army learn how to fight, but the building is rather good, anyway. You can read its history here. Apart from the architecture, it uses jade where other houses use marble, and this spectacular ceiling, you also have the opportunity to sit and take tea, and make believe it's your own house.

Step Back in Time

This week, The Way We See It took me to Crown Passage, a tiny backstreet in St James, close to Clarence House. With a pub, some restaurants and a greasy spoon it's just the sort of place you could imagine Prince Charles sneaking out to buy a bacon butty. And even if he can't he probably dreams of it.

In this narrow alley, Lock & Co, hatters for 330 years, have this shop window that seems from a different age.

A Polecat

Today's photo comes from the British Wildlife Centre which is technically outside London, but it's near to London airport (Gatwick) and it was part of my birthday present so I'm entitled to.

Now I'm not normally a nature photographer, if you want the best of that you need to go to London Daily Nature Photo or one of Abraham Lincoln's blogs. But on Monday I joined in one of the Centre's photography day and came away with a great experience with the British animals you very rarely see and a bundle of pictures of wildcats, otters,red squirells and more. Some of the rest of my photos are here.

For those interested in technical info, they are mostly taken with my Olympus E510 with body based IS, using the amazingly inexpensive Sigma 55-200 which is 35mm equivalent of 400mm lens handheld at speeds as low as 1/50. No post-production, most of the shots in the gallery are just developed from RAW in Lightroom, many are full frame, some are cropped.

Aspley House - No 1 London

This naked statue of Napoleon Bonaparte, as Mars, by Canova, stands in the stairwell of the Duke of Wellington's town house. Although you can pay entrance throughout the year, on the weekend Open House it was free, so I made my way down.

It's not entirely certain whether the Duke placed the statue there in triumph or in respect. What is certain is that Napoleon's sring of victories had been brought to an end. Trivia of the day: it was this event with the statue going to Wellington that prompted Napoleon to first use the expression "from the sublime to the ridiculous".

The house itself houses the 1st Duke's fantastic art collection and has other items and memorabillia of his campaigns that actually make it well worth the entrance money. I recommend it to you.(Especially if you are a fan of Bernard Cornwell's "Sharp" novels)

Ordinary Londoners - No 9 in a series

Game on! Courtesy of London Open House I was among the first to go on a tour of the 2012 Olympics site. I also had the privilige of meeting Daley Thompson, Olympic gold athlete, all round good guy and an ordinary Londoner. He has associated himself with these games from the very beginning and has put his efforts into helping sport at the grass roots. This is a Londoner we can all be proud of.

I'd like to take this opportunity to say a few words to those who don't think these games are a good thing, First, consider whether your view makes you the sort of person who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Then there is one simple fact: when the games are over and done with, you are really going to look very silly. Nothing personal, but I'm sorry, it's true.

Mr Geezer has been doing some stirling Open House coverage, my small contribution will be tomorrow.

The Ordinary Londoners Series: No 1, No 2, No 3, No 4 No 5 No 6 No 7.No 8.

Soft Rock

As Dianne pointed out yesterday, on Saturday I was up very bright and very early for to take some photos, which is why there was nobody around the elephants. Nobody was up that is, except for these people queuing to get their money out of Northern Rock. As we watch the financial equivalent of panic buying bringing down a bank - that is, the crisis is caused by a lack of understanding combined with fear and heard instinct - and feel sorry for those who will now end up losers, I couldn't help but see the humour in this scene.

London's Elephants - No 19 in the series

The idea behind "Trunks Meet Trunks" in Hyde Park is to make you stop and consider the importance of wildlife corridors. The beauty is, there is not just one elephant here, but a whole herd.

These beasts are truly compelling, and they will only be here until the 18th, I would throughly recommend a visit. If you can't get there, here are a range of pachyderm connected activities you can do wherever you are.

Thanks to Dianne for bringing these to my attention.

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Dieu et mon droit

Seeing the Queen's coat of arms on the Royal Opera House, I thought how many people see it, without realising how much it is a distillation of the history and tradition of our country.

It's been around one way and another for 900 years, since Richard the Lionheart. In the centre shield, the three lions represent England, the single lion Scotland, and the harp, Ireland. Around them is the motto of the most exclusive club in the land - the Order of the Garter - Honi Soit Qui Mal y Pense - Shame to him who evil thinks. There are 26 members - the Monarch, the Prince of Wales and 24 chosen by the Monarch. These are the folks one up from the Knights Templar

And underneath it, the words that sum up the monarchy - Dieu et mon droit - God and my right.