And all at once.....

A host of golden daffodils
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

William Wordsworth's poem might lay claim to being one of the better known - at least for a few lines. The whole poem is here and the daffodils, in Regents Park.

Hot Jazz

One of the more original buskers I've seen for a while, on the Southbank.

Canal Trivia

This ordinary canal-side photo around Camden Lock shows a feature that can be seen in many places on canals, a square cut segment in the path for no apparent reason. Except that the reason is a little more obscure. It is a slope, which used to be used to get the horses out that fell in accidentally, in this busy area.

Thought you might enjoy that, anyway.

Does that thing got sossiges?

Treasure hunters on the banks of the Thames at low tide are quite common, but I swear this dog is hoping for another sort of treasure......

Waterloo Sunset 's Fine

The title says it all, and if that leaves you hankering after the original (and they were a real London band) this will take you back.

Sugar Magnolia Blossoms Blooming

Spring is fantastically uplifting, and these magnolias outside St Mary le Strand church are especially fantastic. This is one of the oldest parishes in London (and given their situation, this seems a likely claim) and it is surrounded now by thrashing traffic. These magnolias speak of another time. In my case, intimately linked with the Grateful Dead. We all have our crosses to bear ;-)

Avast ye Landlubbers!!

The Pirate Castle in Camden does a range of activities that mean lots of people enjoy themselves. They probably do the cause of pirates a large disservice.

Neo Banksy

Springing up around Camden are public stencil art like this. Unsigned, they are very reminiscent of Banksy, but somehow I think this is a young pretender. Any ideas?

Egyptian London

I've commented in the past on how the Egyptian frenzy in the 1920's had its effect on London and the designs of buildings and public spaces, here we are in New Broad Street looking at some very attractive detail above a door.

Londinium through a lens

Regulars here will know how much I enjoy the Museum of London - now here's a chance for you to join in. They are running a wonderful collaborative exhibition curated by young people; you can read the press release for Londinum through a lens here.

The exhibition looks at the parallels between modern and Roman London.It opens in June and features a map that will be made up of images showing Roman influences in London today. They are encouraging photographers to submit their photos and hoping it becomes a really fun, visual and engaging insight into the Roman legacy in modern London. Details of how to submit photos via email or Flickr are on www.museumoflondon.org.uk/ol2012map

This sculpture is outside the National Gallery and is rather fun - it is of James II - "JAcobus Secundus" all togged out as a Roman. Complete with paunch.

An Eggcelent Idea?

All around London you will see these eggs - all part of the Big Egg Hunt - there are 209 of them, and you are encouraged to collect as many as you can - each entry gives you a chance to win a real Faberge Egg. And of course... the money goes to charity, so it must be good, right? Well, as your entry costs a minimum of £3.25, I thought I'd poke around the website to see how much the charity gets. I quote: Does the charity receive my money? For each 25p text the Promoters will receive at least 10.3p between them, depending on the network provider. For each £3 initial entry the Promoters will receive at least £1.72 OK, they would get nothing otherwise but still.... Doesn't seem good value to me, I'd rather give direct to the charity myself.

London's Elephants - No. 41 in the Series

Been a while, but here we are back on the elephant trail. The Elephant's Head is in Camden High Street, and if you look carefully in the corner window you will see an elephant on top of an elephant.

The elephants series is here.

St Patricks Day Booze-up

This weekend saw the St Patrick's day parade take place on Sunday. I went to have a look, but I have to be honest, it was all too crowded so I settled on an image of a genuine Irishman on the periphery.

Hot Stuff

The food emporiums of London have to continually reinvent the way food appears to entice people through the doors. Wrapping in paper seems to be one of the latest fads, this (organic) eatery looked good to me.

Abandon Sheep!

This odd remnant of what must have been a grand building is just behind Devonshire Square in New Street. No idea why it is here, but it looks older than the surrounding area, for sure.

A Foggy Day in London

London was famed at one time for its epic fog - a particularly noxious mix of climate and pollution. I remember in my childhood a conductor having to walk in front of a bus they were that thick.

These days they aren't as thick or frequent, but they occasionally lend an unearthly air such as here, in Hyde Park on my commute. Just for added weather interest, on Thursday it was 3 degrees when I left home, and 17 coming back in the evening.

Social Housing

As we near the Mayoral elections, it is worth remembering that the LCC, and after them the GLC, were instrumental in building a large quantity of social housing in London, such as this. However the policies started by Margaret Thatcher to deliberately run down the quantity of available council homes means that you can now buy a one bedroom flat in this block, behind Old Street, for £220,000.

Hello Blossom

It's been two weeks since blossom seemed to appear overnight in London, here's a tree in Holland Park Avenue on my way home. Not the best photo, but it will give me an excuse to take another soon. Seeing blossom on the trees always cheers me up immeasurably. Now here's a question, do other languages use words like "blossom", "flower" and "petal" as diminutives or terms of affection?

Pillars of Society

This is an internal view of Liverpool Street Station, and one you might think is no longer available to see. However, if you go to the far right of the upper walkway and venture down an unlikely looking path, this is what you'll see.

Eating Well

Another feature of Spitalfields Market is that it is well served by eating houses catering for all manner of tastes, not just giant chains. One of my favourites is Pilpel, a falafel joint that turns out very tasty food at a reasonable price. If that doesn't take your fancy, why, next door you have a Caribbean food, then Indonesian, then Italian deli, then Chinese. Each of them appear to be small outfits turning out food of high quality. If you are in the area at lunchtime, do yourself a favour and give them a try.