Are you feeling frisky?

Are you full of the joys of Spring?

Well you should be, because today, 20th March 2010, is the Vernal Equinox which means it's Springtime.

And British Summertime starts next Sunday 28th, which means another hour of daylight. Well, not another one magic'd out of nowhere, but you know what I mean.

So, it's official. Time to come out of hibernation, peel off those layers, and get busy...

Top: Wenlock Arms, N1; Great Titchfiled Street, W1; Seven Sisters Road, N7; Willesden Green station, NW6.

Middle: Newington Green, N16; Harlesden, NW10; Goodge Street, W1; Kew Gardens, TW9.

Bottom: Thames Path, SE16; Great Portland Street, W1; Camden High Street, NW1; Essex Road, N1.

P.S. I was going to call this piece "In the Spring a young man's fancy..." which is part of a line from Alfred Lord Tennyson's Locksley Hall. I hadn't attempted to read the whole thing until just now. It's rather good, but about 20 lines in I noticed that it's rather long... hmmm... I'll read it properly some other time. Suffice to say it's about a soldier remembering a place he knew when he was a child. I have more important things to do, like looking at this or reading my pocket version of the Viz Profanisaurus.

Happy St Patrick's Day

Clockwise from top left:

St Patrick's International College, W1; ghostsign for Craven 'A' cigarettes, SW9; side alley of The Lamb and Flag, WC2; The Dublin Castle, NW1; Connolly's, W4 (and Robin Hood wore green!); The Green Man and French Horn (which he seems to have lost) and, yes, I do know he's a ref to England, not Ireland, but I couldn't find a pic of a leprechaun; Paddington coal hole cover; Guinness advertising board, SE1.

The Wonders of the Solar System

Last Sunday the first programme in the series 'The Wonders of the Solar System' presented by Dr Brian Cox, was aired on BBC2.

Due to him being in a few bands before getting his PhD, Brian has often been referred to as the 'rockstar physicist'. Never mind that, it's his far-too-good-to-be-true cheekbones and thick mop of hair that fascinate me as he is older than he looks!

His enthusiasm for his subject is infectious. I am hooked and really looking forward to the next four programmes.

And here are some London images that loosely tie in with the programmes.

Row 1: The Quays (previously The Half Moon), N7; Belgravia, SW1; Upper St, N1; St Lukes, EC1; St Pancras churchyard.

Row 2: Graffiti, E9; wall, Bethnal Green Rd; stink pipe, W3; Shoreditch High St; Thames Festival 2009

Row 3: Circumshpere, Deptford Wharf; coal hole cover; Crouch End Broadway; Paddington, W2; Cockspur St.

Row 4: (Mars) Marshalls, Dalston; (Neptune) closed fishmongers, W3; (Milky Way) Nestlé Milk, New Cross; (Venus) Lime St, EC3; (Saturn) doorbells SW1.

George the Imperial Great Dane

Last week there on BBC TV News there was an item about a Great Dane called George who has just got into the Guinness Book of Records as the world's tallest dog, ever.

What interested me was that the presenter said that at 43 inches tall George was 2cm taller than the second tallest dog.

Imperial and metric in the same sentence. Ugh!

But any excuse for a collection of themed London pictures...

Top: Marylebone, Bloomsbury, Hoxton, Stamford Hill

Middle: Islington, Camden, Belgravia, Soho

Bottom: Barnsbury, Tottenham, Smithfield, Bloomsbury