Blimey, I'm in the Guardian

Saturday 24th April turned out to be a very good day for many reasons.

One being that I discovered that Jane's London is listed on the Internet page of the Guardian Guide in a column about London blogs.

Wow! I had no fore-warning of this so did not manage to get a copy for myself. They even put some of pictures at the bottom as used in my 'Are you feeling frisky?' post, which I thought was rather amusing and a bit ironic seeing as they were so cheeky to use them without asking. Though they don't appear on the web version.

But hey, I hope this means I get some more traffic this way and people can see that there are some even more good London sites and blogs, as listed in the column to the right under 'Other relevant links'.

The Beauty of Maps

I love looking at maps; especially old ones. I have various maps of London pinned to the wall behind me as I write this and along the hallway walls.

One of the first books of London I ever bought was 'The History of London in Maps' and I lost myself for hours comparing the old with the new. Booth's poverty map, in particular, is fascinating.

So, this week I have really been enjoying BBC2's programmes 'The Beauty of Maps', which ties in beautifully with the British Library's free exhibition 'Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda and Art' due to open on April 30th.

I am also pleased to see that Stephen Walter's contemporary personal maps of London are also included in the exhibition. I love his work and if I had a few spare £1000s (and more walls) I would have love to be able to buy his complete London map, but I have had to make do with just the 'Islington' section.

Clockwise from top left:

Piccadilly Station ticket hall; information board in Berkeley Square; Chris Marshall's 'Circumsphere', Deptford; pre-1920 tube map (LRT Acton depot); Streetmap of Holloway N7; Stephen Walter's 'Islington'; Cockspur Street, which was once lined with travel companies; Highbury Vale (thanks to Bikertect for this pic)

Blowing in the wind

On Saturday I hung my washing out on the line in the garden for the first time this year. Ooh the lovely smell of fresh, clean, air-dried sheets! On Sunday I helped to trim my neighbour's bush, but that's another story and would inspire a different collection of images.

Top row: De Beauvoir, Goldsmith's Row, Northwold Rd, Hornsey Rd.

Middle row: Crouch End, Chamberlayne Road, Coldharbour Lane, St Peters Street.

Bottom row: Kentish Town Road, Harrow Road, Prince of Wales Road, Kingly Street

Malcolm McLaren RIP

Malcolm died of cancer on 8th April 2010, aged 64.

As I write this I am listening to 'Waltz Darling' the wonderful album he made in the 80s with the Bootzilla Orchestra. It mixed together all sorts of different musical styles and time signatures. Something's jumping, jumping in my shirt... aah!

I remember a bizarre programme he did for TV over 10 years ago about Oxford Street* and its history which I'd like to see again. His version of Madame Butterfly is genius, though I don't know what this video has got to so with the lyrics. Very 80s!
Like him or loathe him, Malcolm was always coming up with new ideas and shaping a lot of what we now take for granted.

Except for the 2 generic King's Road pics the references should be fairly obvious:

Top row: Museum Street; The Rainbow; St Pancras Church; King's Road.

Middle row: Opera House; coal hole cover; Dog and Duck, Frith St; 100 Club.

Bottom row: Coal hole cover; Bayswater, King's Road; Willesden.

*This reminds me that I still haven't been along Oxford Street with my camera and done a definitive Jane's London version of it... what I need is a day when the shops aren't open... I miss those Sundays when everything except the corner shops was closed. I think we need that day off to recharge. And early closing one night a week too. Now it's all spend spend spend, buy buy buy!

This is one of the Best Travel Blogs about London

Well, so says The Travel Onion, and who am I to disagree?!

I was bemused when I got the email about it but am told it's down to giving a different point view of London that travellers might be interested in.

So I checked their site and there I am, one of only five sites listed in the London section the bottom.

Brilliant! Thanks Travel Onion!