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28 April 2017

Canalway Cavalcade – 3 day event this Bank Holiday Weekend

May Day Bank Holiday Weekend again brings us this colourful event around the canals at Little Venice behind Paddington Station.


I will again have a stall at the western end of Warwick Crescent above the narrowboats, selling my clay pipe jewellery, cards and prints, plus a selection of bric-a-brac, so do come and say hello.
After the market stalls close on Sunday evening the bars and food outlets stay open and the entertainment kicks in with a waterway parade followed by a great live band.
All free.
Sun+Sat 10am–6pm (Sunday entertainment until late)
Monday 10am–5pm.

A selection of my cards featuring my photos of various canals and the Canalway Cavalcade
More info on IWA's site here
Posts from previous years

26 April 2017

Pavement patterns in Caledonian Road

I was ambling back from my sorting office yesterday pondering why there is so much bird shit splattered around lately.
As I was crossing Cardozo Road I noticed that the textured crossing was particularly 'colourful'. I wondered whether Daily Mail readers' children might think it was cappuccino froth topping and try to eat it (or something similar, you know what I mean).
Hmmmm... Perhaps birds could be supplied with little plastic bags for their deposits or fitted with tiny nappies...?
I took a photo and wondered how this could be crowbarred (crow! ha ha) into a blog post. Then I noticed all the paint splatters nearby...

Last two pics show the junction of Penn Road and Caledonian Road. I never fail to be amused by the double yellow lines in the cycle path there. 
It's evident that someone has been having fun with paint on their shoes and on the wheels of a bike. There are also squiggles on the pavement where areas have been cleaned in definite patterns using what I assume is a jetwasher.
Walking further along the road towards Holloway I found the name Sam near the junction of Penn Road.
Nice one Sam... now please turn your attention to the whole pavement – and then get to grips with most of the London Underground and the Jubilee Bridges.

More about the pavements of Cally Rd next week.... ooh the excitement...!

18 April 2017

The Police Museum – FREE!!!

The Police Museum is packed full of fascinating stuff. Yes, stuff. Interesting things. Gruesome things. Unusual things. And clever things.


Here's a link to the site – but please don't be put off my the look of the page when you load it – it appears boring, formal and a little bit scary because it follows the same format as the other City of London Police pages on that site. I suggest they make the museum page look as interesting, gruesome and fascinating as the pics in my montage above – I mean, do we really need the black rectangle asking us to report a crime on a page about a museum?
Anyway, the museum is accessed through the Guildhall Library entrance on Aldermanbury, London EC2, is free and well worth a visit.

13 April 2017

Treasure House, 19–21 Hatton Garden

This is one of those 'how did I never see this before now?" moments...
Hatton Garden has for many centuries been London's "Jewellery Quarter" – the place to buy and/or trade in gold, silver, precious gems and diamonds.
In the early 1980s I used to work just around the corner within a grubby inner courtyard off Greville Street called Bleeding Heart Yard (before anyone knew where that was) and at lunchtime I'd find bargains in Leather Lane market (when there was a much greater variety of goods for sale) or I'd just go for a wander about and go back to work with something tasty from Grodzinki's Bakery.
So how come I had never noticed the panels above 19-21 Hatton Garden until last month?! Jeez! I even used to drink often in the Mitre which is accessed through an alley a few doors along from this building!


Treasure House (1906) has Art Nouveau styling on the doors with panels above depicting the story of gold from its ore to being a wearable item, though they don't appear to be in a chronological order and all the figures are muscular and godlike and hence shown naked whether mining or just admiring their own reflection. Perhaps having spent all the money on gold they can't afford clothes?!
I have tried looking for the name of the company who was originally here but so far not found anything, though I did find some info Ornamental Passions here. If you do know more, please do let me know

4 April 2017

Trendell's Daimler Hire Service – Wembley 1657

This rather lovely ghostsign advertisement for Trendell's can be found on the side of a red brick building on the corner of Thurlow Gardens, Wembley.


It looks 1930s to me. As you can see, they would have been an up-market company offering [chauffeur-driven] Daimler vehicles for hire.
Note also the pre-1966 phone code WEM-1567, where WEM is short for Wembley and would have been equivalent to 936 on a keypad. More old London phone codes here.