20 December 2017

More seasonal stuff

Last night I went to see Cinderella at Hackney Empire.
Well... what can I say... but WOW!  What an absolute delight. A joy.
It's on until 31st December and I urge you to go see it too.
What's not to like?
Old time entertainment with a modern twist inside one of our loveliest theatres. Designed by the ubiquitous Frank Matcham, it opened in 1901 and was saved from demolition in 1986.
View from my seat in the Dress Circle
And then more fun and sparkles to be sampled this Friday evening when I will join a group of friends  at Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park.
Thumbs up from 2016
Last year we'd sort of tested it out as a "why not? It's free!" idea but we had such a nice time hanging about enjoying the atmosphere that we've decided to do it all again this year. We'll be convening at the quieter bar near the fire pit, marked F16 on the WW map, from 6.30pm onwards. Do come and find us – as they say, "the more, the merrier".

Note: WW is free to enter, walk about and go to the bars etc but, of course, there are charges for the rides, experiences and entertainments.

13 December 2017

Festive events South, North and East

I should've written about the first two of these before they happened, not after. Then again, you wouldn't get to see the photos.
Late afternoon on Friday 1st December I joined some lovely creative people and the children from a couple of Southwark schools for a lantern procession around the area led by Old Father Thames and a small but very loud samba drum band. Oh it was lovely. See more here.


The route took us through residential estates, along lovely backstreets and into local parks whilst Old Father Thames told us the stories about the Thames freezing over, extra-large ice cubes and a skating elephant. See more pics here. The event was organised by Emergency Exit Arts.

Another samba band!
Two days later, on Sunday December 3rd, I was up on the new piazza adjacent to Archway tube station for an event organised by Islington Council. There was music and singing and all sorts of entertainment. The Christmas lights were turned on and we finally found out that the new name for the piazza is Navigator Square. This was decided by local people voting for their favourite from a shortlist of five names. The winning name is in recognition of the [mostly] Irish navigators, better known as navvies, who worked so hard to build the area and its roads.
Now all we need is for the underground toilets on the piazza to be re-opened and I suggest the new name for them could be the Navvy Lavvies.

Looking forward...
Talking about Christmas markets and events – tomorrow evening 4.30–9.30pm there will be a one-off Winter Night Market with lost of lovely stall selling all sorts of lovely things, just off Hanbury Street, London E1 (between Brick Lane and Spitalfields Market).
One of the stalls will be selling Christmas tree earrings and decorations, as shown in the row of pics above, as well as other jewellery and cards made from clay pipes foraged from the River Thames foreshores.
Do come along and say hello.

11 December 2017

Christmas Lights in London

'Tis the season to be jolly and all that
Last week I posted about the Archway switch on, one of many local events that took place last weekend. 
Larger displays can be found along some of the major shopping streets in the West End and they are just lovely this year, with barely any silly branding or commercial theme. So last night my friend Jen and I made good use of a pair of tickets for The Original Bus Tour's Christmas Lights Tour to be able to get a closer look at them.
We boarded the bus in Coventry Street, donned our free Santa hats and made use of the much-needed blankets – this was the snowy day and brr it was cold on that open top deck!


The tour is restricted by the routes the company is actually permitted to use – and so it takes a circuitous route to get to Regent Street, goes up that road, loops back and then goes back down it again. And that's about it. The Regent Street lights are indeed lovely, bu they are the same all the way along so once you get to Oxford Circus and go back again it all seems a bit repetitive.
We did enjoy ourselves (we  normally do!) but an adult ticket is a whopping £15 which I think is rather steep for just 45 minutes – even if I was new to London I think I would have been disappointed that the only lights I saw on the tour were the ones pictured on the leaflet. On the plus side, it must be said that the guide on the night was marvellous. He obviously enjoys his job, sharing his love and knowledge of London with the people on board.  
Sorry tour bus guys, thanks for the tickets and all that, but I suggest that these lights can be just as easily viewed from the top deck of any normal bus service that goes along Regent Street for a fraction of the cost.
Some of the best Christmas lights are in the smaller shopping streets that are not on bus routes and these are better seen on foot. I recommend a walking tour of London's Christmas lights – my friend Joanna leads a marvellous food-related lights tour in the West End that includes Carnaby Street, St Christopher's Place and Bond Street. Jo gives out freebies too but they are not branded hats! Booking for Jo's walk here. If you do book, please be sure to mention that you saw it here first ;-)

Back to the big displays – last week I went to Kew Gardens to see the marvellous lighting installations there – I am not going to show any photos because it would ruin the surprise and delight for you, but my favourite thing there, apart from the beautifully lit majestic old trees, was the Singing Trees – a simple yet wonderfully evocative section of the walk. The whole route is just delightful because you can wander about at your own pace. Be sure to watch the whole show projected onto the Palm House at the end of the trail.
Again, please try not to look at the photos of it before you go. For reference please see my post about last year's trail here. On until new Year's Day – book here.

The future is looking bright 
It doesn't all end at Christmas – the lights continue into January...
Lumiere London, January 18-21 – various sites in central London – see here for my review of 2016 
Also:
Winter Lights at Canary Wharf, 16-27 January – see here for pics etc of 2017

5 December 2017

North London Polytechnic, Holloway Road – compare and contrast

I was just tidying up my photo archive and rediscovered a folder called Holloway Road Then and Now from when I was taking comparison pics and writing about them here. In that folder I found a group of four pics I had put together of the London Metropolitan University buildings.
Looking at the collection now it's easy to get distracted doing a sort of spot-the-difference.

c1910 vs 2013
The North London Polytechnic was established in 1896, a period I refer to as the Heyday of Holloway.  This Victorian seat of learning was built "to promote the industrial skill, general knowledge, health and well-being of young men and women belonging to the poorer classes of Islington [and] to provide for the inhabitants of Islington and the neighbouring parts of north London, and especially for the Industrial Classes, the means of acquiring a sound General, Scientific, Technical and Commercial Education at small cost".
Only one of the buildings from that period now remains as The Rocket Complex echoing its past as The Great Hall (b1897) opened by the then Lord Mayor of London and used for social and academic events. It's sad to see how a lot of the architectural embellishments have been removed over the years, however, on the plus side, the clocks at the top are usually correct, which is handy.
The various university buildings feature for different reasons on a couple of my walking tours

Oh and by the way, the vintage clothing shop, now called Blue 17, by the bus stop (where the AA van is in the pic) is marvellous, one of the best around – do pop in and have a look – though be warned that it's hard to come out empty-handed.

2 December 2017

Archway Christmas Lights Switch On Event – tomorrow Sunday December 3rd

The new space next to Archway Station will be filled full of stalls and entertainment tomorrow – and they'll finally be announcing the name of the piazza.


 
I'll be there selling my Archway and Islington Christmas cards plus my tree decorations and earrings too... ooh!
Stalls will be set up by noon though the event is officially 1.00-5.30pm. Do come and say hello and join in the  festive fun. 
I'll also be in the same location the next three weekends as part of #ArchwayMarket on Saturdays 9th, 16th and 23rd, 11-5pm.

Seasonal cards and gifts available from my stall
 

1 December 2017

Today – Frozen In Time procession – Blackfriars, London SE1

I do love a good procession or parade.
And this one promises a "gigantic metal animation".
I stupidly missed that big elephant in Trafalgar Square about eight years ago and I really miss the wonderful parades that used to happen at the end of the Thames festival every September, so let's hope this makes up for it.
See you there.
Parade: 4.30–7pm
Nearest tubes: Borough, Southwark
More info here

From six of my Blackfriars Road photos