A portal to Iceland through a record shop in Soho – 28–30th October – FREE!

For three days only, experience Iceland in Soho. 

Icelandair have created a below ground experience, bringing you the land of ice and fire, accessed via a door at the rear of Phonica Records, 51 Poland Street, W1F 7LZ. 

It’s a bit CS Lewis, as in going to Narnia through a wardrobe, though you won’t find a lion or a witch down there. Instead you’ll find tasters of what it’s like in Iceland, via interactive experiences, videos, clothing and products. More info in italics below

The space is free to enter but best to book a time slot here. 

I was at yesterday evening's launch night (lovely cocktails and canapés!) and my recommendation when visiting (see more below) is to be sure to investigate everything in there and ask questions because the information isn’t immediately obvious. For instance, use any Qcodes and links there to access special offers etc.

I’ve been meaning to go to Iceland for decades, though I really don’t cope well with being in cold climates. But this has rekindled that urge and if Damon Albarn likes it there, then I’m sure I will too.

Promo stuff and info:

Icelandair has teamed up with a range of incredible Icelandic partners including The Blue Lagoon, Business Iceland and 66North to take you on an unexpected mini-break to Iceland (the country) – in London!
Iceland will literally be around the corner for one weekend only and everyone’s invited.
Experience the Blue Lagoon in London, icy wonders, the surprising landscapes and the unique airwaves that have arisen from this land of fire and ice – including surprise Icelandic style entertainment and performances. Navigate your way through a glacier, Relaxing in a geothermal spa, or sample the ever-growing music scene. There will even be chances to win a trip to the real Iceland, and more!
Icelandair Around The Corner is free to attend and open to everyone – click here.
Special events that will be taking place inside the space include:
A Blue Lagoon Soundbath event (Saturday 29th October from 9.30am to 10.30am and then on Sunday 30th October from 9.30am to 10.30am)
A Photo Exhibit and Talk from Benjamin Hardman (Friday 28th October from 12.30pm to 1pm and then on Saturday 29th October from 12.30pm to 1pm)
The Mini Airwaves festival, featuring live acts from the 2022 Airwaves Festival line-up and DJ (Saturday 29th October from 7.30pm to 10.30pm)
Family Fun Day (Sunday 30th October, with a sensory dampened hour taking place from 3.30pm)

I'm in the news again

Oops, this is over a week old now...

Last week I was featured in the Islington Tribune

Also see this great article on Islington Now.

Find all my guided walks on Eventbrite.

And cards here.

Jane's London Guided Walking Tours

My walking tours in North London are friendly and inclusive gatherings of like-minded souls keen to learn more about this history-rich area.
I offer a range of walks – some cover a range of highlights in a specific area or along a certain road; others are themed, such as the heyday of the Nags Head area when Mr Pooter "lived" here, Art Deco Arsenal and Holloway, drinking establishments along the A1, ghostsigns and green things.
Most tours are 90 minutes long.
More info here. Tickets for scheduled walks are available through Eventbrite.

Exam day tomorrow – soon I will be leading guided walks of Islington

For the past six months I have been doing the usual juggling –  mixing a bit of graphic design with clay pipe jewellery making, card and print selling, taking photos and writing this blog. Somehow I have managed to also squeeze in a course to lead walking tours on the streets, specifically a course run by CIGA, the Clerkenwell and Islington Guides' Association.
It's gotta be said; I am absolutely exhausted.
Tomorrow afternoon I will be completing the final part of the 4-part exam; an examiner will ask each of seven of us to talk about two of the stops on a 14-stop route from Highbury & Islington station to Islington Green, taking in the places shown in the montage below, but we won't know which stops are ours until our name is called out at the time. 

Some of these pics aren't immediately obvious as regards their location, especially 'my ego was here' which I spotted in Laycock Street. The middle two are my two of my stripes cards/prints – lots more than shown here

The amount of research outside classtime that this course has necessitated has been extensive. My head is now full to brimming with facts and figures, names and locations. But it's going to be well worth it in the end.
For many years I have been gathering historical information about my local area of Holloway and saying that I want to lead tours to share the information but I just didn't apply myself to it properly; tomorrow, tomorrow, next month, after this, after that etc. This course has finally given me a kick up my ample derriere and very soon, after I have tested the walks out on a few brave friends, I will be announcing some dates.
I have four tours almost ready for action and these will be weekends and/or evenings. My A1 walks will take us up/down/around/along three different sections of the Holloway Road, and I have also designed a longer walk that will include a refreshment/lunch stop route from Holloway to Angel.
Other routes are also in the pipeline taking in Barnsbury, Finsbury Park, Highbury, Archway, Tufnell Park and Crouch End (obviously, not all in the same tour!).
If you have any unusual information that you think would be worthy of inclusion please do let me know – I am especially interested in stories from some of our older residents who might recall some of the things that have since disappeared; particularly first-hand experience of long-gone shops and businesses, tearooms, music halls, theatres, picture houses and transport/trams.
OK... back to the research for a last bit of bit of swotting-up...

Read about my cards and prints in today's Islington Tribune

#IslingtonTribune – Available free from many Islington outlets.

Click here for the online version of this article

For info of other ways to buy from me please see "Cards and Prints" at top right of this blog.

Cards cards cards

I am really pleased that greeting cards featuring my photos of places of interest in north London have been selling well.
A selection is shown here:

Greeting cards 135mm square supplied with envelopes in cello bags. 

Buy them for £2.50 each from The Only Place For Pictures in Upper Street, Islington (opposite the Union Chapel), Arts and Vintage (opposite Highgate tube station) and Oxfam Bookshops in Highgate and Crouch End.

Snowflakes 135mm square. All others A6/postcard size.

Or buy direct from me, either by contacting me, or finding me at one of my stalls where I will also have my other cards showing my images created from clay pipes; Pete and Joe, London Landmarks, Christmas trees and snowflakes.
Buy four get one free – get five for £10 for any cards when purchasing in person.
Many are also available on Etsy (free p&p).

CityShowcase Market at Embankment Gardens

Warning!!!  This is a blatant plug!!!

Those of you who have followed my clay pipe creations will be aware that I have been promising to produce a range of London landmarks to complement the Pete and Joe cards.

Well... (drum roll please) ... I can announce that they are hot off the press this week and will available to buy from Yours Truly this Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Embankment Summer Market.

Also see the #CityShowcase website.

If you can't get to the Embankment Gardens please see my online store.

These boots are made for walking

One Saturday morning last month I joined one of Walk London's free Winter Wanders Weekend Walks.

The tour I'd chosen was St Paul's - The Secret Corners of the City and Hidden Alleyways and Courtyards. On arriving at the statue of Queen Anne outside St Paul's Cathedral I was amazed to see more than 100 people. I thought, "oh gawd, no" and inwardly cringed. But, phew, there were two Westminster tour guides there so the pack split in half and off we went on two non-clashing routes.
I was pleased to see that more than half the group were Londoners just like me who were there to learn more about our fair city. And we weren't disappointed because June our guide was bubbling over with facts and information, all easily heard at the back through her portable public address system.
I hope there will be similar weekends happening again sometime soon. Meanwhile, get your walking shoes on and go on one of their recommended unguided walks outside the Central zone. See the Walk London site here.

Sing little foxy, Sing For Your Life

As you know I am a keen recycler and I hate to see waste. So a taxidermy roadkill musical sits right up my proverbial alley.

Some non-singing archtectural foxy London things

"If you go down to the woods today you’re sure of a big surprise. 
If you go down to the woods today the road kill has arrived. 
For every beast you ever did know is about to perform in a cabaret show. 
Today’s the day the animals come alive.” 

I didn't write that – I don't think it scans properly on the 2nd and 4th lines – as you know, I am a pefectionist, as is evident in everything what I do ;-)
So here is the promo (not sure I can get there myself, but I'd like to); The puppets in Sing For Your Life have been created by taxidermy artist and vegan (!!) Charlie Tuesday Gates using roadkill and dead dogs bought from online shopping sites.
There'll be songs, silliness and some gruesome surprises.
The Vaults, Leake Street, SE1, 4th–8th March 9.30pm every day, plus matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 5pm
More info, pics and booking here.

Buy a gun for Peace One Day

If you ever fancied buying a decommissioned and customised Colt M-16 assault rifle whilst helping to raise money for a good cause, now's the time to get your credit card out.
Curated by Jake Chapman the M16: Peace One Day project forms part of Bonhams Founded 1793 sale. More information in the online catalogue – I like that adjacent to each work it reads "This work was executed in 2014".

Lower Regent Street, Three Colts Lane, Cockspur Steet.

Cannon Street (all now demolished), Artillery Lane, Beak Street

Drink water for free – Find-a-Fountain

I am still bemused as to why people buy water in plastic bottles from the supermarkets and then lug them all the way home. The water that comes out of out the taps in our houses passes strict health and safety tests; the bottled stuff would fail those tests immediately.
Add to that the cost of manufacturing the plastic bottles and I can't understand why many people wasting their money in this way and why they think the bottled stuff is somehow better for them. Check those 'Use By' dates!
How ridiculous! Turn on the tap.

In years gone by drinking fountains could be found in parks and open spaces and on most major junctions. Unfortunately many were vandalised or disconnected in the 1980s by agents working for Perrier, Buxton, Volvic et al (just kiddng!!) and so buying their water in bottles is now often the only option.
However, if you have a collapsible bottle in your pocket like the one made by Aquatina you can top up whenever water is available.
To make this easier, Find-a-Fountain have produced a map showing all the working fountains in Central London. I notice that there none anywhere near the busy shopping area of Oxford Street so if you do know of any just add them to the site yourself. Similary, south of the Thames also looks to be a bit dry, so let's get some more markers on the map.

A relevant aside
Also worth mentioning about whilst I am on this subject is the lack of (free) water fountains at many UK airports. I have found a couple of pathetic squirty things at London Stansted, but if there are any at London Gatwick they are very well-hidden.
Singapore airport is a marvellous example of how airports should be, with groups of water fountains every 100 metres or so (they also have free wifi terminals and lovely gardens too – you could actually live in that airport!). But airports in other countries, especially those in hot countries, are not providing fee water and are instead cashing in on their dehydrated 'customers'/travellers. Here's a tip: when I travel back from Turkey I always take an empty bottle through customs (lid removed) and fill up from the wash basins. Ta da!!

Shown at the top are some London fountains in various states of use (a couple of them were/are not for drinking water): 
Top: Blackfriars, Westminster, Finsbury, Camden
Middle: City, Soho, Hoxton, Westminster
Bottom: Bloomsbury, Kensington, Kentish Town, Holbon
Lots more pics of London drinking fountains here; many of which are still in working order.

Black Friday and Small Business Saturday

Today is Black Friday, so named because as the first shopping day after Thanksgiving in the States it marks the start of the Christmas shopping season. The word black here meaning the start of business being in profit, rather than in the red (debt).
So I thought I'd mark the day with another collection of nice black boot scrapers that I have spotted around central London.

To see some of my earlier posts about boot scraper please click here and here and here.

Then next weekend, 6th December, sees Small Business Saturday, a day to promote and buy from small traders and independent shops.
I will be selling my clay pipe creations at markets on both of these days. Today at Camden I will be offering a 20% discount. See my full market list here.

Sunshine and a rainbow

Hard to believe it's August at the moment. It's cold and wet and windy out there.
So I have put together some sunny-coloured things to remind us of that big hot thing that usually sits in the sky.

I was asked to tweet about my favourite colour of the rainbow earlier this week for Samsung's #MidnightRainbow event. I actually prefer indigo – this old post features some lovely old dark blue tiles and links in nicely with the above.

Here's a photo of the rainbow made using lots of Samsung Tab S screens taken at the press event last night where I bumped into my old school mate Andy who is now the big cheese there.
See the rainbow today on the Southbank near Gabriel's Wharf.

Seven Sisters Road – Holloway to Finsbury Park

This past few weeks I have been preparing for a guided walk that I have been encouraged to do by the lovely people at Rowan Arts. They thought it would be a good idea if I led a tour along a section of Seven Sisters Road to tie in with their programme of events titled 'Seven Sisters Stories'.
"Eek," I thought, "I can talk, but I can't speak", if you get what I mean – I can't just stand there pointing at things that interest me, saying, "look at that; isn't it lovely – I wonder what it means?!". Hence research has been necessary.

So, I have recently spent a lot of time deskbound (when it's absolutely gorgeous outside), both at home and in Islington Library's local history centre, finding out more info about the history of the stretch of road from Nags Head to the gates of Finsbury Park (and getting side-tracked at every turn of a page!).
I always work better with a deadline, hence why I am telling you about this now. Sharing this will make me apply myself properly – finish the research, fix some dates, set up a booking system etc.
Very soon I will  announce the dates, which will be a couple of weekday evenings in August. If it's a success, then who knows, it might become a regular thing...

Holloway Festival – 1st–8th June

This Sunday 1st June sees the start of my local arts festival in Holloway.
Organised by Rowan Arts, it's jam-packed of things to do and see.
I'm involved this year and as well as being one of the featured photographers on show at The Postcards From Holloway exhibition I have produced smaller mounted prints and collections as per the one below, echoing the groups I put together here on Jane's London, and these will be for sale from my stall at the Hornsey Street Festival and the Big Day Out in Whittington Park on Sunday 8th.
Hope to see you there

Mount London – Ascents in the Vertical City

There are some great views across this fair city from high points such as Crystal Palace, Ally Pally and Richmond Park. Plus some fantastic vantage points from man-made constructions which include Hornsey Road's 'Suicide Bridge', BT Tower, The Wheel and the The Pointy Thing.
But on a smaller scale, London exists on a series of hills and mounds and this can be seen in the names of the streets, such as Saffron Hill, which to us today seems like a little blip and not worth mentioning.
Mount London is a collection of thoughts and observations by twenty-five different writers about these geographical ups and downs.
Published this Wednesday 28th May – more info here.
Below are some of my own observations on London's hills.

Corn, Denmark, Lavender, Rosslyn.

Stamford, Notting, Highgate, Crouch End.

Muswell, Haverstock, Primrose, Tower.

A London Country Diary by Tim Bradford

I just got this great book containing the musings, observations and illustrations of Tim Harding.
Subtitled Mundane Happenings from the Secret Streets of the Capital, each one- or two-page entry concerns something Tim has spotted in the area of North London where he lives, bounded by Finsbury Park, Stoke Newington, Highbury and Holloway.

Read about pubs, parrots, charity shops, dogs, frogs, football, prams, and plants he doesn't know the name of.
It's amusing, heart-warming and thought-provoking and, living within the same area, I can identify with a lot he writes.

More info here
See Tim's website here.

Jane's London is in the short-list for the Avis A-List Awards

If you like what I do here then please vote by clicking on this link.
My chosen post is the rant I had about The Shard... all the other bloggers seem to be writing in a more positive vein... oops!
Anyway... please spread the word and vote for who you think deserves it.... you might even win a prize for yourself.
Here is a larger image of one of my aerial shots of The Isle Of Dogs (as featured in my last post). It was taken from a plane in May 2010, not from that pointy thing in Southwark:

The Black Cat Cabaret at Café De Paris

From the ridiculous to the sublime... 
After the torture that was The London Dungeon (see previous post!), I needed a lift, so hurrah for this fabulous show in a fabulous location.
Inspired by Montmatre's cabaret underworld, The Black Cat Cabaret is on every Friday at the Café De Paris. It's an engaging few hours of singing, dancing, feats of agility and strength, fire breathing and more. Proper cabaret entertainment. I loved it.

The gorgeous venue with its sweeping staircase and pillared gallery is modelled on the ballroom of the Titanic. It gives the feel of much older than it is but was actually opened in 1924. It reminds me of those supper clubs you see on old movies when people used to really dress up to go out and be entertained by crooners and showgirls. Enjoy the show whilst enjoying a meal on the ground (dance) floor or sipping drinks from the upper level.
And then, after the show has finished, the dining tables are cleared, the dance floor exposed and the place is totally transformed into a nightclub.
A really cool venue.
(My good reviews are always so much shorter than the bad ones!)

The London DUNG-eon

Last Thursday I went to the new London Dungeon tourist attraction at County Hall. Those of you who know me will already be thinking, "You went WHERE?! You? Why?"
Well, see, I had a free ticket to a promo evening when the place wouldn't be crammed full of people so I thought it might possibly be OK. Fun even.
Hmmm. I should have known better. The clue, after all, is in the name.

Photos taken in the vicinity of this "attraction"

We were warned that we would get wet. One of the early parts of the tour involves sitting in a boat in semi-darkness on a trip to Traitor's Gate. We went past a projection of Brian Blessed as Henry VIII (by the way, he's barely recognisable and a lot of effort has been put into 5 seconds of footage that I doubt many people even pay attention to). With most people carrying cameras and mobile phones these days we didn't think this 'wet' thing would be more that a few jets or some spray. But no, the lights went out and a whole bucket of water was chucked at close range in my direction resulting in the left side of my body getting very wet indeed. Actually, completely sodden. A staff member took my jacket and said it would be dry and ready for me at the end of the tour (it wasn't – it was given back to me still horribly damp). Throughout the rest of the tour, indeed for the next few hours I had to suffer the uncomfortable sensation that I had pissed myself because a lot of that water had also gone into my lap and worked its way down. Yeurch. It was a good job I had put my phone into a plastic bag that I happened to be carrying with me or the whole mess would have been even worse and expensive (for them).
I gritted my teeth and waddled around the rest of the tour with the others. We followed the trail through nondescript corridors with dripping ceilings, bad smells and beer barrels into various rooms where an actor performed a short skit – a jailer, a hangman, a barmaid, a prostitute etc. Lots of lights on and off and 'scary' stuff designed to make the punters scream. I didn't scream though, as I can never fathom why people get so agitated or frightened in an environment that's designed to make you jump. And I felt quite sorry for these actors having to do perform the same thing over and over every day. Did they do all that training for this?
Many of the actors spoke in Laahndun accents and as a Londoner myself I found a few of them hard to follow because they gabbled or spoke too fast. They are probably briefed to do this to keep the conveyor belt moving. But how non-english-speaking visitors manage to understand them is beyond me, especially the innuendo and jokes. And, call me old-fashioned, ("you're old fashioned Jane!") but I felt the historical facts were lost when mixed up with comedy asides. And what's Sweeney Todd doing in there? He's fictional! We'll have tourists believing he was fact. All I learned was something about torture implements, and condemned men showboating at the gallows.
Oh, and the attention to detail of a lot of the props and costumes is a bit suspect; in particular, the shoes worn by the mortuary attendant which must have come from the future – rubber soled walking boots during The Plague?
The best bits for me were something to do with leeches (I won't explain) and the short Alton Towers style ride at the end. There was no mention that this was the end of the tour. We got off the ride and the next stop was a desk selling photo merchandise where, for a rip-off price* you could buy a photo of you on that ride. Then... no, that was it – exit through a big gift shop into the blandness that is the ground floor of County Hall. No "thank you for coming", no no amusing "take care". If that's how they treat the people they have invited to promo the thing then that's how they treat the paying customers.
The London Dungeon blurb says "just follow the smell". As previously mentioned, there are recreated pongs as you wander through the show. But I didn't really expect discover a similar stench in the modern toilets within County Hall where an attendant sat doing nothing next to one aisle of closed stalls while a queue formed by the other aisle for the few toilets that were flushable or contained paper.
They say this new London Dungeon show is in response to the feedback from people who said the original one in Tooley Street was too scary; too gory. Well, this new show is torture. One and half hours of torture.
I suggest if you really want some horrible history then watch the brilliant cbbc programmes.
*The ticket price for an adult is £22. Oh, but if you book Madame Tussaud's, Sealife and The London Eye at the same time you can get the lot for £56. OUCH!