A wander around Borough Market and Borough Yards

The skies are [finally] blue here in London and it's hot hot HOT. Hurrah!

People often say that the sun has come out but they forget that it's always up there burning ferociously, but usually covered by clouds. When it's as hot as this, it gets me thinking about the power of those clouds, wondering if there is a tog rating for cloud blankets as per duvets.

Anyway, enough about the weather. I went to Tate Modern on Monday afternoon and afterwards, as I wandered the backstreets heading towards London Bridge, I snapped a few pics, inc these two:

Whist I despise the Tate's modern extension to Gilbert Scott's elegant Bankside power station, I do rather like the graphic patchwork patterns that can be achieved by zooming in on it. Nearby there's a lovely glimpse of St Paul's through the trees. 

I crossed over Southwark Street and, as I went under the railway lines and looked left/east, I noticed that the patterns from the metalwork above were making shadows that echoed the Shard in the distance. The Shard dominates the area as shown by my second pic here where it looms over the beautiful old façade of a hop dealer's premises in Borough High Street...

My intention had been to head to London Bridge and catch a bus home to Holloway but as it was such a nice day with not so many people about I let myself go wandering. I headed into Borough Market which was mostly clear after a busy trading morning, meaning signage and imagery is easier to see.

And then an amble around the streets that surround the market. I've long been fascinated by this building that faces Southwark Cathedral and when I get a moment I will find out who/what BMT stands for, seen within its 1897 marker.

Adjacent to this building there are a couple of old bollards from the 1820s and some corner protectors of interest:

I walked to the riverside and noticed that the modern crane being used to redevelop a nearby building that is covered in scaffolding and white protective material echoed the masts on the replica of The Golden Hind. Again, nice patterns and colours:

I then stood and admired the view of the City of London across the River Thames – OK, let's be honest, I went in the pub and had a beer on the terrace and admired the view from there(!): 

This pic shows how many London landmarks are visible from this spot – a double decker red London bus on London Bridge is going past Adelaide House (the first reinforced concrete office block; an Art Deco era marvel that is currently undergoing internal renovation), then there's The Walkie Talkie, The Gherkin, 22 Bishopsgate, lots of other tall buildings that have names I can't remember right now, and a glimpse of Tower 42... all here surrounding what would have been one of the biggest buildings it its day, the Grade II* listed Fishmongers Hall, built 90 years before Adelaide House in the early 1830s.

By this time it was almost 6pm and the shadows cast by the sun were marvellous. I took few pics near The Clink Museum:

Plus a couple of myself near the newly developed Borough Yards, a clever repurposing of the arches beneath the railway lines:

There are some interesting things here. I specifically like the neon boards that resembles the signs that used to be outside cinemas, but here illustration the diverse range of trades and professions here throughout the many decades, and someone has highlighted that the bottom of the metal brackets look like faces:

Deckchairs are currently arranged in front of a large screen where the Olympics is being shown. Men's gymnastics is amazing. Here I bumped into some people I had chatted to at Tate Modern. How delightful. We chatted for quite a while and swapped contact details. 

I finally headed home. Walking towards London Bridge via Winchester Walk there was another lovely view, this time of the cathedral bathed in late afternoon sunshine (about 7.20pm).

What a lovely afternoon. 

Somewhere Over The Rainbow...

One early evening last September I was walking across the western Golden Jubilee Bridge and it started to rain.
A short sharp heavy downfall was followed by a burst of strong sunshine which created a fabulous double rainbow against a deep grey sky and a shadow of the London Eye on the Shell building.

I was so glad I had my camera with me that day.
Greeting card available here.

Hampstead Heath ponds

Last Sunday 9th Jen organised a wander around Hampstead Heath. When I met the group I noticed everyone was carrying great big cameras. I hadn't realised that it would be a gathering of avid photographers so I'd arrived with what was in my pockets – my keys, my wallet and my phone. So the snaps you see below are just that; snaps. I'd misunderstood the whole thing and thought it would be mainly to see what's happening with the proposed works around the ponds which are causing a lot of consternation. More here and here.

We met opposite Swain's Lane and headed to the Highgate ponds. A lot of trees have already been chopped down and areas have been cleared. I was surprised to hear that the boating pond is going to be made even larger and a mini copse of standing trees will become an island. 

I am not really sure what I think about this damn nonsense. It's not like this will be rape of original landscape as the ponds are already man made features constructed by damning the Fleet River. Walking along the fenced path between the Men's Pond and The Boating Pond it occurred to me that I'd never really considered before whether what we have already is beautiful or not. Once the new works have been finished I am sure in time it will look fine. 

But the problem is not aesthetics; it's more about the huge sum of money that is going to be spent on something that has scant chance of ever actually happening.

Bird Sanctuary Pond, walkers, purple brambles, fungus on a dead tree, Kenwood House, a spreading chestnut tree, paddling, BS Pond again and tree shadows. 

It was a beautiful day to be out and about (Sunday 8th Feb). And it was absolutely perfect for photography and there I was with my archaic Blackberry*. No surprises that were a lot of people out and about enjoying the weather on the heath that day, though I managed to omit them from my photos. And dogs, dogs, dogs; happy dogs, lovely dogs. I fell in love too many of them.
Onward and upward past The Ladies' Bathing Pond, The Stock Pond, Thousand Pound Pond and Wood Pond and then a stop for tea and cake at Kenwood House cafe (scrumptious red velvet cake recommended). Then around to the Vale of Health, across Lime Wood Avenue and down to the three Hamptead ponds where we were saddened to see that quite a few mature trees have been felled; their stumps showing their gorgeous peach and apricot coloured interiors.

Wind-felled tree, they've got big ones, a redwood, Hampstead Pond No.1, saw marks, treetastic, Vale of Health Pond, beechy fingers and yours truly

We visited all the ponds bar one; the Viaduct Pond and noticed that some of the signs for the ponds are incorrectly placed ("noticed" ha ha); for instance, the sign for Hampstead No.2 Pond is against No.1, and the one for the Mixed Bathing Pond is against No.2.
Pond pond pond – the word 'pond' is now starting to look and sound sillier every time I write it.
Then up to Parliament Hill for the obligatory view across Central London and down again, past the bandstand, the café and the tennis courts (which I hear are also about to be redeveloped/adjusted to look less "municipal" or something daft – er, it's park for the people!) and out onto Highgate Road for a much needed pint of ale.
And then I walked home.
Nice.
*If anyone is upgrading from and ditching their old iphone4 please do contact me. 

Me me me!

Nicola Baird writes Islington Faces, a blog about creative people in Islington. We met when I had a stall selling my clay pipe jewellery and Holloway photo montages at a Rowan Arts event earlier this year and shortly after, she contacted me to ask if I'd like to be interviewed too.
Here's a link to it. I'm not sure about the gurning portrait in there so, seeing as that pic's available to the masses, you might as well see some other pics of me too; all taken in London including four self portraits:

Pipes and books and interesting things

Whilst doing a stall at Old Spitalfields Market a couple of months back a man stopped to chat about my wares and we stood for ages chatting about all things Thames foreshore-y and mudlark-y.
Turns out that John is one of the 50 or so people with an official licence to use a metal detector and do more than pick at the surface (like me). He has found all sorts of interesting things over the years. In addition to this he also provides a service helping people find their lost property for just the price of the reward offered, i.e. no result, no fee. See here for more info.
John also makes and sells an interesting and useful product – he hollows out books to create secret compartments for hiding keys, money, jewellery and the like. Aptly named Hollow Books.
John and I will both be trading at Spitalfields on Saturday 22nd. More info here.

Below are some Thames foreshore images by yours truly:

Puerile fun

My sister recently posted on Facebook that she was going to give up innuendo for a week.
Why?
It's only made me worse... I seem to be noticing more double-entendres than usual. So I had a bright idea and put together this collection of images. Oo-er missus. Titter ye not.

Weather vanes, shadows, pub, shop and information signs, plus a street on Trafalgar Square.

You might recall a collection of suggestive images I put together a while back titled 'Are you feeling frisky?', a section of which was printed in The Guardian...!

The 'Trafalgar Sun' art installation

Here's a way to cheer up January....
On Monday 23rd giant ball of light, equivalent to that of 60,000 lightbulbs (or is it 260,000?), will be installed high above Trafalgar Square designed to brighten us up from dawn until dusk.
Weather permitting, it should look amazing at dawn break when the light effect will be at its most intense.
Sadly, I won't be around to see it this so please do get snapping and send me some links or photos.
Update:
Here's a video of the construction of the event
and here's another one of the 'sun' itself

Mixed up with images of Trafalgar Square:
Top row: Brixton, Albert Embankment, Cornhill, 
Middle row: Liberty's, Albert Bridge, Marylebone
Bottom row: Tottenham Court Road

The lesser-spotted zebra

Mr Edwards tells me that the zebra crossing recently turned 60.

This type of crossing is an endangered species – because there aren't as many as there used to be; more than 1,000 having been removed in the last five years and replaced mainly by pelican/pedestrian crossings because people need lights to tell them when to stop and start or cross the road. Who needs eyes and a brain eh?!

Here's an article on the subject that appeared in the Metro on 31st October.

And here are some of my photos of black and white stripey things:

Top: Highgate Village, Little Essex Street, Boundary Street, Leyton

Bottom: Greek Street, St Mary Axe, Tooley Street, Acton