Happy easter

School's out for Easter, the sun is shining and the pubs are full of drunken teachers.

Bunnies, chicks, spring, crosses, bonnets, eggs, flowers, chocolate... I think I've got it covered

I love my postcode

Last month I got an email from Rachel at I Love My Postcode. 

She had read my Londonist interview and invited me to champion N7 by answering some set questions on her blog. Well, how could I refuse? Here's her blog. 

My piece is called Jane's N7 and can be found in her recent posts list.

Time Out 1st April 2009 – a scottish theme

It's no joke... I've got another article in Time Out this week. Peter Watts, editor of The Big Smoke, asked me to put together the scottish theme because Gordon Thomson, the magazine's editor, is leaving and this was (is?) his final issue.

This issue is a particularly good one, not just because of my contribution, but because in the first 28 pages alone there are lots of interesting things in it including the pieces on the baroque (ooh baroque!), an interview with Wussel Bwand and a collage of articles about why London is brilliant (it just is!). And Richard Cudlip aka the cabbies capital, who I have met through our postings for Londonist, has managed to get his name in the masthead at the beginning of the Big Smoke section as an associate editor... he's put together some pieces about his observations as viewed from his black cab. Well done him!

My last article for Time Out was about closed pubs.

Urban Sightseeing for Londonist

I have just loaded up my latest Urban Sightseeing post for Londonist (see right) about how to travel the world (and the Universe!) without leaving London. Read the full article here.

A montage of the some of the photos I used are shown below.

Clockwise from top left: Greece, The Netherlands, Brazil, outer space, Italy, New Zealand, Alaska and Egypt.

Lots more Art Deco pics

Click here to see all my Urban Sightseeing posts

A beautiful day in Battersea

On a gloriously sunny Saturday a few weeks ago, I decided to go for a wander around Battersea.

As I walked across Chelsea Bridge I was confronted by a hideous carbuncle (thanks for that, Charles) masquerading as luxury living accommodation situated between the bridge and the power station. As you can see, in this snap of an illustration on the hoarding that runs around the site, the complex is ENORMOUS and really unsympathetic to everything around it. I went into the central area for a nose about and it felt like I was in a holiday complex on the Algarve, and there ought to be a golf course nearby. How does something as big and ugly as this get planning permission in London? It manages to make that QVC building look cute, and that's no mean feat.

Anyway, rant over. Thankfully I saw this at the beginning of my day and forgot about it until now.

Please enjoy the images below of the nicer things in Battersea...

LRT Scavenger Hunt

On Saturday I went the LRT Acton Museum Depot and took part in  a 'Scavenger Hunt' organised between the museum and Flickr. I was teamed up wth 3 other people and together we became Team Feltham. Questions were cryptic to say the least and I very much doubt anyone snapped the answer to Q15 about the almost beastly 667 bus.  Tallying who got what right at the end seemed a bit ramshackle to me and somehow we were declared the winners (thanks mainly to Esther and Dean). But I now wonder if there may be a stewards enquiry. Not that I will be able to give my prize back as I have eaten them all. (That's Haribo sweets for you!).

It was good fun. Here is a selection of my photos. See them all at Flickr, either in my set or in the group pool where you can vote for and/or comment on your favourite image(s)... so please get voting...

Watch where you're putting your feet!

I am always nagging friends to use their powers of observation more; to stop staring at the pavement when they are walking along the road and look up and around themselves.

OK, so they might spot and avoid the dog poo the pavement pizzas, but do they notice all the interesting they walk over on a daily basis? Things such as ironic bits of rubbish, reflections and, of course, coal holes.

I am now thinking that perhaps I could also been taking photos of the splatter patterns of discarded chewing gum at pedestrian crossings (has anyone ever seen anyone in the act throwing chewing gum on the pavement? I surely haven't). And then there are names and paw prints that were impressed into semi-dry cement, the colourful leaves in the autumn, spray painted instructions for Thames Water workmen that look like abstract art, sunlight reflecting off the broken glass from a burgled car... I could go on and on... and I usually do... so please make do with these...

Row 1: Temporary metal floor in Old Broad Street; mosaic man hole cover in Wandsworth Bridge Road; Hayward's coal hole cover designed to allow day light through; Thomas Crapper man hole cover in Knightsbridge; Donovan [Doyle] written into the cement of London Bridge.

Row 2: Thomas Pryor coal hole plate in Islington; mosaic entrance-way to an old shop in Wigmore Street; reflections in a Deptford cobbled street; directions to Tat (ha ha!) in Southwark; another Hayward's coal hole cover, this time with non-slip areas.

Row 3: Litter bag littering the street in Holloway; geometric patterns around the Gherkin; chewing gum art in Crouch End; reflection of the Astoria and Centrepoint; remnants of a tiled doorway entrance in Wandsworth.

Row 4: Square grille in Northumberland Avenue; Durey manhole cover in Stepney; rubbish washed up by the Thames at Battersea; circular grille in Bloomsbury; shadows at Islington Green

Back to Boot Scrapers – the Banished, the Buried and the Broken

Sounds like a great title for a film, eh?

Though I may be the only person who would be interested enough to go and see it...

Ah, boot scrapers... What should do with one if you don't get muddy boots? Should you ignore it in the hope it might go away? Should you block up its gaping mouth and disguise the embarrassment with paint? Should you leave it festering and lonely at the end of the garden? Perhaps you could bury it up to the blade in tiles or concrete? Or, as in one case here, if half of it breaks off, upset it further by flaunting a new one in front of it. But that may be better than just leaving it standing on one leg with not even a pot plant for company. Poor little things.

To see more of my boot scraper images please click here and here.

Clock towers

This is an updated post:

Clock towers used to be the focal point of a village situated at a road junction or in front of a municipal building or railway station. As well as using them to tell the time of day people often chose them as a meeting place before a night out at the cinema, perhaps. There are some fine free-standing ones still around in London, plus a few on the top of some buildings and churches too. Some of them even tell the right time, even if only on one face.

Row 1: Angel; Highbury; Crouch End; Victoria

Row 2: Caledonian Market, Harlesden; Queen Mary University; Stockwell

Row3: Acton Town Hall; Leyton; Stepney Green; Lots Road

My ears are burning

Today I checked my stats for this site to see who's been looking in and I noticed that a lot of recent hits were linked to The Dissident Café. I discovered this to be a Flickr discussion group where proper photographers swap ideas and observations and, in one particular thread, my images are being compared and contrasted with Malona's who also posts her pictures on Flickr. Anyway, here is the link to the discussion and it's rather interesting; be sure to read all the way to the end. Big thanks to Evis for starting the thread.

I also spotted that Evis had included in the stream my photo of me and Mark Kermode which was taken when I was at the filming of The Culture Show Kermode Awards last week. I was there because I had entered Mark's competition to write in to his blog and, in no more than 100 words, disagree with his view on any film. Well, Mr Kermode has been banging on about Slumdog Millionare too much lately, so I wrote that whilst I think it's a good film it's just not Oscar-worthy and is full of corny coincidences that even Dickens would have been embarrassed by. Amazingly, I won, beating 64 other entrants. Though I came away with nothing but sweaty palms and stomach cramps after being on camera. For those of you who saw it, I hope you have recovered by now.

For those of you who missed it, or for some weird reason want to see it again, here's an edited version of the show, put together by the lovely Mr Al Stride:

Textures and patterns

Whilst I am out and about taking photos of interesting bits of ironwork and street signs, I occasionally stumble upon (walk into?!) an old wall, a dilapidated fence or a building that has lovely effects on it created by peeling paint, scuffed brickwork, torn posters and the like. To view these images individually and find out where each one was taken click here.

Ugly Beautiful

I can't believe I haven't put photos like these on here already; I started this all this photo-archiving stuff in the first place because I wanted to put together a booklet of images of the Holloway Road for my friends to prove to them that there was more to the area than an A road and some shops and pubs (I never did get around to doing that... I got distracted, as you can tell). So, on a gloriously beautiful February morning in 2007 I set out to take photos of all the things I knew were there, such as the ghost signs, the Odeon, Islington Central Library, old pub names and other bits of architectural interest. But in the process I noticed that many buildings I'd chosen to ignore before, that, on a dull day, look like they ought to be consigned to the wrecking ball, can look great when viewed from the right angle when the sun comes out.

Here's a selection taken all over London, more of which can be found on Flickr.

Polythene growth

Most plastic is grown outside of London these days but occasionally you can spot a parasitic polythene variety blossoming on a tree in a built-up area.

The main and bottom left hand images here clearly show healthy buds forming in the Holloway area.

Harvesting season begins in spring when young birds peck at the buds causing them to burst open. A particularly fruitful tree in Brick Lane is shown bottom right.

Top right shows a delightful picture of a rare polythene tree monkey. These animals usually live in dark vertical tunnels or cuddle together in large groups on wasteland. Often, when they are hungry or as in this case, extremely empty, they are known to climb up into the trees in search of food. Sometimes, weak and shivery, they may get stuck in the tree for months having become too scared to let go. Sometimes they wither and die as shown by the distressing picture middle right.

I am a Londonist

I have just had my first posting on Londonist on the subject of gasometers. Many thanks to Matt Brown* for contacting me and talking me through the process (*no, that's not a shade of paint, and I am sure he's heard that one before!).

I've got plenty more ideas for future posts, so keep checking in. I just knew 2009 was going to a good year!

Click here to see all my Urban Sightseeing posts

Out with the old and in with the new

Here's hoping 2009's going to be a good year, no matter what Gordon throws at us.

These images illustrate how the process of construction and demolition can sometimes produce some wonderful patterns and textures. To see more of these please go to my Flickr set.

A seasonal christmas card quiz

Here's my 12 loosely-themed (London) pubs of Christmas, 2008.

If you can recognise any of them then please do get in touch with me at the address above left.

Eat, drink and get merry!

If anyone would like to buy some of these Christmas cards, then please do get in touch.

Inside reads, Eat, drink and get merry.

Pointing the way to go

Every now and then I find an old sign with a strangely-shaped pointing hand on it. Some of these manicules are very odd indeed. A friend pointed out(!) to me that one of the ones below looks like a pair of long johns!

More bootscrapers of central London

Well, I thought I'd seen more or less every kind of boot scraper there could be, but walking through Temple, St. James' and Belgravia during the past week I have found lots more really good ones. Some of the Temple ones, shown here in the top two rows, are so simple and understated; almost like they are only half there as they disappear into walls. Along Whitehall I found a pair either side of the doorway to The Parliamentary Counsel that, unusually, face the street rather than each other. But then again, if they were perpendicular to the wall then people would trip over them. There must have been H&S reps even in those days! I am particularly fond (fond? bootscraperspotteritis setting in here) of the curved corner versions, and the really simple straight ones like the dark one on the bottom row, which can be found just off Belgrave Square.

More coal holes

I have found some more good ones over the past few months. And all fairly central. One even has a key hole in it which, I suppose, means it wasn't self-locking like a lot of the others. I must find out how the coalmen opened and lifted these lids, especially the self-locking ones. Perhaps they had huge magnets or special crowbar-type things? If anyone knows please do let me know.

See my constantly-expanding collection of London coal hole cover plates here.

Click here to read Yelfy's research about Hayward Brothers.

And here are some wonderfully different and colourful coal holes from the North of England.

Comments are now enabled under each posting

What a muppet I have been. Thanks to Nick pointing out that I hadn't enabled comments I have this morning been through and clicked all the relevant boxes. Thanks Nick.

Overheard on a 254 bus to Aldgate

There I was sitting on the bus admiring the view when I overheard the fella behind me say to his girlfriend(?) "Ooh look Ghost Pubs... that's the Nag's Head". How amazing! They were reading my article in Time Out and commenting on it less than a yard away from me. I couldn't contain my excitement and said "Excuse me, I wrote that; that's me!". And then we chatted about the general subject all the way along Mare Street to when they got off at Bethnal Green tube. Really nice people. I hope they get in touch.

Street Art

I thought I'd better include on here a collection of some of my favourite pieces of street art. It's especially important as the image here top left is my most viewed photo on Flickr. I did speak to the artist who creates these wonderful stick people in Dalston Lane just after he'd finished creating this family group. He saw me taking the photo and came over to ask if I liked it. Well, yes! I have been kicking myself ever since that I didn't ask his name. The piece has been 95% obliterated now. I haven't discovered who does most of the others except the ones by Anthony Lister who kindly signs his macarbre cartoon faces. And as for the four on the bottom row, I am sure everyone has spotted one of these vividly-coloured Bortusk Leer designs somewhere in London as there are loads of them around. Just keep 'em peeled...

Time Out 20th November 2008

So here it is... a scan of page 12 of this week's Time Out.

I must admit it brought a huge smile to my face.

Hope they contact me to do more.

Time Out – The Big Smoke

Fire!!!!

I have just realised that in amongst my photos of London's interesting metal things there are quite a few that are to do with fire, such as badges, bells and hydrant markers.

See these on Flickr

Doors and windows

This collection of fixing and furniture for doors and windows is starting to look really lovely as a group of thumbnails. Hand-shape door knockers and lion door knobs. I particularly like the little window shutter devices, most of which I found around the Spitalfields area. Shown below are some that depict little people and another one that, to me, looks like a parrot!