Holloway Birdwatch

I was doing the washing up this morning noticing how the birds seemed to be busier than usual when I spotted a newcomer.
We get quite a variety of different birds here in our Holloway gardens including goldfinches, various tits (great, coal and blue), starlings, blackbirds, sparrows, magpies, pigeons and wood pigeons (probably the most stupid bird ever?). A few years ago a sparrowhawk flew down and nabbed himself a young blackbird, making a big noise about it too. Wow!
But today I spotted something much smaller; a little visitor I have never seen before. In fact I don't think I have ever seen one before at all anywhere... it was a teeny tiny skittish wren, hopping and hiding and flitting about the edges as if he/she didn't want to bother the other birds. Tiny thing. Lovely. What a nice start to the day.

Above are some London birds including a few cocks and peacocks, a falcon, a gull, a pair of swans and a some fanciful creations.

Bomber Command memorial unveiled today

Over 55,000 bomber pilots died during WWII and finally a fitting memorial has been erected at Hyde Park Corner to remember their loss and achievement, and a service takes place at noon today attended by the Queen.

Up until about a week ago I had no idea about today's events whatsoever until a friend mentioned it in passing, saying he would be attending the ceremony with his father. Luckily he brought it to my attention and has since written about it on his blog.

There must be many others like me, who rarely open a newspaper, and are not related to veterans or people in the services, who were equally in the dark about all this until they saw or heard a news item about it this morning. 

Had I known earlier I think I would have rearranged my diary to be able to witness the event and see these proud survivors in person. After all, these men and women put their lives on the line for us. 

At least I will be able to watch the recorded highlights on BBC TV later today.

The Bomber Command site is packed full of lots more information.

[No picture montage] 

Update: Here's Malcolm's post event post.
During the ceremony a Lancaster bomber flew over Green Park and dropped thousands of red poppies. I noticed that the wind was blowing northwards and so those poppies did not fall over the park and memorial below, but drifted all the way to the streets of East Finchley, N2. 

I've been ill

This is not about London... it's all about me. Me me me!

Last Tuesday I was hit with a violent hayfever attack that felt like a bunch of daffs were being rammed against the back of my head. Odd, cos I hadn't had hayfever in about 5 years. Then the next morning it took almost an hour to get from the bed to vertical... I managed to get dressed but gave up and went back to bed in all my clothes suffering aches and pains, shivering, spasms etc... it was flu. Proper flu. 

The sneezing seemed to have exacerbated an old hip problem which meant I had problems sitting down then trying to stand up again, with shooting pains going up and down my body. I felt debilitated, old and useless. It's horrible when our bodies let us down like this; we take them for granted until something goes wrong and we find that can't do the simplest everyday things. 

I'm now seeing an osteopath. He's great. Things are getting better. Much better. And walking is good. Proper stepping out walking. So I am off out for a walk now... 

Normal service will be resumed in due course.

All these pics have ILL in them:

Food waste and fat waists

Recently I was at a market and happened to notice that by the end of the day a food stall selling 'artisan' pastries and cakes had barely sold half of its stock. OK, some of it could possibly be re-hashed into other products (their bread pudding made with croissants was yummy!), but the bulk of it would surely have to be binned.
It got me thinking about how the cost of the basic ingredients is, in many cases, minimal (cupcakes anyone?!) yet the retail prices have to factor in all the estimated wastage.
Food waste disgusts me. Here, in the UK and the western world, we are paying over the odds for simple items and throwing away good, edible, unsold or uneaten food. A lot of fruit and veg available in the UK is being imported from around the world, and a large percentage of that also ends up being thrown away as either unfit to sell or, once bought, it's mouldy/inedible in a day or two.
Include 'sell by' and 'use by' dates, and the whole thing gets really ugly. One big compost heap – though I bet no one's thought of that.
And, in contrast to all this, there are still people in the world without access to the basic ingredients needed to make simple meals. Go figure.
I put the TV on this morning for a bit of homogenised BBC News and it seems some genius has suggested that the world's food shortage could be blamed on obese people!
These lardy buckets do indeed eat too much, but this 'epidemic' of families of overweight waddlers seems to me to have begun at roughly the same time as MacDonald's started to offer supersize portions. Ditto kingsize Mars Bars, buckets of fizzy drink and crisp packets containing enough calories to feed a family of four. There were no obese people about when I was at school; just one fat boy in my class, though he did eat a lot of sweets.
Here's an interesting statistic... according to the BBC item, the US contains one third of the obese people on this planet yet the country only accounts for 6% of the world's population.
I wonder if we can also blame these American obese people for the strange weather we are having this year... perhaps them being concentrated in one place like this is causing the planet to go off-balance?
On the subject of food, and particularly fast food, if you haven't already seen it, watch the fascinating 'The Men Who Made Us Fat'. The first episode was last week – find it on BBC iPlayer. Fascinating and scary.

Cafes, cafés, caffs and other similar places to eat in London
Top: Archway, Oxford St, Holloway, Stoke Newington
Middle: Sloane Square, Islington, Holborn, Holloway
Bottom: Crouch End, Smithfield, Finsbury Park

Jewellery week

Oops I am a bit late with this one as the week is almost over, but there's still plenty to see and do.
Like it says here, this event is in its fifth year and there are lots of things going on all over London.
Of particular mention (because I will be there!) is a jewellery-specific market tomorrow in Greenwich (Friday 15th June) where designer makers will be selling  direct to the public underneath a canopy of over-sized tiaras.
Hope to see you there.

Some jewellery-related details in London, included a beer, some tobacco, a silver fox and a diamond ring! 

Moths... aargh!

Not a day goes by without me playing Moth Wars.
This means trying to watch a TV programme but being intermittently distracted by a tiny moth flailing around in my line of vision. The moth eventually gets my full attention and I start stalking it around the room, trying to 'clap' it out of existence. But this over-eager form of attack only succeeds in helping the moth to escape from me as its sheer lightness is assisted in flight by the displacement of air as I bring my hands together.
It then disappears somewhere (where? how?)... and then magically reappears five minutes later... and the whole process starts again.

Killing the odd moth here and there isn't really worth it. The little bugger has probably already dumped it's mother load somewhere I cannot see, because it's the babies emerging from their eggs that cause the damage as they munch on their diet of pure new wool carpet and cashmere cardi. 

Moths have apparently laid their eggs under my cupboards and sofa as I now have huge bald patches in my 100% wool berber carpet. Luckily, I can't see these particular damaged areas on a day-to-day basis, but a few weeks ago I moved some plastic carrier bags that had been sitting on the carpet in the bedroom as I gradually filled them with my cast-offs for the charity shop and found another bald patch, approx 6 ins diameter. Grr! I could see the shiny carpet backing glistening at me from across the room as I lay in bed. So I have had to disguise the damage by putting something else in its place. Then, last Friday, I moved a stack of old wooden cigar boxes in the back room and discovered another two inch bald stripe. 

So what to do?
It's evident that these little buggers like small warm spaces created by the large loops in my carpet, preferably with a wood or leather roof above their heads. Though the that doesn't explain the plastic bag incident. Replacing my carpets with wooden floorboards is not an option, and neither is man-made carpet.
Does anyone know of any successful anti-moth treatments that do not involve evil chemicals and/or nasty smells?
I do have some moth-related advice... I am told that you shouldn't put your clothes away unwashed as moths like those areas that contain smells and food, and this is why you find holes in the armpit areas and down the fronts where you hadn't noticed those teeny tiny soup splashes. But, if you do find that moths have attacked a favourite jumper, don't throw it away... put it back where you found it and let them munch on that as a sacrifice... after all, whilst they are happy eating that they aren't eating anything else... yet...!
Here are some pics of insects and wings and eggs:

Top row: Jubilee Bridge(s), St Pancras, The City, Ludgate Circus
Middle row: Kentish Town, Islington, De Beauvoir, Temple
Bottom row: Stamford Hill, Moorgate, my garden, The City

Dandy Lion market at The Boogaloo this Saturday

I wrote about this once a month event a little while ago.
I am writing about it again because this Saturday 9th June is the market's 1st anniversary and, coincidentally, I will be there selling my own work in amongst the birthday banners and bunting.
There will be lots of cool and clever and crafty stuff available on the day all being sold by the designer makers, so please do call in and say hello.
Oh, bring your wallet too!
Here are some details I have spotted along Archway Road, including a doorway mosaic to the Boogaloo showing it's former name, The Birkbeck:

Oddities of The Strand

On Saturday I joined the engaging Peter Berthoud on another of his interesting walks.
You may recall I spent Christmas Day in central London with him... well this time he showed a group of about 15 around his oddities of The Strand, most of which I never knew about, or had any idea they existed.
I won't give anything away here, but on the walk we saw and learned about bananas, a tunnel, a church, a Bob Dylan video and a royal barge... we even saw some magic! And we ended the tour having a couple of beers in one of my favourite pubs.
Here's a direct link to his walks – be sure to check out Peter's quirky pricing structure!
Below are some of my own observations in and around the same area plus a pic of one of my own strands(!).

The coal hole is in Surrey Street at the side of the now disused Aldwych Station. After the walk a couple of us were taken by another member of the group to see a shooting range that is directly underneath it – this is the view looking up.

Never mind Liz...

I made a good decision before I went to bed last night. I looked at the weather forecast and decided that a day in at home would be a really good idea. A bit of rain doesn't bother me in the slightest.
But rain + crowds = no no no!
And anyone out for the day certainly wasn't going to find time to visit the market either, so I have been busy sorting photos whilst half-watching the Queen's flotilla doobrey on TV.
What a grey and wet day it turned out to be. By 5.30pm poor Liz and her immediates were the only ones left on the top deck watching the boats go by; all the others having scarpered to the warm and dry of the lower decks.
The aerial shots of the boats, especially the man-powered (rowed) boats looked great but I must admit I'd expected the flotilla to be more jam-packed and was a bit disappointed by how sparse it all looked. One thousand boats isn't really a lot when spread out over such a long stretch. Perhaps I was expecting so many boats that you could run across them from one side to the other... now that would have been worth seeing! And it could be a new Olympic sport!
Whilst watching the narrow boats I was reminded of a similar trip I took in the opposite direction. We had better weather for it too.
Here's an account by someone who was there.
And here are some pictures taken along the Thames on nicer days:

More of my Thames pics here

Holloway Arts Festival

Lots of good stuff going on at my local festival in N7 and N19 this year between 1st and 10th of June... there's something for all ages and tastes and I really hope it's a huge success... especially as it's on at the same time as the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Who planned that?!
See the full list of events here.

Queen's Diamond Jubilee

In case you have been on the moon or trekking though an Amazon rainforest, you will already be aware that Queen Elizabeth II has been on the throne for 60 years. Poor dear. She should eat a better diet.
We are getting 4 days to celebrate (or not) with lots of events planned to take place all over the country. Highlights in London include the pageant/flotilla along the Thames on Sunday 3rd and an RAF flypast on Tuesday 5th.
Click here to see what's on near you.
The National Portrait Gallery has a relevant exhibition on at the moment bringing together many representations of the Queen by artists as diverse as Andy Warhol and Cecil Beaton. Check out how lovely she looks in the image on the promo page.
Here are some London Queens... mainly pubs:

Stik in Dulwich

Four years ago I was walking along Dalston Lane and I turned to see a fresh mural depicting six white female stick figures, with one carrying a baby (see top left within the montage below.)
I took a couple of photographs. A fella standing next to me on the pavement asked me if I liked it and I said, 'yes, of course', so he told me that he was the artist and had just finished it. I think at the time I just assumed this was a commissioned piece, so I thought nothing of it and wandered off. I didn't stop to chat, and as friends will tell you, that's rather out of character for me!
Within weeks I realised that I had been in the presence of genius as I started to spot Stik's shy, lonely, furtive figures throughout north and central London, peeking out from windows, or sleeping or smoking in backstreets. People were starting to 'collect' his work on Flickr.
Stik spotting?  Spot Stik?
Some of my own collection is shown below, many of which have now been sadly overpainted, including the ladies and the bookshop. But such is the way with street art. And that's how it ought to be.
The news is that Stik has recently invaded South London and, in conjunction with last week's Dulwich Festival and the Dulwich Picture Gallery, he has created some street art based on classical paintings hanging within the gallery. His reinterpretation of Franceschini's Guardian Angel is near Push Studios in Blackwater Street, and more re-workings can be found in the surrounding streets on walls and garage doors. 
I am kicking myself for a second time... last weekend Stik led a (sold out) tour of these works but I found out about it too late. Grr!

Beer and curry anyone?

Karen Eland is a beer artist. Yes, a beer artist. Not a piss artist like the rest of us; but a beer artist. This means she creates art using beer. Me, I prefer to drink the stuff, but each to his own and all that.
This Saturday and Sunday Karen will be creating a piece of street art at The Vibe Bar in Brick Lane using Cobra Beer and Indian spices.
More info here.
I wonder if the artwork will be edible?

Eight things close to the Vibe Bar.

Take part in a virtual orchestra

There's another great show on at the Science Museum...
The Universe of Sound, a virtual Philharmonic Orchestra, has been created by a very clever digital installation which allows visitors to take on the role of a musician, conductor, arranger or even composer. 
Coincidentally, I am having trouble composing this blog post ... so please rearrange the following to create a coherent paragraph, by adding punctuation and words like 'and': 10 separate rooms / music / Gustav Holst / interactive / digital technology... 

Luckily for me, Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Philharmonia Orchestra’s Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, puts it like this, “This project offers everyone, from the very young to the very old, from the absolute novice to the experienced musician, the chance to step right into the heart of one of the world’s finest symphony orchestras. Our world is by turns preposterously loud, pin-drop quiet, highly-charged, intense and frequently overwhelming. Come and join us – you won’t be disappointed.”

For more info click here.

Stuff that affects our ears

City Showcase event in Soho this Sunday

This Sunday 27th May – Dean Street in Soho will be closed to traffic for a one day event with food, comedy, music and market stalls offering a wide range of fashion and eclectic items.
I will have a stall there myself flogging my wares opposite the Crown and Two Chairman pub at pitch 14, so, if you are out shopping in the homogenous mainstream of Oxford Street, please do nip into Soho and say hello.
The event is in aid of the Terrence Higgins Trust.
See here for more details.

The Dean Street area.

Clerkenwell Design Week

Craft Central opens its doors from May 22nd to showcase Made in Clerkenwell: Summer Open Studios as part of Clerkenwell Design Week.
There will be craft workshops, pot- and print-making, knitting and printing, as well as a chance to look in on and purchase from the designers in residence.
Plus, on Tuesday 22nd there's a chance to go on a Clerkenwell rooftop walk with historian and designer-maker Jane Young and hear about the area's rich and varied history.
See here for more details of all the Craft Central events on offer.

Above are some of the many little details that can be found in the vicinity. 
Craft Central's St John's Square building, is shown bottom left, with a frieze around it showing that it was originally a branch of the National Penny Bank.... more about that and other interesting Clerkenwell snippets here.

Torched yet untouched

I had a text conversation with a friend yesterday morning about how unmoved I am by the Olympic torch relay. Well, it's not even a relay is it?!
I was going to write a piece myself, but it seems I lit his blue touch paper as he has beaten me to it, echoing many of my thoughts.
Read it here.
Go Malcolm... go go go!!!
Read more of my thoughts about the Olympics in a previous post.

Clockwise from top left:
Chamber of Commerce, Cannon St (RIP), Crouch End Broadway, Westminster, Upper St, Clapham Common, Savile Row.

Brains – The Mind as Matter

If you haven't been to the Wellcome Collection – why not??
It's free and there are always wonderfully interesting exhibitions to see there.
On at the moment, until 17th June, is Brains– The Mind as Matter which is about brains. D'uh!
The Wellcome's permanent exhibition is also well worth looking in on; it features all sorts of fascinating and freaky surgical instruments and medically-related artefacts from all over the world.
Find the museum on the Euston Road, almost opposite Euston Station.

You Animal, You! by Charlotte Cory

A couple of weeks ago I went to the book launch of 'You Animal, You!', a printed collection of Charlotte Cory's wonderful montage photographs.
At first glance you might look at these Photoshopped images and think they are just animal heads superimposed on Victorian people. But, if you look again, you will see that all of these stuffed animals that Charlotte has found in various museums have been carefully chosen and photographed at specific angles so that they sit perfectly on the body of the person shown on the sepia Victorian calling card. (Calling cards were the equivalent of today's business card, except that Victorians, would include a self portrait. These cards were also a good marketing tool for the photographer whose name and address often appeared at the bottom.)
Charlotte's clever idea is to play with the words 'shot' and 'captured', referring in different ways to the dead animals and the photographed people.
I had a good chat to Charlotte. She is a prolific and inspirational woman; an artist, novelist, photographer and playwright, with a love of history. Plus she tells me she too collects things such as clay pipes. Ooh.
The book is jam-packed full of Charlotte's poignant and often amusing images. But I am not keen on the random spotty or coloured backgrounds which I think distract from the images, and many of the pictures that have been used full bleed have lost valuable information in the gutter area. Also, there is evidently no typography skill involved, which is a huge shame, especially seeing the wealth of inspiration on the calling cards and the labels of lotions and potions featured on the endpapers. And the letter-spaced headings with their heavy double underscores, combined with the justified copy is really clunky. I dunno; perhaps it's only me who notices these things, design for print, especially books and brochures, being my day job.
Ah well, never mind...
I just remembered this... A while ago Peter Watts asked, what would you collect if money and available space were no restriction? Easy...! Bizarre taxidermy! Like these, recently on show at Peter Blake's 'Museum of Everything'.
The book launch was in the Royal Suite of the wonderful St Pancras Hotel. With a name like 'Royal" I'd expected the room to be as wonderful as the adjacent renovated areas of the hotel, but it was rather a let down – all hotel-y with over-large sofas and floor-to-ceiling shelving containing arty bits that looked like they had been bought from Heals.

After quaffing a few tasty canapés and downing a couple of G&Ts I spent ages admiring the stairwell and adjoining corridors. It's just lovely. And assymetical. And every dragon column is different, and the clashing patterns and textures somehow work brilliantly together.
The last time I'd been in there was about 15 years ago on an Open House day. On the wall behind me as I type this is a page of the Independent dated July 1995 that shows the stairwell pre renovation and I am happy to report that it looks like all 'they' have done is clean it up a bit and add some wonderfully gaudy carpet.
On the ground floor I stood for ages chatting to a member of staff who was sporting a security badge. He had extensive knowledge about the history of the building. I commented that his enthusiasm was wonderful and asked if it was part of his job. No, he said, it wasn't – he just loves working there and has made it his business to find out as much as possible. How lovely. And what a lovely place to work.
If you want to see the building pre-renovation you need only watch this video (shot in one take!) though, like me, you will probably have the song as an ear worm for the rest of the day now... and note how little Mrs B contributes in it except for some weird faces she pulls towards the end!

It's back!!! Smoke – a London peculiar

A friend told me about Smoke magazine a few years back and I quickly signed up for a subscription. Full of short obscure London-inspired stories and witty observations it was perfect for bedtime reading and dull tube journeys (not bus journeys – I like to gaze out of the window, even if it's a journey I have made hundreds of times).
Issue sixteen, the last printed version plopped through my door well over a year ago containing one of my own observations, but since then, apart from Soho! the board game, we have been smokeless.
So, I am glad to report that it's back, and this time as a shiny new on-line version.
For those of you still prefer, as I do, to read from a malleable chunk of paper, back issues are still available of most editions. I recommend Issue 14 mainly because there are 3 of my photos in there plus a whole page of my coal holes like this. Even more coal holes here.
See, it's all about me really.
Enjoy...

Dandy Lion market at The Boogaloo

Here's a good one for North Londoners...
Every 2nd Saturday of the month there's a great market, offering arts and crafts, vintage, homewares and plenty more besides, at the Boogaloo pub on Archway Road.
My friend Leslie, who hosts it says, "it's a blast from the last; a nod to the future" and she decorates the venue in a different way every month depending on the time of year or whatever is topical. Whilst browsing you can also expect to hear guest DJs playing eclectic tunes, refreshments (it is after all a pub!) and live music.
What's not to like?
The next Market at The Boogaloo is this Saturday 12th May.
I am hoping to be able do a stall there myself sometime soon.
12.30–5.30pm. Free entry. More info here or email lwrjam@yahooo.com.

Here are some lions; some dandy, some scared, some aloof, some just plain daft.
See these and lots more in my Lions of London set.

Hear me wittering on Londonist Out Loud

Yours truly is one of the two people having a chat with N Quentin Woolf on today's Londonist Out Loud podcast. We manage to cover quite a range of subjects, but I am not giving them away here... have a listen for yourself.

Here's a link to the Facebook page.

Londonist Out Loud is also on iTunes.
Here are some pods...

A mix of Kew gardens, my garden, my kitchen, the London Eye and Bedford Square.

I am on the London Grill

This went live on the 4th, so you may have seen it already... my replies to David Styles's questions on the Radio Taxis blog.
Ten "devilshly probing questions about London" and they don't take "Sorry Guv" for an answer.
I am in esteemed company... check out some of the other people who have been quizzed.
See my answers here.
David mentioned me in an interview he did for Londonist.

A lovely day Greenwich

On Monday morning I went to Greenwich to display some of my clay pipe jewellery in Bullfrogs shop window in Church Street.
A friend came to meet me there and we went for lunch in a nearby restaurant where I bumped into another friend's daughter who, unbeknownst to me, is studying at Greenwich Univerisity. Lucky girl to be in such a great location, and what a nice surprise to see her, as I don't think I'd set eyes on her since she was about 15.
It was a glorious day so after lunch I went for a wander...

In the park I admired the construction of a labyrinth of metal poles that will become the controversial Olympic equestrian venue. Outside the Royal Maritime Museum I spotted the oversized ship in a bottle that was previously on the 4th plinth in Trafalgar Square. I went inside the museum and was a bit disappointed. I was engrossed in the gallery with the pics of the then and now stretches of Wapping and Bermondsey, but leaving that room I couldn't find anything else to inspire me. Did I miss a trick somewhere? If so, the signage is appalling. And I had hoped there would be more and larger maps and charts for sale in the shop... but I digress; this is supposed to be about nice things...
A raspberry ripple ice cream and then to The Painted Hall, 'the finest dining hall in Europe', no less. I had been there before for a Christmas do a few years back (actually, it was the company my lunch friend works for) but, although we all had that 'wow' moment when we entered the room, we then became preoccupied with all the food and drink. But mainly the drink. The hall is like an OTT set for a bizarre film; you feel as if you are actually in a painting. Every inch is covered with fantastic images and trompe l'oiel.
Then I popped into the beautiful Old Royal Naval College Chapel and admired its repetitive yet soothing interior. There was just time to pop into the ORNC museum. I just love the big relief map in the centre of the main room. In fact the whole of that room is jam-packed with so many interesting and interactive and informative things. It was closing in ten minutes; that's the third time that's happened to me!
So to the Cutty Sark. I like what they've done. I like the way the glass surround evokes the sea. I like the reflections it creates. It was closed so I couldn't go inside but I notice that the roof of the shop area is practically the same as the new roof at the Kings Cross Station, which is almost the same as The Great Court at the British Museum. couldn't they have designed something different?
I admired the view across to The Isle of Dogs and thought about walking through the foot tunnel. I noticed that the tide was low and I could see shingle on the other side beckoning me, but I had the wrong shoes on. So I got on the DLR and headed home instead.
What a nice day.

I am 4

May 1st is the 4th birthday of Jane's London.
Here is my first post. Hit the newer button at the bottom to see the previous posts... it appears I posted quite a lot on day 2.
It was the Holloway Road that set this whole thing in motion; I used to talk to local people about things along the main road and most of them didn't know what I was going on about, so initially I'd planned to put together a small book of A1 Holloway Road and Upper St photos, but once I started I realised I'd created a small monster, so the beast grew to cover a wider area.
Here are some 4s or pictures with four things in them (but no candles):