Your guide to London's culture and transport news and events taking place across the city.
Your guide to London's culture and transport news and events taking place across the city.
Don’t forget the pancakes on Jif Lemon Day!
Some three years ago, I wrote a short hymn to a small yellow plastic container in the shape of a small lemon that brings a smile to my face each year as it graces the shelves of our supermarkets. In…
David Dimbleby’s Seven Ages of Britain
There is a bit of a rant by John Dugdale over at The Guardian complaining about an increasing trend for semi-serious TV shows being fronted by a (diminishing) pool of respected and serious news journalists. Situations such as Jeremy Paxman…
A Drawing of the Old Houses of Parliament in 1760
Managed to acquire this line drawing of the Old Houses of Parliament made in 1760 before they burnt down in 1834 and were replaced with our “modern” Gothic building. Click on the image for a larger (much larger!) version. Enjoy.…
Steam Train to recreate the Bristolian Express service
Interesting news in the land of steam trains, as a joint project by First Great Western and Vintage Rail aims to recreate the non-stop Bristolian Express service this April. The Railway Herald reports that the details are still sketchy, as…
EXCLUSIVE: How London’s snow really arrives
If you thought snow fell from the sky as a natural phenomena, then let me dissuade you of that old-fashioned thinking. In our modern age where we expect nature to confirm to our requirements and calendar – snow is imported…
As seems a semi-regular occurrence whenever there is snow, we have a routine debate about the legality of clearing snow from the paths outside our own homes. Various news outlets expound on the dire and ridiculous situation that faces people…
Over the years since I moved into the docklands area, I have listened to people denigrating the area. Too often I am told the area lacks a “soul”, that it is full of glass and steel towers with no character…
As the news media starts the ritual of the “local council runs out of road salt” stories, I wonder if the supermarkets were to put less salt in their foods, would there be more for the roads? Of course not…
Today is the first day of the year back to work for the average office and factory worker – henceforth known as Smart Clothing Dayâ„¢. Today is the day that people proudly walk around like models from a 1970s catalogue…
The tires on my bicycle are looking and feeling a bit squishy, so I decided that it was time to increase their atmospheric pressure by application of generous thrusts upon a pumping device designed for the task. I hadn’t actually…
Last winter, I thought it would be nice to put out some bird feed on the balcony. Wanted to buy a conventional nut feeder, but the only options then, as now, were one small nut feeder and about a decade’s…
Bird’s Eye View of the London Docks in 1845
Picked up another issue of the Illustrated London News to bolster my collection – and this one had a few drawings of the London Docks including a quite famous picture of the docks shortly after the completion of the new…
Ever since I was a kid, I have always liked the aesthetics of liquor bottles and some years ago I came up with the idea of making up some Christmas Tree lights based on miniature bottles of spirits.
Although not especially religious, I do quite like some of the religious trappings of the traditional Christmas celebrations and one of them is attending Carols in a proper Church. None of this “salvation army in a train station as I…
Last night was a very special moment for me, as I was reminded of the years of frustrated delight I endured as a young teenager. Unlike some teenagers who were frustrated by more biological concerns, mine was a slender book…
The crumbliest flakiest milk chocolate in the world
I am advised that people in polyester branded clothing were handing out free Cadbury’s Flakes at various train stations around London this morning. As a non-commuter I no longer see these things happening, but when I did I was always…
Unusual Christmas Tree Decorations
A slightly depressing development in Christmas Tree decorations. As an aside, do we still need signs in shopping centers etc that CCTVs are in use? Considering how ubiquitous they have become, I’d have thought most people would now automatically presume…
Pssst – want a 15th century suit of armour?
OK, a tad out of my price range, but wouldn’t it be wonderful to own a 15th century suit of armour? Just in time for the Christmas fancy dress parties as well. Christie’s are selling it at the end of…
Ghosts on the London Underground
Considering the dark dark corners, strange noises and abandoned tunnels that litter the soil under London, it is possibly no surprise that stories of hauntings have emerged over the years. On Wednesday, a couple of authors who have recently written…
You are approaching a wide set of doors at the entrance to a shopping centre – how do you get to the other side? Mr Hands in Pockets – who watches furtively for the door that is being held open…
I saw an advert on the DLR on the way back from the annoyingly closed exhibition about London Bridge I had expected to visit. The advert by Dixons seems to be trying to imply that you can go to a…
The Fugitive Futurist – or how the Thames was drained of water
I am a bit of a fan of how people in the past thought the future would look like, and my memory was recently prompted to recall a short black&white film I saw for the first time last year –…
As I leave the shopping centre to head home I notice a large crowd by the exit all peering intently at something evidently quite dire that is happening outside. As I approach the exit hoping to find a way past…
Helping busy consumers to iron clothes even faster
Panasonic, a firm more noted for entertainment devices in the UK is also a manufacturer of so-called “white goods” in the USA, and has proudly announced a new domestic iron with a unique elliptical shaped soleplate to “help busy consumers…
