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In our modern world, there is a side to human nature which we sanitise, we perfume, we try to disguise with fluffy towels and nice thoughts. The toilet – a room that has become a hymn to white porcelain, bleaches…

Considering the regular complaints about the commercialisation of the modern Christmas, I decided to have my own Advent Calendar this month – made from adverts that were printed in Victorian newspapers. Each day I will display an advert from my…

Fellow London blogger, Tom of the TiredofLondon website has gotten himself a book deal – and the book will go on sale next month – although a limited number are available pre-xmas at the Museum of London. Following the style…

Considering the regular complaints about the commercialisation of the modern Christmas, I decided to have my own Advent Calendar this month – made from adverts that were printed in Victorian newspapers. Each day I will display an advert from my…

Considering the regular complaints about the commercialisation of the modern Christmas, I decided to have my own Advent Calendar this month – made from adverts that were printed in Victorian newspapers. Each day I will display an advert from my…

Had an invite to sample some new Christmas themed beers earlier this week, where the pub chain had sent some of its pub managers to smaller breweries and worked on developing some new beers for the holiday season. Nicholsons is…

Much of our modern Christmas traditions date from the Victorian era, including the advert calendar – and like the Christmas Tree, it is also German in origin. Although the first known Advent calendar can be traced back to 1851, the…

The main shopping centre at Canary Wharf is doing something exceptionally rare this weekend – they are admitting that men like to buy clothes. Throughout the year, the place puts on lots of shopping events for the ladies, but the…

I am going to make a suggestion. If you are looking for a present to give someone this Christmas, and you want something that they can use all year round – rather than socks and fragrances… give them a membership…

Just a bit of news about the website itself: I tend to be wary of leaping onto technology bandwagons until at least they have checked if the brakes work properly and they know if the driver is competent. However, as…

Tis the season to be buffeted this way and that by exhortations to shop early and shop often for Christmas goodies. With some shops setting up Christmas zones in the middle of October, there are the usual complaints about how…

Changes, everything changes eventually – and people will instantly dislike the changes simply because they are different. I tend to look at a new website and complain less about aesthetics, than about functionality. I don’t really care about aesthetics –…

Just before midnight on the 9th September 1940, sailors up on deck of the cargo sailing ship, Seven Seas were watching an air raid by German bombers over the Charing Cross railway bridge when an explosion hit the river and…

Ever since I moved to a flat next to the river, my summer evenings have been enlivened by the sight of a rather pretty boat chugging past the flat at night, with a distinctive paddle-steamer sound and decoratively lit for…

One of the so-called “anchor tenants” within the gargantuan shopping centre next to the Olympic Park is John Lewis, and they have set aside part of their new department store as a 2012 shop and viewing area. Since it opened,…