Miscellaneous - Archive Articles

London Open House – Day 1

The morning of my favourite weekend started well – with a quick trip up the tower at St Anne’s in Wardour Street. There is a rather fine clock up there, and on a landing half way up, a rather earnest…

Recession – what recession?

It seems that the economic downturn hasn’t quite reached the exalted atmosphere of Canary Wharf’s banking classes judging by the price of a new bottle of beer, Deus Brut Des Flanders that the local Waitrose has started selling. The label…

Tour of Kingston Crown Court

This caught my attention this morning (I have a tracker monitoring the HMCS website for changes!) and I shall try to wander along next Saturday. I had a behind the scenes tour of the Royal Courts of Justice a few…

Battersea Power Station Tours – Extended

I went on one of the recent tours of Battersea Power Station, and while you are not allowed inside the structure itself, it is worth a visit for a close up viewing of the building. Due to “popular demand”, the…

Handwriting

After years of typing almost everything I write on a computer and only ever really using a pen for signatures or scribbling comments on post-it notes, my handwriting has degenerated to the point that it makes a 5 year old…

Candy floss, candy floss, candy floss

The local Canary Wharf shopping centre is having one of its regular children’s days, which results in the main area being given over to face painting, balloons and the like. Not a bad idea, and the shopping centre do have…

The Picnic

After spending Saturday morning at the London Library, I met a friend for lunch – which is usually food+beer followed by coffee. Alas, this time it turned into an all afternoon and evening drinking session and when I finally got…

Seattle Memorabilia

Some years ago I was in Seattle for a business trip (horror of a flight there) and had a few hours to take in a few of the obvious tourist spots, including the Space Needle. When visiting touristy places I…

Beer tastings

The great British pint – an integral part of our culture. As summer approaches – hopefully, and our thoughts turn to lazy Sundays in the beer garden what better way to spend an evening than learning about beer (apart from…

Stella Artois airship over London

A few weeks ago, I read about plans to fly airships over London as a tourist attraction. It seems that the giant Zeppelins, sponsored by Stella Artois have started their flights as one drifted over South London heading towards Greenwich…

Polo

When I was somewhat younger and living in Windsor, the summer Sundays would always find me wandering up to the Guards Polo Club for a spot of Polo in the afternoon. I picked up the passion for the sport from…

Duckspeak

Duckspeak is a Newspeak term meaning literally to quack like a duck or to speak without thinking. Duckspeak can be either good or “ungood” (bad), depending on who is speaking, and whether what they are saying is in following with…

The City Pride – redevelopment

A local pub near where I live is about to vanish under the weight of a 200-metre tall tower if planning permission is granted,

The pigeons are not happy

It seems that the management at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club – which manages the huge Wimbledon tennis extravaganza have got fed up with pigeons hanging around and hired a marksman to start shooting them. The ever…

Too many security cameras – or too much hype?

There is a general trend to cite the rise of the CCTV (security camera) as an example of the reduction in personal privacy we enjoy in the UK. Certainly as a totem of intrusion, there is no better image than…

Future Living in East London – an exhibition

There is a small exhibition over the next few days being held at the showroom for the Pan Peninsula development in Canary Wharf – focusing on future housing developments in the East End of London. I wandered along this morning…

James Bond – the book covers

There is a rather small, but quite perfectly formed little exhibition going on at the moment, as part of the general James Bond/Ian Fleming centenary – and that is the cover designs of the original books as they were first…

Battersea Power Station

Yet another set of plans has been announced this morning for the perpetually derelict Battersea Power Station, and some of it is OKish – but the bit which really caught my attention was the transport aspect. As the area is…

the hospital.

Had a routine visit to the hospital yesterday for a check-up and some blood tests. Following my illness a couple of years ago, I now have to visit the doctor four times a year for a checkup and new prescription…

Of Starbucks, T-Mobile and former work colleagues

Sitting in Starbucks this morning having a break from working at home all the time and a chap approached me and said “hello”. Turns out someone I used to work with in North London now has a job in docklands.…

The Honourable Artillery Company

Last night I spent a very comfortable couple of hours over at the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) in the heart of the City of London for an open evening. It was ostensibly to try and persuade people that signing up…

Cruise Liners on the Thames

One of the nicer things about living where I do – in Docklands – is when an usual ship goes past the flat. Last year, I compiled a calendar based on information from the Port of London Authority and others…

Have I Got News For You

As I mentioned earlier this week, I went to watch a recording of Have I Got News for You last night – and it will be broadcast tonight. It’s a classic episode. Brian Blessed (BB) is an even larger personality…

International London

One of the things I love about London is how incredibly “international” it is. As someone who was brought up overseas and hopped around the place every other year – I am used to seeing/meeting people of all sorts of…