Close To Home

Today I thought I'd take the opportunity to have a look around my local area. I think we all get used to the place that we live in, so I walked around and attempted to put myself in the position of someone unfamiliar with Stratford, as if I was seeing it for the first time.

There's a lot of public art in the area, including a couple of very large sculptures by Malcolm Robertson, 'Time Spiral' (next to the station) and 'Railway Tree' (at the bottom of the ringroad), both meant to indicate the fact that from Stratford you can get to almost anywhere by public transport, in fact around the base of both of these statues there are compass points to emphasise the fact. There are also a couple that most people never get to see - on the A11 leading out towards Mile End there are some sculptures that occupy the central reservation, as well as a beautiful mosaic of lavender sellers on the side of Warton House which, sadly, seems to be a target for the developers in the run up to the Olympics and is slowly being demolished. I do hope they find room for the mosaic on the side of the building that replaces it...






Stratford is home to some really elegant buildings as well. I wasn't able to photograph it as it is entirely shrouded in scaffolding, but take it from me that West Ham Town Hall, built in 1879, is breathtaking, both on the outside and on the inside where, on the first floor, there is an absolutely huge ballroom. I guess it's just being renovated at the moment - not even Newham council would have the audacity to pull that down! Just across from the shopping centre, there's also the magnificent St John's Church, which unusually has the best website of any local church that I've ever seen. Have a look for yourself here - there's a potted history of the church itself as well as up to date descriptions of what's on,and biographies of all of the recent vicars that have stood in the pulpit. I happen to live in St John's parish, strangely enough. Also, I can't fail to mention the Theatre Royal, which also sits on the ring road. I might try to some pictures to show how grand it is inside, which you wouldn't guess from its fairly plain exterior. Just down the street from where I live there's also the 'old dispensary', a timber-clad building from the 1700s, which weirdly is being used as Newham council's offices for the 2012 Olympics.





There's quite a lot more to see if you happen to be in the area, and I'll try to cover more in a later blog post. The buildings occuped by the University of East London on Romford Road, as well as the Magistrates Court, are definitely worthy of capturing in one of my photo albums. Today's shots can be found here, and also include a photo of the old Rex cinema, and the 'Stratford Circles' installation by Rhoda Webb (but see if you can find it - it's right in the centre of Stratford but rather difficult to spot...)

IDAHO - UK 2008

Today marks the anniversary of the 1990 decision by the World Health Organisation to remove homosexuality from their list of mental disorders (yes, I was shocked too). What's equally as shocking is that in 77 countries it is still a criminal offence to be gay (and in several others the police turn a blind eye to abuse, beatings and rape - yes Jamaica, I'm talking about you). These countries punish women, men and children because of their sexuality, and in seven countries the punishment is death.


The International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) allows people to make a strong statement to demand improvements in the human rights of people who live in these oppressive regimes. Several events are taking place today in London to mark the event. Please go along to one of them if you would like to show your support:

In Holborn, LAGNA (the Lesbian and Gay Newsmedia Archive) are putting on a special exhibition for IDAHO day and to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the implementation of Section 28, entitled "Section 28 - Hiding Homosexuality Exhibition". The event consists of an evening of music, talks, exhibitions, headlines and TV broadcasts. Information on this event can be found here.

In Lewisham Library there will be an exhibition throughout the day called "1967 and all that", as well as a collection of photographs entitled "My Sexuality" taken by young people participating in local youth groups who are either lesbian, gay, bisexual or who are questioning their sexual identity. The event will be taking place in the Limelight Gallery on the ground floor of the Library.

And in Wood Green, Haringey, things will be getting very noisy as SING OUT!, READ LOUD!, SPEAK LOUD! and finally SHOUT LOUD! take place in Wood Green Library from 6pm today. Details of the event can be found here.

Facebook In Your Face

Here's a hilarious little clip from YouTube (produced in the UK for once) showing what Facebook would be like if it was *real*. I do use Facebook as a surrogate email system and to update people on what I'm doing, but I can't stand the daft little applications that people use to poke, prod and spank me all the time. I do wonder whether that will ultimately be it's downfall, only time will tell. I do play Scrabble on there though...

TA100 - Reserve With Pride

Today marks the 100th year of the Territorial Army, and I managed to catch the end of the celebrations at the Guildhall. They wheeled out the City of London's colourful yeomen with their pikestaffs and muskets for the event, and we also spotted the TA's ceremonial mascot - isn't he fantastic? If you click on the image you'll get a larger version where you can see that this little guy has silver-tipped horns :)

There's a special website that's been set up here, providing information on the year of events that have been kicked off today with a special service at St Paul's and the Guildhall reception. There's also going to be a national pageant taking place on Sunday 21st of June on Horse Guards Parade. There will then be a march down the Mall, complete with current military hardware, so I might head down and get some shots - should be good.

Stargates Everywhere...

Well I finally managed to pick up the made-for-DVD movie, "Stargate - The Ark of Truth", which was produced earlier this year in response to the massive outcry from fans when they cancelled Stargate SG-1 after 10 successful seasons, back in June 2007.

It was effectively an extended episode, but what it did was tie up all of the loose ends that existed at the end of the series but still left things open so they can tell future stories if there's enough demand (much like J. Michael Straczynski - JMS - has done with the Babylon 5 franchise - my favourite sci-fi series by the way). Don't expect it to be feature film quality though, it definitely feels like an extended episode, but if you're a fan it's definitely a must see. The regular cast are all involved in the story, and if you like the Ori race they're in the thick of the action. And would you believe, the filming took only 16 days in total. Of course, if you're a real Stargate fan, the Stargate Atlantis series starts Series 5 in July or August of this year. They've also announced that another straight-to-DVD will be released at around the same time on July 29th, entitled "Stargate - Continuum".

Just for a bit of a laugh here's Stratford's very own operational Stargate (so I'm told) which I shot on the way home from work tonight - I doubt the Goa'uld would be much of a match for our local folk if they popped out of it though...

Croeso i Gaerdydd

Translation: 'Welcome to Cardiff'

So, I ended up in Cardiff (specifically in Cardiff Bay) yesterday for a meeting at the Wales Office and had some time afterwards to wander around. It's amazing how the area has been transformed since I used to stay in a flat in Bute Town many years ago when were having a night out in Cardiff as a change from Bristol where I lived at the time. Back then this was the roughest, toughest part of the city but there's hardly a hint of that now. Of course, there's the new Welsh Assembly building, the 'Senedd', and the fantastic Wales Millenium Centre (featured regularly in Torchwood and Doctor Who - Roald Dahl Plass in front of the building is where Captain Jack ascends from his underground base) and the Cardiff Bay Visitor Centre (affectionally known by the locals as 'The Tube'), but there are also lots of hidden gems; quiet little docks and more sculptures than you can shake a stick at, only a few of which I've managed to capture in the album here. The area is also home to lots of classy bars and restaurants too, so if you're down in Cardiff you really must pay Cardiff Bay a visit.






On my way back to the station I wandered through the centre, spotting the statue erected to 'Nye' Bevan on Queen St, and took a few photos of the Castle, which has an 11th century keep and is as imposing as it is today because of the Third Marquess of Bute, who renovated and extended it in the mid to late 1800s. I also walked around the Renaissance-style City Hall which was built in 1904 for the princely sum of £125,000. A bit grander than our own Glass B****** I'm sure you'll agree...




Finally it was time to get back on the train, but I'm hoping to visit again soon so keep your eyes peeled - the Senedd building is apparently as dramatic on the inside as it is on the outside -I can't wait :)

From Cardiff May 2008

Normal Service Will Be Resumed As Soon As Possible...

Hi folks, no wandering today to report unfortunately. I'm sure I'll get out somewhere next weekend, and perhaps a bit farther afield than you've seen before. There are a few spots in the north of town that I'd really like to visit, so I might head up that way.

I will however have something interesting to report tomorrow - I'll have most of the afternoon to wander around a very special place, so watch this space. Here's a small clue to where I'm going...

Software Favourites #2 - Lightzone

The second in a (very) occasional series, I thought I'd tell you about a program that I've started to use called Lightzone. It's very much like Lightroom on the Mac as it allows you to manipulate your digital photographs in lots of interesting ways. You can access some very complicated features, but the best thing about it is that it allows you to really enhance photographs with just one click of the mouse button.

As an example, below you can see a photograph I took of a fish stall outside a restaurant in Brussels, when we were there at Easter. The first image is the original, and for the second I used the 'Wow!' button in Lightzone. Look at the way it makes the colours almost bounce out of the image.































Lightzone can also correct problems that are there simply due to the conditions that you took the photograph in. Again, when we were in Brussels we'd just been to visit the Belgian Center for Comic Strip Arts (Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée) and came across some really funky graffiti in the street. It was a really stormy, rainy day so, as you can imagine, the original came out rather too dark. For this image I took the original and clicked the 'High Key' button. Suddenly it looks like the photograph was taken on a nice sunny day.





























Lightzone is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Unfortunately it's only a trial (although all the features are unlocked) and after a month you have to purchase it. If you're lucky enough to be running it on linux however, the trial never runs out (I knew running Ubuntu would pay off!). I think it's worth downloading and trying particularly if, like me, you're not a particularly good photographer. It can make mediocre photos look really amazing...

Wonders At the End of my Street

As a Londoner I can be a bit complacent sometimes. The things that other people travel thousands of miles to gawp at, I often simply take for granted. A good example is Buckingham Palace which is at the end of the street where I work - not five blocks away, but only around 150 feet! So, earlier this week, I took my camera down there on a sunny lunchtime and took a few photographs.



I didn't get many images of the Palace itself (which was built in 1702 and extensively remodelled in the late 19th and early 20th centuries) but instead I concentrated on the Victora Memorial which sits directly in front of the Palace at the bottom of the Mall.



It's an absolutely monumental piece of architecture, covered in gilt at its summit with pools and running water around its base. It was constructed in 1911, with Sir Thomas Brock sculpting the statue of Queen Victoria, and Sir Aston Webb creating the other features (which personally I find even more breathtaking) such as angels, mermaids and mermen to indicate the vast naval power of the British Empire which Victoria presided over.

From Buckingham Pa...

I really must wander around with the eyes of a tourist more often - where I work I'm only minutes away from all sorts of important buildings and monuments...

I Believe in Harvey Dent

A quick update on the upcoming Batman film, 'The Dark Knight'. There's a brand new trailer available showing more footage of Heath Ledger as the Joker, as well as introducing Harvey Dent. There's a really good campaign website for Dent's bid to be appointed as Gotham's District Attorney here, and there are hints at how he becomes 'Two-Face' later on. I've embedded a low quality version of the new trailer below, but you can go and view or download a much higher quality version by going to the official movie website here.

London Mayoral Election - Second Preferences

Even though it's all over now and, for better or worse, Boris is our new mayor I was really surprised to read the following article on the BBC News website today.

It turns out that Brian Paddick got by far and away the largest number of second preference votes, over six hundred and forty thousand people chose him, far more than Boris and Ken combined. It's fascinating what that might say about London voters' real feelings on the agenda that each candidate put forward. I do hope that Boris offers him a position, but I don't know that Brian would take it...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7386518.stm

As a closing thought, I'll leave you with some salutary words from one of the Assembly's newest members, spoken last week during the run up to the election, "You may have your religion behind your closed doors, but you don't bring it onto the streets," he said. "You can be gay behind closed doors, you can be heterosexual behind closed doors, but you don't bring it onto the streets, demanding more rights for it." Interesting thoughts, but my experience is that you don't demand more rights as long as your rights are equal to the majority's, and when it comes to keeping things behind closed doors, he obviously lives a terribly sheltered existence and hasn't been down to Soho recently I would imagine - shame. I'm sure he'd get a very warm welcome, or perhaps not...

Ironman Update

Just for those who haven't seen the film yet, or for those who are considering going to see it twice (I have lol) remember to sit through the entire set of credits. As with X-Men The Last Stand, there's another scene at the end where you're introduced to another major superhero in the Marvel Comics universe - I won't tell you who it is, but if you know anything about the Ironman character you might be able to guess.

Yet another superhero is also aluded to, and the character who plays him appears throughout the film, although you never quite get to see him in costume. I'll leave you with a cartoon rendering of the hero in question, but do you know who it is? Think military...

The Southbank & A Pile of Bricks

Our plans changed a bit today. We had intended to go the Canalway Cavalcade down in Little Venice, but as DiamondGeezer had blogged about it extensively yesterday we thought we'd do something different. So, we headed to Waterloo to take a look at the Cans Festival, but when we turned the corner onto the street where it's taking place, we were greeted with this:



We didn't think we were going to be able to see half of what had been produced, never mind get any decent photographs, so we headed back to the river. I'm glad we did because the warm weather had obviously brought out all the street performers. Between the London Eye and the National Theatre on the Southbank we found fire-eaters, limbo dancers and a whole range of 'living statues'. Note the 'Sinner' who, I guess because he was painted grey and sat so still, was mistaken for a real statue by the local pigeons. I've reproduced some of the shots below, but you can check the rest out in the album, here. There are also lots of photos of riverboats which I photographed as we were waiting to catch a Clipper back to Canary Wharf.






On our way back home we also had a look at the new brick art installation by Andrew Burton situated behind Canary Wharf station, which has recently replaced the 'Animal Eyes' which I blogged about back in December.




And finally here's a fantastic shot which I got when we were just around the corner from the flat - a cormorant drying his wings in the breeze...

From Southbank & C...

Iron Man

Well we went to see Iron Man this afternoon. It's a rather good film, Robert Downey Jr's portayal of the hedonistic industrialist Tony Stark has a lot of depth, as does Gwyneth Paltrow's role as Pepper Pots. The SFX are particularly breathtaking. For the real Iron Man fans, the film also introduces S.H.I.E.L.D and War Machine (well the latter is at hinted at anyway)

If the film has any faults the build-up is a little long-winded and therefore it runs a little too long at just over two hours. The final scenes are also a little contrived - they made up the storyline for the final scenes rather than using existing material from the long-running comic book series. All in all though, worth a couple of hours of your time if you're into superhero or sci-fi movies ;)

Finally, a little bit of trivia for you; as Howard Hughes is said to be the inspiration for the character of Tony Stark, the production team made tribute by basing most of their work in the old Hughes Company soundstage in Playa Vista, California.

Oh London...

My faith in the people of this great city of ours is diminished slightly by the very likely outcome of the Mayoral election - I thought my fellow city-dwellers had a little more sense.

Ah well, here comes a completely screwed-up transport system (can you imagine central London without a congestion charge?), union unrest, and what's going to happen in terms of Mayoral relations with the many ethnic minorities we have in this city, I really do dread to think :(

Sci-Fi London Film Festival goes into orbit this weekend

Although it started a little earlier this week, the Sci-Fi London Film Festival kicks into high gear this weekend with a whole slew of events, including 3 separate all-nighters on Saturday, one dedicated to anime, one to classic sci-fi, and one to those B-movies you wish you'd never seen. The second of the three looks like my kind of thing, with back to back screenings of Alien, Pitch Black, Solaris and The Thing.

It's all taking place at the Apollo West End, and the festival finishes with the world premiere of Chemical Wedding on Sunday evening, a film recounting the life of Aleister Crowley. If sci-fi is your thing, you can't do better than that this weekend [err, well if you completely ignore the fact that Robert Downey Jr will be wowing audiences all over the country as IronMan this Bank Holiday weekend that is - I'm going on Saturday afternoon *cough*]

Cute & Fluffy #6

I've forgotten to mention that when it comes to cute online picture sites, ICanHasCheeburger (aka the lolcats site) doesn't have it all its own way. You can also visit IHasAHotdog which has a bit more of a canine air about it :) Here's one of today's posts for your enjoyment...

National Digital Inclusion Conference 2008

The title of this post doesn't sound very interesting does it? In fact I suppose if you're not in the know it sounds positively stuffy. Well would it surprise you to know that only two-thirds of the population go online, including under a third of people over 55, and that this situation hasn't changed for several years? Amongst other things, that's what 'digital inclusion' seeks to address.

You and I probably take for granted all of the benefits we get from going online and using digital devices every day, but let me give you an example that shows exactly how important it is to close that big gap. Imagine how the life of a frail older person, living somewhere geographically isolated, could be transformed if they could use a computer and access they internet: they could order their shopping online and have it delivered to their door so they didn't have to make a difficult trip to a supermarket miles away, they could chat to their grandkids on msn every day and see the things they've been making at school on a webcam, their home could be fitted with devices that would alert social services if they had a fall. And that's just an older person, think what access to technology could do for someone who was living with severe disability. That's why this issue is so important, and why Civic Conferences, the national network of UKOnline Centres, and the DC10plus (the group of local authorities and their partners that were finalists in the 2007 Digital Challenge Competition) brought together lots of the big players yesterday, including Microsoft and BT, at the Brewery in the City.


The Government takes the issue that seriously that there were four Government Ministers at the event, including Jim Knight MP, the Minister of State for Schools and Learners, and the newly appointed Minister for Digital Inclusion, Paul Murphy MP, who is also Secretary of State for Wales. I'll be posting up a video in the next few days that's been put together recently by the Digital Inclusion Team in the City of London and the Department for Communities and Local Government, that spells out the real problems that people are facing and what can be done about it - it might make you think...

There's some press coverage of the event on the BBC and elsewhere online, and I've posted links below if you want to read a bit more about 'reaching the final third'

Linky
Linky

After Battlestar Galactica...

The TV Addict has put up a post concerning a script that has been leaked, which appears to be the initial episode of a new series called "Caprica" (which there have been rumours about for ages) that looks at life in the 12 colonies of the Battlestar Galactica universe before the cylon attack. Unsurprisingly, it appears to focus on the life of the Adams family (or should that be the Adama family...) and apparently the script writing is absolutely top notch. There might be life after Battlestar Galactica after all :)

Funky Online Video Creation Made Easy

Take a look at this video which I put together in five minutes flat a little earlier this evening - it's an animated slideshow of some shots I took while wandering around Malbork Castle in Poland a little earlier this month (which I really must blog about btw!) set to some free-to-copy music.



I used Animoto. All you have to do is go to their site, signup, find some photos you want to use, upload them from your PC or copy them from one of the popular online photo albums and then upload some music or select from what's available on the site. Click go and five minutes later there'll be a video waiting for you. You can even navigate away from the site, and when it's ready the system will send you an email. Amazing! I'm slightly annoyed that you have to pay for anything other than the very short videos, but I guess as they become popular and start getting some ad revenue that might change, but the short ones are completely free. Why not check it out and impress your friends (or the readers of your blog, hint, hint). A great little online application.

Animal, Vegetable, Graffiti

We had an early start today, so that we could get to Columbia Road Flower Market while it was still in full flow. Just off Bethnal Green Road, the market started in the mid 1800s but has concentrated on flowers and houseplants since the 1960s. It runs every Sunday from 8am until 2pm, and you can buy anything on the stalls from potted palms to tulips .



There are lots of cute little cafes and restaurants along Columbia Road and the adjoining streets, and places where you can pick up garden furniture or even haute coutoure if that takes your fancy. One notable building is the Royal Oak pub, which featured recently on the BBC's 'Who Do You Think You Are?' as its close to where Babs Windsor's family originate (apparently there's a picture of her grandfather on the cigarette machine inside - if it's still there given the smoking laws!). Just around the corner (but for the sake of not giving the treasure hunters any opportunity to have a go with a chisel, I'm not going to tell you exactly where) there's a small Banksy you can take a look at too. I'm not sure I agree with his point of view though, with the elections for London's Mayor looming...



If you're an early riser, the market can be an interesting start to your Sunday ;)

Just on the next street over, Hackney Road, you'll find the Hackney City Farm (I must have a thing about farm animals because we always seem to find ourselves in these places on a Sunday - actually there are only two City Farms unvisited on my list now...). The Farm has been around since 1984 and is a central part of the local community. All kinds of events take place there all year round, mostly focussed around children's activities, and you'll find the usual collection of animals on the farm. On our visit today there was a particularly friendly spaniel to say hello to as well :)



Unfortunately we couldn't wander around in the farm's kitchen garden as its the time of year when the bees are swarming - sounds painful! However there are lots of pictures of young lambs, calves, ducks, geese and all the rest right here for your enjoyment.



After we'd left the farm behind we wandered towards Spitafields to get a bus back home, coming across the stunning Fournier St, which looks like it's straight out of the 1850s. Christchurch Spitalfields, a Hawksmoor church, stands at one end and the street runs through to the famous Brick Lane at the other. Gilbert & George live on the street, and I do wonder whether the other interesting bit of graffiti which we spotted right opposite their front door is a comment directed at them by Banksy. It certainly looks like his style - I've uploaded an image to the album here that you can take a look at - I'd be interested in what you think.



We also came across the still-working Whitechapel Bell Foundry, which was founded over 450 years ago. Being a Sunday it wasn't open, but you can book a tour to take a look around inside. Big Ben, more properly known as the Great Bell, and the largest bell in the Clock Tower at the Palace of Westminster was cast there, as was the Liberty Bell! I'm absolutely awestruck at times by the amount of history that's all around us in this great city - we're so lucky to have found ourselves here...

Sci-Fi Classics #3

This time it's 'Dune' - no, not the piece of rubbish perpetrated by Dino de Laurentis in 1984 that bore no relation whatsoever to the Frank Herbert novel of the same name, but the mini-series produced by the Sci-Fi Channel from 2000 until 2003, which adapts 'Dune' and the following two novels, 'Dune Messiah' & 'Children of Dune'.



These versions remain much truer to the originals than the film (although Paul Atreides is still too old - he was not even in his teens when the novel begins) and the production values are really excellent, barring the very occasional moment where the computer graphics slip a bit. Alice Krige & Julie Cox provide particularly good performances as the Lady Jessica and Princess Irulan respectively. Both mini-series are available on DVD in 3 disc sets, the end of disc 1 of Children of Dune being particularly stand-out, where it features the 'revenge' sequence. Absolutely top-drawer stuff and it's recommended watching for any serious sci-fi fan; enjoy the YouTube trailers I've embedded on this page.

Ubuntu Hardy Heron is Released Today!

Well I'm unable to attend the launch in London's Soho this evening, but just to let you know that today marks the release of Ubuntu 8.04, codenamed the 'Hardy Heron'. Ubuntu is an alternative linux operating system which you can use on your PC or laptop instead of (or as well as) Microsoft Windows, and I use it all the time on my home computer. You can check it out and download a version to try here (it's completely free by the way, there is no catch). There's a very active community of people who are always ready to help new people here.

The BBC have also covered the launch on their website in an article here. Why not have a look at it? It's a much safer operating system than windows, and is smaller, faster and has a really slick desktop. I love it :)

Battlecats Galactica

Well they've done it now - LOLCats have finally invaded Battlestar Galactica - check this link. My favourite is the one above, a reference to Commander Tigh :)

As you may know, Series 4 has started over in the States and is being broadcast almost simultaneously on Sky One (or you can watch it using other means, if you don't have Sky like me *cough*). The series already has shocking storylines - they're not pulling their punches at all this time around. The one plot point that had me almost spitting out my beer last night is that they decided to [as what follows is a spoiler I've put it in as white text on white, so if you absolutely must find out what happened click and scroll your mouse over the space below]

TORY VENTED CALLY TYROL OUT INTO SPACE BECAUSE SHE HEARD THE FINAL FIVE CYLONS IN CONVERSATION!!!!

I can't wait to see what they come up with next week :)

River Tales

Just out of curiosity, our Sunday walk this last weekend started at Greenwich and, without any forward planning, we decided to head west along the riverside towards Southwark. We passed through three boroughs altogether, and weren't expecting a lot of what we found...

The first curiosity we came across was a monument to Tsar Peter I of Russia, better known as Peter the Great. Apparently as a youth he came to Deptford to study shipbuilding, and this is what the monument commerates. It was erected in 2001 though, so as always the Borough Council took it's time. It's a curious thing, the Tsar's head seems rather too small, and there's a sinister looking 'height-challenged' person standing next to him, I wonder what that's about??



Our next discovery was the strangely named 'Twinkle Park'. A delightful little space, but hemmed in by an old council block on one side and derelict buildings on the other it seemed, well, a bit odd.



Next we came across Greenland Dock, which I didn't even know was there before we saw it right there in front of us. I'm always studying maps and I'm amazed that I've not spotted it given that it's almost the size of the Millwall Dock on Isle of Dogs, and it's also London's oldest. There weren't as many boats moored as you see in other docks, but what was there was quite unusual, including the 'Wibbly Wobbly' floating pub, and a curious US Army vessel that looked like it was straight out of an episode of Popeye!



Our final discovery was the Surrey Docks City Farm, which had the usual collection of farmyard animals, including a large number of kids (of the furry kind, and the non-furry, rather chavvy kind) and a little lamb [ahhh]. There was quite a bit of unusual sculpture dotted around too, inlcuding a long row of bronze animals leading towards the entrance, but it seems that this place has had more than it's share of bad luck. What would have been an impressive building at its centre had been gutted by fire. It shows how well-known this place is because I can't find any mention of it in the news online - very sad that this place is less-cared for than it should be, given what it offers to the local community.



After a couple of miles of walking we finally reached the Hilton Docklands Pier, where we jumped on the small ferry that crosses the river to Canary Wharf opposite, and we were almost home.

From River Walk Ap...

As ever, I took far too many pictures and they're all here for you to look over. The blog posts will keep flowing, promise. There might be lots of colour and lots of smells next weekend... watch this space

The Hustings

Well I'm back after a protracted break - blame the fact that I spent a few weeks tinkering with a new PC I've just built which allows me to play all those games that had been sitting on the shelf for months... somehow doing anything productive with my machine just went out of the window! I'm better now, unless a Little Sister creeps out from under my computer that is…

Anyways, on Saturday morning I went to the London mayoral hustings organised by Stonewall, encouraged by the other half who is quite worked up by the impending election for London's mayor :) The event took place in the main auditorium at the National Film Theatre, and the big three + two candidates were on the stage; Mayor Ken, Boris Johnson, Brian Paddick, Sian Berry from the Green Party and Lindsey German from the Left List (I'd not heard of them before this election but, reading their material, it appears that they seem to be coming from an old Labour/Socialist direction).

There were some interesting debates and Mayor Ken, Sian Berry and Lindsey German came across as very solid candidates, even if Ken was a bit smug. Whilst Brian Paddick is obviously very capable he doesn't sell himself very well, and comes across as rather bland and unexciting - which is unfortunate because I think given his organisational skils I'm sure he'd make rather a good mayor. I just don't see people voting for him in sufficient numbers to make it happen though. Boris, in contrast, was much larger than life, but other than bendy buses and cycle routes he doesn't seem to have a handle on any other issues - some of his comments had the whole audience writhing with embarrassment at times. And when he prompted laughter, it was entirely 'at him' rather than 'with him'. I feel for him, poor man. Completely and utterly out of his depth… his publicity machine however is top notch. Check out his website, it's the only impressive thing about his entire campaign...

From Mayoral Husti...

UPDATE Well my postal voting slips have now arrived, I've completed them and they're going in the mailbox today - I'm happy with the choices I've made. Make sure your choices count too - get yourself down to the polling station on 1 May.

Nos vacances à Bruxelles - Overall impressions

Well we're back from Brussels. I don't know why people say that it's a boring destination - we were there for four days and didn't get to see everything we wanted to see. There are as many museums as there are in London, restaurants and chocolate shops everywhere, and lovely little 'estaminets' that serve traditional belgian beers and food (more about those later).

It is a rather expensive destination though; don't expect to spend anything less than about £30 a head for dinner, including drinks. We also got the worst of the European weather over the weekend - it snowed every day - click on the image below for the big version where you can see the snow flying past our hotel room window!



I'll be posting something about the holiday each day for the next few days, and there are over 500 photos to upload. I can't really fault it for a weekend break. If you've never been you should really get over there - there's something for everyone. They even knew I was coming...

Beer, Chocolate, Sleet & Snow

Well there'll be no blogposts for a few days because I'm off to Brussels for 'le weekend'. The BBC weather report says sleet and snow are predicted with a minimum temperature of -6C on Saturday night, so there'll be a lot of nipping in and out of warm little bars I'm sure. There'll be some extensive blogging as soon as I return so watch this space :)

Happy Easter readers!