A few photos from Soho...







Few more here.

Labels: christmas, london, photos

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Some photos from Friday's Offline club night in Brixton.

Labels: brixton, offline, photos

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There's a fascinating exhibition at the British Library revealing Britain's "1,000-year struggle for our freedoms and rights."




A tour of historic struggles for freedom, there's over 200 iconic documents and objects on display including the well known - like the Magna Carta of 1215, and the 1649 death warrant of King Charles I - and lesser known documents like the hand-written minutes of the Putney debates, recording  the arguments between Cromwell's New Model Army and the radical Levellers.









It's free and well worth a visit. Finishes March 1st 2009.

Labels: london, photos

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I've finished posting up the photos from our fabulous walking holiday in north Wales.

Here's a few of the photos from the report. Check out the rest here.



View from where we were staying. Not bad, eh?




Most of the urban crew get ready for a walk to Llangollen.


Walking over the mountain to Llangollen.


Llangollen Railway.






We were lucky with the weather except on Sunday afternoon when it pissed down. So we went back to the bunkhouse and got pissed instead!


Walking over the Chirk aqueduct.


Through the long and very dark tunnel!


Heading home along a shorter tunnel....

Labels: photos, wales, walks

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There's been some fantastic autumnal sunsets around Brixton over the last couple of days.

Here's a few pics:

Labels: brixton, photos

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Here's a few swifty snaps I took on my new Lumix X3 camera while wandering around London yesterday.

The light was grey, the weather damp and I had a thumping hangover, but the camera did a grand job!

Labels: london, photos

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On the weekend, I stayed with the urban75 walk club massive in a lovely bunkhouse in a remote part of north Wales.

Here's a photo from the walk from Glyn Ceiriog to Llangollen.



Full feature coming soon!

Labels: photos, wales, walks

A few photographs taken from a very wet walk around Soho and Oxford Street on Saturday. It was a miserable day!


Great Newport Street, Leicester Square


Foyles bookstore, Charing Cross Road


Wet and windy on Oxford Street


Red brolly and puddles


Umbrellas by Oxford Circus tube

More London photos

Labels: london, photos

Following on from my photo feature in September last year, I grabbed a few more photos today of the Grade II listed gasometer.

You can clearly see the parts of the other dismantled gasometers stacked up for storage in some of the pics.

 


 

Gasometer, Kings Cross

Labels: london, photos

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Wandering past Soho, we were surprised to see the buildings along the short stretch of Manette Street (off Charing Cross in Central London) having giant photocopies of people's faces slapped all over them.

The work is by paste-up supremo JR and features photos of women from Morro da Providencia, Rio de Janeiro, "for whom crime, violent loss of loved ones and arbitrary repression are part of everyday life."

Labels: london, photos

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There's a great free exhibition of rock photos by Keith Morris at Proud Galleries, 32 John Adam St, WC2  (back of The Strand).

There's excellent archive photos of the Damned, John Cale, a disarmingly youthful-looking Elvis Costello, the Stones, The Who, Tom Petty, Led Zep and others, but it's the Nick Drake collection that really stands out.

There's a host of unused photos from album cover shoots and you can really see that Drake was every bit as shy, uncomfortable and as troubled as his music suggests.

It's well worth a visit.

Labels: music, photos

Ouch! My head! Last night was fantastic at JAMM with a great line up of acts. Here's some pics:

Labels: offline, photos

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We managed to get in a few good walks while we were staying in Cartmel in Cumbria, right on the edge of the Lake District.

Here's some photos:












Cartmel To Hampsfield Fell walk
Cartmel to Haverthwaite walk
Dalegarth station to Dalegarth Falls walk

Labels: cartmel, dalegarth, lake district, photos

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I've been in Nottingham twice in the last few weeks - once en route to the Indietracks festival, the second time in rather sadder circumstances as we travelled up for the funeral of the lovely Maria, a marvelously brave and strong woman who will be missed by all.

Here's a few photos:

Labels: Nottingham, photos

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Labels: london, photos

We went along to a rare open day at Battersea Power Station where ambitious new development plans were being shown off.

Expect a  full photo report soon, but here's a photo of the fabulous old building:

Labels: battersea power station, london, photos

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The weather continues its un-summer like path (which is fine by me seeing as I prefer the golden browns of Autumn and the crisp air of wintery mornings!)...

Here's some pics taken from my window:



Red chimney pots and Crystal Palace transmitter.


Rainbow against a dark summer sky, Denmark Hill.


Tulse Hill church spires.

Labels: brixton, photos

We enjoyed a lovely picnic* in Greenwich Royal Park, which covers 183 acres of land originally laid out in the 17th century.  (*before the braying yuppies turned up)

Greenwich Park was once a hunting park and now forms one of the largest single green spaces in south east London. Enclosed as far back as 1433, it's now part of the protected Greenwich World Heritage Site.



Looking down at the The Queen's House, Greenwich, which was built in 1614-1617 by architect Inigo Jones

Subsequently altered by Jones around 1635 for Henrietta Maria, the House is now regarded as one of the most important buildings in architectural history, being Britain's first consciously classical building.

The Queen's House is now both a grade I listed building and a Scheduled ancient monument.



Lurking inside this 45-ton bronze-clad truncated cone is the new Peter Harrison Planetarium, a 120-seat digital laser planetarium, opened in May, 2007.



Old and new. Canary Wharf with the Royal Naval College in the foreground.

More photos here.

Labels: greenwich, photos, walk

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Continuing our walk from the O2 dome around the Greenwich Peninsula, we walked around the Royal Naval College, before popping into the excellent Greenwich Market for some fresh bread, cheese and olives:



Formerly occupied by the pre-Tudor 'Palace at Greenwich' of 1428, the current buildings were planned by Sir Christopher Wren with various big name architects like Hawksmoor, Vanbrugh and James 'Athenian' Stuart completing the job during the first half of the eighteenth century .




Old fella checking out the sights.



 In the food market.



 The temporary 60m high Greenwich Wheel in front of the Pepy's Building Visitor Centre stands taller than Nelson's Column and offers panoramic views across London.



Greenwich Church St.

Labels: greenwich, market, photos

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Here's some more pics from  our wander along the Thameside path from the Millennium Dome into Greenwich. More photos soon!











It was nice to find what felt like a piece of 'old' London - it reminded me of when I walked along the old docks before Canary Wharf sprung up.



More photos here

Labels: dome, london, photos

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Millennium Dome main arena, 2000.

Now rebranded as The O2 and part of the 'O2 entertainment district' (you what?!), I've always rather liked the structure and even enjoyed visiting it back in 2000.

We took a stroll around the area yesterday as part of a lovely walk into Greenwich - here's some photos of the redeveloped O2 site.





More pics and feature

Labels: dome, london, photos

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Some snaps from my wander around central London yesterday:



Street artist in Leicester Square.



The half-demolished 1962 Swiss Centre in Leicester Square. The building was originally designed to provide a showcase for Switzerland and hosted a Swiss bank and the Swiss National Tourist Board.



The original Empire Theatre opened with a production of 'Chilperic' which was a 'Grand Musical Spectacular' by Florimund Herve in 1884.
Just three years later it had been become 'The Empire Theatre of Varieties,' reverting back to The Empire Theatre in 1898 before finally closing and being demolished in January 1927.

The second Empire Theatre opened as a cinema in November 1928, although it still put on occasional ballet and dancing shows before closing in May 1961 after a 76 week run of 'Ben Hur.'

After a major reconstruction, the third incarnation of the Empire Theatre opened in December 1962, and now hosts a cinema and casino.



The 20 feet tall tower of the art deco Odeon Leicester Square, once the 'flagship' cinema of Oscar Deutsch's Odeon Theatres Ltd.

Built on the site of the Alhambra Theatre (1883-1936), the Odeon opened for business on 2nd November 1937, offering 2,116 seats - and all of them covered in mock leopard-skin!



Trafalgar Square at night.




More photos

Labels: leicester square, london, photos, trafalgar square

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I went along to what was billed as 'London's Largest Living Room' in the courtyard of Somerset House on Saturday and have to say as I was a little underwhelmed.







Somerset House is till a great place to visit and a lovely peaceful retreat in the heart of central London. It's even better in the summer when the fountains are working.



Echoing its naval heritage, there's some elaborate and rather bonkers nautical stone carvings on the exterior walls of Somerset House.

More photos.

Labels: london, photos, somerset house

Some more photos from my Saturday stroll:



This elaborate piece of punctuation-untroubled stone lettering informs passers by that:

"In this court in the 18th century stood the Fountain Tavern where the political opponents of Sir Robert Walpole met using the title of the Fountain Club, also the Coal Hole the meeting place of the Wolf Club of which about 1826 Edmund Kean was a leading member".

In case you didn't know (and I certainly didn't) external link Edmund Kean (1789- 1833) was an English actor, regarded in his time as the greatest ever.

I'd heard of external link Sir Robert Walpole (1676 - 1745) of course - he was a bigshot statesman in Georgian times.



The 'Armchair Theatre' space outside the National Theatre.



I continue to be baffled by the growing collection of bizarre 'human statues' that line the South Bank between Hungerford and Westminster bridges. Why do people do it? And why do people give them money?



There's no sign of the sun, but that didn't stop these folks in Victoria Embankment Gardens.

More

Labels: london, photos, southbank

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On Saturday, I popped along to what was billed as a "national demonstration and carnival parade against fascism and racism" in Trafalgar Square put on by Love Music Hate Racism (LMHR) and Unite Against Fascism (UAF).



It wasn't exactly packed...

Labels: london, photos, protest

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A few snaps taken from my stroll around Cambridge before Strawberry Fair.



Cambridge is stuffed full o'history - among the great and the good who have attended their hoity toity universities include William Harvey, who discovered the circulation of the blood in 1628; Isaac Newton, who worked on gravitation in 1687; Charles Darwin, the father of evolutionary theory in 1859; Ernest Rutherford, who split the atom in 1903; and scientist Professor Stephen Hawking who wrote the best selling 'Brief History of Time' book in 1988 (like many others, I failed to see that particular book through to the end).



The former home of Jim Ede - formerly a curator at the Tate Gallery - houses a superb collection of 20th century art including works by Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Alfred Wallis, Ben and Winifred Nicholson, Christopher Wood and Henri Gaudier-Breszka.







Faced with an urgent need for a new water supply, Thomas Hobson constructed a causeway in 1614 which transported water from springs at Nine Wells near Shelford outside Cambridge into the city centre.

Although the conduit head has been moved from the market place to the corner of Lensfield Road, the water channels still run along Trumpington Street.

Incidentally, Thomas Hobson gave the world the expression, 'Hobson's choice' (meaning there's only a take-it-or-leave-it option available).

Hobson (1544–1630) was also a livery stable owner at Cambridge, England who, in order to rotate the use of his horses, offered customers the choice of either taking the horse in the stall nearest the door or taking none at all.

Cambridge photos

Labels: cambridge, photos

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Sunset in Brixton, London.

Labels: brixton, photos

We popped in to see this exhibition by photographer Clive Boursnell documenting the last days of the old central London fruit, vegetable and flower markets at Covent Garden. It's only on till June 21, so hurry!



We got talking to an old bloke who worked at the market and he pointed out some of his old mates in the photos, ruefully adding, "Most of them are now dead."



I also took some photos while ambling around Bloomsbury and Holborn. Here's a few:


Pearly King of Thornton Heath browsing a bookstore on Charing Cross Road.


Lovely Georgian terrace on Southampton Row.


We popped in The Enterprise pub, 38 Red Lion Street for a swifty. It's a lovely traditional boozer.

A walk around Bloomsbury and Holborn

Labels: bloomsbury, covent garden, photos

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The British Transport police at Cambridge Station were heavy handed last year, but this year they managed to add even more layers of harassment for people coming to town for the annual free festival.



Arriving passengers were herded through a long, slow moving cattle run of zig-zag fencing, and then past a sniffer dog. Some were taken out for body searches.



The BTP operation at the station was completely out of scale, with something like 50 officers - a mix of regulars and PCSOs - backed by dogs, screening pens, fences, operations trucks and specially erected search tents.



It was a ludicrously over-the-top operation - even tourists visiting for the day were subjected to the same treatment. It felt like we'd arrived at a police state.

Labels: cambridge, photos, police

To celebrate the reissue of PG Wodehouse's books by Arrow Books, a picnic was held in Russell Square on a delightfully warm spring Sunday afternoon.



I popped along for a nibble before heading off to take the photos at a friend's wedding in Marylebone.

Labels: london, photos, wodehouse

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This was a heap of fun.


The lively Betty and the Werewolves.


Actionettes getting it on between band sets.


The Priscillas giving it large.


The sensational Peggy Sue and the Pirates. They were absolutely awesome - a bit like a younger, more chaotic Be Good Tanyas. Be sure to check 'em out if you can .

I'm trying to get them to play Offline but they replied (nicely) with the the worst words a free gig promoter can hear: "Talk to our agent."

That invariably translates into, "not a chance, chief!"

Labels: camden, gigs, photos

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A few photos from a short (6 mile) birthday walk around Ashtead and Epsom Commons on the borders of Surrey and London.



Ashtead station faces right out into the countryside, so you're straight off the train and getting down with nature in seconds.



It was pretty much deserted for the walk, but the ground got very muddy later on, forcing us city slickers to delicately tip toe over deep, troublesome puddles.



Groovy stripy tree.



Cast iron London boundary markers were situated in amongst the trees. Which was a bit odd.

Read the full story of the walk here: Ashtead and Epsom Commons - a short six mile, birthday walk

Labels: photos, surrey, walk

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I've just posted up my photo report of this glorious day. And there's also a short video of delirious Cardiff fans after we scored the winning goal too. Oh yes indeedy!


Snowball fight in Brixton to start the day.


Behold! The majesty of Wembley!





Check out the full match report by our roving ace reporter Paul Davies here: Barnsley 0 Cardiff 1

Labels: cardiff city, FA cup, photos, wembley

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I'm slowly getting through the huge backlog of photos from our December 2007 trip to New York. Here's some updates - hope you like 'em!





New York street photos part 1





New York street photos part 2





New York street photos part 3

Labels: new york, photos

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A few snaps from around London town, taken with my trusty Ricoh GX100 camera.


Man with a hat, Bedford Square.


Penguin and passer by.


Bins, Ogle Street.

More London photos

Labels: london, photos

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We've just come back from a fantastic walking weekend in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire.



Once scattered with corduroy and worsted mills, the area has retained a rugged northern beauty and now thrives as a major tourist destination with a very healthy 'alternative' community.



We loved the place and the people. Above are some photos from a lovely night in the excellent Fox & Goose boozer.

Expect some more photos soon!

Labels: hebden bridge, photos, yorkshire

Thanks to the lovely Siobhan in Philly, the Philadelphia photo gallery has now updated with in-depth captions detailing the history and local quirks of this fine city.



These curious hand made tiles with weird messages could be found all around Philly - check out the link to find out more.

Philly photos

Labels: philadelphia, photos

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There's severe gales and heavy rain blowing in from the Atlantic tonight.



Here's the view over Brixton right now.

Labels: brixton, photos

I've scanned in a few photos from a train trip I took nearly twenty years ago.



Travelling out of Cardiff with my then girlfriend Debbie, I doubt if we knew just how quickly this scene would be transformed. Now there's barely any industry left in the Welsh Valleys, thanks to the Evil Thatch and her Tory cohorts.

More pics

Labels: photos, railways, wales

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