How about a post that actually does justice to the title of this blog?
I was a little early for my Saturday film and on my way to the cinema I passed The Chelsea Teapot. It is a relatively new cafe (they have been around for 3 months now) and it looked so lovely I had to step inside and have a tea there.
From the official Ding Day home page:
Wednesday, 9th September will see Londoners create music on the streets with their bicycle bells as the second annual Ding Day takes place. Designed to add a little fun to a cyclists day, the concept is simple and open to everyone. All that is needed is a bike and a bell. The idea – to make cycling London streets a joyful and happy experience.
The concept is simple:
On Wednesday 9th September whenever you see another cyclist you give a little ‘ding ding’ on your bell, and they will return your greeting with another ‘ding ding’. From sun up to sun down, no matter where you are in the saddle on Ding Day, remember to ding your bell.
The idea behind Ding Day:
To create a fun experience for cyclists and locals in and around London, with the hope of creating more of a sense of community amongst fellow cyclists, including commuters, parents, children, basically any cyclist young or old. It’s free and open to everyone.
It is a celebration of cycling as one of the most environmentally friendly, healthy and quickest way of getting around our great city.
More on the Ding Day home page / Ding day twitter / Ding Day Facebook.
I am in!
On my biking trip through Regent’s Park on Saturday, I suddenly found myself in front of a giraffe. Or rather two of them! I knew that London Zoo is located in Regent’s Park, but I had no idea you could see the giraffes this closely from the road.
I would also like to add that I don’t recommend you to visit the zoo, despite it’s beautiful location in the park and next to the Regent’s Canal, to see Gideon in this tiny confined space broke my heart. How bored he must be. Gideon does live quite close to me, so I intend to visit him regularly.
And while we are at Animal news, here are two more stories that will make you smile:
Yesterday the evening weather in London was so nice that I took my camera and positioned myself on Piccadilly Circus for a while. I took loads of photos but only found a couple of them worthy enough to go on display.
I tried ghost people before in New York, but you can do that in London too, look at these Ghost legs in front of the bus!
There are car stripes and the real London Painting with Light one. (I did try the same experiment in New York, on Times Square.)
And there is the brave bicycle lady (without helmet mind you!) who claims Piccadilly circus for herself for a moment right in the middle of the cars, buses and cabs madness, wonderful.
And there is bus number 19 in motion and I love, love, love this photograph. You can just about recognize the shape of a cab coming around the corner.
I probably don’t follow any of the how-to-take-a-photograph rules, but sometimes you just need to take your camera and play. You can be surprised with the results.
After another day of working in the Oxfam shop yesterday I must say that I am really starting to like it. I most like to work behind the till which I did all day yesterday. I like the interaction with the people buying books or music. Some are very talkative, some are very grumpy but most of them are friendly people. And I also figured out that I like this work much more than my paid day job work …
The shop is located on Marylebone Highstreet (a 5 minute walk from Baker Street station and not too far from Oxford Street either) and attracts both the very posh and the very down to earth (and everything in between), and both the very young (children) and the somwhat older.
Here are a couple of notes I made in some quiet moments (of which there were very few):
This American could not resist the temptation of owning The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan on vinyl again. And he didn’t even have a record player at home he said!
I will be back working in the shop next Sunday so come in and say hi if you happen to be in the neighbourhood.
Thirty street pianos have been installed on streets, in public squares and parks, train stations, and markets in London, they are a part of the Play me, I’m yours project which is currently visiting London. “Like a creative blank canvas, the pianos are there for any member of the public to play and engage with. The pianos will be in place until July 13th, after which time they’ll be donated to local schools and community groups.”
I stumbled upon the first on on Leicester Square where girl was playing a classical piece, and when I visited Portobello Road last week there was an older man playing a beautiful piece of music. He had parked his glass of beer on the piano and went for it, impressing all bystanders. What a wonderful idea.
Sing us a song, you’re the piano man
Sing us a song tonight
Well, we’re all in the mood for a melody
And you’ve got us feelin’ alright
On another note, the Fourth Plinth on Trafalgar Square has been turned into a living Art work. In stead of having a statue or sculpture there, living people, one at a time, one hour at the time, are taking stand on the plinth and do whatever they want to do making a living portrait of the UK.
There is a live webstream here: One and Another website. Or if you are in London, go visit Trafalgar Square, the event will continue until September. You can also apply for a place on the Plinth, should you be interested!
The live webstream is kind of fascinating.
First an update from the moving front:
I had planned to meet quite a lot of people tonight who wanted to have a look at the two rooms available in my current flat, but I fear that the planned tube strike from 7pm tonight might mess things up a bit. Just when I started to worry about that, my Italian landlord called, he is currently in the UK and said he was in no hurry at all to get the rooms filled. So I guess that means I will stop looking and he can sort it out himself. Which is good news – no more effort required from me then, me thinks.
My IKEA sofa bed has been sold and will be picked up on the 28th of June.
I sent 2 letters of recommendation to my new landlord for my approval (should not be a problem at all according to Angus)
I have ordered moving boxes and will start packing soon.
I need:
to find a reliable man with a van who can move the boxes to the new place on the 1st of July.
to sort out a Royal Mail auto mail redirection for my post
to quit all bills and send a change of address to a long list of companies
Moving date still set for the 1st of July which is 22 days from now. It can’t go fast enough for me.
This weekend I had my good friend over and we have been enjoying London. Here are some things that we can highly recommend:
We had a great weekend! And you?
You know how it goes with film premieres and me. I never really want to go but I always end up going. And they always start out bad and then they tend to end, well, better. Sometimes they end great, and sometimes they end like “wow”.
Did I just say “wow”. Oh yes, wow doesn’t even get close. And I know I am too old for this shit, but bugger that. Today will be a memorable day. This was the premiere of The Boat That Rocked.
And be warned, there are images of that man inside.
The Berkeley (Knightsbridge – London) does not look grand from the outside, but you know it is expensive when you spot the fully hotel-uniformed men (beautiful long coat, bowler hat, gloves) standing outside the door.
And I was waiting for one of them to tap me on the shoulder saying “where do you think you are going – you wear sneakers and jeans – how dare you step into our hotel!”. But they did not, in stead they smiled and were friendly and said “Good afternoon madam” and pushed the push door for me. See, that I like.
Here are some notes:
When you step into the lobby you sink until your neck in the carpet. OK, not exactly but it felt that way, it is very soft and beautiful and you just hope you don’t happen to have a piece of sticky chewing gum underneath your shoe when you walk there.
We had afternoon tea (high tea) and the people pouring us the tea wore white gloves. Also – whenever you had managed to drink your cup, they were already standing behind you asking if you wanted more. I drank a lot of cups.
The first time the girl serving me tea asked me if I wanted “English Breakfast”. Which I thought was an odd question, I was there at 3.30pm, and on my watch that is way passed breakfast time, I was here for the cakes, not for bacon and eggs and beans on toast! So I looked puzzled at her. And she suddenly realised what I was thinking and so did I and we both had to laugh about it. English Breakfast Tea she meant!
And then there were the things we could eat:
I have no idea what fancies are, but I did fancy the cakes we got, they tasted like heaven.
I always thought that it wouldn’t be me, hanging around in a posh hotel like this. But I could get used to handsome man in nice uniforms and a bowler hat holding the door open for me. And I had never had a high tea before, but I can surely recommend it. If you want to experience a tea like this yourself, it’s £35,=.
This was an event organised by London Girl Geek Dinners. I normally hate networking events like these, but I have visited two of their events now and I must say that the girls attending these meetings are the exact right group for me. The meetings are about gadgets, web and geekery stuff in stead of makeup, high heels and the latest fashion news which suits me quite well.
This particular event was sponsored by Eurostar, who made a short presentation about a web application they had developed. Eurostar had invited Brussel and Paris geek girls to London, and the tea was a good opportunity to mingle with them. There were some very nice people at this event and I will certainly attend more of these meetings. (and no they are not always in places like these!)
OK not really, but this must be the coolest address in London. (It’s in the City of London)
I found a new flatmate for the place I currently live, she will move in by the end of March. I put my search for another place on lower priority. After having seen a couple of rooms in different places I realise that I live in a pretty nice room. I’ll keep an eye open for a great place but there is no rush.
Banksy, on the corner of Portobello Road and Acklam Road, taken this morning
Imagine you have just painted the outdoor wall of your house beautifully white this summer. And one morning you wake up and find this huge graffiti on your white wall.
That would piss most people off, unless the graffiti is made by an artist called Banksy. Banksy (wikipedia) is a kind of a legend in London, his stencil art can be found several places in London, but no one knows his identity. Banksy still goes around London (and many other places) leaving his work, but some of his artwork has also been sold on auctions, for prices as high as £288,000.
Which explains why, on the above picture, the people living there chose to cover it with a plastic layer to conserve it, in stead of angrily repainting the wall. I wonder if it raises the value of their house.
Banksy official website
And those people were lucky, it could have been a version with a less fortunate subject …
If you want to look it up, it’s on the corner of Portobello Road and Acklam Road, here it is on a google map.
(And a slightly larger version of the image here)
I quite like his work I have to admit. But what do you think about grafitti?
BBC London picked up on the closure of the beautiful New Piccadilly Cafe, you can watch the video clip here.
Meet Lorenzo, watch the waiters in their white uniforms, hear the bells of the cash register, enjoy the gargling pink coffee machine, check out the funky 50’s menu card and recognize scenes of The Girl in the Cafe.
And feel sad, angry, frustrated and heart broken about the fact that this is happening. That’s what I do.
No I didn’t immediately role into an after-birthday-depression. I spend my birthday and weekend away from my computer and with Billy (Elliot and Mack), apes and my mother.
And this must be my new favourite picture.
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Tour de France in London
A few words on the Tour de France in London.
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When I woke up this morning I felt very weird. Weird that I didn’t need to go to work, weird wondering what I have done – quitting it, and well, my head is just still a bit confused about what is happening in my life at the moment. It will get better soon I’m sure.
A way to get me out of that kind of state of mind is the cinema, the cinema is my second home. Yes, you probably knew that already.
The first in a long row of blockbusters hitting a cinema near you this year is Spiderman 3. I loved Spiderman 1, was less enthusiastic about 2, and number 3, well …
(there might be some spoilers ahead)
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Tea on Trafalgar Square
I feel like someone pressed the ImprobaBILLity drive. Three times in a row or something. Which of course hasn’t been the case. S(larti) is first coming over tomorrow, but that’s a complete different story.
“Button your shirt” Davy says, being remarkably fresh after the night sitting with Nelson, watching it all from above.
Lucky devil.
“What shirt, buttons where?” I stumble.
“The shirt you’ve got on”
“I don’t know how to, I am too tired”
“Yes you do, come on”
I managed. Lacing my shoes took another 20 minutes.
And when I stepped out of the door the world looked a bit, ehrm blurry.
“Sure you haven’t forgotten something?” I hear Davy shout from inside.
“No. But it surely looks blurry outside. Weird!”
“Maybe putting your glasses on might do the trick”
“Oh. Yeah”
I am so tired – hence a chaotic post.
There were 4382 5567 silly people (including me) who registered and met up to participate in this event.
Awesome. Absolutely awesome.
(Update: pictures added)
Nelson on Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square seems to be the place in London for extraordinary stunts and ideas. On Tuesday there is the 75.000 cups of tea event. But it looks like I am going to be there the day before as well!
On Monday, the 23rd of April:
Coconut Orchestra world record attempt: Monty Python’s Spamalot, the London stage production inspired by’ Monty Python and the Holy Grail’, will lead on an attempt to break the world record for number of people playing in a coconut orchestra, currently held by New York with 1785 people. Registration from 5pm onwards. Coconut Orchestra rehearsal at 6.30pm. World record attempt at 7pm. Be there to guarantee your place in history. Coconuts will be provided!
Count me in!
After the coconutophobic experience there is a free screening of Monty Python and the Holy Grail on Trafalgar Square(15) (7.30pm – 9pm).
All this is a part of the St. George’s Day celebration in London.
