I’m sure I speak for all the authors here as well as our many readers by saying that the castrophy that has hit our sister city New Orleans as well as many other harder hit smaller coastal towns are in our thoughts and prayers. Times like these test the resolve of many and highlight the weakenesses of the few. Hopefully some sembalnce of order as well as safety will soon be restored to New Orleans.
So according to BBC News, from October, there will be screens on some buses in central London, displaying adverts. They’re starting with 25 and the displays will be half the size of bus posters. The screens are only going o be on the pedestrian side of the bus, to prevent accidents.
But what about when a bus isn’t in the left lane? What if they’re in middle lanes? Then they’ll be distracting to drivers. Or, worse, when they’re turning at big intersections where there’s already enough confusion. This just has bad idea written all over it, if you ask me. Aren’t we distracted enough already by advertising? Is anyone else sick of products being thrust in your face all the time?
There are already a bunch of TV screen adverts around TCR - on the walls as you go up the escalators and at bus stops, too. I’m not sure of what I think about those, either.
Oh well. Whatever.
Is anyone else completely digging this awesome weather we’re having? I was worried this morning because it was so hazy/foggy, but boy has it cleared up. Why couldn’t it have been like this all summer?
This weekend I enjoyed the great weather by taking my camera out and wandering around the City for a few hours. You can see a bunch of those pictures in the banner at the top of the page, but there are also a bunch on flickr.
#flickr_badge_source_txt {padding:0; font: 11px Arial, Helvetica, Sans serif; color:#666666;}
#flickr_badge_icon {display:block !important; margin:0 !important; border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0) !important;}
#flickr_icon_td {padding:0 5px 0 0 !important;}
.flickr_badge_image {text-align:center !important;}
.flickr_badge_image img {border: 1px solid black !important;}
#flickr_www {display:block; padding:0 10px 0 10px !important; font: 11px Arial, Helvetica, Sans serif !important; color:#3993ff !important;}
#flickr_badge_uber_wrapper a:hover,
#flickr_badge_uber_wrapper a:link,
#flickr_badge_uber_wrapper a:active,
#flickr_badge_uber_wrapper a:visited {text-decoration:none !important; background:inherit !important;color:#3993ff;}
#flickr_badge_wrapper {border: solid 1px #000000}
#flickr_badge_source {padding:0 !important; font: 11px Arial, Helvetica, Sans serif !important; color:#666666 !important;}
| www.flickr.com |
I love the City.
I’m ashamed to say that after 4 years of living in London, this was the first year I went to the Notting Hill Carnival, even though some Continental Europeans specially make the trip down for this event (case in point: my colleague from our Madrid office made a weekend trip for the Carnival).
Beautifully, the weather was sunny. On the streets — girls in light summer dresses, flowing skirts and spaghetti strap tops; men of various shapes and sizes unabashedly topless.
Food stalls serving undifferentiated Carribean fare. Loud music. Almost as many policemen as spectators, it almost seemed. Stacks of garbage. Plastic cups with leftover beer. People strolling aimlessly in different directions.
There was a very relaxed atmosphere, and a sense of live-and-let-live harmony.
It was a pleasant experience to be sure. But I felt that the San Francisco Carnival I attended last summer was more festive - it was more crowded (not necessarily a good thing admittedly), and the floats were more vibrant. My main gripe was that the parade in this year’s Notting Hill Carnival was very erratic. Instead of a constant stream of floats, it was more of a stop-start trickle, with long waits in between for the next procession.
Some pictures attached (more to come in future days when the server stops acting up)
(more…)
I was off for a walk around my local Lloyd Park
in Walthamstow today. It felt positively Autumnal, being rather grey and overcast.
After a wander around the park and a look at the new embroidery exhibition in the William Morris Gallery , I came upon this unusual sight.
A pigeon tree
It is that time of year again when my mother comes to stay with me, and I go to places that I would not otherwise. Yesterday it was Capel Manor in Enfield.
It is an interesting place for a visit if you like gardens and plants. It is full of many different styles of show gardens, that are very useful if you want to consider redesigning or adding to your own.
They mainly tend to make me feel both envious and a little guilty, as my garden is both small and rather neglected.
A fun day out though, if you fancy something a little different.
The perfect way to travel from London to Paris is of course taking the Eurostar from London-Waterloo to Paris-Gare du Nord. Trip time is less than 3 hrs and it takes you from central London, to central Paris.
Definitely better than taking BA these days…. hmmmm.. maybe not.
Nothing too serious and it looks like Eurostar have covered their bases. Hope to be in Paris tomorrow morning!
Just off the soon to be closed Middlesex Hospital on Hanson Street is this little gem of a sandwich shop. They make the best salt beef baps with all the trimmings and are really friendly as well. Go there, you’ll love it.
Sean
ps this new burst of piccy aking is down to this little beauty. ;-)
(more…)
Yesterday evening after work I caught these two just outside Covent Garden on way my way to meet a colleague from work who is leaving for better pay etc…The fool.
(more…)
The Canadian version of Auntie, the CBC, has locked out its employees during a labour dispute, so they’re showing BBC news nightly on TV there.
Enterprising journalists with time and creativity on their hands are producing underground versions of their daily radio shows as podcasts (available as a feed here).
I love the do-it-yourself effort with the pro radio voices, and there’s some cute satire about receiving the news from the UK everyday: “now for the weather in London, TottingHAM, Titmuss Sheds and Liverpool.”
Off to New York in a month, has anyone got any tips?
