What does a video about Hurricane Katrina have to do with London:

1) London’s levee system is mentioned at the end of the video
2) I’m moving from London to New Orleans on Monday
3) Londoners watch Youtube (if you click through to the video on youtube and watch and comment, the video will rise to the top thus highlighting the fact that what happened in New Orleans after Katrina was a man-made disaster).

Stoke Newington is CRAWLING with police this morning. You’ve never seen so many police. All over the frigging place.

“What are they doing?”, you ask. Busting a major crack ring? On the trail of a terrorist cell?

Nope.

Catching cyclists.

Yep - you heard me right. They have Stokey on lock-down so that they can bust people for riding down alleys without dismounting, running red lights, etc.

OK - bad cycling annoys me as much as the next person. I can’t stand the little toads that ride at speed down the pavement - I just shout at them: “are you too frightened to ride on the road?” And running a red light when there are pedestrians around is a no-no for me too.

But seriously - a police crackdown, utilising this many officers to catch a few mildly anti-social cyclists is just absurd. Is this what I pay them for?

A friend of mine was fined £30 by a copper the other day. The crime: going across the pavement with his bike in order to lock it to a railing. He freewheeled the bike, standing on the pedal, like you do. Result a £30 fine. Frigging ridiculous.

So - the question is: now that cycling has begun to really take off as a form of green, healthy transport for Londoners (post-Olympic effect too), who has ordered the police to crack down on cyclists in this absurd manner?

Hey police cadets - looking forward to a glorious career of hassling cyclists?

For the second time this week I was late this morning. There were 5 Fire engines, two police vans, and a emergency response unit as I exited Hammersmith pink line and made my way over to the Broadway Centre…

A bomb maybe? or a security alert? NO… a fucking suicide.

I am awfully sorry if you think I am being unsympathetic, but I don’t think its fair. I have suffered depression, as have many other londoner’s. In fact the Metro pointed out this morning that 3 men in Britain commit suicide everyday. It is a sad thing. But WHY OH WHY do they feel the need to do it

a/ in front of a train - it MUST hurt
b/at the busiest train station they can think of
c/ at 8.30 in the morning.

Someone at work said its might be the last attempt to piss off a world that’s dealt them badly. Well I say get a bloody therapist or do it somewhere else. Its not fair, its not nice, and I saw the poor guys that had to clean it up - and it was THEM I felt sorry for.

So please think twice if your planning to jump tomorrow morning, cos Ruby for one has NO sympathy.

Those of you who are aware of Twitter may be amused to hear that Tower Bridge is now at it. What a happy, eventful and productive life the old girl seems to be leading. Hurrah for Tower Bridge, and her endless opening and closing!

If you feel tempted to become a follower of Tower Bridge (and, let’s face it, who could resist?), here’s a link

Always a beautiful station, Southgate has surpassed itself since its recent renovation and restoration. If any tube stop deserved a visit on it’s own credentials its this one.

A Beautiful example of Art-Deco Design, the surrounding shopping arcade and one-way flatter the lovely Island station in the middle!

I met Ariana back in 2001. She played the lead in my first ever directing effort, “Thicker than Water,” and she did the accent as well: Southeast Louisianian (nearly impossible for even the natives). She’s since been in several features including “Me without You,” and “Susie Gold,” in theatre, music videos, commercials and on TV.

Anyway, after having been acting away in New York for a few years and returned to London with her smokin’ American boyfriend, she has just launched her own line of handmade, made-to-order designs called “Noodle Designs.” Bangles, cushions, chests, accessories.

You can buy directly from Ariana off Facebook, or wait ’til the designs are available at Of Cabbages and Kings boutique, Stoke Newington.

I’m digging this subversive little sticker I spotted on a wall in Upper St, Islington last night

Makes me want to go and look up the facts about the information that TFL gathers about my movements. That’s TFL plus any government/council busybody or their mates. And, no doubt, the police.

If you can’t make out the URL on the sticker, it’s:

http://www.neoexternalism.co.uk

Intriguing!

Ok i admit it I have a gambling problem…the problem is that I love it way too much. My poison is No-Limit Texas Hold’em poker, and everything about it. For example it is 12.34am and i am writing this post while playing online and watching a tournament on the telly. You catch my drift?

Well I am very excited that this Friday evening and Saturday daytime London is holding a Poker festival with a difference. And most importantly it is free to go along to!

Poker in the Park is taking place in Leicester Square in the small park area right in the middle of the square. It will have all kinds of top pros giving great advice and you can buy merchandise and helpful books etc.

One of the pros is fellow Englishman Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott…what a legend this guy is check him out here.

If you are interested in getting into the game then I reckon it would be a great place to go along and mix with other amateurs. There are even free tournaments to enter which you can win prizes.

Now being a lucky devil I will be living it up on the balcony of the Empire casino flashing my press pass and having some free booze with some showgirls (apparently) so there is even the chance to catch a peek at my ugly mug..if you’re lucky. (I am the one with the haircut similar to that of a German dictator)

These kind of free events are often round London but you never find out about them until it is too late. So I am spreading the word.

So come and become an addict like me….well no, don’t do that, but do come and have a great time with loads of fellow Londoners…and the odd hundred tourists.

So I got invited to a particularly posh awards to do in beautiful London town the other day. The usual free champagne, wine and beer flowed all night long and by 11 o’clock the night is going well (or so I thought) I decide to meet up with some friends around Liverpool street… and the next thing I know I am asleep on a night bus and it is 3am.

How did this happen, well quite obvious really, I got on and fell asleep.

Now most people who live in London will know that a London night can be particularly chilly at the best of times so the comfort and the warmth of a bus came as a huge relief and surprise when I first awoke from my slumber. The emptiness of the bus was also appealing to my inebriated self, so instead of getting off and hailing the nearest black cab and going home as any sober person would have done, I simply went back to my ZZZs.

Now buses do come to the end of their line eventually so when I was turfed off I can recall simply hoping on the next one that came along, oyster card in hand and finding a new corner to snooze in. Where the bus was going or where I picked it up from I do not recall or indeed do I care, but the warmth and cosiness of that seat once more led to me having a good hours snooze or so.

Soon after I was given orders by the driver to leave my seat with a depot fast approaching and once more a new bus was quickly located. Tactics began to be formed, as I headed back towards central London from where I think was the Finchely area.

I managed to time my journey on the final bus of the night as it arrived in Trafalgar Square at 5.30am and as the pigeons looked on in slight confusion and suspicion of this man still wearing a tuxedo from the night before I hopped on my first train back to my non moving home. Just in time for a few more hours sleep before jaunting back in to work as fresh as a daisy (that might be a slight fib).

So the next time you find yourself stranded with the final tube gone and no money for a cab, look for the nearest double-decker and get yourself the comfortable cheap alternative to a dodgy B&B.

This may shine a certain light on my person, as someone who A. enjoys a good hearty drink and B. doesn’t really care about what other people think.
Indeed I may easily offend or disgust you with the above revelations, but I say there are loads more people like me out there in the city and aren’t we the most interesting…I’ll let you decide that!

OK, so, not quite looking DOWN on St Paul’s - more like across…

This is one of a series of pics I took from the top of this building:

… while working there a while back.

Fun fact: there’s a helicopter pad on the roof! (No, silly - not St Paul’s, the office block.)

And round, in the other direction, we have Old Father Thames, Parliament and the ubiquitous London Eye:

As always, click pix to enbiggify (lots of interesting detail).

A storm over the Thames this evening proved once again who runs the lighting around here. Once the rain let up after supper, this full-arc (sometimes double) rainbow sprang from (according to where we stood, anyway) the Tower over the HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge to bury itself behind City Hall. (click any of the images to enhugify).

More after the jump … Read more

North side post rain - click for the bigger picture!

St. Paul’s from the Millennium Bridge, between showers.
(click to see it big ‘n’ grainy).
More and better shots tomorrow, er, later today.