Ginger's Guide to London Plinths

Originally designated for a statue of William IV , Trafalgar Square's fourth plinth stood empty for many years. Ten years ago the Royal Society of Arts decided to change that, commissioning artists to fill the plinth for fixed periods. The programme has yielded some interesting results. Some (Marc Quinn's Alison Lapper Pregnant, Rachel Whiteread's inverted plinth) I liked. Some (Thomas Schutte's Model for a Hotel) I really didn't. The current 'installation' is rather different. Anthony Gormley (of whom I've been a fan since Event Horizon) has launched the 'One & Other' project where the plinth will be occupied by... people. For more than 3 months the plinth will be continually occupied by selected members of the public who each get to be public art for an hour.

Gormley's Event Horizon

Tonight when I went past the Anthony Nolan Trust had taken the stand. The rule is only one person on the plinth, so to make themselves more eye catching they had around 30 of their supporters wearing 'donor' and 'patient' t shirts in the square below. They had brought along some grey crates which they had upturned for a game of musical statues. Every time the music stopped, the donor and patient pairs hopped onto the mini-plinths. When it started again, they would get off and dance, hike or 'fly' around, while their official plinther held up placards proclaiming how many people had organised balls, been on sponsored walks or jumped out of aeroplanes to raise money for their cause. I thought it was quite a clever way of getting attention - not least because I personally find it difficult to walk past any speaker blaring out 'Amarillo' without going to investigate.

I did think of applying to participate. Not because I particularly want to be on show for an hour, but I thought it would be interesting to get a view that I wouldn't otherwise see, as well as being part of something curious. It's not too late to apply, but I can't think of anything sufficiently visually interesting to do for an hour. I considered dressing as a pigeon, but that's already been done (as too has holding a sign proclaiming that the plinther is not a pigeon). What do you reckon? What would you do?

The world outside your window

Google unveiled its newest feature today: Google Street View. Already launched in a number of places elsewhere in the world, this impressive project today added 25 UK cities to its pages. All you have to do is go to Google Maps, pick a location, click and drag the little orange man to any of the roads outlines in blue, and you can have a nose around.

My initial reaction was astonishment at the sheer scale of the undertaking. Wonderful possibilities popped into my head - checking out what the route to a new place was like before visiting it; giving extra directions to colleagues who were coming to our building for the first time; enhancing my (admittedly rather dormant) London Street Guide.

Once I had got over my excitement at being able to 'wander around' familiar central London locations, on a whim I did a quick search for my house. And it was there. When they said they were including whole cities they really, really meant it.

It's hard not to feel slightly perturbed. I meant - having a visual database of commercial and public buildings is pretty cool. But ordinary residential property? I reckon I could work out to within a couple of weeks when the photo was taken, based simply on the arrangements of cars on our street and the flowers in bloom in our front garden. It seems to me there are many ways in which this could be used for less than positive things. Google Maps' satellite feature has already been exploited by teenagers who used it to work out which houses had swimming pools they could invade. Apart from being a stalker's dream, surely Street View has potential for such pleasantries as identifying places with a lot of expensive cars, checking which properties had burglar alarms or security weaknesses, making assumptions about potential employees' socioeconomic status etc?

Sure, one could glean the same information by actually visiting the places in real life. But this makes it an awful lot easier. Given that the government are sufficiently paranoid that we're supposed to jump at the sight of photographers and mobile phone enthusiasts, it's surprising that the authorities are at ease with this. And how does this sit with point 6 of Google's ten things?

Perhaps this is just the way things will go. The early web was was created by the chosen few. Web 2.0 has been Joe Public's domain. Maybe another volte-face will lead to Web 3.0 consisting of those in the know imparting information about Joe Public? The pace of change in technology is hard to halt. Perhaps the best thing is just to embrace it. So here's a suggestion for the next phased of Google Maps:

Google CCTV.

Because 5 million cameras can't be wrong.

Great Britain - ready for anything!

In my neck of the woods, there's about six inches of snow. They've been telling us for days that it was coming. It's quite unusual to get that much settling snow in London, but it's hardly at Siberian quantities. Capital Radio has just announced that it's the heaviest snow in London for.... six years. Gee, that really is historical.

Despite all the advanced warnings:
- There are no buses running in London. None. At all. Not one.
- Only one tube line has no disruption.
- There are no trains on my line, according to the radio. Which I cannot verify as the train company website won't load. National Rail Enquiries seems to have collapsed. Transport for London is loading better, but doesn't have the information I'm looking for.

I guess I could try walking to work but (a) it's a longish way, (b) I have no snow shoes and (c) I don't think I'm really important enough to bother.

It's just as well we're not proposing to host the Winter Olympics.

Club Sandwich(board)

Oxford Circus
Originally uploaded by diamond geezer

The great big fluorescent 'Golf Sale' sign could be a thing of the past. At least if Westminster Council get their way. There is a plan afoot to ban them from the West End, and fine offending companies up to £2500 for non-compliance. The Council argue that not only are they an eyesore, they also make life difficult for pedestrians.

Ok, so they're a bit shabby, but I'm not sure I agree with the latter. Cutting through Covent Garden, yes, there are a few advertising cheap theatre tickets that one might have to navigate around, but far more tricky are (i) tourists (ii) people pretending to be statues and (iii) the hoards of people who erroneously thing that outside Covent Garden tube station is a good place to meet (been there, done that). Heck, they even serve a purpose - one helped me find a DM stockist on Garrick Street when Covent Garden was without one for a while. And that's, like, totally crucial information. ;-)

Actually, if Westminster Council want to ban things that make one's transit from A to B on foot problematic, may I suggest targeting the following as a greater priority:

1. People proffering The London Paper and London Lite
2. Chuggers
3. The Scientologists on Tottenham Court Road who try to lure you in by offering a stress test (presumably to detect how stressed they've made you by getting in your way)
4. People who stop at the top of escalators to plan their next move, oblivious to the pile-up behind them.
5. Loved-up couples who think that meandering along, holding hands, is acceptable behaviour on Oxford Street/in mainline stations during rush hour.
6. Users of those suitcases with extendable handles, who ignore the existence of everyone else, to leave a trail of chipped ankle bones in their wake.
7. Cars
8. Groups of 50+ exchange students who manage to block off entire chunks of pavement at a time
9. Stationary rickshaws
10. Boris Johnson. (Oh alright, maybe this isn't his fault. But I've got to try...)

I mean, lets look at the positives: at least a great big placard is more environmentally friendly than a load of fliers. And if you were feeling desperate for a cut-price nine iron, then they could serve you very well.

All this does remind me of a question I have pondered before. What exactly is it about golf that prompts this kind of advertising, far more than the sale the any other product? Do people who play golf respond well to that kind of thing? Whatever the answer is, I hope that the people who were probably employed on a sub-minimum wage to do this manage to find other work. Or else there might be a protest. With neon placards.

A Mature Response

Still struggling to come to terms with the implications of the election result, I decided to channel my energies into a mature and deep response. Then I decided to ditch that idea, and convey my dissatifaction in the medium of lolcat-ese.

With thanks/apologies to lewishamdreamer and koltregaskes, whose Creative Commons licensed photos I modified.

Deep breaths

Okay, getting over the initial shock (which wasn't a total shock really, based on the wisps of info that have been emerging through the day), here are some thoughts about the results in general:

• Deeply frustrated at the outcome, but had been bracing myself for it for a couple of days now. Still, finding it hard to work out what 1.17m people think he has to offer them for the next four years.
• Will be interested to see what proportion of second preference votes Brian Paddick got. I wouldn't be surprised if it was bigger than his first preference proportion.
• Delighted that Sian Berry got so many votes. I'm hoping that the Greens get at least a couple of seats in the assembly. She was a really decent outside candidate, and I hope she gets to have some role in the London Assembly.
• Really worried that the BNP managed to come fifth, with quite a chunk of votes. Desperately hoping they don't get any assembly seats.
• Still not convinced of the value of independent candidates standing for this kind of election. I've only just got around to finding out who Winston McKenzie is. Seems to be a serial electioneer, having been associated with a marvellously contradictory range of parties.
• Disappointed that the BBC cut the coverage just as Sian was starting her speech, but I guess if they'd broadcast her, then they'd have had to broadcast some other people who should probably not get air time.
• Intrigued by the heavy thanking of the Police early in the speeches of the three main candidates. Was there trouble anticipated?
• Wondering how much the rest of the UK are laughing at us right now.
• I've never been an Evening Standard reader, and I'm certainly not going to start now.

*sigh*

And the winner is...

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

I may have to go into exile for the next four years :'(

Please Spare Us

I'm really really worried Boris Johnson will become Mayor of London. I dread to think what he will do to my beatiful city if he's elected. Please watch this and vote for anyone but him or the BNP, if you're eligible to do so.

Ginger's Guide to London Streets: Bits and Bobs

The first time I ever spotted one of these little critters was on Tottenham Court Road. Given the plethora of geeky electrical shops around there, I thought it was some kind of officially sanctioned reflection of the consumer bias of the area. It was only when reading Art of the State that I realised that it was actually part of some much larger project; these mosaic space invaders can be found all over the world. Thus far, I've only located two: the red one is on the corner of Bedford Avenue and Tottenham Court Road, the blue one is near the Oxford Street entrance of Tottenham Court Road Tube station - have a look here to see it in situ.

In other news, I was contacted a couple of months ago by a website called Schmap who wanted to use one of the photos from my Flickr photostream for the new edition of their London guide. I happily agreed, but I'm not quite sure what I think of their guides overall. Firstly, the pages have so much on them that they take ages to load on my less-than speedy machine. Secondly, they stuck my photo as part of a gallery above a review of Patisserie Valerie. Which is fine, as that does feature in the photo. But as the review fails to mention they have more than one branch, I thought it was a bit misleading that they listed the address as Brompton Road. I did contact them about this, and eventually they seem to have removed my contribution, although they didn't tell me that they were going to. Ah well, that's my fifteen minutes of fame over!

Ginger's Guide to London Streets #7: Carthusian Street (EC1)

I only really noticed Carthusian Street at all because of its peculiar second road sign that is, for no apparent reason, in French. The sign underneath, 'Borough of Finsbury Bondary 1906'(?), is quite charming too. Having got a picture of that, I felt I better go on a hunt for other points of interest.

It's a pretty short road, so I wasn't too optimistic. Apart from a disused pub and a hairdresser with attitude there was nothing that immediately caught my eye. And then, tucked unassumingly away, I came across The Chamber of Shipping, with its lovely 1920s crest (below left), including crossed ships near the top. It seems to have quite a long history, but has only been located in Carthusian street since 1994. Its purpose seems to be to act as a trade association for UK ship owners, which seems fairly evident from the name. I was intrigued, however, by the comment here that the £4.3bn gross income of the British Shipping industry makes it 'one of the largest earners of invisibles'. What with that, the inexplicable foreign road sign, and a name like 'Chamber of Shipping', one can't help but wonder if one has stumbled into JK Rowling territory.

Anyway, short and sweet, but a rather different kind of curiosity to the ones I've found thus far.

(Oh, and if you're thinking that the lighting looks suspiciously summer-y, it is. I am soo behind with writing up these entries!)

Ginger's Guide to London Streets #6: Silk Street (EC2)

London is so steeped in history from such a range of periods, that there are some wonderful street names out there. So when I recently found myself in the vicinity of Farringdon, in the City, I was looking forward to exploring Ropemaker Street, Silk Street, and other such delightfully named places that my map had to offer. I hoped to see traces of previous commercial enterprise, and maybe some of it persisting into the present.

The reality was a bit of a disappointment. The area, assuming it was once a hive of rope- and silk-trading activity, is now largely office based. It is consequently depressingly quiet and closed on a Saturday. So much so that during the ten minutes I was there, I only saw a handful of cars and was quite able to stand in the road to take some of my photos.

Anyway, in terms of what actually was there: well, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. I was slightly surprised to see it there as it seems a fairly uninspiring area, and I tend to envisage arty types as better suited to more boho areas (such as RADA in Bloomsbury). But each to their own I guess. I'm sure its students don't complain about being offered places.

Besides, I guess it makes sense to have a music and drama school situated so close to an arts centre. The Barbican Centre is located somewhere above this road, although there is an entrance on Silk Street. Which is nice given that it looks about as easy to navigate as the Hayward Gallery. Oh the joys of Brutalist architecture. Ahem. At least the bollards are pretty.

Soundmap

Soundmap is a new site that offers downloadable audio guided tours of different areas of London. They've only got three so far, but it looks like they're working on expanding that. I haven't tried any of them myself, but perhaps I should give them a go, particularly if I want to be inspired to venture further afield for my own rather unstructured guide.

If you go to the Soundmap website and you have your speakers on, you'll hear a background burble of chat and street noise. The funny thing is, I found it as soothing to listen to as the sea! Several generations of London based ancestors have obviously passed something on to me!

Statues, Steps and Smiths (Part I)

the 39 steps

Originally uploaded by codepo8

I’ve been doing rather a lot of cultural stuff lately, which is nice, as I’m one of those people who always says ‘I’d love to go to X’ and then never gets around to it. First up was, unbelievably, my first ever use of the tkts booth in Leicester Square, where it’s possible to get cheap tickets for performances that day. Of course when I say ‘cheap’ I mean ‘just about affordable as opposed to the normal horrendous price’. I ended up seeing the 39 Steps, which was very good. Originally a book by John Buchan it was, apparently turned into quite a famous film, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Me being me, of course I’d never seen it. Which did put a slight question-mark over whether I would ‘get’ the stage version which was supposed to parody the film. But I love a good parody, and although I may have been deprived of the odd reference from time to time, there was plenty to find amusing in what was a very high-energy performance by a tiny cast. So definitely worth the (half price) tickets.

Partly to become more active in supporting my lovely city’s artistic endeavours, and partly to give myself a kick up the backside to ensure I actually go to some of the exhibitions I always intend to, I joined the National Portrait Gallery earlier this year. As well as getting free entry to all the exhibitions, there are sometimes members-only events, and I actually decided to go along to one the other day. Essentially it was just an opportunity to get to go around the gallery one weeknight with the benefits of late opening and without the disadvantages of be-rucsacked tourists. The two exhibitions that were the focus were the BP Portrait Award, an annual competition, and ‘Daily Encounters’, a collection of photos from Fleet Street.

The former was, as always, very interesting. I don’t pretend to have any coherent critical capacity of the arts – I gravitate towards things that I find aesthetically pleasing, or emotionally or intellectually stimulating, but I can’t always tell you why the particular work elicits this response. I don’t think there’s any harm in enjoying things without being able to ‘justify’ them, but then, I’ve never been particularly highbrow. Accordingly, I can tell you that I prefer realism to abstraction and, in portraiture, I prefer to see people in some kind of context, rather than just posed in a sterile environment. Thus, I far preferred the picture of the blacksmith in his smithy to the family group in a studio dressed in their best clothes but entirely removed from their normal context.

The latter (‘Daily Encounters’) was a little disappointing actually. It was presented as 'Exploring Britain and Britishness through newspaper photography', but it didn't really do either to that great a degree. I have a very limited knowledge of any kind of history, although I guess if I know a little about anything, it's post-war British social/political history (thank you Andrew Marr). But I didn't really learn anything much about that period, or before then, that I didn't know already. I don't know if perhaps the remit of 'portraiture' and 'Fleet Street' and 'British' was too narrow - certainly it was a shame that the exhibition stopped in the mid 80s, which reflected the journalistic shift away from Fleet Street, but meant that images of a lot of interesting events were omitted. Perhaps they were attempting too much, or I was expecting too much, but either way I felt this missed the mark a bit.

Oh heck, this was supposed to be a review of three things and I've written tonnes without even getting on to the Antony Gormley exhibition at the Hayward Gallery. I think that better become a separate post! To be continued...

Ginger's Guide to London Streets: Photos

It occurs to me that if I carry on being as snap-happy as I have been for the last couple of installments of my guide, it won't be long before I reach the limits of how much I'm allowed to upload onto this blog. So I've decided to set up a Flickr photostream to accompany the series. It can be found here. Happy browsing.

Ginger's Guide to London Streets #4: Fournier Street, E1 (or NW1?)

Over to another part of the E1 postcode and this time Fournier Street. Something that I've noticed, particularly in this area where there is a long history of a lot of these places, is the wide variation in the style of street signage, even on a single street. Parliament Court was a particularly striking example - the sign at the opposite end to the Jack the Ripper graffito was rather bizarre - presumably it was either put there by the council (in which case it's incredibly shoddy), of a member of the public (which would show a curious dedication to signage).

Anyhoo, back to Fournier Street, whether that be in English or an alternative language. I'm not quite sure what point someone was trying to prove with their scribbling (top left) over the 'E1' postcode and replacing it with 'NW1' - perhaps some disgruntled resident was pretending they actually lived in Camden?

Fournier Street appears fairly residential (left) but nonetheless has several points of interest. On the corner, where it meets Commercial Street, is large pub called The Ten Bells (right), which looks as though it has had the same knocked out of it. At the other end of the street is Brick Lane, so we're definitely getting into East London territory.

The street is also book-ended by two quite contrasting places of worship. At one end is the imposing Christ Church, Spitalfields. At the other is the (apparently closed for refurbishment) Brick Lane Jamme Masjid. The latter had an interesting looking sundial near the top of the frontage - I have no idea whether this is a common feature of Masjids, or whether it was perhaps an original feature of a listed building. In The City/East End you never can be sure - I gather there's a building somewhere that has been a Church and a Synagogue and a Mosque at different points in its history.

The housing threw up some interesting sights as well. On one side of the road the houses looked a lot grander than on the other, which seemed to consist more of converted shops, judging by some of the shuttered windows. Not entirely sure why one house had British and French flags dangling out the windows, but I suppose it was Bastille Day. I can't guarantee they would be there for future visits! The most charming residential feature I saw was a house that had obviously been divided in two at some point, but instead of going for the conventional '11a' and '11b', the two homes were labelled '11' and 'Eleven and a half'. (Click on the picture at the bottom for a decent view).

Finally, in one of the more curious pieces of local-authority labelling I've seen, some of the bollards had 'LBTH' on them. It took me a moment or two to confirm my instinctive assertion that 'This isn't Lambeth!?' and realise that it presumably stands for 'London Borough of Tower Hamlets'. A strange measure - perhaps they are worried that if they don't label them, some other council will pinch them. I guess this way they're safe from light-fingered councillors. Unless they are from Lambeth, of course...

Ginger's Guide to London Streets #3: Parliament Court, E1

I don't often find myself in the City of London (as opposed to the City of Westminster) but I was over there yesterday with a couple of hours to kill and a camera in hand. So don't be surprised by the next few entries being clustered around that area.

Parliament Court is a real hidden gem. I've only been able to pin its exact location down on one map out of three since I got home. Even Google Maps doesn't show it properly - just points to an blank space in between other streets. A passing glance suggests nothing but a fairly empty alley, and I probably wouldn't have noticed it at all if a couple of people weren't stood there looking at a grafitto/mural at one end of it. They were saying something about Jack the Ripper. It may well have been in 'tribute' to his presence in the area, but I doubt the original ever carried a spray can. Like Londonist, I wasn't convinced that, although in a stencilled style, it was the work of Banksy, but it was certainly eye-catching.

I figured I might as well go down the alley, not expecting to find much else, except perhaps for an alternative view from which to take a photo. I was rather startled, therefore, when I came across an even more striking graffito, this time very like a Banksy piece: an armed man firing doves out of his weapon.

I've been trying to work out if I've now seen a Banksy in situ for the first time. On the one hand, the black and white colour scheme, and the stencilled look of the gunman were very reminiscent of his work. On the other, it seems less elaborate than a lot of his other stuff. The doves looked like they had been block printed on, rather than stencilled, although I don't know if this is significant. Also, it didn't feature his tag, but rather a somewhat undecipherable signature (below). Googling got me nowhere (it just bought up the Londonist article), and looking at maps of the locations of his work doesn't tell me anything either.

So, I'm thinking it probably isn't. But it was a really great piece, and a wonderful surprise to see down a street that I could very easily have ignored. If anyone has any idea who created it, please leave a comment!

Let the Memory Live Again...

Ooh. The Museum of London (to which I pay unreasonably little attention considering I'm a Londonophile) has launched a new project: Map My London. The idea is to 'map' your emotional experiences of London, categorised into a number of themes: Love and Loss, Fate and Coincidence, Beauty and Horror, Joy and Struggle, Friendship and Solitude and What Else?

It's a fascinating idea, and it will be interesting to see how it develops. I don't know how long they're planning to keep it open. I'm not entirely convinced that the site is wonderfully designed. It's quite hard to get a nice neat summary of what it's all about from the home page with its random windows popping up. Londonist do a better summary (once you get past the fanciful intro!) and I found a text-only page on the Map My London site which is a little easier to read.

Right, off to check what other people's experiences of my favourite haunts are...

Ginger's Guide to London Streets #2: Stephen Street, W1

So, Stephen Street. Off Tottenham Court Road, and really rather dull. Which doesn't make it an ideal candidate for my guide, but I have a diversion in mind.

When I first considered selecting this street I thought to myself, 'But there's nothing on it'. I've walked down it a few times and had no recollection of there being anything of note. It just looked rather officey (see right).

But, stick a camera in my hand and challenge me to actually write about something of interest, and I'll start paying attention. I was rather surprised, therefore, to discover that this humble road is actually home to the library of the British Film Institute! I could probably be forgiven for this oversight though. You'd have thought such a place would feature an enthusiastic display of the best of British cinematography. Or even the mediocre stuff. A celebration of recent BAFTA and Oscar successes by British actors perhaps? But no, a rather dull building with very little to entice you (left). Hardly inspiring.

Why on earth is this not-very exciting thoroughfare on my personal radar then? For an indirect reason: every time I see the road sign I think of Parklife by Blur, as Stephen Street was the name of the producer.

Doing a bit of research I discovered that he in fact had a hand in each of their first five albums. (Interesting that his involvement ceased prior to the release of 13, which is my least favourite Blur album by far.) And now I discover that he was also part of the team behind The Queen is Dead by The Smiths. So I'm more of a fan of this guy's work than I realised! Nice to know that the Kaiser Chiefs are still keeping him in gainful Employment.

Seems like a good excuse to celebrate Blur's name-checking of London places and life:

Advert

It's six o'clock on the dot and I'm halfway home/ I feel foul mouthed as a I stand and wait for the underground/ And a nervous disposition doesn't agree with this/ I need something to remind me that there's something else.

Blue Jeans

Air cushioned soles/ I bought them on the Portobello Road on a Saturday*/I stop and stare awhile/A common pastime when conversation goes astray.

Best Days

Bow Bells say goodbye to the last train/Over the river they all go again/Out into leafy nowhere/Hope someone's waiting out there/For them

Country House

City Dweller, successful fella/Thought to himself, "Whoops - I've got a lot of money"/Caught in a rat race terminally

Ernold Same (narrated by Ken Livingstone)

Then Ernold Same caught the same train at the same station/Sat in the same seat with the same nasty stain/Next to same old what's-his-name/On his way to the same place with the same name/To do the same thing again and again and again/Poor old Ernold Same

For Tomorrow

London ice cracks on a seamless line/He's hanging on for dear life/So we hold each other tightly/And hold on for tomorrow.

London's so nice back in your seamless rhymes/but we're lost on the Westway

Jim stops and gets out the car,goes to a house in Emperor's Gate/Through the door and to his room then he puts the TV on/Turns it off and makes some tea, says, "Modern life, well it's rubbish/ I'm holding on for tomorrow."/Then Susan comes into the room/She's a naughty girl with a lovely smile/Says, "Let's take a drive to Primrose Hill, It's windy there and the view's so nice/London ice can freeze your toes/Like anyone I suppose/I'm holding on for tomorrow.."

He Thought of Cars

There's panic at London Heathrow/Everybody wants to go/Up into the blue/But there's a ten year queue.

London Loves

London loves/The way people just fall apart/The way you just don't stand a chance/The mystery of a speeding car.

Tracy Jacks
Tracy Jacks saw a Harley Street doctor/Who prescribed healthy living/But he's getting past forty/And all the seams are splitting.

So, a bit of a diversion really. But that's what this is all about.

Ginger

*Incidentally, I thought Yahoo's lyric's search was supposed to put an end to mondegreens. It records this lyric as 'ports of Bello Road'. Honestly!

More thoughts on the bombs

Ok, I know the revelation that there was, in fact, a second car bomb found today should make me feel a greater sense of gravity about this situation. But I couldn't help having an incredulous chuckle when I read this:

The second device was found in a blue 280E model Mercedes. It was given a parking ticket at 0230 BST on Friday after being found illegally parked in Cockspur Street. The vehicle was then towed to the Park Lane car pound about an hour later.

Traffic wardens are often accused of being over-zealous, but this has to take the biscuit for excess bureaucracy.

In all seriousness, though, the fact that the second car was originally in Cockspur Street makes me feel more convinced that the destination of the first car was Whitehall. Cockspur Street is the home of DCMS. Whitehall is the home of many more Government departments. It seems widely accepted that the timing of this just after the changeover of power and the formation of a new Cabinet is no coincidence. Whether the intention was structural damage, or loss of life, I really couldn't guess. I wouldn't even be surprised if it turned out that behind all of this was not an organisation, but an individual with a grudge.

Ah well. At least it's Saturday tomorrow.

Ginger's Guide to Commuting in the Midst of a Terror Alert

1. Discover that an area of central London is closed off due to the discovery off a bomb.
2. Realise that this will cause chaos for the part of your journey that involves the tube or a bus.
3. Look out the window. Note that it's bucketing down. Rule out walking.
4. Think, 'Sod it', and go back to bed until the rush hour and rain are over.
5. Proceed with journey as normal, experiencing no difficulties at all.

Glad to see I'm not the only Londoner feeling fairly unconcerned about things.* You have to just get on with it really. Otherwise 'they' will have won. Whoever 'they' are.

For what it's worth, I reckon that Haymarket wasn't the intended target. I mean, I once had a not very nice evening in Tiger Tiger, but I don't think it's bad enough to be detonated. I personally reckon the car was headed for somewhere more prominent (Westminster?) but that the bomb started to malfunction (reports say the car was found filled with vapour) and the driver got scared, dumped the car and ran. We shall see.

Ginger

*If anything I'm more upset by the news that, when I documented my failed attempt to visit Fopp last week, it seems more was afoot than mere stocktaking. The chain has closed permanently. :-(