the gherkin viewed from city hall
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March 2005 Archives
tony blair's new tenants
I saw Tony Blair's new tenants locked outside their new house this morning. I'm not sure if it was the actual Michael Caton-Jones and Laura Viederman but the paparatzi were taking plenty of photos.
here is an article about the house and here is more on the new tenants.
the house and delivery truck
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Tone bought his house on Connaught Square for when he stops being the Prime Minister and i walk past it on the way to work each morning.
there were worries about security but if people can't even get through the front door when they've got a key i don't think the PM need worry !
key holders and paparatzi:
kezia reads to bella
here's an old picture. it's kezia reading to bella the dog in hull some months back.
one of our landmarks is missing
it were a real pea-souper
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bollard parking meter protection
this is a bit of a teaser, but expect a complete picture story of the current parking meter replacement program happening on my route to work.
meanwhile, here are some bollards protecting the new parking meter, waiting patiently in its plastic wrapper.
i've just walked 4000km
i've been keeping a track of how far i've walked each week, and more recently, each day, for the last 60 weeks. And yesterday i passed the 4000km mark.
my knees hurt.
click for statistical bigness
which reminds me, it's not long now until the London Marathon on the 17th April.
if you haven't sponsored me yet, would you consider making an online donation via my justgiving webpage ? you can use your credit card (even if you're not based in the UK).
Currently i've raised £1,121.81 but i'd like to hit £1,500 if possible for Outward Bound. thanks to all those who've sponsored me so far !
and here's my new banner ad (for those who view the page using the rdf feed and don't see my sidebar):
desktop picture of a glove
as part of my marathon training i've been really trying to take photos without stopping.
this is quite a challenge as it requires a quick reaction when i see an object worth photoing.
so, i was very pleased with this glove which came out sharp enough to make a nice desktop background.
click for desktop sized fun
cooker
look at this industrial strength cooker. it's a solid top. but obviously isn't:
it's does look quite smiley though:
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bananas
a good day for bananas:
the other bestest thing about holidays is ...
spending time with my lovely wife !
beef bull & cows in field
i love the weathered-ness of this sign and the image in portrays
snuffer
here's my mum teaching my daughters how to use a candle snuffer. there's always some fire related fun going on when we go to visit !
bollard admiring tulips
thanks to michelle for pointing out this fantastic site
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wheelie high up
look at this beauty, sent to me by a chap called mark
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no cycling through the archway
if you want to cycle through this door you'll have to get off your bike first !
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jesus as an old man
here's another one of those statues with jesus and mary where jesus looks like a little old man !
close up:
strange easter art
esther made this fantastic easter art thing at school
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the worst job(by)
in Winchester we walked past a lady dressed like a tap. "that's got to be the worst job in the world" i thought to myself. until i spotted this chap standing next to her.
he's dressed as a toilet (and you can see tappy behind him in the big version)
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happy easter
easter is the most important part of the Christian calendar. It's about something which i totally believe happened as an event in history.
if it didn't happen then christianity is worthless.
but since i (and many others) believe it did happen, we should totally celebrate what it means !
so, to all i say "happy easter" !
and to all who wouldn't call themselves Christians, perhaps today would be a good thinking day, to use to think about what life is really about.
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trolley at the altar
there's got to be some fantastic/comedy biblical explanation for this. but i can't think of it.
winchester cathedral
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the balloon person
esther spotted this before i did. it's a balloon person. just legs and a load of balloons for a body:
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kezia the racing driver
kezia's legs are a little short, but she can still do the foot pedals if we put them on a box.
happy easter
it's easter sunday so happy easter to you.
cleaning
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bank holidays are tiring
we visited our local village church yesterday morning for their Good Friday children's activities. it's interesting visiting other people's churches and it makes you think what it must be like for people visiting our own church.
after all the activities we went for a massive bike ride. unfortunately my bike had two flat tyres for most of the way. some kind souls came out of their houses at one particularly 'low' moment and lent us their pump !
when we got home the girls were exhausted despite not doing much cycling themselves (although i think esther does some with her tag-along bike).
after a family hour of midtown madness computer games we all watched Shrek 2 and went to bed !
canapes
canapes (can of peas)
royal mint
just look at this chap !
glove and yellow line
a very dramatic glove picture. it just reached the line.
click to enjoy in its fullness
lost cat and other cat
here is a lost cat sign:
and here is a cat looking out of a restaurant window:
modern london housing
these look like packing crates. but they are actually modern london city houses.
click to read the full spec
royal philharmonic orchestra lorry
transport of classical music is one of my less well populated categories. so i was delighted to see this today.
hello to the drivers who wanted me to say hello to them on this here blog. hello.
a colleague
do you spot the similarity between this man here and the top picture here ?
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cobbler
it's always good to have another career in mind. here is me playing the part of a jolly cobbler.
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bored of telly ?
are you bored of telly ? well you can go to this cobblers and watch straps and batteries being fitted
the best slidey man
who is the best slidey man ? well, last night, despite not winning, i was deemed the best slidey man.
i was obviously disappointed not to win. here i am looking very sadened alongside the winner and another loser:
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in the heat of the moment, in the game, i pulled off some audacious moves and surprised myself with my gamesmanship.
As a result i was presented with this luxury engraved tankard by a very important fellow:
blocked loo
this toilet made me think of Dr Who for some reason (returning to british telly on saturday night)
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dog signs on a van
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here are the individual dogs:
bollard interbreeding
this standard red cone has mated with this yellow metropolitan cone. the resulting offspring can be seen behind.
it's got the shape of red, but the colours of yellow.
city hall
click for whirly swirly bigness
coke on a windowsill
i've extended my category definition of coke on railings to include windowsills and walls.
it's my blog. i can't make up my own rules.
actually, it's kind of all our blog since you probably spend longer looking at it than i do.
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south bank poo market
heh. can you see what they've done here ? brilliant.
dog sign
i'm not entirely sure whether this counts as a sign of a dog. but it is a sign with the word 'dogs' on it.
crouch end
sometimes photos look better from the wrong side.
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peak dwell time target
we could play london underground station top trumps. London Bridge - 'peak dwell time target: 35 seconds'
click fog bir
the beatles wouldn't have stood for this
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self portrait in a bendy mirror
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it's a caffeine drink standoff
two caffeine drinks on adjacent windowsills.
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the tea bags are sprouting
as you'll know, spring, of, as they call it in America, 'spring', has now sprung and it's officially, er, spring.
that means all sorts of things start popping up. flowers mostly.
but there's a few other things. we all know that mushrooms are the mushrooms of the food world, but what are the mushrooms of the drink world you ask ?
tea bags of course.
here are a crop of round ones (and a key):
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here's the key:
and here's another teabag, this time with a box of matches and a lighter:
jelly
it's a very sticky little chappie
the kitchen sink
first it was the bath and now it's the kitchen sink
old head and even older wig
clir fog bick
totem pole
it's the totem pole in windsor great park
yah !
this is a quite scary skull and cross bones:
from this sign:
the demise of the bowler
the only people wearing bowler hats today are those advertising things.
that's a sad thing i think
please close gently
this is the opposite of this
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family burgers
guess where we went for a traditional sunday lunch ?
inverse shadow self portrait
inverse shadow as per technique described here
7
the sun shining through some scaffolding made the number 7 on the wall. it's kind of an inverse shadow thing i suppose.
esther's first gig
esther did her first concert yesterday afternoon. i wasn't able to go as i had to take kezia to a birthday party, but jane and esther's granny were there.
esther recreated the scene with katie and kezia later in the afternoon. i tried to capture the sound in vision with a slow sync flash.
muffin
just look at the late afternoon shadow on this muffin in the middle of the road
people watching
i walked back from southwark bridge to paddington one evening last week as part of my marathon training (have you sponsored me yet?).
on the way i saw these people looking over the wall in to the thames. but what were they looking at ?
it was this - a swimmer in the thames. probably not a great idea
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tripe on your desktop
i've taken this shot before, but the sun was so good today i had to take it again when i happened to walk past this old tripe shop (and public toilet extension)
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hairbrush
hairbrush outside paddington station:
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coke and beer on a wall
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glove
well, i say !
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rappers ?
no idea if this posseeee are famous. perhaps we shouldn't care. but they seemed to enjoy playing up to the cameras.
click to see if you recognise anyone
hair to dye for
this person looked way to cool to be in the middle of London's business centre. but what do i know.
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elastic bands
4 big elastic bands
such a skinny building
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high parking
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random number generator
we had cause to select 150 things from a potential 2400. this is how we did it. i have a 10 minute video of the draw if anyone is interested from a random number selection point of view.
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james bond went here
here is a place where james bond went down in a film (Die Another Day
the door was ajar so i took a few photos. click on the first and last to see big versions.
here's another two photos i took
london eye (random overhead)
another overhead shot. this time of the london eye on a particularly sunny london day.
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bath
things not where they should be are brilliant.
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i like how the double yellas divert round the bath like they are part of the plumbing:
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long glove
it's a long glove with short finger places.
i really hope this isn't a sock in disguise
radiators and a mini-heatwave
yesterday was a good day for radiators. it's worth noting that the temperature in london has jumped about 10 degrees in the last few days.
a coincidence ? i think not.
sausage role on hungerford waterloo bridge
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english country garden
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tower bridge on a soggy day
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bollard statue
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coppers on choppers
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glove
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pepsi
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another street flower
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and the other way up:
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buggy park
young people everywhere are wondering - where do you park your dolly buggies in church ?
the answer is, of course, to put them in the choir stalls.
dog sign
poor little esther spent most of sunday morning throwing up. as a result we ended up diverting down a side road on the way back so esther could get some air.
it wasn't all bad news though as we got to see this dog-eaten dog sign next to where we parked !
(and esther is starting to feel much better now)
visitors
paul and liz and wee dougie came round for lunch today. whilst visiting dougie did his first solo walking steps and learnt to wave.
i'm thinking of starting a hot-housing school for parents who want to fast-track their kids.
of course he might just have been very keen to leave our house and so was running for the door whilst waving goodbye ?
bollards
a nice bollard tableau.
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rocket man
shortly after i took the photo this beefeater suddenly shot up to heaven.
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two in a row
pilar's friend took this photo with her camera phone but didn't catch the numbers.
horses (copper and real)
after last week's marathon training in windsor park it was back again yesterday for a family walk and cycle.
i spotted these three horses walking away from the copper horse in the distance and wished i had a proper SLR with a telephoto lense. but you get the idea.
barn dance
we went to a barn dance last night with the girls. they enjoyed it immensley.
i'm usually a dreader of such events, but i quite enjoyed dancing with little kezia. her (age 3) and i (aged older than that) are on the same wavelength and were able to help each other along quite well.
here are some dancing partners waiting for instructions:
here are vigorous dancers having fun:
nephew thomas and a dog sign
this dog sign spotting really is a game for all the family. here is a dog sign spotted by my nephew thomas, eagerly sent by his parents.
i've already got a spot of this particular dog sign, but i thought it worth posting this photo as Thomas' expression really captures the excitement of a dog sign spotting.
more nottinghamshire gloves
nottingham is robin hood country. he robbed the rich to give to the poor. the same could be said for gloves.
perhaps.
thanks to brother in law kev for these pictures
incomplete
incomplete sign from matt the funkypancake web-landlord
city hall
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glove design
these gloves were on display in a giant box outside london's design museum.
i love your grandma
fantastically pointless graffiti.
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police photographer
it's a job. but i imagine you're not allowed much creativity.
no excuses
these pedestrian signs are designed so you can put the blanking plate on the other end of the arrow so it'll point either direction.
you certainly don't need to turn it upsway down.
but i'm glad they did.
cookers
did you spot the vacuum cleaner hiding behind ?
milk
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gloves
a very good day for gloves:
pair of gloves (near and far):
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this one squashed under some railings:
and these squashed by a bag of sand:
flowers
this big flower was quite near where i found the teeny weeny flower last September
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industrial strength glove packet
this glove looks the business for shifting 'business'.
squashers
these vehicles really appeal to me. not sure why. but they do look great don't they ?
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very tall sign
this is an extremely tall sign (even taller than this photo makes it out to be). i think it must be for low flying aircraft to tell them to fly a bit higher.
closed
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no bikes and coffee on railings
it's a meeting of categories. this time a bike sign and a coffee on some railings.
if you want to see a fantastic mix of random things, look at this
score card
it's always exciting to see a playing card on the floor. i flipped this one over and was mildy disappointed to find it was a score card (aka the extra joker)
more maps of london
there's another giant carpet map of london in the basement of city hall at the moment for the 2012 olympic bid. it's very much like the other one):
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This time i bring you heathrow airport:
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5000th entry
this entry deliberately left blank.
city hall
we were fortunate enough to spot that City Hall was open to the public as we walked down the thames to our tube station after visiting the Tower of London.
the view from the top is quite amazing as are the stairs to get down. plenty more pictures to follow on this one !
here the inside top:
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and here's the downside middle (where they have important meetings):
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open
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first aid
since i moved to trainers from my doc marten's the odour level of my footwear has increased considerably.
as a result it's more likely my trainer would invoke the need for first aid rather than provide it.
photo by matt the web-landlord:
vin's found drawing
regular reader vin sent me this rather nice drawing which was found on Friday evening in Acton's Churchfield Rd
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matrii
yesterday was a good day for mattress spotting
beefeater
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history is dead
after spending 4 hours walking at speed round Windsor Park and castle on saturday we went as a family to the Tower of London on Sunday.
it's most excellent (though very pushchair unfriendly). i've dozens of photos of both trips to share with you over the coming weeks.
but for now, here's a list of people executed by a sign. if your name was on this sign you'd probably avoid going near it.
click to read the death list
2 royal hats
hats were plentiful in the Tower of London.
the one on the left was spotted and photo'd by esther who made kezia pose in this position for ages whilst she got the photo right.
did you spot the little vampire on the second hat ? i suspect this hat wasn't lost by a child, rather disposed of by it's parents:
glove - not lost
my collection of glove sighting's aren't just lost gloves. here is a good example of some gloves which probably weren't lost, but are still worth photoing.
kezia spotted these when everyone else missed them. she's a true protege in the glove spotting department
gas
curry can have this effect. photo by matt the web landlord
the king and sky
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gloves
here are a couple of glove in an absolutely classic place. they were next to a gate near a public footpath.
i think they are both doing cow impressions
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marathon training
andy and i went on a marathon training walk today in Windsor Great Park. we did 25km in just over 4 hours. not massively speedy, but a fair pace i think.
have you sponsored me yet ? i'd really appreciate it if you would - it's all for a good cause.
here are andy and i on our walk. i look weird because i'm walking backwards to try and take a few miles off my pedometer.
click to admire our handsome-ness
here's another photo of me checking i wasn't going to crash in to someone (the problem of walking backwards):
new photography concept (to me at least)
on our walk andy and i discussed a variety of things (as men spending 4 hours together are want to). along the way we discussed the works of Brian Eno and his interest in the random as part of the creative process.
and so was born this new photography technique. you take your camera and hold it directly above your head (upside down) to take a photo of what's behind you.
here's my first attempt. it's the sky. mostly.
i shall try this technique in other situations.
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gloves
black and white
knitted bag (on railings)
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xmas is finally over
"can we throw the christmas tree out yet mum, it's been dead for weeks"
"not until the beginning of March"
starbucks with a view
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street lights
traffic lights need to lie down too.
chained squasher
it's a commuter-strength automatic pogo machine (which handily is exempt from the london congestion charge)
st pauls
when i took this i also took these (click them for bigness):
st paul's cathedral:
and a bit more zoomy inny:
and this one of general buildings and that:
trolley trap
don't go in here. it's a trap
old tellies
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bedsit
now don't get me wrong, but do you ever wonder what life would be like if you'd taken another path ? occasionally i consider how worse off i'd be if i hadn't met my lovely wife jane. i had a glimpse of what a poor predicament i'd be in earlier this week.
we've had the decorators and so have been sleeping on our inflatable mattress on the floor in our living room this week. since we have no telly in our bedroom it was quite a novelty watching telly in bed (especially from this funny angle - although i think Michael Stipe's head always looks like that).
jane's guitar at the foot of the bed made it appear like a pretty good batchelor pad. however, on reflection, life is most excellent as it is.
and we've now moved back upstairs. together.
field and hills
the snow clouds were gathering and we were walking up a hill. here is the inverse of what we saw. click it to enjoy a bit morely.
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gone
and so the saga ends
6 diamonds
another card for the collection.
hear the tree bark
you've heard the saying 'his bark was worse than his bike' well, here is a tree which has chosen to amplify its voice to equalise that equation.
trolley crash
Brad sent me this photo ages ago and then i lost it, but now i found it. it's a great picture of what looks like a high speed trolley pile up in the Bronx !
not what i said i said
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2012 olympics
i mentioned last week about the olympic exhibition in Traf Square. i went in yesteday lunchtime whilst walking back to the office. it was quite good actually.
it's only a teeny weeny exhibition but well worth a spare 2 minutes if you are passing
there's a giant aerial map of london on the floor which is fascinating. there's also a nice wall-of-smoke to walk through:
here are hyde park and buckingham palace/westminster/london eye
click maps to inspect more detail
dog's dinner
can you believe they have restaurants just for dogs these days. it's SO unfair. they probably get to take their scraps home in human-bags.
booooing !
here's two fantatic things which go bbooooooing !
hydraulic boingy thing:
bollard on a pogo-stick boingy thing:
the day job
a couple of people have emailed recently to enquire what i do work-wise. here is a clue. it was my first time giving evidence in front of a Select Committeeb and it's weird to think my words will turn up in Hansard for all history tomorrow. something to show the grandchildren one day perhaps.
the picture is Portcullis House. and here's a report in the paper.
a trolley visits marble arch
trollies are tourists too. this one went on a trip to see Marble Arch. in a strange twist of coincidental fate, Marble Arch was featured in this evening's Evening Standard as they are thinking of plopping on to Speakers' Corner so it's less in the way, or more accessible.
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slippery floor sign on a bollard
it's another double category-er. this time it's a bollard holding a slippery floor sign. i think he was simply carrying over to where he wanted it.
crimal advertising
honest, hard working criminals wanted. no experience necessary. swag
bags will be provided, but must have own gun.
salary: commission based.
very lost with a good map
one of the few things you don't need in london is a map of scotland.
if you are using a map of scotland to get round london you stand quite a high chance of getting lost. that's assuming you are not lost already.
