do you see what i did to get this picture ? when i take pictures around london people stare at me more if i’m wearing a shirt and tie (especially my wooden tie) than if i’m wearing my street-casual-down-wid-it clothes. i suspect they think i’m doing something official. which i am. i’m the funkypancake official blogger.
look what these chaps are doing. they are putting up christmas lights. we’ve had the decorations up in my local chemist since the beginning of October. But it’s serious when they start doing the streets of london.
(actually, I have a plastic santa on display all year round. did you spot him in this picture – he’s on the shelf behind the table)
everyone loves red buses. here are a load going up (down?) Oxford Street. There was no traffic on the other side of the road, so i got a nice unobscured view
i popped out to get some chocolate a few minutes ago and got captured by students. these ones were canvasing the opinion on the great british public on the controversial issue of the congestion charge.
i am an expert of alternative transport methods and congestion charge avoidance, but i didn’t get a chance to explain because, all too quickly the interview was over.
here are the crew
and here they all together. they were very excited to find out they might be on this website. and so they should be !
good luck to them in their future media careers.
i had a meeting down ludgate hill today which is the road which approached St Pauls. I used to work on this road so know the area well.
today there was a bit of a ‘do’ on to remember those who had died in the iraq conflict. 51 british people died (out of how many in total …). but now isn’t the time for politics and discussions on the pointlessness of (this) war.
anyway … Prince Charles, the Queen, Tony Blair and other senior royals and government people were about, so there was high security.
we don’t get armed police in the UK much so when we see them it’s quite a shock. here is a picture to shock you (if you are from the UK):
To increase security further they had hidden St Paul’s cathedral. They had replaced it by a giant black and white drawing. that would have confused any terrorists …
Obviously the church service was going to be a sombre occasion. so to lighten things up, the police had brought along a bouncy castle:
(notice my colleague tamara in this photo. she was desperate to have a bounce. but it’s good she didn’t as all that was in the tent was … a vicar and a tressle table)
london looks great. some of the time. usually, even if you find a nice new modern block there is some 1970s concrete monstrocity in the background. we must learn to love this diversity.
especially since 1970s monstrocities are now turning 30 and achieving senior management responsibilities, particularly in media companies. i was born in 1972, but i’m not senior or management. and that’s monstrous.
here is a nice arch bit near st paul’s cathedral
here are a couple of photos of london looking pretty by night for your enjoyment
