london

it was a very high tide yesterday. one of those once or twice a year things. boats were squeezing under the bridges and everything.

you really should go to the london transport museum in covent garden london. it’s great. loads for adults and kids to do.
things like colouring and climbing on pretend buses whilst watching thomas the tank engine appeal to very small kids whilst being able to pretend to drive a tube train appealed to the older generation.
anyway, you should go there. we spent a good few hours in what is essentially a funny little warehouse in the centre of london.

the man said please inform staff of any unattended items. no one was looking after this apple core. i wasn’t sure what to do. so i did nothing.

ok, here’s a little lunchtime competition. if you get the right answer i’ll post some more pictures of where it was.
so, this bloke spends his day going up and down in a lift. but where is it ?

here’s another clue – he’s driving the fastest lifts in europe (7.5m/s) which take you up 158 metres above london:

phone box, bin (with leaves), hidden bollard, a white taxi, a drain and a london bus. a classic london street scene.

hyde park

another street entertainer playing on tourists love of all thing british.

it’s very popular to stand in tourist areas painted silver and pretend to be a statue. as a way of making money it seems quite easy. though the actual money involved seems quite small and it might get a bit boring.
here are parts of two such people on the south bank yesterday evening

they were setting up Carter’s Steam Fair as i walked home last night. here are a few pictures.
lorry:

ice-cream view with various landmarks behind:

click for big
strong man:

swings:

horse man:

No 1 For Fun:

i’ve taken a picture of this before, but it looks good, so here is another one.

london hotels are a funny thing. here’s a particularly funny one. probably not the traditional olde london hotel that some of its visitors will be expecting.
it might be quite nice inside, but is lacking some restraint on the outside i felt.

london’s south bank is a bizarre concrete monstrocity. no bad thing of course. and it does mean you get some nice contrasting images.

here is a nice little building in the middle of Soho Square. here’s a panarorama for me to spell and you to enjoy.

my meetings finished quite late last night so i walked down the South Bank towards a convenient tube station. on the way there were various street entertainments, including this band. London nearly manages to be quite european at time.

the roof in Smithfield Market is amazing. it’s practical beauty is a contrast to the slabs of meat being dragged around beneath it.

to be honest London wall has seen much better days. since the city stopped being walled-in it’s been left to fester and there’s only a few places where you can see it around the town.
i was therefore very pleased to see they might be rebuilding it. anti-terrorism and all that i imagine.