Ceridwenscauldron

this lunchtime but passed this fantastic shop in New Oxford Street

Isn't it marvelous? I remember it from my childhood as whenever my mum took me shopping in the west end we passed it on the bus and that was how I knew we were nearly there.

Just down the road in High Holborn is the old Holborn Town Hall and Library

a smashing piece of architecture which since the borough of Holborn was gobbled up by Camden is now home to offices and a very expensive Chinese restaurant. I liked the detail above the old library entrance

A bit further down the road is the Princes Louise

A Sam Smith's pub with a lovely interior that does have Old Brewery Bitter on hand pump, hurrah since their keg beers are rubbish.

On the way back to the office I paid a visit to the British Museum who have installed this gorgeous Indian Garden as part of Kew Gardens 250th birthday celebrations isn't it lovely?

The Moff and I went to see the Waterhouse exhibition at the Royal Academy. It was very good indeed.

On the way out of the RA building I noticed this memorial to the Artists Rifles

I thought it would be interesting to find out something about them. The Artists Rifles were formed in 1859 when Britain feared an attack from France after being linked to an assassination attempt on Napoleon III, as a Territorial Army unit for artists, actors, musicians and other creatives. One of the first commanders was Frederick Leighton and other members included William Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris, Edward Burne Jones, John Millais, Algernon Swinburne and John Waterhouse. While I find it hard to imagine that lot in uniform the regiment did serve with distinction in the Boer and First World Wars.

Also on the way out I took this picture of Sir Joshua Reynolds

the first President of the RA who I thought looked very fetching in his garland. Of course the PRB jokingly referred to him as Sloshua because of his paint handling and I don't know what he would have made of the more recent works placed around him which symbolise different forms of carbon.

Just down the road from the RA is the showroom of Iran Air which still has this model of an Iran Air liveried Concorde in the window despite having never operated the plane. (you can see me in reflection.)

curious isn't it?

On the way down to Glastonbury we broke our journey at Avebury, where I saw these chaps larking about above the door of the National Trust shop

One of the things I enjoy most about Glastonbury Abbey is the lake. Now the monks who lived at Glastonbury kept geese on the lake, because geese were classified as fish by the Catholic Church and this meant you could eat them on otherwise meatless Fridays.

Today I don't think the wildfowl on the lake have much to worry about, there are some very fine Chinese Geese

Although they can be a bit aggressive

and when this family approached with a slice of bread it was a bit like being a war photographer

The ducks were very pleasant, I thought this white one had quite a lot of character

and I think his girlfriends did too. Then there was this little black chap who obliged by flapping his wings for me, what a performer.

Another place I like at Glastonbury is the Museum of Rural Life where aside from lots of old farm equipment there are some very handsome old breed sheep and chickens

So four guys walk into a pub in Glastonbury and hear this

just as well I got a new hat

This is a Dead Man Top Hat, not sure why its called so, maybe its easier to get someone wearing one of these into a box than a regular topper.

According to the news today alcohol related deaths are on the up. Well tell us something new. The predictable Dr is rolled out to say booze is too cheap etc etc.

Right its true that booze can wreck lives, but the people who are getting twatted are doing it because they either like getting smashed or because their normal existence is so shit they feel that they need oblivion. If they can't afford the booze it will be skunk, heroin or glue, they will still get twatted, sick, have accidents or get killed, only the exchequer won't get a cut and then there will be less money for the NHS.

People also say that drink puts pressure on the health service and the public purse. So does a healthy life style with people living longer. That's why the bloody retirement age is being raised so all of us will have to work longer to pay for the finger wagging miserable non smoking, non drinking holier than thou bastards' old age.

Also in the news was a story about how more people are being killed by Police Cars, well make them unaffordable then, that will put a stop to it.

There is a quite convincing looking e-mail spam purporting to be from HM Revenue and Customs doing the rounds. The e-mail which has an hmrc.gov.uk address and links to genuine pages on HMRC's website, claims that you are due a tax refund of £188.50 based upon recent calculations.

I thought this was a bit fishy as in the past any correspondence I have had with the tax people has always been by letter. So I rang one of the HMRC customer care lines where they confirmed that it was a scam and that they were investigating it.

Now what puzzles me is if a spammer can get your bank details and empty your account, how come the powers of law enforcement can't trace the crooks just as easily.

My pal Kim alerted me to this on Youtube, its the original 1910 version made by Thomas Edison with the delighfuly named Charles Ogle as the monster

Its even better if you make up your own dialogue just to get you started here is my opening scene

"Off to college now Victor"

"Yes Mum"

Well be a good boy then "

"yes Dad"

"Right he's gone now Delores fancy a shag?"

"Well seeing as we have the house to ourselves"

etc

This is why they are important

Are they?

I don't see them anywhere do you?

We had a mooch around Epping yesterday while the Grand Prix was on, and on the way back stopped at one of the forest pools where we spotted this chap

Who soon flapped off to sit in a tree

and stare at us.

Other species spotted yesterday

Wood pigeon
Coot
Blue tit
Blackbird
Song thrush
Feral pigeon

According to a story in today's Metro Essex County Council have got all upset about a German travel book that was left in a Colchester Butcher's shop.

The Book makes lots of Essex girl jokes like

What do you call an Essex Girl with two brain cells?

Pregnant

and the assertion that the county is full of Escort XR3i driving Waynes who drive well above the speed limit

The council state that these are old stereotypes of Essex

Quite, Ford discontinued the XR3i in 2000

Weird but kind of cool This features Stevie Winwood in the days before he got sensible and became a boring MOR artist

I mentioned seeing the Wonderstuff at the Marquee in a recent post, well this is Balaam and the Angel the headline act that night.

I loved this band they did brilliant covers of Rock n Roll, Teenage Kicks, Rain, Paranoid, I Feel Love and As Tears Go By

I had a lunchtime meeting at the South Bank today so on my way back to the office I thought why not see what's going on on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. As you know Antony Gormley (him of the Angel of the North) has got his One and Other performance art project running there for 100 days where 2400 people will have an hour on the plinth to do whatever they like.

This woman seems to be having a picnic, be that as it may I think its a great idea not least in that it will get people out and looking at and thinking about things. So I thought why don't I pop back here from time to time, look at what's on the plinth and compare it to some of the other statuary in the square and in London in general. Its an opportunity to observe and learn not least for me.

So here we go - this is George IV, otherwise known as Fatty George in his time, he occupies the third plinth in the Square and it was originally intended that his brother William IV (AKA the Sailor King or Silly Billy) should go on the fourth, but the cash ran out which is why it is still vacant.

Moving on from the Square and around the back of St Martin's in Adelaide Street is Maggi Hambling's rather fine statue of Oscar Wilde.

Poor old Oscar is definitely looking up to the stars from his gutter but sadly people keep nicking his bronze gasper.

Moving into Charring Cross Road on the way back to the office, just by the National Portrait Gallery, there is this rather fine memorial to Nurse Edith Cavell

Nurse Cavell was put up against the wall and shot by the Germans in 1915 for helping allied soldiers escape from occupied Europe. Moving around the side of the NPG is this fellow.

Sir Henry Irving was the first actor to be given a knighthood back in 1895 so its kind of fitting to find a statue to him at the foot of Theatreland. Now what I find fascinating about Irving is that Bram Stoker, who used to work for him, used him as the basis for Dracula, which I suppose gives some idea of the theatrical presence of the man.

Another of Theatreland's characters is this fellow

The good old Master Brewer - he's been here for as long as I can remember.

Next stop was Cambridge Circus, I love this building and somehow even this giant stiletto outside the Cambridge Theatre isn't out of place

Just over the road is a Pizza Hut but I wonder how many people notice this splendid Art Deco clock

just above the corporate fascia, I think its a real gem.

Now turning back towards the Cambridge Theatre I was greeted by a huge pall of smoke drifting across the road.

It turns out that a building in Dean Street was ablaze so I returned to work via Greek Street passing on by the Gay Hussar.

Now I have yet to eat here but it is supposed to be one of the best Hungarian restaurants in London (if not the world). The founder Victor Sassie was half Swiss and half Welsh, but trained in Budapest (where he worked for MI6 during the Second World War) and married a local girl. The Hussar used to be the watering hole of choice for the Labour Party, back when they believed in socialism, and has loads of caricatures of the likes of Aneuran Bevan, Michael Foot, Barbara Castle and George Brown on the walls. George Brown was once chucked out for being pissed and groping a lady customer, but its place in history (and infamy) was assured when Tony Blair was offered the leadership of the Labour Party there after the death of John Smith in 1994

Look

an old London Routemaster just like my grandad used to drive.

I didn't really intend to but I took a walk down Carnaby Street this afternoon, you see as I was wandering down Great Marlborough Street I heard the most amazing piano music. so I followed my ears till I got to the top of Carnaby street and found this chap here playing on one of London's street pianos

He had attracted quite a crowd and rightly so as he was brilliant. If only all the people giving the ivorys a tinkle were that good. There are quite a few of these pianos dotted around the centre of town and I think they are a great way to brighten up the day.

Anyhow Carnaby Street was the centre of swinging London in the 60s and even in the 1980s still had loads of great little shops selling fab gear, like the tiger stripe jacket that I'm now too big for.

Right at the lower end of the Street there is a plaque commemorating John Stephen the tailor who opened Carnaby street's first clothes shop in 1958 and he was soon joined by Mary Quant and many others as London became the hippest place to be. Today its full of chain stores selling stuff you can get anywhere else, but venture off it into Ganton Street and you will find one of the old street's survivors, The Great Frog

This is the place for the coolest silver jewelry around, customers include Lemmy, Pete Docherty, Iron Maiden and Metalicca.

and so to finish off here is the great Ray Davies and the Kinks (who are from my original neck of the woods) with a highly appropriate song

I had run out of Soy Sauce and some other bits so I thought I'd take a trip to London's Chinatown, via Wardour Street.

Wardour Street is named after the architect Sir Archibald Wardour who designed some of the buildings in it, although many of the buildings are quite lovely, but more recent Art Deco once you look above the lower floor shopfronts

Over the past 100 years the street has had a strong association with both the film and music industry, I'd like to think this building was the HQ of Hammer Films, but have yet to find a source to confirm this.

As for music there is a blue plaque here to commemorate Keith Moon at the site of the old Marquee Club, where just about anybody who was somebody in the music biz trod the boards at some time

I used to love the Marquee, the first time I went there was to see Ian Carr's Nucleus back in 1975 I think, in those days there were even vinyl chairs in front of the stage for people to appreciate the music. That soon changed once it became the centre for London's punk and metal scene! Amongst the bands I saw there were Motorhead, Iron Maiden, Hanoi Rocks, Twisted Sister, Johnny Thunders, Van Der Graaf Generator and the Wonderstuff - who were supporting Balaam and the Angel at the time!

They used to say that if you wanted to know who was playing at the Marquee just pop in to here at lunchime

This was always a good place to go before and after gigs as the beer was better and cheaper than inside the club and there was always the chance you might run into some musos. Another post Marquee hang out was the Intrepid Fox

This place was so Rock N Roll that the barman made customers in ties take them off, its just languishing empty now which is a shame.

A bit further down Wardour street is St Anne's

The tower dates back to 1803 but the rest of the building is more recent as the Nazis bombed the church out in the Second World War. The crime writer Dorothy L Sayers (creator of Lord Peter Wimsey) was a church warden here and is buried under the tower. The grounds which used to be a haven for druggies are being developed as a sort of Arts space by Architecture Ensemble, keep up the good work folks!

Crossing over Shatesbury Avenue takes you into Chinatown where I saw this lion hanging over the street sign

who is I guess protecting the gateway to Chinatown. Just over the street in this splendid Art Nouveau building is Wong Kei

a restaurant that is as famous for its rude waiters as its cheap menu, I have eaten in there a few times and its very good value. The building is pretty splendid having previously been the home of Willy Clarkson a theatrical costumier and wig maker. At the door there are plaques marking the laying of the foundation stone by Sarah Bernhardt in 1904 and the coping stone by Sir Henry Irving in 1905.

taking a left into Gerrard street and you are in the heart of Chinatown

which is full of Chinese restaurants, cake shops and supermarkets

where you can get the best value Chinese and south east Asian groceries in London like thsee Durian fruit which I understand are very tasty but stink something rotten

Shopping done I headed back to the office pausing to shoot this rather nice bit of signage back down Wardour Street

Back into Shatesbury Avenue I spied the fans tribute to Michael Jackson just by the Lyric theatre where the Jackson musical Thriller is playing.

I found this much more touching than that macabre spectacle played out behind his coffin last night.

I haven't done one of these for a while so here I go

SEVEN THINGS YOU WILL FIND IN YOUR ROOM:
1) Books
2) Several pairs of specs
3) pot of pens
4) Comatose cat
5) clothes
6) reading light
7) travel brochures

SEVEN RELATIONSHIP QUESTIONS:
1) Do You Like Anyone? I like lots of people
2) Does Someone Like You? a few
3) Last Kiss? this morning
4) Been Lead On? hasn't everybody at some time
5) Been Cheated On? No
6) Want A Relationship? Got a very nice one already thanks
7) Want to Get Married? Already have

SEVEN OTHER THINGS - DO YOU ...
1) Believe In God? No
2) Had A Dream Come True? You know I think I may have
3) Read The Newspaper? Read them I have planted stories in them.
4) Get Enough Sleep Everyday? No
5) Have A Best Friend? yes
6) Take A Bath Daily? Shower
7) Wish On Stars? no

SEVEN HAVE YOU EVERS
1) Fallen In Love? I still am
2) Kissed Someone Of The Same Sex? maybe
3) Hooked Up With Someone Who Had A BF/GF? yes
4) Been To A Bonfire? What sort of daft question is that?
5) Ran Away From Home? no
6) Played Strip Poker? yes
7) Pulled An All Nighter? long time ago maybe

SEVEN THINGS IN THE LAST 24 HOURS HAVE YOU:
1) Cried? no
2) Had Fun? yep
3) Been Kissed? yes
4) Felt Stupid? no
5) Talked To An Ex? no
6) Missed Someone? no
7) Listened To Music? no

SEVEN THINGS ON YOUR MIND:
1) Need to cook the curry
2) I fancy a trip to Vilnius
3) I wish Ship's 1 would be more careful with his tray
4) One of our local churches was designed by the same architect that designed the Bedlam Hospital that is now the Imperial War Museum
5) I can't wait to go on holiday
6) Manhattans are better with Canadian Whiskey
7) I wish my ankle didn't hurt

SEVEN THINGS YOU CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT:
1) Mab
2) Moff
3) holidays
4) garlic
5) Plymouth Navy Gin
6) curry
7) books

If you have read Mab or Old Nick's posts you will know that we went to the seaside today to get away from the heat and pollution down here.

Parking the car at the Tower Car Park we headed off down to the beach passing this remnant of the UK's wartime coastal defences on the way

When we got to the beach I noticed what I thought might be a spoonbill in a tidal pool so I went to investigate and saw this fellow here

I was wrong but not disappointed it was an egret

which is a relative of the heron and was a rare summer visitor here until global warming kicked in

so leaving him to fish in peace I headed onto the beach where I spied this chap

an oyster catcher who was very busy hunting for hermit crabs and other delicacies near the waterline.

There were also some gulls

Somewhat confusingly the black headed gull is the one with the chocolate brown head while the one with the black head is a Mediterranean gull. Mediterranean gulls are similar to out native little gulls only they have a red beak not a dark one. As the name suggests they are a Mediterranean species, but they are becoming more common off the south east coast sharing the same breeding sites as the misnamed black headed gulls. I think they must have been on their summer holiday away from their winter habitat of Sainsbury's car park

Anyway I was well pleased with seeing all these critters and getting some decent photographs of them too.

On the way back to the car park I shot this

this is the Walton Tower, a navigation aid originally built by Trinity House back in 1720. Apparently the eight floor tower is the only surviving example of an octagonal lighthouse in the UK. Its now an art gallery.

There you go history and nature all in one post

Species seen today

Mediterranean gull
Black headed gull
Herring Gull
Oyster Catcher
Egret
Swallow
Blackbird
Jackdaw
Rook
Feral pigeon
Wood pigeon
Pied wagtail
rabbit

Was the Who at Charlton Football Club back in 1974

sad to think that Moony and and the Ox are no longer with us, Also on the bill were were Lindisfarne (Alan Hull RIP), Bad company (Boz Burrell RIP), Humble Pie (Steve Marriot RIP), Lou Reed and Maggie Bell

I was there and I wanted to find Cozy Powell's drum solo featuring the 1812 overture, 633 Squadron and several helicopters, its not on YouTube so you will have to make do with this

I liked this line up the bass player (Colin Bomber Hodgkinson) in particular was briliant

Anybody else found people sending friends requests and then having them withdrawn if you don't accept straightaway.

I have had two recently (one yesterday in fact)

Now I don't know what the game is here, have they got pissed at me because I wasn't quick enough to realise how great they were or did they read my blog and discover that I was some kind of raving loony? Who knows but here is some guidance for anyone who is nuts enough to want me as a friend.

While I don't care what religion you are, whether you are gay, straight or bi or where you come from, I won't stand for any racism, homophobia or other forms of discrimination, daft brainwashing cults or intolerant extremist religious preaching that seeks to constrain others chosen way of life (whether Christian or Muslim). I guess essentially I'm a middle class Guardian reader out and proud.

I will not suffer commercial sites and will flag any that try it on here.

If you want to know what I like read my blog and then decide if I'm the sort of friend you want. Then send me a message saying why you want to be my friend, it does not need to be an essay. I will then read your blog to decide whether I want to accept your offer, but it may take more than a few days
as I have a lot of things going on.

Sad to hear about the death of Mrs Slocombe, must go out and buy all her DVDs

The question that is bothering us though who is getting possession of her pussy?

Some of you across the pond just won't know what I'm talking about so here you go

so swindler Bernard Madoff has been sent down for 150 years. OK he was a bit naughty but what is the point of giving a 71 year old 150 years in the clink?

Actually what is the point of giving anyone a sentence of 150 years, I mean come on the UK's oldest man is only 113 for Darwin's sake.

Bloody daft if you ask me

I see that after wasting about a billion quid on its stupid ID Card scheme the government looks like its going to bin the idea. Proposals to make the stupid things compulsory for airport workers (who will already have security clearance) have been dropped in what is hopefully a big climbdown over this latest infringement of our hard won civil liberties.

Former postie Alan Johnson has said that ID cards would be welcomed by over 18s wanting to buy booze, I suppose it must have sunk in that anyone who wants to blow themselves up won't be too bothered about having a plastic card in their wallet and that people who employ illegals won't be put off by the lack of an Id document. I think that just shows the depths this lot have sunk to in their efforts to make us all think that ID Cards are a good idea.

I see the government are taking the National Express East Coast service back into public ownership along with possibly other National Express franchises. Apparently Boredom Groan's lot will be forming a new public company to run the railway which is not as profitable as the poor darlings would like. Given the chronic overcrowding on those trains up to Scotland and fares of over a ton I can't begin to imagine how that is so, but then I guess privatising the railways was a triumph of dogma over common sense in the first place.

Now here's an idea combine the new public owned railways with the public owned track operator that replaced Railtrack and call the new company British Rail.

Headed north from the office today into Fitzrovia. I needed a paint scraper.

One of the landmarks of Charlotte street is this boozer

this is the Fitzroy Tavern from whence Fitzrovia is said to derive its name. The pub's name comes from Fitzroy the family name of the Dukes of Grafton who used to own much of what is now Fitzrovia. The first Duke of Grafton was the illegitimate son of Charles II and Barbara Villiers, I love a bit of Restoration Royal scandal.

This boozer has a great literary heritage, Dylan Thomas and George Orwell drank there together with the artist Augustus John, Michael Bentine and even the Great Beast Alistair Crowley. Sadly its been taken over by Samuel Smiths who despite doing a great job preserving the interior only sell their own keg beers so I won't be joining them.

As I was snapping the pub a cab pulled up right in front of me and out popped Justin Lee Collins on his way to lunch in Bertorelli's. He's not a natural blond you know! Anyhow there are lots of good restaurants in Charlotte Street making a wander a mouth watering experience.

I like this one

where you can get a reasonable Thai set meal for about £8 and Nabarros

which does excellent tapas, but is a bit more expensive and Il Pescatori

which is bloody expensive!

As you get to the top of Charlotte Street you get a great view of the the old Post Office Tower

before you get into Fitzroy Street and then Fitzroy Square. Fitzroy Square is quite lovely being designed by Robert Adam in 1792 and completed by his brothers James and William in 1798

Fitzroy Square has been home to the Pre-Rhaphaelite painter Ford Maddox Brown and the author Ian McEwan and George Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf who both lived at no.29 though not at the same time. You can see Woolf's blue plaque here

On the corner of the Square is this statue

This is Francisco de Miranda, a liberator of Venezuela. After supporting the French Revolution and traveling round Europe, Miranda lived in London for a number of years before heading back to Venezuela, overthrowing the Spanish governor, then surrendering to Spanish forces after a catastrophic earthquake hit Caracas. He ended his days in a Spanish jail after Simon Bolivar decided he had been a traitor to surrender and handed him over to the Spaniards.

However while he was in London he lived here with his housekeeper and their children between 1803 and 1810

in Grafton Street just off Fitzroy Square, where amongst others he received Simon Bolivar and Andres Bello who persuaded him to head back to Venezuela. Appropriately its now the Venezuelan Embassy.