We wait in the shadows

I'm at work today, despite the bank holiday, and at 8am this morning, the streets of east London were deserted. Really, eerily, did-I-miss-the-zombie-apocalypse deserted.

I think my sensitivity to the empty streets and lack of traffic might have something to do with one of the books I read this weekend - Stephen Baxter's Flood, in which the world ends, starting in London. Well, starting in London from the perspective of the characters in the book, at least. The descriptions of the the early floods in central London are really vivid, which I'm sure I'll remember them next time I walk down the Embankment at high tide, plus now I'll have something to think about whenever I'm stuck on the Dartford Crossing bridge looking over at Lakeside! (glug, glug, glug)

It's not Romanitas or Neverwhere, which are two of my favourite alternative Londons, but it certainly lingered in my mind this morning!

To the safety of the town

It's not good to get home, turn on the late night news, and find yourself thinking 'Oh - so that's why there were all those police officers at the station.' Still less so when the news is about rival football fans in a street-battle that sent several people to hospital.

It's particularly startling to me because West Ham fans are the people who, over the years, have convinced me that living next to a football club isn't such a bad thing.

I used to live right down the road from another football club - a smaller one, lower down the leagues, and I learned pretty quick to plan my weekends around their games so I wasn't sharing a tube station with fans on their way to matches if I could avoid it.

The experience almost put me off moving into a house so close to a much larger club, but I went back to view it a second time on a match day, and was pleasantly surprised. The tube was busy, sure, and a bit loud, but it wasn't threatening. There were whole families wearing team colours, and a big burly guy with a can of beer in his hands leapt to his feet to offer his seat as soon as an elderly lady got on at the next station. Very different from my experiences before. My neighbour goes to matches with his kids - and his youngest girl was only about 6 when I moved in next door.

I'm not a football fan, but I've recommended Upton Park to friends as a place to see a match in the past, and I've never felt uncomfortable when I'm sharing my streets and my tube carriage with people on their way too or from a match.

But the news on Tuesday told a far different story; one that saddens and worries me.

Crowds are always volatile things, and it's always good to be aware of how quickly the mood can change. Maybe it's just a few bad apples. Maybe it was just this match, with it's historical rivalry.

I really do hope that it was a one-off, an aberration, and that my neighbours, and the other fans and families like them will make it clear to the guys who were out for a fight that they're not welcome.

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter

Dan Zambonini's alternative tube map has got me thinking about suggestions to make for the right hand side of the map, which is looking a little thin compared to the Northern Line and zone 1.

Test tubes and Tesla coils

As it happens, there's a copy of this book in my office waiting to be catalogued and added to the cultural travel section of the library when my holiday is over. If there wasn't, though, Bill Thompson's blog post about The Geek Atlas would have persuaded me to order it.

It looks like an excellent companion to the (now out of print) The Scientific Traveler: A Guide to the People, Places, and Institutions of Europe by Charles Tanford and Jacqueline Reynolds from John Wiley, and will hopefully provide some balance to the more literary and art-history focused travel books.

[The Geek Atlas: 128 Places Where Science & Technology Come Alive, was written by John Graham-Cumming and is published by O’Reilly Media.]

Enter and rejoice this pedestal

Thanks to being on summer break, I've missed a lot of the ambient One & Other exposure I'd be getting if I was in work as normal, although I did finally manage to time my tea break today to be wandering past at a change over!

The live-feed on the website, and the Guardian's @plinthwatch on Twitter has been keeping me up to date, though.

I think my favourite in-person plinther so far was the gentleman conducting a small group of musicians below him, which must have been last Monday? - this afternoon's bubbles also pleased me.



It's a fascinating project, and it's a lovely thing to see something on that corner that makes me smile every time I cross the square. The only frustrating thing is that, unless you have a decent zoom, it's practically impossible to photograph of any of the things people get up to up there!

* OK, so that's not One & Other, in this bottom image, but it is an excellent photograph - too good to resist.

it's time for tea

It's my current student group's last day tomorrow - but they get to leave London in style. Tomorrow is not just their last day, it's also the annual Trooping the Colour celebration of the Queen's birthday - it's too late to get tickets for the Horseguards seats, but it's free to take your place by the roadside to watch the parade, and get your dose of traditional pomp and circumstance.

And, of course, this puts me in mind of the AA Milne poem, Buckingham Palace.

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
Alice is marrying one of the guard.
"A soldier's life is terrible hard,"
Says Alice.

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
We saw a guard in a sentry-box.
"One of the sergeants looks after their socks,"
Says Alice.

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
We looked for the King, but he never came.
"Well, God take care of him, all the same,"
Says Alice.

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
They've great big parties inside the grounds.
"I wouldn't be King for a hundred pounds,"
Says Alice.

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
A face looked out, but it wasn't the King's.
"He's much too busy a-signing things,"
Says Alice.

They're changing guard at Buckingham Palace -
Christopher Robin went down with Alice.
"Do you think the King knows all about me?"
"Sure to, dear, but it's time for tea,"
Says Alice.

The big news today is the tube strike, which has had knock-on effects on almost everyone in London, but I particularly want to point you to this take, from an ambulance dispatch allocator It's almost impossible to overstate how vital the tube (public transport in general, but the underground in particular) is to the smooth functioning of my city.

London Tip of the Day #5

London Walks are *the* walking tour company. Accept no substitutes!

I know, these guys get splashed all over the guide books, but they really are excellent - and not just for tourists. Some of the west-end ones are weighted that way more than the rest, but I've been on a good number of London Walks walks, always learned something, and never been the only Londoner in the party.

(I wanted to link you to the upcoming Story of London Walking Weekend on the 6th/7th, but as there's exactly no information about the specifics on the site, there's not much point. I'll report back when that changes!)

London Tip of the Day #4

More audio tours - Visit London offers free podcast audio-tours, either by region (Greenwich, Primrose Hill etc) or by theme (the arts, outdoor London etc).

Soundmaps' audio around Brick Lane, Camden, Kings Road, Soho and Brixton are more expensive than free, but get really good reviews and have an excellent pedigree.

London Tip of the Day #3

(today's tip is unashamedly lifted from Londonist, a resource of much goodness. In fact, London Tip of the Day 3a - read Londonist!)

Free London Audio Guide - hit the map, click an image, hear what they've got to say about your landmark of choice. (Or download the whole lot for a fiver)

London Tip of the Day #2

Free stuff! Most everyone likes free, and London has a lot of free to offer - and not just museums and galleries, either.

Check out Free London Listings or Time Out's advanced search section for a convenient one-stop guide to free events that are going on.

London Tip of the Day #1

I have been neglecting this blog terribly recently - too little time, too much to do - but as I have just welcomed a new batch of students at work, I'm going to try and remedy that with short, sweet, London Tip of the Day posts for - lets say for a week and see what happens from there?

London Tip of the Day #1 : (Covent Garden based and sweet indeed)

Candy Cakes on Monmouth Street for when you really don't want to have to choose between candy or cake

Cyber Candy - for candy from around the world

and

Hope and Greenwood - purveyors of splendid British confectionery, aka the ultimate sweet shop.

Budget day

Is it good news or bad news for you, your friends and family, or the country in general?

Intute collect the best resources on and about the budget hereand the BBC's Budget 2009 page reports the news and reactions.

Westminster Police have just reminded me that today's the queen's birthday. The real one, rather than the official one that gets celebrated with the Trooping of the Colours in June. 

41 gun salute in Green Park at noon, and happy 83rd to Elizabeth II.

We could listen

On Tuesday, we had the privilege of Anne-Marie Fyfe reading at my workplace.  Especially having been to a couple of readings by novelists this year where the audience was reminded that performing skills and writing skills do not come evenly matched, it was really lovely to hear someone read their work so well.

You can read one of the poems she read for us, Curacao Dusk, on the Academi Cardiff International Poetry Competition website, or if you'd like to listen, there are recordings of her reading some of her poems at poetcasting.co.uk