Fire!

A little piece of video I captured yesterday.
It is either the beginning of the 62 gun salute at The Tower in honour of the birthday of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
...or Boris Johnson has finally pushed the establishment too far.

Here we go a wassailing

I'm not really one for New Year's resolutions, but I think I'll make a small exception - I really must keep up with this blogging lark a lot more...

Anyway. Christmas is over for another year and to officially mark the occasion a bunch of us joined many hundreds of others on the South Bank of the Thames for Twelfth Night festivities performed by the Lions Part company.

Starting with the Green Man of holly coming from a cutter on the Thames, we the crowd were then led in the traditional wassails or toasting of the people, river and nearby Globe Theatre to bring luck in the coming year.

With a golden biscuit (gingerbread sprinkled with gold glitter) as an interval snack we were led next to the Mummers play. This was a strange mix of old stories and music interspersed with modern jokes and a cast of characters ranging from old Father Christmas and Saint George to the villains Beelzebub and Turkey Sniper. By this point Messrs. 0 tra la la?, TDB and M decided they couldn't see much through the crowds and accidentally "fell into the pub". W and I soldiered on though and were treated to Saint George's fight with Turkey Sniper, his resurrection by tooth extraction!

More images from the festivities are here on Flickr.

Tour of London

Goodness but it's been a while!

I initially set this blog up to give me something to do in quiet periods at work. My work-life has since changed so that doesn't happen. I'll just have to make more of an effort at other times...

In the meantime - today I'm recovering from minor sunburn after watching the Prologue trials and Caravane procession for this year's Tour de France. The tour is starting in London for the first time - the Grand Depart. All very exciting and London appeared rammed with people both local and from all over the world. You can see a selection of the pics I took yesterday on my Flickr account.

Goat Protection

You can tell Christmas is getting closer as the Swedes have built their giant straw goat again.

Sensibly, the organisers in the town of Gavle, have coated it in flame retardant, waterproof, chemicals this year. It has tended to be a target of arsonists and been burned down, most years before Christmas is reached, and even within hours of being erected.

There is also another level of protection - the goat is watched night and day by a set of webcams, one of which I have linked to here.

So, if when you read this post the goat is burning you should let the good townspeople of Gavle know.

The Other Mayor of London

Time to catch up with this blogging lark at last. The past few weeks have been rather manic with loads of work in my new job and a trip away. We start with an event from the beginning of the month - the annual Lord Mayor's Show in the City of London.

From the get-go I think it's important to distinguish, for those who don't know, that this has nothing to do with our Uncle Ken. The City, with a capital "C" is the ancient kernel of the large conurbation we now call London. Its Lord Mayor has existed as a civic position since 1189 when King John granted a charter allowing London citizens to elect their own mayor. The charter insisted that while the City was independent, the Lord Mayor should swear allegiance to the monarch. The trip the mayor took from the City to Westminster (the Royal Capital) to swear his oath became more and more elaborate, becoming the "show" we see today. At its heart is still this trip and the Lord Mayor swears his allegiance to Queen Elizabeth at the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand, just over the city boundary into Westminster.

Today's show takes the form of a huge parade said to be the largest unrehearsed parade in the world. In recent years more than 6000 people take part in a parade over 3 miles long over a 1.7 mile-long route. It's one of the best free entertainments London offers and something I've gone along to watch on and off since I first went with my dad over 20 years ago.

This year, rather than paying for a seat on one of the stands we stood with the crowds near the great west door of Saint Paul's Cathedral. I've now decided that this is far preferable - you're much closer to the action and feel far more part of the show. What you loose in terms of feeling your legs after standing around is more than made-up for in atmosphere.

Once the first run of the parade is over there's just time to dash from the main route to the returning route along the Embankment. But again, for a change, we went into the cathedral and up the several hundred steps to the gallery at the top of the dome. There's a fantastic view across the City and you can even still hear the bands playing in the parade down below. One our ears were numb and our legs had recovered from the climb there was plenty of time for a good mooch around the cathedral crypt. There are buried many of the nation's great and good including Admiral Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington and the cathedral's builder Sir Christopher Wren.

To round off the day's free entertainment, the City holds a HUGE firework display. They are let off from a barge in the middle of the Thames, so the banks become crowded well before they start. This year's wind was quite strong but it was still a magnificent display. There is something magical about standing on the south bank and watching fireworks go off over Saint Paul's. At least I wasn't washing ash out of my hair like last year.

Many more photos from the day are available on my Flickr account here.

One Day in History

Today, October 17th, is the day of One Day in History. The idea is for a collection of blog-posts all written today and with a slant towards a historical theme, to be collected together and recorded in the British Library to give a national snapshot of our historical musings.

Here's my contribution:

Family history has, co-incidentally, been on my mind on and off over the last week or so. It's probably seeing "Who Do You Think You Are" on the telly that has prompted me to do some digging of my own.

It's always the case with this kind of project that you wish you made a start when some older relatives were still alive to remember - my gran, on my dad's side, in particular, especially as she was the only real link with the past on that side of the family apart from my dad himself. There are so many things about family history that I’ve just taken as read that I want, now, to discover if they are true or not. It is probably likely, for instance, that my family is originally from Wantage in Oxfordshire and has a history there going back a thousand years or so at least. It’s what I’ve always been told but I don’t just what to know the where’s, but the who’s too. Wantage was, an important Saxon town and the birthplace of King Alfred, so it’s not out of the question. It’s certainly pre-Norman.

I’ve made a small start, something which is a lot easier now so many documents and records are accessible online. It means I don’t have to traipse off to Kew, or wherever, to do this kind of thing. At least for now. However I still have a lot of gaps to fill before I can reliably start working from the online census records. As these are kept secret and locked-away under the 100 year rule I have to get at least back that far, a good few generations, before finding named ancestors. It doesn’t help that several of them had a habit of using their middle-name for every-day use, and so not being known by their recorded name. This is where living relatives’ knowledge could have been useful.

I have had a dip into the online census records and found some likely candidates, but I do need clarification. I should head back to see my parents in a couple of weeks to look through their pile of old bits and pieces. I may get some names from that and if not then assuming I have some success with this I can add names and flesh-out lives of people in them. We have several that go back getting on for 80 to 100 years. So just another 900 years to go!

Open House Saturday

Today was the first of this year's London Open House weekend. It's a chance to look inside building or parts of buildings not normally open to the public. We managed to get into a great selection in the City this year:

Lloyds of London - Home of the international insurance market by Richard Rogers partnership. It's famous for having all its lifts, pipes, ducts and other services on the outside of the building. We had access to the underwriting floor with the Lutine Bell which is rung for good news and bad, the Adam room and gallery on the 11th floor with the Adam room being a complete transposing of an 18th Century dining room bought at auction in 1958.

Vintners' Hall - Guild hall of one of the great twelve London livery companies. The hall was built in the 17th century to replace an earlier one destroyed in the Great Fire of London. The carved wooden staircase is amazingly intricate. Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures in there, so you'll have to make do with what's available on the website.

We then had a break for lunch and to see part of the Great River Race as part of the Mayor's Thames Festival also taking place. Just about anything you can imagine afloat and man-powered from Chinese Dragon Boats to ships' launches to beer barrels was there.

Then on to the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand. I've visited here for Open House before, but this time took the tour of the cells. It was strange seeing such austere and functional modern facilities in a Victorian Gothic pile. This tour was guided by security personnel who normally work in the building, so an excellent opportunity to ask questions. We also got to see inside a modern prisoner-transport van - the kind of thing seen on the news with press photographers desperately trying to take pictures of the accused through the tiny, tinted windows. What I didn't realise is that these vans are just like tiny prison-blocks on wheels, with individual cells.

A quick one next with a nip just down the road to 120 Fleet Street to access the art deco foyer of the old Express Newspapers office. This is probably the shiniest thing I've seen in any Open House visit over the last few years. The metallic facing panels are probably the most impressive feature - one featuring symbolism representing the UK and the other representing its (then) empire. A dizzying look up the centre of the main oval-shaped spiral staircase is also well-worth a look. The building now seems to sit as a museum piece inside a new building constructed for an American investment bank. It doesn't even act as an entrance-hall any more, which is a shame.

Finally for today we popped round the corner to the Royal College of Surgeons of England. This building was originally built by Charles Barry who is more famous for the Palace of Westminster. It contains the Hunterian Museum of pickled babies, animals and vicious-looking medical equipment through the ages. In the building itself had access to the grand staircase and various huge function rooms. One such room contained an amazing Holbein portrait of King Henry VIII presenting his Royal Charter to the Barber Surgeons. We also had access to the library with the familiar musty-book smell. It had bound journals and various curios from the history of doctoring and on one shelf a book with the perplexing title An Encyclopedia of Flaps.

There are many more pictures to see on my Flickr account.

The End of Summer

Last Saturday was the Last Night of the BBC Proms, which I always consider to mark the end of the summer. As usual myself and Mr SB went along to Hyde Park for Proms in the Park. Many people who haven't been seem to think that the Park events are simple a live big-screen link-up with the Royal Albert Hall finale to the BBC Proms season, but there is a lot more. The live-link does happen, but not until after 10pm and there's nearly 5 hours of live concert in the park before that.
I have to admit that this time around, I did wonder if it would be as good as previous years. I wasn't completely inspired by some of the line-up. That said, there is something about the live-ness and picnicking which does help with the entertainment value. I'd not normally pay to hear Chas'n'Dave, a Madness Tribute band or Lionel Richie perform, but they were all very entertaining. I think the only real disappointment was the inclusion of X-Factor X-lister Chico. He was exactly as nauseating as I'd been expecting.
Still it was a great evening's entertainment in all, helped by some of the best weather I've ever experienced at this event. Glorious sunshine was followed by a cool evening and not a spot of rain. Certainly a relief after last year's wash-out to the second half.

Small Fires and Escaped Apostrophes

I should have been at the Proms tonight, but we were turned away from the door being told that a "small fire" had left the Royal Albert Hall with no power. Bummer! I'd been looking forward to an evening of Beethoven's Ninth. Still - it's one of the regular components of the Proms season so we shall try again next year.
All that said, the day wasn't a complete wash-out. SB and I had decided to have a mooch around the South Ken. museums for a few hours ahead of the concert. I'd forgotten just what a pleasant courtyard the V&A has. We spent a while there with a coffee, people watching in the late-summer sun.
We also braved the hoards of screaming kids at the Natural History Museum (it being a weekend and school holidays) where this little gem was discovered outside the escalator up to the whizily-interactive Earth Galleries. Note that an escaped apostrophe can even make an appearance here! If you look closely, you can see that someone has tried to cross it out (no it wasn't me).
I remember visiting the old Geological Museum as a kid and finding a very dry set of rocks in cases. I think I was about 7 or 8 at the time and so after seeing the huge dinosaur skeletons elsewhere in the building I was rather underwhelmed. It's the first time since then that I have made it round the corner from the familiar teracotta edifice on Cromwell Road, to this part of the museum. As its redevelopment was completed in 1988 I can't really call it new but it certainly makes a difference. I'd recommend taking a look. There's lots to see and press and light up - all very tactile. I suppose rocks are rather less fragile than many museum exhibits.

Prom 7

Last night I went along, with Mr SB, to my first Proms concert of this season. We nearly decided to completely bail, it being the hottest July day since 1911, and because the original intention was to queue for promenading tickets in the "Arena" (no seats, standing in front of the stage).

Luckily we managed to nab a couple of returned tickets for seats in a box on the second tier instead of crisping in the queue. These were probably some of the best seats I've had at the RAH for comfort and leg-room. It's also a bonus that they let you have drinks in the boxes - no bad thing with the place becoming increasingly sauna-like over the duration.

The concert was billed as a celebration for the 80th birthday of HMQ, so Herself was there too. That meant the usual panoply of Scots Guards trumpeters fanfaring and antheming was at the beginning. It also meant the stage was covered in various school and ecclesiastical choirs in all the space not occupied by the orchestra itself.

The programme was quite varied - starting with a new commission: A Little Birthday Music composed by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, the Master of the Queen's Music with words by Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion. A rather bizarre piece, as I tend to find these modern commissions; choral bursts from the children punctuated by discordant brass trumpeting.

This was followed by the far more relaxing Clarinet Concerto in A Major by Mozart. With the heat in the hall it was all too easy to begin to snooze.

Finally, after the interval, Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 in E minor From the New World. This was far more familiar than I had expected. It turns out to be the poaching ground for the famous music used for the Hovis bread adverts among others which will probably drive me mad until I manage to identify where I've heard them before.

More Proms to come before mid September.

Elephants and Aliens

Today I spent most of the afternoon chasing one of the most spectacular street events I've ever seen. The Sultan's Elephant was a complete joy to witness even if I didn't actually get to it until the last day. I'm still too giggly and awed to write too much so I'll let some pictures take most of the strain (although there are much clearer and better access pic on the official site gallery)

The story (for there is a story) concerns a strange space traveling giant girl and her relationship with the Sultan's time-traveling mechanical elephant. First of all I caught up with the girl who was having a snooze in St James's Park, on a deckchair - as you would do. I wonder if she had to pay the hire charge?

I then worked my way up towards Piccadilly, past the crater left by the girl's crashed wooden rocket and the cars she'd stitched to the road, to the giant elephant's water-bowl.

The elephant himself was resting along Piccadilly while the Sultan took tea, but he wouldn't stay there long. Soon the whole entourage was on the move with the elephant clearing a path by spraying the crowd with water from his trunk. There's something about getting soaked by a 40ft mechanical elephant that really puts a smile on your face there's an accompanying shriek of the crowd before everyone bursts out laughing.

I moved down following the elephant until I could duck down lower Regent Street to overtake and get a second look as he passed again.

Then it was time to catch up with the girl and get ready for the grand finale. She had finished her nap and decided to go for a ride on her scooter and look for the elephant.

Then led him back onto Horseguard's Parade to say goodbye and leave in her rocket.

Managed to find (with some direction) Messrs M and P for a much-needed coffee afterwards.

More pictures on my Flickr account should you be inclined to look.

Sequentiality

The observant among you may have spotted that tonight sees one of the most significant (for geeks) time/date combination since the turn of the pedants millennium at midnight on 01/01/2001.

We can all look forward to the time, for a whole second, being 01:02:03 04/05/06

I thought of trying to post at that instant, but seeing as I could well be not-long back from the pub I thought it best not to try blogging then.

Accession Day

I took a half-day holiday yesterday to take some pictures at an event I've never seen before.

Yesterday was Accession day - the 54th anniversary of The Queen becoming Queen. In honour of this, gun salutes are fired from the national capitals and for London it happens twice - once in Hyde Park and then again at The Tower an hour later. You can probably tell from the picture that I popped along to The Tower to see the Honourable Artillery Company at work.

Seeing the Beefeaters wandering around with bright yellow earplugs is quite odd, but you can understand why they're needed if you're there. They fire a 62 gun salute at The Tower - the regular 21 gun royal salute, with a further 20 rounds in honour of The Tower being a "Royal Palace and Fortress" then another 21 for the City of London. The maths can get more complicated if there are multiple anniversaries; at The Tower they will fire 124 rounds if The Duke of Edinburgh's Birthday (June 10th) falls on the same day as the Queen's Official Birthday!

The rounds are so loud as they're fired, if you're as close as they let me stand, that you can feel the compression wave in your lungs. I didn't feel sick while walking back over Tower Bridge afterwards, but just a bit strange.

Sadly I didn't manage to capture any of the fantastic smoke rings caused by some rounds. I need a new camera...