Big, beautiful boot scrapers

I've been wandering around and properly investigating the St. James's area a lot these past few years, yet until earlier this week I hadn't noticed some superb metalwork within the entrance to 50 St. James's Street. Considering that I have quite a large photographic collection of London boot scrapers, I was confused how I'd managed to miss this enormous pair of decorated beauties either side of the door. 

A sign near the entrance says that the building is being renovated. There are remnants of scaffold pole footers and the whole thing needs a wash and brush up. The boot scrapers are sublime. I have never before seen any so opulently decorated. The lanterns at the top of the street level posts are no longer in place, hence why they are cropped out of my phots here, but their gas feeds are still evident below their three-legged struts. I had an inkling that building this would have originally been one of the area's many gentlemen's clubs as per White's, Boodle's, Brook's etc. But what was it more recently? I needed to do some delving.

Well, it turns out that for over 12 years this site has been behind scaffolding or under wraps of some kind which is evidence by looking at Google's retrospective street views. In 2012 the site shows that the building looked like the image above. 

A quick bit of googling and Wikipedia tells us that this is an 1827 Grade II listed building that was has been a gentleman's club (yes!*), a bridge club in the 1920s and then various casinos or gaming institutes. There are plans to convert the building for use as either a hotel or as residential properties. However, the written timeline in that Wiki link doesn't seem to correlate with the google streetview which clearly show that scaffolding was in place by August 2014 so I am a bit confused when the squatters were there.     

This 2012 image show the lovely gas-fired lamps beautifully silhouetted. I suspect that the lanterns were removed for safety reasons during the building works and I am hoping that, going forward, they will be reinstated, complete with the gas feed as per other lamps in this area, rather than retrofitted with LEDs.

* had I applied my brain I could have worked that this was William Crockford 's club – he was an interesting character to say the least!

Remembering Fitzroy Square in the late 1980s

On Wednesday last, after leading a lovely group of London Historians on a meandering route through Fitzrovia looking at 1920s-30s buildings (people call the era Art Deco but it mostly isn't!), I decided after a much-need drink in The Wheatsheaf, Rathbone St, to wander back up to Fitzroy Square and have a look at something other than interwar buildings. Specifically, I was intrigued to see how this area has evolved since I worked at 4-5 Fitzroy Square in 1988-90.

For just short of two years I was studio manager and typographer for Art Integrators, a small artwork company situated in the rear lower level of this building which comprised two co-joined Georgian houses, the main reception being in the hallway of No.4 (the red door) which since 2012 is called Willan House and home to The British Association of Dermatologists. 

Art Integrators had external clients such as Cato Johnson, who I used to visit for briefs at Greater London House AKA The Carreras 'Black Cat' Factory which, coincidentally, is a building and company I talk about as a presentation via Zoom. We also did a lot of work for the other companies within the building, all of us being under the Gannaways umbrella. John Gannaway its founder and director took a great pride in the building and I recall vividly the colourful paint on the metal banisters in the stairwell and the paintwork too, all of which John had researched. At the time I thought the pinks, purples, blues an greens a bit strange, but you need only to visit Smithfield market to see the same palette.  

Looking at the building last week I noticed for the first time that there are three animal skulls within the frieze at high level. I have no idea what they refer to. I had also never noticed the fine fancy fanlight above the front door, though I do rememer the front door being mid-grey. And now I'm noticing that gorgeous lampholder and the railing. I have no recollection the great view of the BT/PO Tower as you exit the building. I obviously had other things on my mind back then.

Intrigued at whether anything could be seen inside, I peered in through the window at the side of the front door to see that the hallway is the same as I remember as regards layout and fittings but today the colours are muted, bland, very tame. Very pale grey and magnoila. There's no way the Georgians, the Victorians, indeed the early C20th century bright young things would have lived in anywhere as dull. poor John and all his hard work. I peered down into the front basement area and remembered the two Johns and Frank who used to work out of that office, yet I am not aware of them using these steps. Instead, they would access through Art Integrators, going past my desk, back and forth to Solar Typesetting which was situated at the very rear of the building abutting Grafton Mews (see below). 

I really liked the guys in Solar, in particular Mick and Ron the bosses who were always always immaculately well-dressed in that old-school 1960s way; shiny shoes, tie pins, clean hands and aftershave. They sometimes let me use the compositor machine to make my the headline lettering for jobs myself, the machine being a kind of enlarger that produced crisp-edged large format letters on photo-quailty paper. Using turning handles to get the right size and focus on a single character you then hit the button to photograph it, then moved on to take a snap of the next letter. I was so in my element there as, since starting in the industry back in 1980, it had often been commented on that I have a natural ability for letterspacing; The Queen of Letraset – a skill I think is sadly lacking these days where you can often easily 'drive a bus' through the gap in 11 and then blame technology if anyone points it out.

I particularly recall how I liked working with affable and super-efficient, self-effacing Bob, one of the Solar typesetters, and how impressed and intrigued I was at how he/they could turn my mark-ups supplied to them as instrucutions on A4s into beautiful long silky sheets of words, often created overnight to be ready for me next morning, having typed up the whole thing up manually, looking at screens of coloured codes and symbols that to my mind looked nothing like my starting point or the marvellous end product. there ceratinly was no opportunity for amendements. Once it had gone to the typesetter that was it. Any changes were costly. Unless, like me you were adept with the PMT camera and bit of clever cut and shunt. Today, just like I am doing here, we can amend our copy as we go along and change styles and fonts in seconds, effectively acting as designer, typographer, typesetter, artworker, even printer, all at once. Jacks of all trades. Masters of none.

There was a wonderful exchange of ideas and skills between AI and Solar with many of our in-house  chats taking place in Ian's office, someone I was to keep in touch with for years to come. Indeed, when I was made redundant from this company in October 1990, a fate that befell most of us there, I had by that time made good friends within the building and many of us stayed in touch furthering each other's careers going forward. Who was it who said "workmates are friends your boss found for you"?! 

This got me thinking about bygone times, places and people connected to this company, so I sat down on one of the benches for a while to try and remember the people I worked there. Let's return to the front door and then travel around the building. 

I cannot now recall who or what was in the office to the immediate left of the front door, ditto the room beyond the reception to the left. I think it was probably a marketing company that I rarely had to deal. My department, Art Integrators, was down the stairs towards the rear. There was an office to the right of the corridor and the main studio to the left. The corridor then lead to Solar and a back door to Grafton Mews. 

Returning to the stairs and going up to the first floor front, John Gannaway and his business partner Eddie (aaargh, can't remember his surname), their jolly can-do PA (again, name drain here. Jackie? Janice?) had offices either side of the lovely conference/meeting room which ran across the front of the building and in a previously time zone would have been a family dining room/reception. The accounts dept was adjacent to the stairs. I am now remembering bubbly colourful Janet from accounts, she was marvellous. I loved it when she did the rounds handing out the payslips every month. Indeed, as with most accounts depts, they went a bit party-mad whenever the was a birthday or party celebration on a Friday. I think this is because, unlike the rest of the company who were in pubs practically every lunch time and after work whatever day it was, they had to keep a clear head for figures and restricted their binges.  

First floor rear was The Sharp End, another design and artwork company, headed by Keith, backed up by head creative Roger and managed by Chrissie. This larger studio worked mostly for the large holiday companies of the day producing brochures and ads, with a lot of work coming in from Yugotours, much of which also filtered down to AI. Staff at AI included Nigel, Jane, Chris, Paul, Erica, Dylan, Debbie, [Miss] Watmough on telephone and secretaral duties; I can hear her lovely husky south London accent in my head as I type this. At certain times both studios were full to brimming expanded by freelance artworkers employed to produce the paste-ups for those thick holiday brochures. Paste-up, for the unitiated, involves paper, glue, scalpels, Rotring pens and PMT machines. The end products then get photographed by a reprographic company pre going to print. Wow. To the under 40s this must sound like I am writing in a foreign language. How times have changed. 

So back to the tour... The upper floor was Gannaways advertising company. Here goes, and sorry if I miss anyone out, but hell, this was 30 years ago... production dept by the stairs comprising Phil, Tim and Ruth (strong Wakefield accent). Client handlers Hilary and Andrew (who, coincidentally links in a different way to the Carreras building mentioned above), creatives Dexter, Paul and another well-spoken bloke who's face I can see but name I can't recall (?Rupert) worked on a lot of film company and VHS ads (we all used to go to screenings in Hammersmith. Happy days). Barry the illustrator in the central zone opposite the marriage of Jon (pictures) and Leon (words) with Mike the creative director in the corner room. Phew! I think that's the whole building done.  

When I'd only been working there a few weeks a photo was taken of all employees outside the building. I was wearing a hat I had recently purchased from Zone at Harvey Nichols. I've still got that hat. It's like a cross between a lady's riding hat and a funeral director's top hat. I never got a copy of the group photo. However, I do have a few photos of some of the people mentioned above – please do contact me if you are interested and I will send them to you.

Sitting on the bench, looking at the laminated aggregate that now runs a full ring around the beautiful gated gardens at the centre, I was reminded that back in the 90s there were fuctioning roads with parking spaces all the way round and at lunchtimes I often went inside the gardens with workmates. I don't recall anyone having a key or opening a gate. I am sure we simply walked in and sat on the grass, though I suspect it was only accessible on certain days and times.

It's doubtful that 4-5 Fitzroy Square was initially designed to be one property being as the columns above No.4 are not repeated on No.5. It's an enigma. Simliar pairings are evident further along and are more easily discerned being symmetrical in design as regards their additional embellishments. I suspect one door would have been used by the owners for slipping in and out unannounced, and the was other for visitors, with servants/trade making use of the access at the rear. However there are other divisions, such as shown top left here (green door) which show a history of change. 

Other points to note along this side of the square, shown above: some lovely metalwork in the form of balconies, railings and boot scrapers, and more beautiful delicate fanlights. Within the upper pediment of 7-8  it looks as if some architectual details in the form of floral motifs have been removed. The blue plaque commemorates Charles Eastllake, 1793-1865, Painter and First Director of the National Gallery who lived here (for a length of time unspecified!).

I will continue my observations in this area in another post.

Boot Scrapers in Cromwell Road

Spotted opposite The Natural History Museum, four doorways in a row all with stumps rather than full boot scrapers.
Culled for the war effort perhaps?

Or, here's another more creative idea ... perhaps this is how they grow and what we see here are new buds...? !!

Black Friday and Small Business Saturday

Today is Black Friday, so named because as the first shopping day after Thanksgiving in the States it marks the start of the Christmas shopping season. The word black here meaning the start of business being in profit, rather than in the red (debt).
So I thought I'd mark the day with another collection of nice black boot scrapers that I have spotted around central London.

To see some of my earlier posts about boot scraper please click here and here and here.

Then next weekend, 6th December, sees Small Business Saturday, a day to promote and buy from small traders and independent shops.
I will be selling my clay pipe creations at markets on both of these days. Today at Camden I will be offering a 20% discount. See my full market list here.

Mount London – Ascents in the Vertical City

There are some great views across this fair city from high points such as Crystal Palace, Ally Pally and Richmond Park. Plus some fantastic vantage points from man-made constructions which include Hornsey Road's 'Suicide Bridge', BT Tower, The Wheel and the The Pointy Thing.
But on a smaller scale, London exists on a series of hills and mounds and this can be seen in the names of the streets, such as Saffron Hill, which to us today seems like a little blip and not worth mentioning.
Mount London is a collection of thoughts and observations by twenty-five different writers about these geographical ups and downs.
Published this Wednesday 28th May – more info here.
Below are some of my own observations on London's hills.

Corn, Denmark, Lavender, Rosslyn.

Stamford, Notting, Highgate, Crouch End.

Muswell, Haverstock, Primrose, Tower.

Black Cat Cabaret revisted

Last year I reported that I'd had a fabulous evening at one of the Black Cat Cabaret evenings at The Café de Paris on Leicester Square.
Well, I am glad to report that the Black Cat has spread its wings and can now be found at two more venues.
I went along to the Camden Centre last Friday and had another great evening – it was the best night out I'd had in a long time.
The show is fabulous, fascinating, frisky, faux-french and fun. After the main show there's dancing to some truly great sounds all put together by a clever DJ who mixes all sorts of genres. I found it almost impossible to leave the floor. I only paused to watch the other balancing and acrobatic acts that came on intermittently throughout the DJ set.
Find out more about Black Cat Cabaret evenings here.
I'm going again soon.... hope to see you there.

Above is a collection of my London images featuring dancers, acrobats and black cats, including two boot scrapers, Dick's Whittington's cat and Dr Johnson's cat, plus an old pained wall ad for Black Cat Cigarettes (top right) and two pics of the the actual Carreras cigarette factory at Mornington Crescent (bottom left x2).

Bedford Square

One of my favourite squares in London is Bedford Square, Bloomsbury. I must admit I prefered it when the road actually ran around the circular garden but, hey, it's still lovely. Ten years ago (and counting) it was a great place to park after 6.30pm; close enough for a five minute walk into the West End and great for a fast getaway back to North London.
The lovely garden at the centre of Bedford Square is enclosed by railings and rarely open to the public (a notable exception would be the annual Chap Olympiad). Bedford square is boxed in on four sides by gorgeous Georgian terraces. Almost every doorway has an architectural detail to catch my eye; an unusual bootscraper, an exquisite fanlight, a lovely brass doorknob or fancy letterbox.
Walking westwards along the north side of the square last week I noticed that there was a row of doorways each with different exterior floor mosaics, so out came the pocket camera and I walked the whole square clockwise looking for more, noticing how the door numbers went anti-clockwise. Why is that?

These particular doorway mosaics must have been a kind of welcome mat to customers, who may have been hotels guests.
(Note to self: find out more)
On the corner of Gower Street sits No.12. A board attached to the railings advertises that there is 4,500 sq ft of office space available for rent inside, and more space available at similar locations in Bayley St and Gower St. I rest my case re new [glass] buildings being built in London yet lots of office space is already available in prime locations.  
But what really interested me about No.12 was the differing panels of vermiculation around the door. Each of the eight sections was distinctly different, and it can't just be put down to the amount of paint layers. See here:

I continued along the east side, where the doorways are larger and more imposing and the brasswork is more showy and the fanlights are larger.
The Square boasts some really unusual examples of boot scrapers and a  selection of them is shown below. I took a few photos of the one shown bottom left which can be found on the south side where the moss has been able to grow in the shadows.

On the south side I spotted two coal hole cover plates that somehow eluded me in the past. How on earth had I never noticed 'Pfeil and Stedall', and 'Boobbyer' before?! What bizarre names!

Clockwise from top left: West Bros, G. Guy, Luxfer, Haywards, J. H. Boobbyer & Sons, Pfeil and Stedall, T. Sampson, J.Jennings.
Turning onto the west side checking the makers names on the coal hole covers, I didn't spot any 'new' ones but I did notice that they were all wider in diameter. Possibly larger businesses/houses/hotels/colleges? So that's something else I need to look up. More of my London coal hole cover plates here.
I think you will agree, it was a rather nice diversional loop to my afternoon.

Lamb's Conduit Street

Lamb's Conduit Street, for those of you who do not know, is situated in Bloomsbury between Holborn and Coram Fields. It continues north across Theobald's Road from Red Lion Street and roughly forms the western edge of some of the oldest Georgian Streets in London, namely Doughty Street, John Street, St James' Street and especially Bedford Row which, I am told, contains one of the oldest complete Georgian houses in London (or something like that – please feel free to put me right about this – I seem to recall either Dan Cruikshank or Maxwell Hutchinson talking about this on a TV programme years ago).

This area is great for those one-off gifts – a shopping experience very unlike Oxford Street. And nothing at all like Westfield (ech spit).

Ignoring the prescence of one of the major coffee chains (ech spit 2), Lamb's Conduit Street, and adjoining Rugby Street, boasts a range of independent shops offering all sorts of wonderful things – groceries, homewares, gifts, books, bicycles, lingerie, food, alcohol, curiosities, clothes and proper coffee. Plus a chemist, a florist a funeral director, and a community-run supermarket. So much in such a small area.

Every time I visit the street I wish I lived closer to it. Years ago I had the option of buying a flat near this area and I let someone talk me out of the idea. What a fool I was! Did I mention the good pubs and choice of restaurants too?

There's a late night shopping event coming up soon on Friday 9th December. The shops will be open until 8pm and there will be mulled wine on offer.

Actually, don't tell too many people about this gem... please only tell the lovely people who will appreciate it. We don't have enough areas like this left in London – I remember when Camden Parkway was similarly special... sigh.

Devonshire Place

I was just thinking the other day that I haven't seen any 'new' bootscrapers for a while; just the same designs repeated over and over. I walk about mentally saying, 'got that one, got that one' (how sad!).

But then I had to go for a super-dooper 3D dental Xray doobrey in Devonshire Place yesterday and spotted lots of lovely bits of ironwork along the street. I am sure there are plenty more – time was of the essence and I only had my Blackberry with me and so couldn't take decent pics and I only walked the stretch from Devonshire Street to Wigmore Street so there must be plenty more to see. I must make a return visit.

Below are my finds which also include a coal hole cover plate with a name I haven't seen before, a pretty doorway mosaic, and a strange wall-mounted hook thing with a hole at one end where something must have been fixed to it at some point– any ideas what this item was used for?

William Morris Gallery at 2 Temple Place

The wonderful William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow is closed whilst renovations and refurbishment take place. However, a lot of the exhibits can be viewed at one of London's hidden architectural gems at 2 Temple Place, owned and managed by The Bulldog Trust.

This exhibition is the first of a series of shows at this lovely building aimed at showcasing the UK's publically-owned art. It runs until 29th January 2012.

Click here for more about The Bulldog Trust and these events.

The courts, gardens, chambers and alleys of The Inns of Temple are a haven of peace hidden behind Fleet Street's bustle; it sometimes feels if it has been forgotten by time. I love taking friends there who had no idea it was there and seeing the looks on their faces.

Well well well...

Many places in London have the name well in their name. Most are so named because there was indeed a well there in times past. Some have changed their name or been lost completely, as in the case of New Tunbridge Wells, which became Islington Spa and was buried underneath Lubetkin's Spa Green Estate.

But The Clerk's Well can still be seen in Farringdon Lane to the south of Clerkenwell Green which, despite its name, isn't green and has no grass. Clerkenwell is rich in history so click here for more.

Top: Amwell St, Benwell Road, Camberwell, Chiswell St.

Middle: Clerkenwell, Cromwell Rd, Goswell Rd, Muswell Hill.

Bottom: Newell St, Stockwell, Wellclose Sq, Well Court.

The Fabulous Mr Bridges

Ooh... I should have noticed this earlier... The British Film Institute is putting on a retrospective of one of my favourite film actors.

Not only is the man gorgeous and talented (yes please!), he has been in some brilliant movies... he acted Clint off the screen in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, was superbly understated in The Fabulous Baker Boys, survived in the wonderful Fearless, managed to make pony tails acceptable in The Fisher King and turned dressing gowns into daywear in The Big Lebowski.

I've only just discovered Jeff's website... it's fab... full of music and photos and clips... he just gets more appealing by the minute!

I could have easily put together a collection of bridges but I decided to have more fun with this one... see if you can get identify these 12 films he's been in...

Top: Edgware Rd, Billingsgate, Essex Rd, Millwall Docks.

Middle: Stroud Green, Leytonstone, Crouch End, Walthamstow Village.

Bottom: Kew Gardens, Camden, Westminster, Hackney.

Red feathers and black lace

It's been drawn to my attention that there were a load of semi-naked women in Trafalgar Square last week taking part in an attempt to break the Guinness Book of World Records' attempt for the largest burlesque dance. Sponsored by Virgin, it tied in with that ad that's showing on TV at the moment, hence all the red and black being worn.

I'm no prude but if I was going to parade around semi-naked I'd rather fly off on one of their planes and do it on a beach in the Caribbean or the Far East wearing a bikini. And I do have one in both colours should they need me!

Top row: Walthamstow Village, Rosemary Branch, Serpentine Gallery, Stoke Newington

Middle row: Islington, Surrey Docks, Highgate Village, London Bridge

Bottom row: Battersea, Clerkenwell, Bayswater, Holloway.

The root of all evil

As this goes live I will be seeing my dentist. He'll be drilling and packing my dodgy molar. But once done, joy of joys, I will be able to eat with it again and swill cold water around it. And then I can look forward to getting a nice expensive crown made.

Crown (& Sceptre, now a restaurant) Gt Titchfield St; enamel off Essex Rd; Sweetoof Brick Lane; Drill Hall, Chenies St; gum Crouch End; Regents Canal; teeth Fleet St; filling Earls Court.

Charles Dickens Museum in Doughty Street

The home where Charles Dickens wrote The Pickwick Papers, Nicholas Nickleby and Oliver Twist is getting £2 million from the National Lottery Fund.

The house in Doughty Street, WC1, is now home to The Charles Dickens Museum and they intend use the money to store more than 10,0000 books, manuscripts etc relating to Dickens' life.

Dickens lived in the building for only two years (1837-39) and this brings me to my blue plaque bugbear... how long does someone need to have lived somewhere for a blue plaque to be deemed appropriate?

OK, in this instance, a few novels were written on the premises, but has anyone else noticed how many blue plaques in London represent Dickens because he slept on someone's sofa one night, popped in for a cuppa, or lived 'nearby'!

But the museum is well worth a visit, and Doughty Street and the adjoining Bloomsbury streets are worth a stroll down any day as the area is a mine of wonderful architectural features, as shown in the montage below.

And here are 15 interesting facts about the man.

London River

It's a strange title but this is a film about two people who paths cross when they are both hunting for their missing (adult) children in London after the bombings on 7th July 2005.

I am writing about this now because I forgot to do this earlier in the year when it would have been more relevant, and I just noticed that the film is out on DVD on Monday 11th October.

What I like about this French-made film, apart from the very good performances and slow pacing, is that it isn't littered with silly images of iconic London buildings, but instead centres on the Finsbury Park area, specifically Blackstock Road where the missing people were living.

The pics in the top row show places that pop up in the film, the second row are missing things, and the bottom row is the bottom row.

Top Row: Twelve Pins pub, N4 / The Old Dairy, N8 / Blackstock Road, N4 (x2)

Middle row: Doulton factory, Black Prince Road, SE11 / Star Street, W2 / Upper Street, N1 / Lincoln's Inn, WC2

Bottom row: Russell Square station / London Bridge / Kings Cross / Gt Newport Street, WC2

WWF UK's Year of the Tiger campaign

As part of the Year of the Tiger, and to raise awareness of the plight of tigers in the wild, WWF UK is working with Mark Coreth who is, as I write this, creating a 3.4m sculpture of a tigress next to Bankside Pier.

This will be there until 19th September 2011 so if you are visiting the Mayor's Thames Festival this weekend, be sure to go an check it out as members of the public and local children are invited to go and lend a hand.

Update: here are my pictures of it.

I am a big cat; I am a Leo and a Tiger, whatever all that means.

I haven't got any pictures of tigers but I do have some of cats:

Clockwise from top left: Civet Cat (Kensington), Red Lion (Camberwell), Natural History Museum, Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, Carreras Building (Mornington Crescent), Bortusk Leer street art, boot scraper (Belgravia), Black Cat cigarettes ghost sign (Dingley Road).

The Chap Olympiad in Bedford Square

Taking place in Bedford Square this Saturday is the 6th Chap Olympiad.

So curl your hair or wax your moustache, dress up in something dapper and go put on a damn fine show. What?!

Top row: LRT Acton Depot, Clerkenwell Road, Belgravia, Holloway Road.

Middle row: Chenies Street, Curzon Street, Olympic Park, Bedford Square [c]space pavilion.

Bottom row: New Oxford Street, Bedford Square, Jermyn Street x2.

Football crazy; football mad

My life is already, through no choice of my won, dictated by football; living 5 mins from Arsenal's Emirates Stadium, yet not caring a jot whether they win or lose, I always have to check the fixtures list or the signs at the bottom of my street to see if my visitors can park outside my home without getting a parking ticket.

Due to the traffic disruption it can be a bit frustrating trying to use the bus or tube just before or straight after a match. During these times hoardes of "fully grown" men dressed as overgrown toddlers in three-quarter length trousers, bumper boots, multi-coloured logo'd polyester T-shirts and hardly any hair, fill the streets and pubs and chant rhymes. Ah bless 'em.

Have you noticed that sports news, at the end of the 'real' news on the TV, is really only football news? I fail to see why there even has to be a sports section within the news at all. Surely if people want sports news, sorry, football news, they can tune in to a sports channel? After all we don't get an arts news section on there, for instance.

And now the World Cup is upon us. Oh deep joy.

Actually, what am I saying? I don't mind the World Cup at all. To ignore the World Cup would be daft. It's like not being interested in horse racing and having a bet on The Grand National. Likewise athletics and The Olympics, and tennis and Wimbledon.

So I will be watching some of the matches wearing my stylish cotton T-shirt with 3 lions on it.

C'mon England!!!

World, cup, foot, balls, team

Boots, players, matches, posts, marks

Half, 3 lions, boot scraper

Passing, dribbling, crossed, tackle, stadium

(locations upon application)

On reflection

I popped into the Royal Academy courtyard last week to see the Anish Kapoor sculpture, though I haven't been in to see the full show. Anyway, I took some photos (more here) and it got me thinking about all the lovely shiny reflective stuff that has been around this year such as this year's pavilion at the Serpentine Gallery and that Jeff Koons pink thing that was in St James' Square.

So here's a collection of reflected stuff. Yeah, stuff. And things.

Top row: Anish Kapoor; Rising Sun pub, Tottenham Court Road; Albert Bridge; The George & Vulture pub, EC3

Middle row: Rules, Maiden Lane, WC2; Serpentine Gallery pavilion; Ibex building, Minories, EC3; The Hare & Hounds / Albert & Pearl, Upper Street, N1.

Bottom row: Sunlight in Holloway, N7; Sweetings, Queen Victoria Street, EC4; Piccadilly Arcade, Sw1; boot scraper, Great russell Street, WC1