Category: Culture

Posted on

London 2012 – Looking Forward to an Olympic Summer!

London 2012 is… finally here! With less than 24 hours to go before the opening ceremony, I am really excited and  have lots of plans to make the most of living in this amazing city, while The Olympics are on. I haven’t really ever been much of a sports-fan, but as I get older, I realise how much more there is to sporting competitions and tournaments like this, than just a pure love of a sport. Over the last few weeks, and particularly this week, the atmosphere has changed, I think, with more and more Londoners getting into the spirit. I have had an amazing week, which started with watching the technical rehearsal of the Olympic opening ceremony on Monday. It was just incredible! Tomorrow the whole world will be able to watch it on their screens, and I can’t wait to see it televised. I am planning to watch the opening ceremony concert on the big screens in Victoria Park, with a picnic dinner, before the main event at 9.00pm BST.

The Action for Happiness Campaign says: 

 Looking forward to things is great way to motivate yourself

…and so I thought I would share some of the ways I have enjoyed the run-up to The Olympics, in my home city of London, and the other Olympic-related activities I am looking forward to.

Yesterday the Olympic Torch Relay came to my neck of the woods, and I went to see it. I was amazed at the numbers of people who had come along, and it was great to soak up the party atmosphere. The torch bearer I saw must have run past very quickly, because I couldn’t get a photo!

The person in my house who does love sport is my husband, and as soon as he had the chance to, he signed up to be an Olympic volunteer. Here is his uniform, all ready for the next two weeks.

The Games Maker uniform

The photos below were taken just before I went into the Olympic Stadium for the rehearsal of the opening ceremony…

The Orbit Tower shining in the evening sun

The Olympic Stadium, as I arrived

Once inside the Olympic Stadium, I expected to have our cameras taken away, or at least for us to be requested not to take photos, but I was pleasantly surprised. Everyone was taking photos, and even video, but we were just asked to #savethesurprise. It was clever to invent such a hashtag (which started trending on Twitter staight away). Because of the way the words were phrased, most people have respected the wishes of the organisers and kept the surprise – which is why I haven’t posted any photos of the ceremony here!

This is how the stadium looked after I left…

After the opening ceremony rehearsal

I am really looking forward to spending a day at the Olympic Park during the Paralympic Games (In August), as well as attending a few different paralympic events.

Here are a few more photos from my evening there:

Looking up the Orbit Tower

The Aquatics Centre, Olympic Park

Beaming after the showAnd finally I am doing my little bit, by bringing the spirit of the Games to little people in Enfield, with my Relax Kids Olympic-themed classes. You can find out more about enrolling your child in my classes here.

Relax Kids Olympic Adventures

What are you looking forward to? Drop me a line, or leave me a comment. I read them all and always respond!

 

Posted on

Weekend Walks: St. Paul’s Cathedral

This is a very simple post – just some beautiful pictures from a trip I made to the St. Paul’s area last week. Enjoy!

The Young Lovers statue, Festival Gardens, outside the cathedral

View of St. Paul’s Cathedral, taken from the south side

London in bloom, taken near Paternoster Square

 

The famous domed roof, and a statue of St. Paul

Admiring the view from the top of the One New Change building, City of London 

Taken from the Paternoster Square side

 Statue of Queen Anne, outside St. Paul’s Cathedral

You can see more photos of the statue of Queen Anne in an earlier post.

Photographed from Ludgate Hill

St. Paul’s Cathedral, photographed from the Millennium Bridge, south side

St Paul’s Cathedral, photographed from outside The Tate Modern

If you liked my photos, you might like to look at some of my other weekend walks or photos of London. Or you can share this blog post on Facebook or Twitter, or leave me a comment below.

Posted on

Weekend Walks: The Shard of Glass

I have been watching The Shard of Glass (also known as The Shard) grow from many different angles all over London over the last couple of years and couldn’t help taking photos of it! So I thought I would share some of them with you here. 

Taken from the Docklands Light Railway, just beneath The Shard. This building has had a mixed reception; I love it, but others have said that it’s not in keeping with the rest of London’s old buildings. It is much much bigger than anything else in London (3 times the size of The Gherkin and the tallest building in Western Europe), but I like the way it tapers into the sky. It reminds me of a church steeple, which is something you see all over London. I like the way London is full of historic and modern building and sights all juxtaposed against each other.

The top of The Shard was still being constrcuted here. These photos were taken in April 2012.

This photo was taken from the top of One New Change Shopping Centre, St. Paul’s (on the north side of The Thames).

A close-up!

Also from the top of One New Change.

Taken from More London Place. Now that’s a location! Looking to my right I could see The Shard, to my left Tower Bridge and behind it The Tower of London, HMS Belfast behind me and City Hall ahead. Wow!

What an amazing place to live – under London Bridge!

Taken outside City Hall (on my left) on the night of the mayoral election! I expected to see lots of Londoners around, but no! It was just tourists and a few policemen!

What do you think of The Shard and other ultra-modern buildings? Do you think they add something or spoil a part of this great city?

Posted on

Stepping Back in Time with The Muppets!

As you may know if you read my Valentine’s Day post, my plan for the day was to watch The Muppets in Leicester Square.

Well, if you are of a certain age, you like me will be transported back to a far more innocent time (the late ’70s) if you watch this film. It was truly delightful 🙂 I was laughing my head off in some scenes, but mostly I felt all mushy and warm inside. Perfect for Valentine’s Day! I loved the fact that there is no CGI (that I could see), the producers kept the script simple and the characters were the same as the original ones.

It was lovely to go and see a film and come out of it, feeling nothing but joy 🙂

Posted on

Valentine’s Day for Free

I can hardly believe Valentine’s Day is here again so soon, but as it is just around the corner I thought I would compile a quick list of fun ways to celebrate it. I know there are lots of people who like me, don’t go for the commercialised aspect of Valentine’s Day, with all of its marketing and production line-style gifts. I have only once fallen prey to the set menu dinner, which was a whirl of food slammed on the table, a packaged rose and then out! Never again! I also prefer to wait until the actual day is over to mark the occassion, if I do decide to go out for a meal, to avoid the manufactured feeling and price-tag! If you are trying to think of a more home-made way to show your love and have a little fun, maybe my list will help!

1. Make your own card – Let out your inner artist and create something original.

2. Go for a walk – Try a new place that you have always wanted to go to, but haven’t got round to. It’s fun to explore a new place together. Secret London is full of hidden gems!

3. Play a game – Embrace that inner child and play a board game or make one up with its own rules, forfeits and prizes!

4. Cook a meal together – Choose a course each or share the prepping, cooking and cleaning up. 

5. Bake biscuits – Fun and delicious! These biscuit recipes are from BBC Good Food.

6. Write a love letter – Or write one each and read them out together. Make it even more special with beautiful handmade or recycled paper. You could use tissue paper or create a wash with water colours.

7. Dress up, wear a wig, choose outfits for each other and go out! This one is really fun as no one else will get the joke!

8. Have a living room disco – A personal favourite!

9. Leave love messages around – Write on the mirror with soap and stick up Post-it notes declaring your love!

10. Create a photo montage – A fun way to remember shared memories.

11. Try out a Treasure Trail or guided walk – This is similar to Number 2, but the research and hard work is done for you.  Treasure Trails (UK-wide, downloadable or they can come by post) and my favourite London walks – Green City Walks. Inexpensive and loads of fun! 

12. Paint a picture of each other  (It doesn’t matter whether you can paint, it’s about having fun!)

13. Make a music compilation – Remember the days of the mixed tape? A lovely way to capture your favourite special songs and share with your lover.

14. Give a massage – Here are the basics to get you started, but if you’re experienced, go with your instincts. Massage basics by Easy Vigour and here’s a massage technique video by Alexazoic.

15. Create your own floral display – Using a little imagination you can make a supermarket bunch of flowers look more original. Mix two small bunches together, unwrap and re-wrap with your own paper, or mix in some foliage you have picked yourself. I prefer simple flowers to overly dressed-up bouquets 🙂 Try this spring flower arrangement video by Mel1408 for inspiration.

16. Make cocktails – Whatever your tipple, alcoholic or non, teas, coffees or juices, be creative and name your new drink for your lover.

17. Take a class together – Learning sparks the creativity and imagination, so doing a new activity together is not only fun, but can be a bonding experience!

18. Try out a new sport – similar to Number 17.

19. Watch an old movie – Snuggle up and enjoy!

20. Talk to each other – If you do nothing else, do this one! And talk whenever you can – this is what keeps us connected and bonded to one another.

Of course they say the best things in life are free, so let your imagination go wild! I could have mentioned poetry, writing a song, making a gift, performing a dance…

And there are dozens of single’s Valentine’s events, for example: Where to Celebrate Being Single by Fluid London.

I will be marking the occasion with The Muppets new film and watching my cousin’s band Leo’s Garden perform at The Water Rats, London, and a combo of ideas from above. Have fun whatever you do and leave me a comment if you have an idea to share! 🙂

Posted on

Happy Halloween!


 For this year’s festive jollity to mark Halloween, I watched the 1930 film Frankenstein, played by Boris Karloff atEnfield’s Dugdale Centre. It was showing as part of a double bill with The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) on afterwards, but in fact I only stayed to watch the first film. I find it hard to sit still for any length of time as it is, and so this decision had nothing to do wth the film, or the set up, or the staff etc – more that I decided to quit while I was ahead and had thoroughly enjoyed the first (and original) film. I felt really happy to be able to walk there (dressed in full Halloween garb) and to be able to do something cheap (£4.00 for both films!), and support my local town centre (which has seen some pretty horrific stuff during the riots this August). And obviously to enjoy a real classic, which I have never actually seen before. Finally to find out that Boris himself (born William Henry Pratt) was brought up in Enfield!   

Boris Karloff as Frankenstein

Happy Halloween!

Posted on

Victorian Pub Architecture

 Last weekend I found myself in the city on a quiet Sunday afternoon and there I spotted this beautiful Victorian pub. Inside Manchester United were thrashing Chelsea on the big screen, but I was really taken with the original features which have been preserved and shown off well by the landlord. The frontage is adorned with imposing bowed windows

The mosaic floor is beautifully preserved

The Hope is on Cowcross Street, Farringdon, EC1M6BH

I just love stumbling upon amazing architecture like this, and I feel so lucky to live in London surrounded by all of this history! You can read my previous post about the beautful mosaic floors at The Hackney Empire here.

 

Posted on

Banksy-style Street Art and Art Galleries

Marilyn Monroe with angel’s wings This is a quick post as I wanted to share this beautiful Bansky (or Bansky-style) street stencil which I spotted on Upper Street in Islington. I love spotting street art like this and always try to take a photo of it, when I see it. It reminds me that art should be every-day occurances and for everyone, not just for the few. Maybe this is why I love statues and sculptures so much.

I had actually been to the Estoric Gallery earlier in the day, which is a small gallery I had never been to before. It was just the right size for me. I find that I get sensory overload if I look at too much stuff at once, because I just find it a lot to absorb. So visiting a gallery like this is always preferable to me than a huge one (although you could go back more than once!). It also made me think of the Tate Modern which has this great sign above it:

I love the fact that it has this huge sign on the building which can be seen from the Millennium Bridge – it hopefully encourages more people to visit it.

View of The Tate Modern, from The Millennium Bridge

Here are some shots of the New River where I went for a walk yesterday, after a visit to the Estoric Collection which is a small gallery housing Italian art.

The New River Walk is an oasis of calm in the centre of London

Nature conservation is a high priority here

How often do you visit art galleries? Does art feature in your life on a regular basis? What are your views on street art? I’d love to hear what you think. You can leave me a comment below or connect on Facebook or Twitter.

Posted on

Amy Winehouse – Remembering Her Music

I am still processing the news about the untimely death of Amy Winehouse last Saturday.  As you may know I am a huge lover of music, and live music and I was fortunate enough to see Amy play live at The O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in 2007. I feel so very privileged to have had the chance to see her play live. I am so sad that we won’t get to hear more of her music (although I have read that her family may release an album of the last project she was working on)… I have watched and read various tributes to her this week, charting her rise to fame and her spiralling downfall, which made me feel very sad. I would like to remember her for her immense raw talent and love of music. Here is one of my favourite clips of Amy performing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ds0eIVGHQk

 Amy Winehouse, Shepherd’s Bush Empire 2007

Posted on

What I love about London…

On my way back to the station from my walk this morning, I stopped to watch this man who was busy painting in the middle of a traffic island. A few others were glancing as they walked by and a passing traffic warden seemed quite engrossed too. Perhaps he was working out he could give the man some kind of ticket!

Painting Holy Trinity Church, opposite Great Portland Street tube station