Having the time of our life – Recession? What recession?
This was the scene that greeted me as I crossed Hungerford Bridge this evening. The South Bank outside the Royal Festival Hall was HEAVING with people enjoying an evening drink. The crowds stretched as far as the eye could see. And it’s only Thursday! To be fair, I think the scene would have been like this every evening this week: we’ve had such terrible weather lately that when the sun finally comes out, everyone in London makes the most of it. I think this scene will have been replicated right across Britain this week.
But earlier, I had found this woman handing out vouchers for free drinks at a bar in the City – and she wasn’t the only one trying to lure customers in with the offer of free drinks. So maybe the recession has bitten and while there are plenty of people outside the pubs and bars, there aren’t many inside them!
Alife and kicking – Speakers’ Corner
I haven’t posted for a while and I’ve missed getting out and about in London with my camera. While I like photographing people in the rain, I’m fed up with getting wet, so while the weather was bad, I’m afraid I stayed indoors and just planned all my shoots! On Sunday I got out to Speakers’ Corner – in Hyde Park – where anyone can turn up and speak to the crowd on whatever subject they like, professing whatever mad or radical opinions they like, if they can cope with the regular hecklers who turn up.
I’m a little hazy on the origins of Speakers’ Corner – on Sunday one speaker said the origins of Speakers’ Corner date from the hangings at Tyburn Fields (what is now Marble Arch) and the speeches the condemned men and women were allowed to make while other sources say it began in 1855 after the Reform League asserted their right to public gatherings in Hyde Park. Whatever it’s origins it can be a hotbed of radicalism – Karl Marx and George Orwell spoke here – or just a bunch of barmy loudmouths but it is an important tradition to uphold – the right to freedom of speech.
As for photography, with all the passionate arguments being made, it is a wonderful place to capture facial expressions:
Park Life – Views of London from Richmond Park
On Friday, I was driving through Richmond Park, past King Henry’s Mound, and to my right I saw the wonderful view of central London from the Park bathed in sunshine. We had had a day of sunshine and showers and while Richmond Park was under cloud cover, central London, 10 miles away was enjoying brilliant sunshine, shimmering like a jewel.
This is the view of St Paul’s from just in front of King Henry’s Mound. The wooden post signposts St Paul’s as being 10 miles away. This view has been the subject of controversy – or rather proposals to put tall buildings in the way of this view has been the subject of controversy. And so far, it remains preserved. But for how long?
Ogling in Ogle Street
I took this last year and I’ve been meaning to put it up on the blog for ages. It didn’t fit any of my themes or categories, so I’ve decided to just share it with you because it amused me.
Is this the life? – Views of Olympics you won’t see elsewhere
I was up at the Olympic viewing gallery in John Lewis in Westfield Stratford on Saturday, which has a view over the Olympic park. I couldn’t get near the window to take any photos, for the number of people there and I didn’t fancy pushing my way through to get a photo through the glass with someone’s reflection in it. But I have taken some photos of the Olympic village recently, from viewpoints that you won’t find in the publicity or tourist material.
This is the main gate to the Olympic site with a derelict building beside it. Will this building still be here come the Olympics? Maybe they’ll just put hoardings round it to hide it. It would be nice to think it could be put to some use instead of sitting there empty. I took this photo from a public street and as I was taking it, a G4S security guard tried to stop me, telling me I couldn’t take photos of the security at the gate. So I post it here.
The Olympic stadium from a different viewpoint
The swimming centre with the DLR from a pub
Alife and kicking – Shop till you drop
As promised in my last post, more photos from Stratford – home of the Olympic village and home of the determined shopper and the people who wait for them to come out of the shopping centre.
This first photo was taken outside Westfield shopping centre – apparently the largest shopping centre in Europe. I don’t know about that but it’s definitely the most crowded. I don’t know who all these people are who’ve got the money to shop but then maybe they aren’t, maybe it’s just somewhere to meet your friends on a Saturday afternoon. Last Saturday there were a lot of people just sitting on the steps up to Westfield enjoying the sunshine.
I took this photo on the Saturday before Mother’s Day in Stratford Shopping Centre (the one that was there before Westfield) and this woman caught my eye through the crowds. She was very determinedly making her way through the melee with her two bouquets of flowers held up. I liked the expression on her face. 
A life and kicking – Stuffing balloons into a bag
I have spent the last couple of Saturdays in Stratford in east London, home of the Olympics site, home to the new Westfield Stratford shopping centre – the largest shopping centre in Europe apparently – home in previous generations to my family and home to many many other people. It is a colourful place – and that has nothing to do with the approaching Olympics and everything to do with the people who live, work and shop there.
I shall be posting images from Stratford over the coming weeks. The first are from last weekend when Stratford Shopping Centre – the one that was built long before Westfield and contains a market – was jammed with people shopping for Mother’s Day or just avoiding the rain. I waited with my camera outside a card shop which was the pinkest shop I’d ever seen with all it’s Mother’s Day signs. I wanted to capture the pinkness. But then a sales assistant came out of the shop with a load of helium-filled balloons for a customer and tried to stuff them into carrier bags. Unsuccessfully as it turned out! In the end the customer tied them to her buggy. I didn’t capture that moment because of the crowds but I hope she got home safely and didn’t float away!
Life in the fast lane – when it’s actually running
I actually got a London Overground train this weekend. It’s been a while. Not because I don’t want to use it but because it seems to be closed every weekend for engineering works – well at least the weekends that I want to use it. During the week, it’s an overcrowded nightmare. You only get a seat if you get on at the first stop on the line, otherwise you stand all the way. It serves west, north and east London. You’d think with that demographic they would run more than 4 trains an hour but no. At the weekend, when you can get on it, it’s a pleasant way to travel through London.
At the start of the line
A little further down the line…
I took this one of a man getting on the train. I like this because of the reflections from inside the carriage.
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