Regent's Park Before Dark: Part 2

So on we go, up through the main body of the park's west side - I won't bother with pictures of that as I'm sure you're all familiar with what flat, grassy football fields look like - and then up to Regents Park Canal, which runs along the norther curve of the circular shaped park. Along this canal lay the London Zoo and I would have given it a whirl except entrance was fifteen quid and I would have only had an hour before closing. I quickly realized that that apes and giraffe's would all be from the same places as the apes etc. that I'd seen in Canadian zoos, so it wasn't a big loss. That being said, here's a snap of the portion of the zoo which lay along the canal.And then looking down the other way...Crossing this canal took me to a separate section of the park called Primrose Hill. It's from the highest point of this hill that you can achieve a magnificent view of all sorts of neighborhoods I've been talking about on this site for the past year - Soho, Embankment, Oxford Circus, Westminster, Tottenham Court Road, King's Cross...and if you cast your eyes far enough you can even see such as Shoreditch, Barbican and Canary Wharf to the east (left) or Westminster, Kensington and Hammersmith to the West (right).I took a couple of short MPEG's, the first working from east to west and then the second working the other way, but with more of a zoom. I'd suggest viewing them with the sound off as the wind was high that day, causing a great deal of uncomfortable noise to be picked up by the camera's tiny mike.


The BT telecommunications tower features prominently and perhaps these videos will reinforce what I've said about it being an immensely useful landscape for finding your bearings in North London.Eventually I came down from Primrose Hill and went back along Regent's Park Canal, heading into the North Eastern quadrant of the main park. Spotting a wild boar, I tried to grab a picture through the fence. The durn focus kept on the fence instead of the boar, but I think it's fun to see anyways.Just by the Zoo is, understandably, the headquarters for the ZSL.And now you are joining me as I swung around and starting heading southward along the eastern half of the park.Eventually I came across this little monument which, at a distance, I presumed to be some churchy church church church thing for which I had little interest.Boy, was I wrong!I fully appreciate that, in the final tally, the British going and conquering a quarter of the Earth's land area was not A Particularly Nice Thing and that it entailed some pretty heinous injustices. But it is refreshing to see someone saying "Thanks for the good stuff that came with that!", it's nice to see something which goes against the grain of almost cartoonishly villainous portrayals of imperialists if only for a greater variety of discourse. I remember often enjoying seeing this side of the Indian reaction to the English occupation in the literature I studied in my related University courses - and it wasn't always from the wealthy Brahmin class, either. As I say, though, I'm not endorsing imperialism here so much as I am a plurality of thought!.The ol' BT tower again, as seen from the South-East quadrant of the park.
This is one of the Money Buildings which lay along the eastern side of the park's perimeter. Alas, I cannot recall what it was! I do recall there were a few private residences along this stretch where, as with those homes by the heart of the Thames, the residents are not suffering from a terribly desperate need for your PayPal donations.

Regent's Park Before Dark: Part 1

To my great joy, I came across this while heading up from Baker street tube station towards Regent's park. To my slight disappointment, it turned out to be a real tourist trap. The teenagers in period costumes were kind of adorable in how they were still trying to posture and look cool while being dressed like Victorian shop keeps. I think every single one of them had been made to get the job by their parents - or maybe I'm enough of an old coot that all teenagers constantly look that way to me.

I also think they made the store two big by half, by accident maybe? The Sherlock Holmes books (in numerous versions and editions) along with some Sherlock specific merchandise only took up so much space - the rest was filled with the kind of stuff that only served to remind you that a nation's flag can be printed on just about anything you like. Ah well! I'd say something about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle spinning in his grave, but I reckon he's too decomposed for that now. Dude's corpse ain't the spinner it used to be.All around the outer ring of the park are buildings of this nature. Money-palace's which are owned either by prestigious business colleges, companies or the royals. I figured one picture of them is enough since the architecture has surprisingly little variation. That being said, there were a couple of nice homes on the east side - I reckon they probably go for a couple of bucks and a coy wink.Eventually the birds all fluttered around this old woman in a big storm. The buffeting from their wings came with such force that I had to cover my face. When I was able to steal a peek from between my mighty forearms, all the was left of her was a bloodstained hat and a coupon for a free lapdance at Tesco.The south western corner of Regent's Park seems to have benefited the most from the kind of superior landscaping I've seen in St. James and other pockets of the city. The rough center of the park is circular and features a small cafe, as well as the outdoor theater I visited a few months ago to see Macbeth in.As you head on up into the upper west side of the park you run into more standard fare as well as plenty of football fields....and eventually the zoo, which can be spotted from afar thanks to some new mountain habitats they've constructed.We'll journey up and past those plastic peaks in the next installment. Until then, try rubbing that thing between your legs - I gather people enjoy that?

This is not a blog

The last little while I have taken approx. one (1) metric fuck-tonne (phoque-tunn) of photographs! Maybe you will get to see some of them?

It occurred to me the other day that though I have gone into the city to see Hyde or St. James park...I hadn't walked the twenty minutes it takes for me to get to what is my larger local park - Finsbury Park. I'd also had Finsbury on the brain a little bit since watching Cronenburg's new film, Eastern Promises.

The above was almost certainly a political satire sketch being shot since, two seconds after I took this, the flasher opened his jacket to reveal his being nude but for a large cardboard cartoon of Gordon Brown's face over his crotch.

I'd read in more than one source about how the film was supposed to show a different London than what the tourists see, than what generally gets shown in films set in London - particularly ones made by American film makers. Thinking back to Woody Allen's portrayal of London in Match Point, this made pretty curious - especially since I live adjacent to areas where filming took place, such as Hackney and Finsbury (and had spent my first month here living in the former).It was a Cronenburg film about the Russian mafia, so understandably everything was pretty dark. But I would say the film did follow through, with only one or two shots of the Thames and the Gherkin, while the majority of the film felt very authentic. I'd get into the story etc, but you can find plenty about that elsewhere. Suffice to say, for those give a hoot, I thought it was a fairly impressive film that delivered what it promised and succeeded in surprising me where it wanted to. Can't ask for much more than that!
Meanwhile, I'd go on but I'm rather tired from a night on the towne. One thing I don't mind sharing from it was that the first stop for my pals and I was an establishment that had decided to try and work around the anti-smoking bill which was passed several months ago. Why, it wasn't a bar...it was an art gallery that served drinks! Really, it was a hilariously decorated squat with a great bit of graffiti on it's front. I'm glad I got to see it, since disapproving folk have noticed and made some legal noises that will result in it's closure some time not too far down the road. The two spirited folk behind the place plan to just keep having fun while dragging their heels, then moving on to other fun ventures when the law eventually clamps down. I gotta say, I admire their spirit!

Terror, Islington Green

I don't like being cryptic and I also don't like spewing personal shit all over the Internet.A simple shape and an arts grant, signifying nothing (terribly remarkable).

But I'm caught between a rock and it's identical cousin because I also know that if I don't give the following heads up, then I'll probably piss off a lot of folk - or at least leave them scratching their heads a bit.So the compromise comes in the form of me compromising my personal rules for this site, though not too heavily I think, by saying that I've done something a bit stupid today.Huge Myddleton

It was something that could be advertised as reasonable or understandable, but that's irrelevant as to the effect. My coming days (perhaps weeks) are going to be stupid busy in order to avoid some industrial strength unpleasantness. Emails will be left to languish more than they will be replied to. Facebookery will be regarded as frippary. Skype will be slippery. Children will be left in the streets with nothing but an iPhone and a freshly soiled diaper with which to defend themselves.I will, of course, let you know when I make it to the other side of what I've just gone into. Until then, I'll probably still post little things here as this blog was not only meant to be a record of my London Experiment but to be the one way in which I would still try to keep in touch when things get too crazy for anything else to be reliable. This isn't to say I won't read emails/messages, in fact I kind of encourage them since it's always pleasant to hear what folk are up to, but patience will be a virtue in waiting for a response for the next while.

"The West End is too dirty, the Police should give them less Christmas trees this year"

What I was looking at when I had the great first listen to In Rainbows last Friday.

I'm never quite sure if I should feel guilty for enjoying a conversation with someone who has had serious mental problems and obviously still suffers, but not so much that they are a danger to themselves or others. This is particularly a thing when I am mostly providing a listening pair of ears to a guy who just needs to work off some steam over all the anxieties he has about shitty bus drivers, who is sure are all satanists that want to ruin Christmas and that the petrol companies must be furious that such individuals are using their petrol to drive buses so poorly. This was, of course, the case today as I settled down in the little park in Hammersmith where I like to spend my lunch hours.

He had a Union Jack took on and when he sat beside me, he assured me that nothing was in his old shopping bag but "food, good food, nice food". I smiled and told him it was alright by me. I was enjoying yet another listen of In Rainbows, with my head lolling back on the bench as I sat and watched the leaves fall from the higher branches. A few minutes passed and he politely asked me what I thought of bus drivers. I pulled out my earphones and turned off my iPod as I started to answer, but was swiftly cut off. I suppose I found myself on the outskirts of annoyance but not for more than a moment as I quickly realized that he must have a hard time getting people to listen to him or take him seriously. The poor guy had ancient jeans on, a hand rolled cigarette that was clearly prized, a second-hand looking blue winter jacket, a graying beard that blended into the hair which poked out from under his took and framed a pair of vivid but not frightening eyes and...an earnestness in his voice.

As some asshole in an American Apparel track sweater, a scarf from M&S, Ben Sherman shoes, pants from a boutique in Camden and a beard still full of color...well I felt the least I could do was hear him out. Besides, as much as the minds of these individuals are hampered by their conditions...sometimes they also seem to be untethered in ways. I'm probably guilty of romanticizing here, but the guy did have a kind of charm and friendly nature to him as he informed me of all sorts of dangers and "well known facts" about London. The bus drivers I mentioned were one and the title of this post was another. Authority figures of all shapes and sizes were always very paternal in his view and it was interesting to imagine oil executives, police and politicians being very disappointed in people the way your parents might be very disappointed in you for cheating on a test at school.

In the end I'd like to think I wasn't being patronizing. I listened far more than I spoke, a novelty as anyone who knows me can attest, and when I smiled I wasn't smiling at "the big retard"...I was smiling because I kind of admired the inventiveness with which he'd constructed his view of the world and how this supposedly "damaged" man repeatedly surprised and intentionally amused me (he had a knack for playing on words I'd be a fool not to appreciate) more than any of the other people I'd spoken to all day. I overstayed my break a bit to hear him longer, then bid him a friendly farewell. I actually kind of hope I get to see him one or two times more.
By the by, for Ottawa readers or those who've once lived there, I thought I'd mention that the Xpress is having an online poll for the best places in Ottawa for this, that and the other thing. It's downtown centric for the most part, not that that bothers me, but I did rather enjoy voting for the Carp Farmer's Market.

Sick little Oliver is staying in today

But luckily he has plenty of pictures left from last weekend.You know, it's hard to ever get too soft on the Royal Family what with their cradle-to-grave , unearned wealth and all...but maybe I get a little sympathetic to why a bit of the old class snobbery might take root when you look out the windows of your palace at the monument to the most highly regarded monarch in the nations history only to see ignorant bastards (both local and imported) crawling all over it like howler monkeys. I'm certainly not a royalist nor an anglophile, so I think it must be from a simple appreciation of fine craftsmanship and manners that I get so pissed off when I see shit like these kids fishing through the water for coins people have tossed in. Not pictured: Some Persian guy pretending to masturbate one of the statues and a Mancunian remarking on the great set of tits on another.A street artist I've seen several times outside of the......National Gallery. I had a quick peek in there, finally, but they are obviously not as cool with photographs as a museum and so there isn't really anything I can show. It's definitely worth another, longer visit sometime and when I do I'll see what I can gather to put up here.Ye olde Scientologists over on Tottenham Court road. Which reminds me, I know these guys take the prize by far, but has anyone ever really taken a close look at Mormons? I've been reading a lot of books from the Victorian era lately and The Church of Latter Day Saints has cropped up in several of them. It's interesting to see how they were viewed, reviled and laughed at in much the same way the Scientologists have been getting it in recent years. I suppose Mitt Romney has got me thinking about them again too.This is a portion of a monument along The Mall, opposite the ICA, which was made to honor British Artillerymen who lost their lives during a conflict in South Africa from around 1905 (sorry, it's been a week since I read the plaques or I'd be more specific). There are just so many beautiful monuments to the dead in this city......like this one, which is in the same general vicinity. Kind of a miniature Nelson's Column, this is dedicated to Frederick, Duke of York.The storyteller in me would like to think that his grave lay at the base, with this doorway leading in. But I don't think it is.

Addendum: THIS kind of worries me. It almost goes without saying that healthcare will factor into my deciding what country to be living in at the end of my two year look-see in the UK.

Black Swan...

...is more than just a good song by Thom Yorke.I saw this fella in St. James Park last Saturday and luckily I had my camera with me. I've never seen one of these in my life and, frankly, wasn't entirely sure if they really existed as anything more than a song lyric.So yes, I grew up in the country but not a countryside with black swans. I have seen nature outside of a zoo, I assure you!

Quiet Days

Just been figuring out all the little details these past couple of days, so el bloggo has been a bit quiet. Sorry folks! I've been figuring out my trip to Canada in December, getting the post-apocalyptic script to it's final draft, practicing drawing and generally attending to all the stupid little things which get swept under the carpet when you're stressing over job hunting, money et al. All that being said, I haven't posted the last of my photographs from last Friday's romp through the west end and so here they are, starting with something which I thought might tickle the cold, dead heart of one Mr. North.
The Japanese Embassy, for those have an interest in that sort of thing.This particular fish shows up more places than you'd expect in London. This one was at the absolute bottom right of Hyde Park but the best is also a part of the lamp posts running along most of the Thames/Embankment area. Coming back up the Thames to the area in front of the Tate gallery, I had a go at a daytime version of a photo from a while back.If you live here, you're doing pretty okay.
I just like buildings that look like this!
Anyways, new comic tomorrow and if you all cross your fingers real hard I may have something to say about the first day at the new job on Monday. Certainly, I'll try to explore Hammersmith a bit more and see what might be picture worthy.

Finally, I've gotten on the Last.Fm bandwagon and am really enjoying it so far - hence the new widget on the side. Feel free to add me as a friend if you're on it as well.