Destroy the Head Vampire

...sticker spotted at Tower Hill today.... ;)

Tiny sign at Tower Bridge...

I spotted this the other day, right down at the bottom just beyond the glass back wall of the lift, really, unless you were looking extremely hard (as I guess I do), there is no way you would ever notice it (addressing no-one in particular) tucked away in the corner with no obvious way to reach it -

- here is a view of the space it points towards (from the lift when at the top) - you can see to get to it would require you to basically tip-toe along the wall at the side of the Thames -

- and a shot from the bottom (it's pointing at two square yards of paving slabs - and a few leaves - positioned behind the metal structure of the lift machinery)...so what is so important?  It's basically saying - if - by a grand demonstration of river-side acrobatics - you have managed to actually get to the sign to read it - that you shouldn't have - these 10 paving slabs are not a public right of way...as if you needed telling...completely pointless!

Good Morning London!

Absolutely beautiful sunrise this morning, taken from the break in the middle of Tower Bridge over the Thames, looking towards Canary Wharf... ;)

The Tower and the Shard

...Ancient and modern... ;)

Update - Urm...guess I'll have to investigate what's going on with these stupid flickr watermarks later on... :(

The Thames this morning...

...shot from the middle of Tower Bridge...sometimes it's nice when you miss the shuttle bus... ;)

London in the Fog

Quite amazing views today (trying to get into the office early, best option being to walk again - oh well) - First up - More London Place to the North East...

More London Place to the South West (you can normally see the Shard in the gap in the middle - no chance today)...!

London City Hall (and the fountains full of frolicking children - in more merciful weather)...

Approach to Tower Bridge (heading towards Dunwall Shad Thames)...





...and some of the boats in St Katherine Docks...Just need a Ripper Murder now...hehe... ;)

Update - a few of these pics made it onto The Times Facebook feed... ;)

Tower Bridge Closed to Traffic...

A very rare occurrence, unfortunately caused by a road traffic accident on the south bank (which no-one would wish for), but an unusual opportunity presented as a result, to walk across Tower Bridge, in the middle of the road, in the middle of rush hour (at the start of my commute home last night)...

The only real way to get to London Bridge (with any sense of urgency) was to walk, everywhere else was gridlock or chock-a-block...I'm pleased I took the walking option...quite beautiful... ;)

The Thames at Wapping...

...the Thames Path to be precise...on a murky day... ;)

The Thames by night...

...snapped the other evening... ;)

The Gap in the middle of Tower Bridge

...and yes, it is quite a big gap, you can see right through the pavement to the river Thames below...don't recall ever stopping to take a look at it before... ;)

It's right between the two black lines below the back of the yellow van (looking from the side)...

Tower Bridge Danger Door

It almost didn't need the sign, did it?

The Thames at sunrise

Potters Field Brass Map

The Shard - In fog

...those tourists will be flocking to climb up there today!  Oh and let's not forget the *unmistakable* River Thames (as seem from Tower Bridge) ;)

Tower Bridge and Routemaster Bus

You *couldn't* ask for a much more clichéd shot of London, quite frankly... ;)  The guy actually slowed down when he spotted me struggling to frame the shot and waved!  I gave him a big thumbs up back... ;)

Lucky Tower Bridge Day

We used to play this silly little game, Flyingpops and I, on our way into London Bridge each morning...if the zooming/waiting trains rushing in and out of the station aligned themselves absolutely perfectly *just* as our carriage hit the rail bridge over Tower Bridge Road it was, albeit extremely rarely, just possible to catch a glimpse of the uninterrupted view all the way over the Thames through Tower Bridge...

If we were that fortunate we used to exchange cheeky grins and smirk, and that day then became a "Lucky Tower Bridge Day"...like a "find a penny, pick it up and all day you'll have good luck" sort-of-thing... ;)

Of course, with my new journey, I go into London Bridge and then come straight back out again, heading almost exactly back the way I came, and thanks to the fact that the line to Lewisham comes out of platform one, there are, of course, no lines in that direction for trains to interrupt my view...which basically means every day is now a "Lucky Tower Bridge Day" - which sort of feels like cheating...(in fact, it's usually twice, once in the morning and usually in the evening on my way back - as that train comes in on platform 3)...

I always wanted to try and take the shot, but it was just too distant to have worked from the "normal" train (as it's a platform 9 affair), this shot I took with my 'phone as a proof of concept (yeah, sort of worked, sorta)...I'll try and remember to bring my proper camera in and have a go at doing it some justice...would be nice to capture those happy memories as an image...

Did learn one thing though, through doing this, the shop on the corner down there is called the "Cat and Cucumber" (had never noticed before)...which conjures all sorts of strange mental images, none of them particularly appealing... ;)

Summer River Cruise down the Thames - Summer 2001

Been going through a few *very* old pictures just lately (just tidying up and sorting), and came across some pictures from the very dawn of the (popular) digital camera age, having borrowed my Dad's cutting edge Fujifilm MX-1500 for the occasion (I was still using a point and shoot 35mm at the time), which started with a coach trip (although quite how Flyingpops' folks managed to drag her onto it, I will *never* know)... ;)

So, please set your wayback machines to the truely magnificent summer of 2001 and come with me to the glittering metropolis that is the City of London, still hung over from the Millennium celebrations, for a cruise down the river Thames...starting at the (recently useful) Thames Barrier which isn't quite so shiny now -


- around the (doomed) Millennium dome (now the thriving O2) listening to the guide telling us how it hadn't quite been possible to remove all the toxic waste from the surrounding areas during redevelopment -

- past the place (how spooky to see it here) I had absolutely no idea I would end up working -One Canada Square (now, of course, utterly lost in a forest of equally impressive companions, and soon to be joined by several taller ones!) -

- and along the river -

- under Tower Bridge (ooh!) -


- past HMS Belfast (which has managed to hang onto it's name and resist sponsorship, thank goodness) -

- the Tate Modern (complete with failed wobbling Millennium Bridge, you can clearly see the scaffolding in the second shot towards St. Paul's..hehe...!) -


- under Blackfriars Station/bridge (which would be, again unknowingly, my route to work in Kings Cross for all those years, really don't miss the Thameslink line ;) -

- followed by a trip on the "Millennium Wheel" (as it was known at the time, now known as the "London Eye", of course) in probably the best possible conditions...


...most suprising to me is that a number of these pictures I am actually still really very happy with (even today being 50,000+ shots practice further down the line towards being an "enthusiast")...

Anyway, I'll post a couple of shots from the "Millennium Wheel" itself when I get to them, and perhaps a few more (if I find any interesting ones) as I continue forward through time...