Red-lining Through London
At 5:15 this evening I threw my non-conforming budgets into the air and stepped away from the computer. I had a bus to catch and it’s becoming obvious that I won’t be able to maintain my usual level of commitment to the day job and still hope to complete this challenge.
It took an hour and a half for me to get from work to Holborn, all for the joy of having me run an hour and half back the way I came. This is the absolute worst kind of running commute, the sort that seems to bare so very little reason and might just have been created for the sole purpose of making me work, a true Cinderella task.
The planning for the run started yesterday evening as I packed my bag and then lay awake fretting for most of the night listening to the raging wind, rain and thunder. In the end I decided that a torrential downpour was the best I could hope for on the day I cover off the whole of Oxford Street.
The weather proved to be ideal. A perfect running drizzle welcomed me as I hit the bustle of Southampton Row and headed on towards Tottenham Court Road.
It was busy but perhaps not the worst I’ve seen it. I could run about two paces before having to jump in and then quickly out of the path of a bus, to avoid bizarre zigzagging shoppers, waving cigarette butts around.
I tried a few Oxford Street avoidance routes, such as attempting a parrallel route through Soho but almost as soon as I did that I spotted an interesting piece of graffiti back across the other side. I must have made terribly slow progress towards Oxford circus.
Despite myself, I began to enjoy the challenge today. I’m stopping at every station to take a photo, partly as proof of my journey but it’s having the result of turning me into a tourist and I’m happy to see areas in a new light.
I now know for example that Farringdon (from Sunday’s H&C line) has a better class of graffiti artist.
While this blog is turning into an art appreciation forum, I’m going to slip in a photo of the Barbara Hepworth sculpture, tacked onto the side of the John Lewis building, a little after Bond Street. Isn’t it beautiful?
So I’ve traveled about 400 yards and already taken 12 photos, you won’t be surprised to hear that this was another record breaking slow run. But at least I was calm and didn’t feel the need to throttle any shoppers which is what normally happens when I venture onto Oxford Street.
I was almost tempted to commit some form of maiming on a lad who insisted on walking faster than I could run though. In the end I managed to catch him on the long downhill stretch to Shepherds Bush but probably only because he stopped at a cash point.
The journey along the Central Line between Holborn and the new Shepherds Bush station was just under 9km so I felt fit enough to tag on a few extra stations and grab the westerly section of the Hammersmith and City line as well.
View Larger Map
View Larger Map
Salomon XT Wings Challenge
Today:
13 Tube Stations
10.56 km
Sports Tracker map with photos
Cumulative:
28 Tube Stations
25.72 km
Warriorwoman vs Jogblog 100m Challenge Combo
17.2 miles total
Generator Case Studies
During 2007 Proboscis is hosting a programme of short residencies enabling artists and writers to spend up to five days in Proboscis’ London studio exploring the potential of the DIFFUSION Generator for creating eBooks and StoryCubes. The participants include:
- Bev Carter – artist and community development consultant
- Tony White – novelist and writer
- Andrew Hunter – artist, curator and director of Render
- Paul Goodwin – writer, curator and social researcher at Goldsmiths College
- Michelle Kasprzak – artist, blogger and programme manager at New Media Scotland
- Ayooluwa, Georgia, Eloise & Vanda – a group of young aspiring writers and comic artists.
The results of the case studies will be published on DIFFUSION in the Generator Case Study category. We’ll announce some public events in late 2007 where case study participants will discuss using the Generator and the Shareables they have created with it.
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Hommage to a Caff
Visit this place before it’s too late
Whilst in London recently I paid what will probably be my last visit to New Piccadilly Café in Soho. New Piccadilly is an old-style Italian-run London caff unchanged since sometime in the 1950s. It’s one of a dying breed, and is due to close some time soon because of pending development. A whole city block will be bulldozed by “mafia-style foreign investors” as Lorenzo Marioni, the owner of New Piccadilly, put it to me, to make way for something more profitable and less interesting. “You’ve no idea where their money comes from,” he added.
It’s difficult to know what to say about the place which hasn’t already extensively been reported elsewhere, so here’s my story: I got to know New Piccadilly through my A-level art teacher, the delightful Miss Redrup. We were in London to visit the galleries, and she took us to New Piccadilly for lunch. Miss Redrup was a quietly spoken, very petit young lady, and it was a visceral shock to see her order and tuck into a foot-wide fry up with all the trimmings. I have no idea which galleries we visited that day, or which artists we were introduced to, but New Piccadilly stayed in my memory and every single time I’ve been to London since that day 15 years ago, I’ve payed a visit.
It’ll be a huge loss to British culture if places like this are wiped off the map by homogenous global chains of Starbucks-style blah. We’ll miss the red vinyl seating, the dapper uniformed waiters, the yellow formica table tops, the cups of 60p tea, the spotted dick, and the huge sign that says “EATS” in the window.
See these:
– Adrian Maddox’s Classic Cafés website
– Lorenzo Marioni at the Classic Cafés website
– Adrian Maddox’s Classic Cafés book
– “Chrome jewels fade to monochrome” – The Guardian
– New Piccadilly at Russell Davies’s lovely ‘eggbaconchipsandbeans’ blog
– The Girl in the Café – a film by David Yates starring Bill Nighy, Kelly Macdonald and the New Piccadilly Café
New Piccadilly Café
8 Denman Street
Piccadilly Circus
London W1
Switched on London
Currently taking place….Switched On London is a lighting festival that aims to highlight the importance of sustainable lighting design in the night-time urban environment.
15 locations - including the Tower of London, Southwark cathedral, Tower Bridge, London Bridge and the Design Museum - are lit from 6pm till midnight, featuring lighting designs by leading designers and manufacturers (I know sod all about lighting, but apparently they’re the leading lights of, er, lighting…)
It’s been designed as energy-efficiently as possible, and the aim - as well as creating some kick-ass designs - is to show the power of light in the city, and to highlight the unnecessary lighting of office space at night around London.
It runs until 14th Feb, so just a few days left to catch it!
London Forex Rush System
What is so good about this product?
London Forex Rush System generated 125 pips on a GBP/USD trade within two hours. On another GBP/USD trade, the system earned 115 pips within one hour forty-five minutes.
This automated indicator software is designed to trade only British pound (GBP) versus other major currencies because GBP is the most volatile currency. “Volatility” is often considered unnecessary risk or even gambling. However, you cannot make profits out of a flat market lacking any momentum for intra-day traders. The momentum is where you often see a big swing for over 200 pips. The crucial part of GBP trading is timing of your entries. London Forex Rush System exactly knows when to trade.
Why Trade Volatile GBP Currency Pairs?
Within the first two hours of the London market, GBP pour in its largest daily moves. That’s when the forex market scores its highest trading volume levels. That’s when you want to grab your piece of the cake.
London Forex Rush System works best with GBP/USD trade. The majority of GBP/USD trades are worked through UK and European dealers. This gives the European and British interbank community tremendous insight into the currency pair’s actual supply-demand picture. The System sets up a trade when interbanks use this intelligence to trigger stops on both sides of the market, resulting in new intra-day highs and lows. Once these orders are cleared from the books, the market is primed for its first real directional move of the day, which is what the System is designed to capture.
London Forex Rush System Features:
1. Designed only for intra-day trading exclusively on British pound currency pairs
2. Two hours a day to use the system
3. The System works best with GBP/USD pair.
4. Two custom indicators: London Forex Rush Indicator and Market Trend Indicator
5. The indicator is generated only once a day: when the London market opens (1 am EST, US Eastern Standard Time)
6. If the indicator doesn’t recognize any trading opportunity for the day, it shows “No Trade” signal on your screen.
7. Designed best for MetaTrader 4 platform to the maximum use of the automated custom indicators, but you don’t need MetaTrader 4.
8. The indicator has a set of money management rules. It will tell you exactly the number of lots you should enter the trade with in order to keep your risk under control.
9. London Forex Rush System Manual Guide (PDF)
You will see the following indicators on your trading chart every morning:
1. Long Trade or Short Trade sign
2. Entry position
3. Aggressive Stop Loss
4. Conservative Stop Loss
5. Aggressive Target
6. Conservative Target
7. Aggressive Lot Size Multiplier
8. Conservative Lot Size Multiplier
Benefits of London Forex Rush System:
1. You can expect to earn between 400 and 600 pips per month.
2. Forex beginners can easily use the system and earn money quickly.
The average of winning trades is between 65% and 70%. The average risk versus reward ratio comes between 1.6 and 2.4 (reward being around twice as large as the risk).
You will subscribe to free Intra-day Forex Strategy Newsletter.
System Developer: Al Russell
The Full Details Are On The Very Next Page
Spotting Potential in London
Don’t be too scared to buy in areas that may currently seem less desirable at the moment in time, especially in London. There are rough areas and places in London that are currently run down, but hopefully due to regeneration projects will slowly pick up in value. So keep an eye on the London Property Market properly and you maybe able to see these areas. At the Rent A Home London Team, we believe that Stratford and East London are up for a huge revamp that will effect the property prices! (Again, just to cover our backs – it is only our opinion!)
I mean lets take for example Notting Hill, now currently one of the most sought after places for the young and rich to live! I mean, it formerly used to be a down-at-heel ghetto, now a trendy upmarket one, Notting Hill is a vibrant and bohemian area. Properties include grand family villas and stuccoed terraces, lots of conversion flats, council properties, and sizeable enclaves of housing association properties.
Forty years ago Notting Hill was a notorious ghetto populated by poor immigrants and driven by racial strife. But a steady process of gentrification has transformed the area - residents from the old days would say for the worse - into one of the trendiest and most fashionable in the capital.
Prices have risen sharply in response to an influx of luvvies, media folk, politicians, and wealthy City types who flock to its stylish restaurants and up-to-the-minute watering holes. But despite this the area remains socially diverse and multiracial and still retains its vibrant street life and bohemian atmosphere. The bustling, pleasantly scruffy Portobello market attracts thousands every weekend in search of an elusive bargain, while the annual carnival, once a flashpoint for racial conflict, is now a well established celebration of multicultural Britain. A gastronome’s delight, Notting Hill is home to Books for Cooks and an extensive selection of restaurants offering cuisine from every corner of the globe.
Properties include grand family villas and stuccoed terraces, lots of conversion flats, council properties, and sizeable enclaves of housing association property. Nearest tubes Ladbroke Grove, Latimer Road (Hammersmith); Notting Hill Gate (Circle, District, Central); Westbourne Park (Hammersmith).
There are probably many of us who dream to own a property in that area of London, but can currently only dream of that for now! So remember do not be too discouraged when looking at areas that may currently seem less “desirable”, sometimes you have to look more into the long term scale of things. Rather going for short term returns, think more of a long term game - take it like a marathon.
So all the best! Keep your eyes out for those properties in London!
Did it!
Yes, I’ve done it - sang the Messiah with a few thousand other people last night at the Royal Albert Hall! And it was … brilliant! I loved it, in fact I loved it so much I’m definitely going to do it again next year!
Despite telling everyone I wasn’t really that nervous (well, really, if I did sing dud notes the only people who’d notice would be the people near me, after all!), in fact I did feel nervous before hand and suffered the usual - butterflies fluttering madly in my tummy, raised heartbeat, and worst of all, a dry throat. A situation made even more worse by me forgetting to bring a bottle of water with me!
In the end, having a dry throat didn’t matter. By the time the first note was sung by the tenor, I felt so emotional that my eyes welled up and suddenly my throat had all the moisture it needed! The chorus only made its appearance at song number four, and as soon as the third song ended, there was a hush of anticipation, then we were waved up by the conductor, and the next thing I knew, someone started cheering. Ahh! 
Then we started singing, and it was all so wonderful.
I could hear myself, which is quite disconcerting when there are thousands of you also singing, but it was also great because when we got to some of my wobblier (does this word exist?) bits, I could just turn down my volume, work out how other people were singing, and then join in again.
I think the best bit probably was the Hallelujah chorus. By the time we reached that part, I was on such a high, and I kept feeling more and more high as the chorus went on. In fact, it felt so good singing it that not only did I manage to hit all my notes, I also managed to sustain all the high notes which had to be sung for ages whilst the other vocal parts sang their bits! What can I say, it was undescribably wonderful.
Oh, and can I just say … when my voice has warmed up properly, my god, I am LOUD 
Twilight of the Jet Age
A few weeks ago, I was in Europe (well, I was also in Europe again last week, but that’s a whole other story). I had a job interview lasting two hours in London which necessitated me going there for the day from Brussels by train. That was an exhausting day.
Soon after, I was asked if I could delay my flight home to Canada and come back to London for a second interview. I did just that, taking a train in from Paris for another two hours of interview, staying overnight, and then taking the train back to Paris the next morning to catch my flight. That was a really exhausting day.
I was really hopeful about the job, they seemed very interested and it fit both my qualifications and personal interests very well. It would have been a fascinating job in a great city with good pay in a major, respected multinational company. I kept my fingers crossed, and yet the hardened cynic in me held on tenaciously, warning the rest of me against getting too optimistic.
It seems my cynicism took the day on that one. I won’t be going to London for that job after all. Back to square one on that front.
Deciding I needed to spend some quality time with my girlfriend while I still had the money and energy, I went back to Belgium last week to be a good person and caring companion. It was a very nice and relaxing week, despite being informed that I didn’t get the London job in the midst of it. I didn’t let it get me down, I have a lot going for me and I’m motivated to pursue a fulfilling career in my field.
Upon my return to Canada the other day, however, the border agents decided they wanted to spend some quality time with me and dampen a bit of that positive energy. Apparently, visiting a girlfriend in Europe while ‘unemployed’ (c’mon, I just finished my Masters barely two months ago, and I haven’t even officially graduated yet) allows one the opportunity to be ‘interviewed’ for an hour, have all one’s bags thoroughly searched, get frisked against a wall and be thoroughly intimidated. It’s kind of scary how a few people in uniform can so easily crush your dignity for no reason you are aware of. If there’s a law against being well-traveled, no one told me about it.
I got my marks, and I passed with distinction, something I should be (and am) quite proud of. So there you have it, I now have a Masters degree from the London School of Economics. And yet at 25, I find myself nearly broke and back in the old family home. Oh well, the Dandy Warhols are in town next weekend and I can, at least, still afford a ticket to that.
Toe Injury Forces Paula Radcliffe To Withdraw From London Marathon
World marathon record holder Paula Radcliffe withdrew from the London Marathon on Thursday because of a toe tendon injury, but is still expected to recover in time for this August’s Beijing Olympics.
Radcliffe said:
I am desperately disappointed that I have to pull out of this year’s race.
I love running in London and this race would have been the perfect test for me before the Olympic Games.
After injuring her right toe while altitude training at her base in Albuquerque, N.M., Radcliffe said:
In marathon training there are no short cuts and there is simply not enough time to be in the shape I want to be in to run well in London. Now I must concentrate on being as well prepared as possible for Beijing.
Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery. I know Paula is desperate to make up for dropping out of the marathon at the 2004 Athens Games, despite winning gold at the World Championships in Helsinki, Finland a year later.
Pink Line Down
I completed the Hammersmith and City line today.
I had initially planned to run it as a single long run but in the end I took 3 attempts at it. I’m trying to take it gently with my back but today it was seizing up every time I stopped to take a photo and then I couldn’t get going again, as a result todays run bore a strong resemblance to walking in many parts.
Still, I did have to stop and take those photos, it’s not often that you get to look up a lady’s skirt without getting on your hands and knees.
This mid section of the H&C line was a visual treat. It started with the fantastic St Pancras building which is an absolute beauty from the outside and has now been renovated internally.
I can’t walk past the station without nipping in and gazing up in wonder at the roof and the clock. Strangely enough I manged to resist the longest Champagne bar in the world, I probably wasn’t dressed quite right anyhow.
Immediately after leaving the station and while the garmin is still attempting a lock on, I stumble into the grounds of the British Library and get acquainted with Newton.
I bet he’s got a bad back.
There are loads of interesting buildings to see on the Euston/Marylebone Rd so long as your vision is intact. All this running along busy highways is chucking all sorts of grit and general atmospheric pollutants into my eyes and I can feel my corneas abrading as I move.
This building is the St Marylebone Grammar School or Philological school, set up in 1792 to support families suffering under unexpected misfortune. Directly opposite this is the Samaritan Free hospital for women and children, where “Admission free, without letter of recomendation, poverty and sickness the only passport”.
It wasn’t all that long ago that life was tough.
Heading left, away from the grotty dual carriageway, I veered towards Paddington station. Here’s another area of fabulous architecture but shamefully it is one that has worked hard to develop a shabby overcoat. St Mary’s Hospital must have been imposing in its day and you can look up to the second floor window and imagine Alexander Fleming poring over his agar plates of penicillin.
From Paddington onwards, the interest in the route declined for me. The stations were such a flippin faff to get to. Royal Oak for example, is almost an extension to the platform at Paddington, I’ve often wondered what it’s point was but when you try to get to it by road you have to wiggle in and out of streets for about 2k. Ridiculous. Royal Oak to Westbourne Park is even worse and really, why would you want to bother. Get the tube that’s my advice.
Ladbroke Grove is the home of the Portobello Road market so there was a bit of colour here, but I’m disappointed that I wasn’t able to hire a nice red Ferrari.
Salomon XT Wings Challenge
Today:
10 Tube Stations
10.84 km
Sports Tracker map with photos
Cumulative:
38 Tube Stations
36.56 km
See the combined progress map here.
Warriorwoman vs Jogblog 100m Challenge Combo
23.9 miles total