If you read yesterday’s post about my Mail Rail trip, you’ll remember that my slight quibble with the experience was that there weren’t any maps showing the route that the tour takes. Well, I’ve found one. And I think it explains why they don’t shout about the route. I was Googling for any maps of… Continue reading Mail Rail Map
Category: london
Riding the Mail Rail
I rode the Mail Rail yesterday. It was very exciting. More about that in a minute. Before that, I went to the Postal Museum. I’ve often thought that the UK needed a museum about the Post Office. And the new (well, newish – it’s been open a couple of months) Postal Museum is a really… Continue reading Riding the Mail Rail
Parking in Balham
You’ll often hear people saying that Mail writers live in a different world to the rest of us. Actually, I think that they live in the same world as us, they just like to think that they live in a different one. The fun and games start when they discover they are wrong and that… Continue reading Parking in Balham
Livery Halls
Long time readers (and followers of my Flickr stream) might remember that a couple of years ago I developed an obsession with taking photos of the City of London Livery Halls. The obsession waned when I stop working in the City but over the last couple of weeks I’ve been wandering around the city a… Continue reading Livery Halls
Ripper Victim #2
It’s only the second victim, but already I’m running late. On September 8th, 1888, at about 5:50am, the body of Annie Chapman was found in Hanbury St, Spitalfields, London. This was just over a week after the murder of Polly Nichols. The next murder in the series wasn’t for another three weeks.
Death Anniversaries
The British press is, of course, busy getting all overexcited about one particular death that happened on this date. But there’s another, to my mind far more interesting, death anniversary today. It was 119 years today that the body of Mary Ann Nichols (usually know as Polly Nichols) was found in Buck’s Row, London. Nichols… Continue reading Death Anniversaries
BKB Closes Down
The Balham Kitchen and Bar has closed down. It has been sold to Sam Harrison (who owns a place called Sam’s Brasserie & Bar in Chiswick). It will reopen in September under the new name Harrison’s. The BKB won’t be missed. I’ve only been there a couple of times in the four years that it’s… Continue reading BKB Closes Down
Flash Flood
I monitor an RSS feed of all photos uploaded to Flickr with the tag “balham”. Which is how I came across this set of photos of a flash flood in Balham today. I’m trying to work out how close to my house this was. And vaguely dreading what I’ll find when I get home this… Continue reading Flash Flood
Finding Myself
I’ve just worked out where I am. By which I mean I’ve just had one of those moments when I join up two previously unrelated parts of my mental map of London. I’m working in Appold St, which is just to the north of Broadgate. I get here in the morning by taking the tube… Continue reading Finding Myself
The Day The World Turned Day-Glo
The new London 2012 Olympics logo looks like a car-crash. Which is, I suppose, somewhat appropriate. I can only assume that this was done deliberately to make the 2012 Olympics a laughing stock. Hopefully someone from the IOC will see the logo, realise that we’re not taking this at all seriously and let some other… Continue reading The Day The World Turned Day-Glo