The City of Lost Property...and Parrots!

I am constantly fascinated by the array of personal possessions that are strewn across our streets and parks. Almost impossible to walk anywhere in London without seeing enough lost property to comfortably kit out a jumble sale! One day a much worn/loved belonging, the next day just mere debris... Totally understand how a child might lose a glove – hardly high on a pint-sized person’s list of priorities, but a man’s shoe?!? And just how on earth did it get there; the story behind its desertion, that’s what I want to know!!!


Mawkish token of affection which obviously didn’t have the desired effect on the recipient – consider yourself dumped...literally!


When I initially spotted these ‘Lost’ posters for Charlie the Parrot dotted around The Common, the obvious reaction was one of pity, I mean London hardly has the ideal climate for exotic imports from sunnier spots, plus there’s all those manky pigeons to contend with! But on closer inspection Charlie is clearly a character best avoided - "Do not approach"?!? No tangling with this feathered friend. Whereabouts unknown and maybe with good reason!



Boat drinks Charlie the Parrot and Charlie Bucket!

Last night's fireworks at Clapham Common...

The 'erratic' camerawork barely does them justice, but it was a splendid display (glad to see the old council tax isn’t a complete waste!) which even the dreary November drizzle could in no way dampen.



And I must state for the record that the soundtrack was most definitely their choice and NOT ours!






Boat Drinks Bonfire Night!

Autumn arrives...

The trees are suddenly ablaze with the most outrageous shades of amber, auburn and russet ensuring that London’s streets/parks are awash with eye-watering pockets of colour that look as if the very leaves have been dipped in larva. The last (Technicolor) hurrah before the many layers of winter grey take hold for the interminable months ahead...






Boat Drinks to bonfires!

Get her to The Garden...

Most of my recent posts have been a tad epic, so I thought I’d limit this one to something a little less ‘War & Peace-esque’. Rather than prattle on for eons I simply want to say that The Garden Museum (near to Lambeth Palace) is one my new favourite ‘mini-museums’! Other members of this select tribe to be discussed at a later date…


Kew Gardens it ain’t. But then neither are they charging a kings ransom to get in! Instead, it is a total charmer on a tiny scale - even the actual garden is petite?!? And yet, it had a wonderful little (a theme is emerging here I feel…) expo on that green fingered genius Christopher Lloyd and his amazing home at Great Dixter (want to live there one day!), as well as some charming permanent exhibitions.

Sitting on the banks of the Thames, The Garden Museum also has a rather gothic ambience (if you can believe such a thing!) thanks to its location in a disused church.Some of the tombstones and memorials have a more than a touch of the macabre (skulls and hydras and snakes, oh my!).



Not quite sure who or what the person entombed inside this crypt must have got up to!


So go see and make it soon! Goodness knows what will happen to The Garden Museum’s funding/subsidies now our beloved new government are at the helm with scythe in hand …

Boat Drinks to the buddleia!

Magic beans...

Whilst the mighty/merciless Starbucks and its bloated brethren consume every spare spot on the high-street, small coffee independents are fast becoming the caffeine equivalent of the woolly mammoth. However tucked away on Delancey Street in NW1 is the Camden Coffee Shop – a purveyor of coffee by the bean (rather than the cup!) and a true gem of a find.



The shop itself is rustic to say the least – it’s more reminiscent of some backstreet bolthole from Dickensian days than a coffee emporium. But here you will find outstanding beans from across the globe; hand roasted on the premises and packaged up with panache in a gloriously 70’s style branded paper bag. You even get a little hand scribbled instruction as to what you’ve purchased and how best to keep it. But if you are looking beyond beans, search elsewhere. There are no overpriced espresso cups, frothing wands, flavoured syrups or any of the other fripperies now associated with a classic cup of Joe. The only other service on offer is to have said beans ground!



A gentleman called George Constaninou has been the proud proprietor since 1978, using an 85 year old roaster that envelops Camden High Street in the most amazing aromas on a daily basis. And let’s face it – the cruddy Camden could do with a bit of a fragrant spritz of something…anything!



In fact it was this scent that drew me to the premises in the first place and is certainly some of the best ‘advertising’ that I’ve encountered in some time. There is nothing particularly chic or customer friendly about the layout – it’s dark and dusty, while all the beans are simply kept in plastic tubs, but the man’s an absolute authority and his prices are so keen its almost embarrassing!

Just when London seems to have obliterated all of its originality, you turn a corner and find one small stand against the high street drones & clones so kudos to you The Camden Coffee Shop!

Boat Drinks Mr Constaninou.

Strange times/signs indeed...

Now I’m pretty certain this is not official London Underground signage…



I really have no idea how I even spotted that the standard issue security warning by the tube door had been replaced with a recipe for a margarita (yes, you read right - a recipe for a margarita…). I mean how often do we actually take in our surroundings whilst riding the tube for the billionth time?!? Particularly those of us who are avid readers (a.k.a fellow passenger avoiders). I can only guess that the part-time alcoholic in me was drawn to the word tequila!

I’ve googled this sign/art installation/cultural commentary using a multitude of combinations and phrases but to no avail, so if anyone knows the answer, please enlighten me!

My hunch is that its purpose/message is to highlight the fact that we never look at these signs even though they are concerned with our personal safety. So they can basically be replaced with anything and yet we are all none the wiser, nor do we care.

Or perhaps there is just someone out there that really loves a good margarita…

Boat Drinks but never tequila!

An ode to the crazies of Camden…

To make my much needed lunchtime escape from the dreary office corner I inhabit, I must run the gauntlet of the Camden streets. No mean feat I assure you!!! People bemoan the vast quantities of tourists (primarily German and Italian students with their bad denim and oddly coloured backpacks) who wander aimlessly (always in the complete opposite direction of the infamous/rubbish market where they actually want to be!?!) but they are quite frankly the least of my worries! This particular corner of North London is the haven for lunatics, mentalists and crackpots of every stripe. It is quite literally ‘Care in the Community’– as in they have a thriving community of crazies living it up in NW1!!!

Now before I get accused of being some delicate home-counties type, I went to school in this area and spent most of my formative years wandering these scummy streets in a drunken haze, so I’m not averse to slumming it. However I am daily confronted with a deluge of the demented and the disturbed (not to mention the hordes of crack addicts and winos!).

Looking like the more prominent cast members of ‘28 Days Later’ (i.e. the zombies that actually get close enough to eat you!) I must confess I often fear that I will not make it back to the office with all of my limbs and/or brain intact, but then when you consider how dull my job is, that may be no bad thing…

Boat Drinks Bedlam!