Jen Pedler's articles with the keyword: London

We continue our exploration of Trafalgar Square . The main features shown in the sketch can all still be seen today: the fountains, Nelson's Column, the George IV statue, the National Gallery and St Martin-in-the-Fields (which we have to spy) along with some other features not mentioned: the statue of Havelock (an army general who achieved fame during the 1850s Indian Mutiny) just to the east of Nelson's column, the little Police Station in the bottom corner, the Coliseum and the statue of Ed…

It's that time of year again. The Open House listings are live on the web, the green books are plopping through people's letter boxes. And as usual there's a mad scramble to book tours of the most 'prestigious' venues. The booking system last year was a fiasco; the servers crashed leading to reams of irate complaints on facebook - some people's entire lives seemed to have been ruined by their inability to get through. While there's an undeniable attraction in the possibility of visiting a hi…

Ever since the first New Bus for London came into service on route 38 in February last year I've been meaning to go for a ride on it. The problem was that Victoria to Hackney is not a route that co-incides with any of my regular journeys so I would have had to make a special trip. Not only that but I would also have had to plan the timing as there was only one of the new buses in operation and the rest of the time the route was served by the regular buses. But all that has changed now. Since la…

I've been observing the development around King's Cross for the past few years, most recently the new flats along York Way. Watching these being slotted together reminded me of the Bayko Building Set I had as a child; one of my favourite toys. First came a steel frame, then windows were slotted in and insulation panels inserted - these are 'Kooltherm' suggesting that they are designed to stay cool in the summer and retain heat in the winter. Finally an outer cladding is added over this. On…

There was a time when a boutique was a shop where you could buy trendy clothes. It now seems to have become a term that is attached to almost anything if someone wants to imply that it's something not run-of-the-mill or offering a personalised, unique or individual service. It's used a lot to describe hotels and now it seems it can also apply to flats as shown by the banner outside this new development going up by Regent's Canal in Camden. What is a boutique flat? Small? Tren…

I've set my home page so that immediately under this blog there's a block displaying my 'latest' album. I've also discovered that, as this simply means the album that appears first when you view the albums in the organizer, this can be any album you like as you can re-order the albums so that the one you want to display is first in the list. Which is a long-winded way of saying that if you scroll down below the blog you'll see a mosaic of my London A-Z album; a collection of London streetname s…

The big M couldn't have found a more appropriate street to set up in. Not that I frequent it, I hasten to add...