This week the world mourned the loss of Sir George Martin, the legendary record producer and composer affectionately dubbed “the “Fifth Beatle”. I visited Abbey Road Studios on Saturday to see if there would be much of a turnout of fans following the news of Martin’s passing. Along with flowers and cards, hundreds of well-wishers…
Category: Travel
Amazingly Creative Street Musician
The lady and I were in Notting Hill today when we spotted this highly creative street musician performing on the side of the road. If the video isn’t clear enough, he’s playing on a tennis racket, an old typewriter and a cutlery set – Yes, you read that correctly. The song, “Hit the road Jack,” was written and first recorded…
Best of London Pavement Signs
John Cleese once said that his Three Laws of Comedy were 1. No puns, 2. No puns, and 3. No puns. This nugget of wisdom, however, has not been adopted by the shop owners of the Greater London area. Their signs almost invariably contain a pun in some form or other and I don’t see…
This week in travel notices
Here are the travel notices I spotted on my way to work this week. I hope that they add some colour to your weekend.
Making good use of a lemon
I broke my spectacles yesterday evening (which was bad). Luckily there is an optician near my work (which is good). I took the glasses to get fixed and was told I’d have to wait an hour for the repair (which was bad). I decided to go for a walk to kill the time and was…
Smurk
This mural by Smurk appeared near Mornington Crescent tube station over the weekend. The work replaces the piece by Deesaster that I snapped a few weeks back. I have around 60-70 photos from my recent visit to Brick Lane that I hope to get posting over the next few days, so watch this space (pun…
I am Ayman and I am a refugee from Syria
Ayman Hirh was a successful marble and granite trader in the Jobar district of Syria’s capital, Damascus, before the escalating political situation in his country drove him and his family into exile. Because of his involvement as an activist in the 2011 uprising and President Al-Assad’s subsequent crackdown on any and all dissent, Ayman was…
A work in progress
We went to Brick Lane at the weekend and despite the chilling wind, we had a fine day. We happened upon on Werdna and Mr Christa at work and got to chatting with them while they finished up. I asked Wernda if all that paint is doing any harm to his lungs. Probably, he told…
This week in travel notices
Some regular visitors may recall that the workers at my local train station left a small conundrum on the travel notice board for commuters to try and solve last weekend. Unfortunately, they forgot to answer their own riddle and no solution was ever provided. However, after a small Google search I found that the answer…
Thessaloniki Street Art
//criticaldispatches.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/thessaloniki.jpg The last week has been spent eating, drinking and sleeping on holiday in the Northern Greek city of Thessaloniki. Held up in traffic while on a drive through the city’s main commercial district, we caught shot of this fantastic mural and I was able to take a quick picture before the light turned green…
Impressions of poverty – A Dublin Story
If you’ve ever listened to the song Running to Stand Still from U2’s Joshua Tree album you will have heard about the Dublin neighbourhood of Ballymun in the lyric, “I see seven towers but I only see one way out.” Located on the northern periphery of Dublin city, Ballymun was at one time Ireland’s largest and…
A Break in Brighton
To call Brighton an eccentric town would be a criminal understatement. Some call it the gay capital of Europe, and on every street you will spot flamboyant queens, proud transvestites and every assemblage of the LGBT initialism.
The Long Way Down
With unrealistic demands, a laughable budget, and an impossible deadline, we were humoured, had our details taken, and then swiftly shown the door from least 10 different offices. If anywhere was available, they told us, it was taken just before we walked in – of course. Not to worry, I said to Herself, if it comes to the worst then we can always spend a few weeks sleeping on the Embankment like a pair of down and outs. At least we’re having nice weather at the moment. I can start collecting cardboard boxes just in case. I like to think of these kinds of ideas as being romantic, she prefers to call them stupid.
Beautiful Kew Gardens
We had fine weather in London last week. The sun was shining and a soft breeze kissed its way up the Thames and through the city. We weren’t going to let it go to waste. On Saturday herself and I took the train from our digs in the East-End and headed South-West to check out Kew…
Market Day in the East End (Street Art Gallery)
We woke up late and after a breakfast of eggs and coffee we made our way to Brick Lane to see what we could find. It was a Sunday morning and the East End was alive with the rattle and chaos of the weekend markets. If you’re not partial to being pushed and shoved by…