Posts

Pencil Drawing of St Paul's

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Photo of an approach to St Paul's from Queen's Head Passage turned black and white, edited to portrait mode extreme, and filtered, I love it.

London Is Portrait Mode

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I'm slowly working my way through the recent London photographs (day 2 if anyone is interested) and I have to apologise that every single one so far has been portrait. I think it's because I love a good old building full of history and wonkiness,  St Bartholomew's Gatehouse is a perfect example: It is a 13th century arch topped by a two-storey Tudor building The name St Bartholomew’s comes from the nearby church St Bartholomew-The-Great, which was formerly an Augustinian Priory, founded by Rahere (d.1134) in 1123 Following the dissolution, Sir Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich (1496/7-1567) bought the church and surrounding land in 1546/47, sub-dividing it for housing. In 1595, a Tudor, timber-framed building was added Managed to survive the Great Fire of London in 1666 due to the protection of the priory walls. At some point in the 18th century it was given a Georgian makeover and was used as a shop for two centuries. In 1915 or 1916, a nearby German Zeppelin bomb raid caused

11 New / 2 Updated, Photo Collections

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 It's been a busy old time with new photo collections ("albums") up on this website, so here ya go: Wellington suburb of Berhampore A collection of NZ Paywave surcharges (currently anything from 0% to 3.5%) An ever growing set of AI generated images , just for nostalgia in year to come Flying in, out, and around of Aotearoa NZ I have photos as I fly over the land WOMAD 2024 A brief walk through Newtown Festival 2024 , did you know it attracted 80,000 people! We lost but it was loads of fun in the sun, Black Caps v Australia (Basin Reserve, 2024) An awesomely entertaining time at Meow Meow's Pandemonium in February A couple of another Wellington suburb, Kaiwharawhara A glorious and eye+ opening walk through Trelissick Park Fog, Mist, and Spooky Clouds Here's one that isn't' new but is finished: Waitārere Beach Surf Life Saving Club build And one final album that has a tonne more photos: Trelissick Park (Wellington, NZ) As always ALL the photos are availab

"You've Stitched Me Up Mike 😂"

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My recent trip to the northern hemisphere kicked off with a week in London with mates. Despite two of us originating from the UK, one an absolute Cockney, all three of us revelled in being the tourists we were, wandering everywhere, taking photos of everything. This particular day, I and the loved up couple were following a route from Joolz Guides most excellent Rather Splendid London Walks Book and 'accidentally' ended up walking through Hatton Garden . Hatton Garden is London's jewellery quarter and the centre of the diamond trade in the United Kingdom. This specialisation grew up in the early 19th century, spreading out from its more ancient centre in nearby Clerkenwell. Today there are nearly 300 businesses here in the jewellery industry and over 90 shops, representing the largest cluster of jewellery retailers in the UK. I claim no influence, however they did go home to Aotearoa New Zealand engaged, just saying 😜 I think it's fair to say Keith knew what woul

Abuse At The Royal Waterloo Hospital for Children and Women

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There's many things one can focus upon when researching the history of old buildings in the UK. I'm sure that the majority of the work done at the Royal Waterloo Hospital for Children and Women * was helpful, kind, and ultimately led to better lives for those receiving the treatment. That's not what caught my eye when I read up about it, and why I have edited the photo like this. This dude worked here and likely walked up those very steps on a daily basis: William Walters Sargant (died 1988) was a British psychiatrist who is remembered for the evangelical zeal with which he promoted treatments such as psychosurgery, deep sleep treatment, electroconvulsive therapy and insulin shock therapy. He was able to use the top floor Ward 5, including "the Narcosis Room", within the hospital as he worked at St Thomas' from 1948 to 1972: .. while the amalgamation of St Thomas’ and nearby Royal Waterloo Hospital provided Sargant with a 22-bed ward for his in-patients (this

Nelson On His Column

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Too many monument facts to replicate here so just pop over to Wikipedia and have a read. I will, however, send you off to the 1977 video of John Noakes climbing Nelson Column for Blue Peter  to check out the ladders tied together by ropes, OMG!

Not Just Magic Mike

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My name is Mike, and I'm awesome!

Evil Work

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Invisible to all those around it the demon lifted the poisoned arrow and aimed. With one swift movement it fired, smiling behind its fire red eyes, another soul for it's master but not before it had a little tormented fun.

17 Facts About Pickering Place, London

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It was cute, old, and full of history, Pickering Place , a small (the smallest) London square just off St James's Street. Wanna know more, here ya go: The courtyard is the covered remains of a garden that existed when houses were first built here in the mid-1660s when the Earl of St Albans secured a lease from King Charles II. It was originally called Stroud’s Court. In 1731, some of the nearby houses and tenements were demolished. By 1734 it was renamed Pickering Court, after William Pickering, and contained the five current dwellings, with his family living at No.5. Pickering was a coffee merchant and son-in-law of Widow Bourne, founder of Berry Bros & Rudd Ltd wine merchants, whose shop still operates on the premises. The passageway from the street still has it's original 18th century wood panelling. The square was renamed Pickering Place in 1810. It is the smallest square in London. The square is Grade II listed. This is the last known place in London where a duel was f

Who Paid For That?

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Not many UK families can convince the populace majority to pay for them to live in luxury, avoid laws, stand around in costumes for them, and build monuments about them.  The Saxe-Coburg and Gotha family, now called Windsor  (name changed due to World War I and public relations) is one such family.

Pub Of London

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I'm not gonna share every damn photo I took of London pubs , maybe a couple more and a few interiors and that'll be it. Probably.

It Was Late, Very Late

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7am. He stood on the platform longing to be in the hotel bed, no man is built for that long in the air. It was late, so very late.

Volcano From 10,000 Feet

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This is, I believe, is the Indonesian volcano of Semeru as seen from a Sydney to Singapore flight  on 19th September, 2023. I just happened to look out the window, cool eh! I have read that it's a fairly active volcano with big puffs every 20-40 mins and it last went boom towards the end of 2023.