Louise Bourgeois

Maman by Louis Bourgeois.

Perambulate

perambulate \puh-RAM-byuh-layt\, intransitive verb:

1. To walk about; to roam; to stroll; as, "he perambulated in the park."

transitive verb:

1. To walk through or over.
2. To travel over for the purpose of surveying or inspecting.

At Syon, we perambulate a succession of rooms of the greatest magnificence, beginning with the entrance hall, with an apse of columns -- characteristic of Adam, all dazzling whiteness.
-- A. L. Rowse, "At Home with History in London", New York Times, January 19, 1986

Perambulate comes from Latin per-, "through" + ambulare, "to walk." The noun form is perambulation.

A fore ye go

One of the aims of this blog is to record parts of London before they disappear. Not just the great and the good but the odd and unusual. The stuff that seems to appear overnight and is then gone within a few weeks never to return. A good example is the cardboard tube installation that suddenly materialized at the back of the Festival Hall.

Not fish nor fowl, not for shelter or warmth. This 22 metre, short-lived structure was created by Japanese architect and designer Shigeru Ban. Made from cardboard tubes and called the Paper Tower it stood proudly on the South Bank but vanished just as Londoners were getting used to it.

The flip side to this is that a real gem has been discovered in Oxford Street due to the demolition of several buildings that included the much loved Astoria. While Transport for London try to make everyone’s life as miserable as possible during the construction of the Crosslink Station, at the junction with Tottenham Court Road, a fantastic old sign has come into view.

Like a ghost from the past the sign "Veglio & Co Cafe, Established in 1854" has suddenly appeared.

Another 'Ghost Sign' can be found in Rathone Street (or should that be Upper Rathbone Place?). It looks as though the man charged with displaying the new sign could not bring himself to cover the old one.

Frozen Regents Canal

OK, the water maybe frozen but somehow Banksy managed to paint these on the 'waterside' of the Regents Canal.

Banksy’s work/art/message/graffiti is held in awe by Londoners. Like the relic worship of St Therese of Lisieux, they make pilgrimages to the images that magically appear over night, tipped off by an eager press prepared to give the event as many column inches as a major exhibition.

Check out the film

Conor Harrington

The excellent Lazarides Gallery in Rathbone Street has brought together some of the biggest names in street art for their “Grifters” show. Not content with exhibiting the work within the gallery, pictures and sculptures will be appearing throughout London at the following sites;

David Choe and DVS - Wenlock Road, N1, Great Western Studios, W9, and Perry's Place, W1

Charlie Isoe - Kean Street, WC2 and Prestwood Street, N1

Vhils - Oval Road, NW1, and Truman Brewery, E1

Paul Insect - Broadwick Street, W1, and Southwick Mews, W2

Mode 2 - Rathbone Place, W1

Teach - Great Western Studios, W9, and Shelton Street, WC2

Invader - Truman Brewery, E1, and balloons tied to practically every lamp post in W1

Lucy McLauchlan - St John's Hill, SW11

Connor Harrington - Mercer Street, WC2

As I haven’t got time to see all the work and this is my blog I’m going to say that the Conor Harrington is by far the best.

Simon Jenkins

Simon Jenkins - The Guardian 20 November 2009

"I once sat next to a woman at dinner who asked me where I lived. When I replied, London, she frowned and said, how simply ghastly for me. "It's an awful place, absolute hell. I hate going there, the people, the traffic, the tube, the dirt. You must be dying to escape."

"Stung by hearing my beloved home so abused I asked where she lived. Gloucestershire, she replied. "How ghastly," I said, "it is an awful place, absolute hell, I hate going there, the people, the horses, the filthy lanes, the boredom. You must be dying to escape." How extraordinarily rude, she said, and turned away for the rest of the evening.

My London is one that Gloucestershire can never love. I do not spend my time in the city, as most non residents do, enveloped in crowds, shopping and fighting public transport (which is not that bad). I see a city of local streets enlivened by corner shops, bustling pubs, children going to school, parks, squares, museums, theatres. It is a place of calm, if you want it."

Charlotte Street

My version of Charlotte Street runs from Fitzroy Square to Rathbone Place. It includes some great Italian cafes, a good selection of restaurants and a few interesting pubs.

Fitzroy Square was created in 1790 by Charles Fitzroy, the 2nd Duke of Grafton and designed by Robert and James Adam. Some of its famous inhabitants have included Virginia Woolf and George Bernard Shaw, in the same house but not at the same time, as well as the Marquis of Salisbury, the former Prime Minister.

Charlotte Street is named after Charlotte of Macklenburg-Strelitz the wife of George III and is dominated by Saatchi & Saatchi and Arup at the northern end of the street. This is in stark contrast to the bohemian reputation the area had when Augustus John, Anthony Powell, Kevin Nixon and Dylan Thomas drank in the Fitzroy Tavern. Another regular was Alistair Crowley who as legend has it created the Kubla Khan 2 cocktail especially for the pub.

Just off Charlotte Street is a fascinating house at No 4 Percy Street. Apart from being interesting architecturally it is also the former home of Alois Hitler, half brother to the man himself. Adolf visited the house in 1912. I like to think that no one was home.

Rathbone Place includes the Wheatsheaf pub and the excellent Lazarides Gallery, which is always worth a visit.