Archive for the ‘Fun Diversions’ Category

Nothing, but nothing, is going to make me laugh more this week.

By lunchtime yesterday I felt in need of a break from staring at the computer screen, so decided to go for a little stroll. The clouds threatened rain, but it didn’t materialise - just as well, as my little stroll turned into a six mile walk! I headed east from London Bridge station and followed the river until the Rotherhithe tunnel, at which point I planned to catch a bus home. I didn’t have any luck finding a bus, and in the end I walked home from there.

Anyway, along the way I happened upon Dr. Salter’s Daydream, a sculpture to commemorate local doctor, politician, reformer and peace campaigner Dr. Alfred Salter. I don’t think I’d ever heard of him before, but he sounds like quite a remarkable man - among his achievements was setting up a community health centre 20 years before the National Health Service was founded. (more…)

Six interesting photography sites for you today. The first one, Balakov’s classic photographs recreated in lego, has been doing the rounds for a while now, but I see he’s added more recently. My favourites are still the Lego version of Cartier-Bresson’s “Behind the Gare Saint Lazare”, and the classic 70s poster “tennis girl scratching bum”. (more…)

A couple of “Oh my God!” links that I’ve been meaning to post for a while, and one I’ve only just seen:

El Caminito del Rey is a 200 meter high walkway that runs along the walls of a gorge in El Chorro, Spain. The one meter wide walkway was constructed between 1901 and 1905, but has long since fallen into disrepair.

Nearly all of the path has no handrail. Some parts of the concrete walkway have completely collapsed and all that is remaining is the steel beam originally in place to hold it up and the wire that follows most the path.

After numerous deaths, the walkway was closed by the authorities. That doesn’t stop some insane people exploring it…. (the video is over 6 minutes long, but well worth watching to the end).

Living in the UK really pisses me off sometimes, but then I see stuff like Top Ten Bizarre Parasite Photos and it makes me quite glad I live where I do. Not even David Attenborough could convince me the Bot Fly maggot has any redeeming features. [via]

We don’t have to deal with tornados like this either:

Lori Mehmen… looked out her front door and saw a funnel cloud bearing down — and evidently had the presence of mind to grab her digital camera and capture this shot before taking cover.

Clearly they don’t scare easily in Orchard, Iowa.

Slinkachu, creator of the wonderful Little People, has launched a new site: Inner City Snail - a slow-moving street art project. I thought the inclusion of ‘Tox08′ was a particularly nice touch - there can’t be many Londoners that haven’t spotted one of his tags around the city over the years.

For more street art, try Art of the State.

I was in Covent Garden the other day and decided to take a little detour across the Strand to Carting Lane, which is home to London’s only remaining sewer lamp. The Webb Patent Sewer Gas Lamp was invented in the late 19th century, primarily as a means to burn off smells from the sewers running underneath. (more…)

I had time to pop up to Tate Modern to have a look at their Street Art exhibition at lunchtime today. It’s the first commission to use the outside of the building, and consists of 15-meter high wall mountings by six international street artists, plus a Street Art Walking Tour around Bankside. (more…)

[via Sharenator]

After my last post about Nunhead Cemetery, I thought it only right that I brave the rain and stroll over to their open day last Saturday. There was a pretty good turn out despite the weather - I don’t think I’ve seen that many goths gathered in one spot since I saw the Cure in 1989 (fittingly, the filename of the goth picture above is DSC4666).

There were quite a few stalls, including one where kids could try out headstone carving, and the Anglican Chapel was open for the day, with a choir performing inside. I hadn’t realised that, despite its ruinous state, it is still possible to climb to the top (if you look closely at the second photo, you can just see someone’s head peeking over the top). Unfortunately there was a bit of a queue, and with the Cup Final fast approaching I decided not to wait; I rather regret it now as I’m sure it was a great view, plus Cardiff lost anyway.

I did find time to join the last 30 minutes of a guided tour by Southwark historian Rex Batten, and fascinating it was too. He pointed out so many interesting things - stories about the characters buried in the cemetery, explaining the history of the different plots etc. - that I had to buy his book, Nunhead Remembered, on the way out. I’ll definitely be back for one of the monthly tours, especially now I’m a fully paid up Friend of Nunhead Cemetery.

Of course, it’s impossible for me to think of the name Rex without thinking of…

The mini-heatwave London’s currently experiencing (the warmest start to May for 200 years apparently) has provided me with a good excuse to down-tools and potter off to explore one of south London’s hidden gems, Nunhead Cemetery. It’s been a good few years since I was last there, and I’d forgotten just how impressive it is. So, in a change from the norm, I’ll do my Blue Badge bit and give a brief of the history of the place….

By the first half of the 19th century, London was faced with the problem of overcrowded and unsanitary graves.

Grave digger’s would dig up partially decomposed corpses to make room for new interments.

The rich of the times would strive to be buried either in the church itself or in brick lined graves in the churchyard which would offer some security against being disturbed.

Evidence of this dire situation can still be seen today in the way that many churches appear to be sitting in a ground depression, but in reality it’s the level of the surrounding graveyard that has risen due to the vast number of burials.

The authorities decided the solution was a series of seven large commercial cemeteries around the outskirts of the city - known as the Magnificent Seven - of which Nunhead is the second largest.

Nunhead Cemetery was opened in 1840, but by the middle of the last century the cemetery was nearly full, and so was abandoned by the United Cemetery Company. This neglect led to the cemetery gradually changing from lawn to meadow and eventually to woodland. It is now a Local Nature Reserve and Site of Metropolitan Importance for wildlife, populated with songbirds, woodpeckers and tawny owls (and of course the obligatory south London parakeets).

Entering the walled cemetery through the main north gate, one is faced with an impressive lime-lined avenue leading up to the imposing Chapel. However, apart from a small tended area by the south gate, the rest of the 52 acre cemetery largely consists of lanes and pathways through overgrown woodland of ash, sycamore and oak.

The Victorians, following the example of Queen Victoria, certainly liked to make a statement when it came to death, and at every turn there are ornate headstones, columns and monuments, full of symbolism. Peering through the trees one can see angelic statues peeking out above masses of parsley, rows of wonky, ivy-covered headstones, and gothic tombs fighting a losing battle with tree roots.

It’s a wonderfully tranquil place to explore, with only the occassional dog-walker for company (it’s almost like being in the country - passing strangers actually say hello!). Wandering off the main paths though, even on a hot, sunny afternoon the place can feel rather like a setting for a Hammer Horror film; one could easily imagine rounding a corner to find Peter Cushing breaking into a tomb, or perhaps Ingrid Pitt trying to lure one off the track with her heaving bosom (I should be so lucky).

Every so often the paths emerge into sunny clearings and grassy spaces, including an area for Muslim burials. At its highest point, the cemetery rises to 200 feet above sea level, and on the West Hill path there’s a spot where you can see across to St. Paul’s Cathederal through an opening in the trees.

The Friends of Nunhead Cemetery help maintain the cemetery, and their aim is to conserve what’s there, rather than to return it to its original state. They offer guided tours on the last Sunday of each month, and are holding an Open Day this Saturday, the 17th May. Unlike the more famous Highgate Cemetery, visitors are free to wander around (between 7am and 7pm in the summer months) seven days a week, without having to take a guided tour.

Nunhead Cemetery is about a 5-10 minute stroll from Peckham Rye Park, and even closer to Nunhead railway station. If you do pay a visit, there’s a map of the cemetery outside the gate, rather than on the notice board inside where you might expect to find it.

Elsewhere on the web, there’s a very good piece about Nunhead Cemetery at Nothing to See Here. You can also find quite a few photos of Nunhead Cemetery at Gothic London, and an interesting page on Victorian cemetery symbolism at Dark Destiny.

Last Sunday’s The Reunion programme on Radio 4 was a special on Withnail & I. In the 45 minute show, recorded before a live audience at the BFI, Sue MacGregor chats to Bruce Robinson, Ralph Brown, Richard E Grant and Paul McGann about the film, with a short contribution from Richard Griffiths. You can currently hear the show using the ‘Listen Again’ link on the right of that page, although I don’t know how long it will be there.

(If, like me, you have to install bloody Real Player to listen to it on the BBC site, don’t bother entering fuckrealplayer@bbc.co.uk during the mandatory registration - someone’s already used it. Perhaps fuckrealplayerwhynotopensource@bbc.co.uk or director-general@bbc.co.uk…)

Whilst you’re listening, you could have a look at some recent photos of Sleddale Hall in Cumbria (Crow Crag) and other Withnail locations.

Perhaps best of all, someone’s made their own Withnail & I Action Figure, complete with carrier bag footwear and Camberwell Carrot.

If you’re going to enter Canon’s The Assignment photography competition, it’s probably not a good idea to submit one of Windows Vista’s official wallpapers as your own work (original image by Darrell Gulin here). Especially if the image is licenced by Getty Images, who have something of a reputation for heavy-handedness when it comes to pursuing copyright infringement (Canon actually sponsors the Getty Image Gallery in London too). [Via the Talk Photography forums]

Almost certainly story of the week: Drunk Darth Vader’s Jedi assault. So many great lines in one article…

A man posing as Darth Vader attacked a Star Wars fan, who had founded a Jedi Church

and

Earlier, when Hughes failed to arrive on time, District Judge Andrew Shaw issued an arrest warrant, adding: “I hope the force will soon be with him.”

and

Mrs Lloyd said: “He was wearing a black bin bag and a cape and had a metal crutch in his hand.”

Mrs Lloyd said he was shouting “Darth Vader”.

She added that Hughes hit Barney Jones over the head with the crutch, leaving him with a headache.

and

he had no idea where he got the crutch from

To be fair, we’ve all had nights like that.

Of course, most people know that before he turned to the Dark Side, Darth Vader was also the Green Cross Code Man. Apparently this particular 1970s Green Cross Code film was shot round the corner from me, on Northcross Road in East Dulwich. It could be, but I’m not 100 percent…