2023

I am just beginning the planning now for the 10 year anniversary of this sign not coming down.

A sign of the times against a wet spring backdrop

Local drivers need parking practice.

An antisocially-parked white Tesla

Sovereignty didn’t matter either

The great tragedy of Brexit is that it was just a tactical move by the Tories to win an election and an opportunistic gambit by individual politicians to gain power. Beyond this, there are no goals, no principles, no big ideas. Just cynical optics for the base. www.theguardian.com UK joins Asia-Pacific CPTPP trade bloc that includes Japan and Australia

The abandoned Nike outlet is a mirror to the Overground tracks.

Railway reflections in the silvered glass of a disused store

Keir Starmer in drag.

Netflix poster on a bus stop in Homerton

Capturing Hot Air

Tories: The State can’t pick winners. The Mah-Ket will decide our fate. Also Tories: Shackled to the dinosaur EU we can’t take advantage of the New Economy. We have to Leave! EU: Okay. Bye! Tories: Incandescent lightbulbs! Also Tories: Behold the powerful suction of our vacuum cleaner motors! (Made in Malaysia). US: Here’s the Inflation Reduction Act, a massive green economy stimulus that’s attracting $billions of private investment, creating jobs and competitive advantage.

Continue reading →

A slice of delicious home-made apple pie with a bit of custard.

A small bowl with apple pie and custard on a green perspex mat

I wonder how many terminal prompts the servers at Telehouse support. Here’s a view of Telehouse North Two at the Tower Hamlets side of Leamouth in East London.

A view of chimneys at the Telehouse East data centre in Tower Hamlets, London.

The bridge on the left supports Aspen Way. On the right, the DLR.

A view of the road and DLR bridges from the underpass at Blackwall.

Let’s see ChatGPT 4 drive a car.

The customer service fail at Franco Manca Canary Wharf this evening isn’t evenly spread. One young couple were kept waiting to order, had their starters delivered late, had their pizzas forgotten about, then got the wrong pizzas. I’m sure a piano is going to land on their heads.

Honestly the pizza points are not worth the pain of using Franco Manca’s utterly useless app.

Culinary instruments on display at John Lewis, Canary Wharf.

A display of various kitchen instruments and gadgets

Scored a kilo of Panch Puran (Bengali five spice). This is an essential cooking ingredient for me - really elevates brassicaceae.

A large pack of Bengali 5 Spice on a chopping board with mushrooms.

Imagine the derision if a member of the working class declared the invention of the shovel the dawn of artificial general intelligence.

Food courts disconnected from the encumbering shopping mall are an increasingly popular destination in East London. Here’s the Cargo Market Hall in Canary Wharf. Notice the very English door-blocking yellow cone - but sadly for completists, no plastic fencing this evening.

A couple leave the Cargo Market Hall food court in Canary Wharf on a wet spring evening

A pigeon under the pedestrian ramp at Homerton Station grabs the chance of a bit of morning sun.

A pigeon in a patch of morning sunlight

I get it’s disappointing that few high-follower-count folks have left Musk’s horror-platform. Heck, I’m disappointed, too. But let’s not forget Facebook orchestrated the Rohingya genocide and folks stayed there too.

Lots of interesting insects at Praia a Mare last summer. Me being me I was mainly taking pictures of the famous local pigeons. But here’s a large black bee collecting nectar from lantana flowers on the corner of Gramsci Road.

A black bee on a flower

A couple of key right wing terms:

Declinism: the opinion that a bonfire of regulations and tax cuts for the rich is not an industrial strategy.

(Plan for) growth: the belief that industrial strategy consists of deregulation and cutting taxes for the rich.

Every right wing talking head: “Rant, rant, woke this, woke that, rant bathrooms, woke deep state. Why are the left wing establishment declinist wokerati arguing about woke and not delivering our ‘plan for growth’?”

If you are over 50, the writing on the labels of food packaging is too tiny.

A close up of the label on a carton of Tesco's organic tomato slurry

What an odd hill Mark Rowley has chosen to die on. Chopping logic over “systemic” vs “institutional” prejudice is way more political than the term “institutional” itself.

Casey report: Met chief accepts review diagnosis, but will not use term ‘institutional’

I’m looking for a houseplant. Nice display in M&S at Crossrail Place - but they’d sold out of the plants I’d had my eye on. I’m passing through Stratford tomorrow on my way home, so may take a look in the shops there.

A display of houseplants in the Marks and Spencers at Crossrail Place, Canary Wharf, London

The area south of A13 between Silvertown Way and Freemasons Road was called Cherry Island. Here is our sakura analog.

Cherry blossom in Canning Town

Pigeons on the quasi-portico of Canary Wharf Underground Station

A view of the entrance to Canary Wharf underground station - with pigeons

I got up late so my early walk to Canary Wharf this morning was a dash to the Custom House Elizabeth Line station.

Passing through the Custom House portal to Canary Wharf lives up to its sci-fi name. Two Londons couldn’t be more divided if they were in parallel universes

Manor Road between Canning Town and West Ham, with its temporary pedestrian crossing chicanes, narrow, uneven footpaths, and poor drainage is the pedestrian’s nemesis.

Traffic at a temporary pedestrian crossing near West Ham station

“Nat has herpes” is scrawled all over East London. Should I feel sorry for Nat, or does this have another meaning?