Everything London

Sometimes when the weather changes and the nights get dark early.. you might find yourself walking along the street away from the greenery of the hilly park, in the rain in the middle of the day you might need a pick me up coffee.. ...you might need a pick-me-up piece of cake, you might even want to get away from it all and hide away under a glass roof while the rain comes down and nestle down with a good book, maybe a borrowed one, of real paper and hey then the warm, kind, French sounding barista tells you he ' just wants you to be happy' , so much he's even printed it on the cup... No it's not Alice in wonderland, it's all true!! It's called Falla and Mocaer on Parkway in Camden. Nobody of Any Importance on the table there by the sugar, go pick it up. Falla and Mocaer are two of the most vibrant friendly cafe owners you're likely to meet, always a conversation and a really interesting one; we talked about WW1, because one of the book...

Selfridges lit up windows. Its that time of year when the leaves are starting to fall and it's getting colder, Oxford Street is always my gem for a dose of lights and magic, the shops are already glowing, the trees decked with fake icicle lights, and in the dark early evenings it is very cheery. Selfridges So after a particularly long meeting this week I took a stroll to take it all in and ended up by  Selfridges. What's great is they actually really picked up on the magical theme the windows are decorated in astrological themes, and amazing facts about the earth and size of planets and the stars around the side. The front of the shop glows with a holistic circle, and inside there are many other facets to explore, including gifts and a wonder shop. The glowy circle of all things planetary They even have a clairvoyant to add to the mystery. Her name is Naz Alibagi and I couldn't help but be intrigued. She read crystals (something I'd never heard of...

There is a free exhibition "Magna Carta - through the ages" on at the moment until July where you can see three authentic copies, albeit different versions through the times, of the Magna Carta, one from Peterborough 'The black book' , one from Halesowen Abbey which is in scroll form than book, and the last called the "Hart book of Statutes" which contains a copy of Henry III Magna Carta as well as developed legislation from that time. The Peterborough version "The Black Book" Its actually correct to call it Magna Carta and not The Magna carta as it's given its name in Latin, a language which has no direct, consistent correlate of the English definite article "the". As a result, the usual academic convention is to refer to the document in English without the article as "Magna Carta" rather than " the Magna Carta'. Halesowen Magna Carta Scroll, and John next to it. (Not King) You are warmly greete...

Conscientious Objectors commemoration stone, Tavistock Sq, London (All Pic Hina Pandya Copyright res) Friday was a really busy day for me, but not so busy that I didn't spare a thought for the conscientious objectors that declined to fight in the war. In war sometimes people were conscripted, it wasn't a choice to go and fight, you were required to 'do what was right' for your country... Of course the men who declined to fight were ridiculed and looked down upon, many saw their choice as pure cowardice, and the term 'white feather' was used to describe such men in WW1 and WW2. Little white tags say the names of the objectors Some might say their refusal to go to war, to kill another person has such humanity in it, so much hope. So in the midst all of all the recent celebrations we've had of the fallen on Victory day and Liberation day it seemed fitting that I visited the 'conscientious objectors' memorial in Tavistock Square, which also...

I thought 'dude' was Californian, he looks pretty red hot to me. While the weather looks set to turn rather chilly, New Yorkers will probably be better off staying in, although it has to be said NYC is pretty good about still getting around with many feet of snow having fallen,- just read here - as opposed to London having just a few inches. (it can stop the whole city-no joke). But you've probably heard by now that the Metropolitan transit Authority want travellers to be a bit more considerate of the passengers that may take up more room, either by spreading their legs, but also by putting on their make up... In a city of so many and overcrowded subways it makes sense. It's always infuriating when you get on public transport and someone has given their bag a seat, their make up, or someone's spread their legs so wide they take up three seats- this is easier to do on the NYC subway than the London Underground, because the seats are injection mo...