Spend a Penny or Two

Finally there are loo's at Southbank. Rather smart they are too. You'll need more than a penny though. 50p is the going rate here.

Hymn by Hirst

Damien Hirst's "Hymn" outside the Tate Modern as part of the Hirst retrospective exhibition.

Controversial as always the critics have plenty to say about his wealth, some calling him the biggest conman of our times.
The toy manufacturer Humbrol sued Hirst over this sculpture. They claimed it is a scaled up version of a model they sell to teach anatomy to children.
An out of court settlement was agreed with Hirst paying an undisclosed sum to charity.

Wine and Cheese Tasting

A little rain is no deterent to a wine and cheese tasting at Southbank.

Cupcake?

Fancy one of these fancy cup cakes? Banana and nutella, honeycomb, choc malteser?

Candy Floss

Candy Floss, Cotton Candy, FairyFloss, what ever you call spun sugar, can you believe it was a dentist who invented it? Yep William Morrison invented all sorts of things in his spare time. In 1897 he created the candy floss machine. Maybe he was looking for an endless supply of patients?

The Model

"Did you get my best side?"

London's Most Desirable Room

A room for London looks like a boat perched on the roof of the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre. The installation a collaboration between architect David Kohn and artist Fiona Banner will rest here for all of 2012. The room was available for anyone to book at £120 for the night. It was harder to get a reservation here than buy a ticket to the Olympics. Bookings sold out within 12 minutes.

It is hoped that it might perch on other sites around London in the future. Maybe I might get lucky and get a chance to see inside when it does.

Dressed for Xmas

Matching Santa outfits for an outing at the Xmas markets.

Pink Bra

The sign says wear your pink bra on the 28th October to support breast cancer awareness. You could party in this one.

Wanting to be the Sky

An art installation in neon on the right offset by a rainbow on the left.

London Hat

The fabulous weekend of the Thames festival ends with a spectacular parade, followed by fireworks. Magnificent costumes, lights and performers. Summer ends with a bang here.

Preparing the final touches to an enormous hat carrying the city of London on top.

Dancers

The Thames festival is on all weekend. A big party to mark the end of summer. Here everyone is doing karaoke dancing. An animated dancer shows you all the moves, while a compare encourages you to give it your all.

I'm off to enjoy another full day of fun.

London Summer

Today is officially the last day of summer, apparantly not one of the sunniest or warmest. However it was a beautiful day last Sunday. Now we have the beautiful colours of autumn to look forward to.

Boy and Statue

One century leaning on the other and I'll bet the summer was like this back in the iron age too

Surprise Party

Eben clearly has lots of friends. A huge effort here as they all prepare for his surprise party.

Fun Fair

Judging from the screams this ride is one of the best.

Fans

What do you call a group of mostly young teenage girls screaming? This is surely a perfect candidate to add to the Mensa new words list.
What was the cause of the hysteria? New boy band One Direction from the X factor, arriving at a recording studio for rehearsals.

Helter Skelter

"When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide
Where I stop and I turn and I go for a ride
Until I get to the bottom and I see you again"

So begins the Beatles song Helter Skelter, inspired by the Victorian ride. These rides were very popular at seaside towns in Victorian times. This one currently tucked away on Southbank for the summer wasn't the hit it might once have been.

Wheeeww

What a ride.

London Fashion

Pretty as a picture. Spotted her the other day.