London

Google Trips tells me that I am spending the day in London today.

Yes, the train from Paris arrived here yesterday evening, but then it was all about the dash to get down to our hosts’ place after a day of travel.

Today, we get to explore.

Last time we were in The Big Smoke was just 10 months ago on a day trip down from Sheffield. [pics]

The light was awful that day. But perfect if you wanted to get a menacing shot of a Tower of London raven.

It’s also Tynwald Day in the Isle of Man. According to Google Trips, we’ll be popping over there on Saturday morning.

UK Photos

I’ve finally put some photos from our UK trip onto Flickr. They’re not my best, I don’t think. A lot of them are from our day out in London and to be honest, I’m really not very happy with them. (Am I selling this to you yet? lol) But then we did go to London on a weird, hazy, dim day; it was seriously grey.

Yes, even by London’s oft monochromatic standards.

I’ve put them in anyway – for the sake of posterity if nothing else.
Fortunately, there were nicer days too:

So next time someone insists that It’s Grim Up North – simply point them in this direction…

Climbing London

Let me start by reminding you that trespass is bad. Trespass can get you arrested, unless of course you’re a protesting student at a South Africa university with a continually capitulating VC, in which case you’ll pretty much be allowed to get away with anything.

But I digress, often.

Don’t trespass. Let other people do it for you. Live vicariously through their foolishness. Allow them to take the silly risks. I’m talking, of course, of Harry Gallagher and his friend… er… HD.XR (possibly a pseudonym) who go leaping around rooftops and landmarks in London, making your palms sweat.

inst1

One thing we’ve seen before from these sorts of naughty escapades is that you can get some fantastic photographs. Harry and… er… HD document their best efforts on their respective instagrams here and here.

It’s good stuff.

There’s also a Youtube channel, with rather too much introduction and not quite enough action for me, but the videos usually come with a handy “skip to [time] for the good bit” comment if you don’t want the preamble.

Pigeons v Pollution

Here’s more news from London, where things are warming up, and where pollution levels will surely rise in the heady heat of those halcyon summer days. But, how best to monitor this phenomenon? Dogs with briefcases? Rats with duffel bags? No – it’s pigeons with backpacks.

Seriously:

Pigeons wearing backpacks with air quality sensors are now flying around London.

Half a dozen racing pigeons have been released into the capital with GPS devices and a 35g sensor to measure levels of nitrogen dioxide being produced in the city. The pigeons took off from their Brick Lane base on Monday.

I’m unsure as to the benefits of the pigeon-based system rather than the more traditional ground-based sensors, but hey – pigeons with backpacks!

The birds are then, using the power of the internet, tweeting those who ask for a reading.

Coo! It works – I tried it:

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The pigeon people suggest that close opn 10,000 people die each year as a result of air pollution in London. Ironically, they refer to Asthma UK as “their friends”, although pigeons aren’t exactly the best pets to keep if you have pulmonary problems.

Still, just six backpack-wearing birds spread across ‘The Big Smoke’ can’t make you cough too much, right?