Tag: london

Brian on Cranes

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There’s some nice urban photography of London on display at brianmicklethwait.com at the moment, specifically here, here, here and here.

The first of those links takes you to a photo of some cranes near Victoria Station, but why would anyone take photos of cranes?

Perhaps there are some readers wondering what the hell is so fascinating about cranes.  Well for one thing, they’re cranes, with all that this entails, in terms of structural magnificence, aesthetic beauty, functional just-so-ness.  Also, cranes mean new Things, coming soon.  Not necessarily good Things, but … Things.  Cranes are a vote of confidence in whatever place they are operating in.  Cranes in London say: hurrah for London.

There continue to be a lot of cranes in Cape Town, which, I guess, says: hurrah for Cape Town. But whereas London is proudly, resolutely all about City, Cape Town has beaches and fynbos and mountains as well.

ports      
And that’s the reason that I – wholly unapologetically – choose to concentrate on the natural side of things, rather than the (admittedly impressive) feats of engineering and architecture around here. Besides, why would I need to get my urban photo fix from a city that has so much other stuff, when I can simply overdose at brianmicklethwait.com any time I choose?

Photos: Portside and Gratuitous Thursday Morning Mountain Shot

And the TB capital of Europe is…

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It’s not one of those awards you want to win, is it?

But apparently, it’s London, with nearly 3,500 new cases last year. That means a mean incidence of 42/100,000 – the highest of any Western European capital city. As you might expect, the rates vary from area to area in the city, with areas high in immigrants recording the greater incidences. As ever, poverty, poor nutrition, alcoholism and homelessness also played a part. There is a 5% mortality rate for the disease in the Greater London area.

These figures are peanuts compared with Cape Town, of course, which comfortably maintains its place as TB capital of the World with an incidence of almost 1000/100,000.

I’m doing my best to reduce the rates in London and over here, but it doesn’t help when people keep coughing on each other.

Please stop.

Lego Tube maps are great

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To celebrate the 150th birthday of the London Underground, they (whoever “they” are), have commissioned five Tube maps made from Lego.

2020-Kings-Cross-high-res

They (the maps, not “they”) are being displayed at various Tube stations throughout the network. They range from the system in 1927 through to the future. The one above shows the Tube as it will be in 2020.

Brilliantly, the maps were made by Duncan Titmarsh, who is described as:

the UK’s only certified LEGO professional

yet another job that must pay better than science.

Breathtaking

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Behold, Rory Allen’s 2012 Timelapse showreel. Just… wow.

Says Rory:

This is a collection of time lapses shot over 2011/2012. Most of them are based in Cape Town but a few are from London too.

You’ll want to hit the HD button and go full screen – do that here.
And enjoy more timelapse loveliness here.