An Urban Wander around Brighton

Until a few weeks ago I hadn't visited Brighton for several years, so was more than pleased to have the opportunity to spend a weekend there. Armed with my trusty phone camera, we set off exploring. First up we were greeted with quite a treat, the Brighton Breeze 2015, a VW festival on the promenade. I took hundreds of pictures here of which these are but a couple, but probably my favourites.

VW Campervans, Brighton Breeze

VW Campervans, Brighton Breeze

Also at the Brighton Breeze were a couple of other items of vintage interest to me. It wasn't until I looked closer at the photo though that I realised that these may in fact be re-makes or re-models, as the names have been changed from the originals I remember from the 1970's, i.e. Raleigh Chopper, Chipper and Tomahawk to what you can see below. Maybe some subtle play on words here I'm not seeing.

Vintage Raleigh bikes, Brighton Breeze

Ideal for picnics, this turntable in a suitcase.

Vintage record player, Brighton Breeze

Back on to more familiar territory now, we have a selection of ghost signs. The first one has possibly only recently been revealed, as I can't find any reference to it anywhere. I would think that it was some sort of garage.

PETROL PRATTS GAS

Ghost sign, Brighton

Next up is a wonderful doorway mosaic.

Doorway mosaic, Brighton

And the final Brighton ghost sign 

FURNITURE

SHOW ROOMS

Ghost sign, Brighton

As we wandered through the Brighton lanes, this street corner reminded me of Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco.

Street Art, Sydney Street, Brighton

Please to see the bandstand still in great condition.

Band Stand, Brighton

And of course no trip to Brighton would be complete without a shot of the Pavilion.

Pavilion, Brighton

A weekend was far too short a time ... we will be back.

    

Urban Wanderings around London

During my various Psychogeography inspired urban wanders over the past months, I have inevitably amassed a fair number of individual pictures which I have not included in a coherent blog post, or series of posts. However, not wanting them to be left on the digital shelf, I have decided to combine a few into one or more blog posts. Some may follow a theme whereas others may be more random and follow a drift of their own. I can recall where some were taken, but others remain a bit of a mystery.

I do remember this first one though. We had spent pretty much all day wandering the streets and were most definitely flagging by the time we reached this café, somewhere near Clerkenwell. A comfy sofa, sustained by a flat white coffee and some cake, 30 minutes later we were ready to hit the streets once more.

Tap Coffee, London

I have walked past this sandwich bar near Kensington Olympia endless times, but only ever ventured in recently. Just over the wall is the railway line running south from Olympia station. Not only is it a great life café, but it also acted as a good wind up for one of my friends who works for Pepsi.

Frank's Sandwich Bar, Kensington Olympia, London

Frank's Sandwich Bar, Kensington Olympia, London

Making a nice segue from food to cars, here's a food van parked up during the University open day at Queen Mary's, East London.

Food van, Queen Mary's University, East London

A lovely old Morris Minor convertible, somewhere in Shoreditch if I recall rightly. Only just spotted the wonderfully distressed looking door in the background. Shame I didn't see that at the time as that would have made an interesting picture.

Morris Minor, Shoreditch, London

No distressed doors in this picture.

An MG near Shepherd's Bush, London

    

Rural Wandering: a short bike ride through the Deverills in Somerset

I've managed to get a bit out of sync with my postings, and this is in fact from last weekend when we were away for a long weekend at Center Parcs, in Longleat, Somerset. I had not really expected to do much exploring, but was fortunate enough to manage to find time for a couple of bike rides outside the main complex. The countryside was beautiful, the roads were quiet, and on one of the rides the sun was shining. The only downside was on the second bike ride, where my rear disc brakes all but seized up, meaning that it was a tremendous effort to peddle at all, and on the down hill stretches I still had to peddle to keep going. I stopped a few times to take the wheel off, and adjust the brakes which seemed to free them up for a short while, but overall it was really hard going. However, going at this slow speed, I did spot this old AA sign in the village of Brixton Deverill, which marks the villages of Kingston Deverill and Longbridge Deverill both as being 1½ miles away, and London being 99½ miles away.

Old AA road sign, Brixton Deverill, Somerset

Tales of my Urban Wandering will continue later in the week, with a post about an Urban Wander over to the Pall Mall Deposit building in West London already in progress ... so stay tuned folks.

    

The Watercress Line

Although I am finding it increasingly difficult to devote any time to this particular blog, I am determined not to give up as this is my only real outlet for things which I cannot neatly pigeon hole in any of my other blogs. I suppose on a positive note, it's been great that I have been so busy getting out and about doing the things I enjoy that I've struggled to find time to blog about them.

A couple of weeks ago we visited the Watercress Line, which is a heritage railway in Hampshire, running between New Arlesford and Alton. The weekend we went saw the line, its building and occupants all rolled back 70 years to what it would have looked like in 1942. As well as the steam trains there were vintage cars, people dressed in 1940's fashion, soldiers, spivs, and even a remarkable match for Churchill and Monty. The station cafes were selling cakes made to 1940's recipes, although hopefully not with 1940's ingredients.

 Steam train pulls out of Medstead & Four Marks Station

 Steam train pulls into Medstead & Four Marks station

Vintage cars at New Arlesford station

I particularly like this next picture which shows a vintage railway poster with the great strap line of Ease the Strain, Go By Train. If all the train journeys I took were as clean and peaceful I'd use the trains a lot more than I do. I can only imagine what the equivalent picture would have to look like today to match today's rail environment ... dirty windows, overcrowding, litter, annoying people shouting into their mobile phones.

Vintage railway poster at New Arlesford station

If I'm honest I have become a bit obsessed with rail travel, both vintage and modern, over the past few months and have started reading several accounts of train journeys that you can still take today which do take you away from the hustle and bustle of the daily commute, and also some books whioch document the rise and sad demise of our once great rail network. A few favourites are featured below.

    

So, I seem to have some spare time this weekend in amongst the ususal child related taxi services, so I may even get to complete another blog update before next week, when I am travelling to India on business for a few days.

Vintage petrol pump in Buckingham

Having attempted to make the most of the long, double bank holiday weekend, by taking 3 days leave, I have been somewhat annoyed that the weather has been dreadful. Despite this we have managed to get out and about between the showers. So far this week, the town of Buckingham has been the surprise of the week. We ended up there after having spent the day at Bletchley Park, home of the code breakers. Bletchley Park is of course very well known, so I don't think I need to say anything more about that here, but on the way home we stopped off in Buckingham to get a cup of tea. As a teenager I remember being driven through Buckingham on the way to see relatives, but cannot remember whether those 30 years ago there was a bypass or whether we drove through the town. Either way, I don't remember the town at all so it was a fantastic surprise. I guess I had assumed that it would just be one of those non-descript towns, with the usual shops, awful 1950/60's architecture and a picture of urban decay. However, the reality painted a very different picture with the river running through the centre, several old churches and lots of narrow streets line with old and interesting buildings. The weather was not great for taking pictures, so please excuse the poor quality of some of the shots below, but hopefully the convey the look and feel of the town.

St. Peter and St. Pauls Church, Buckingham

Buckingham

Vintage petrol pump, Buckingham

Vintage petrol pump (close-up), Buckingham

    

Jazz and the Westbourne Grove

I've not been able to get out and about as much as I'd have liked to in London over the past few weeks because of the awful weather. However, I did manage a couple of walks around the Westbourne Park area at lunchtime. I generally go from near Paddington towards Portobello Market, deviating from what would be quite a direct route along Westbourne Grove, to take in some of the smaller side roads. The first photo is of Wysteria growing against a mews house. The picture did not come out quite as I'd hoped but as the day was grey and dull, it's not a bad shot I guess.

Colville Mews, W11

I cannot remember whether the alley featured in the second photo had a name. I can't find it on google maps so will have to go back and have a look, although if I'm completely honest then I must admit that I'm not 100% sure exactly where it was. I know I walked north to south along a cobbled street (or perhaps a mews) and then found a couple of small alleyways off to the left, but other than that a bit blank.

Unknown alley, W11

Anyone who has read this blog before will probably know that I also have a passion for vintage, and I have a vintage magazines and a vintage postcards blog. I have been updating the former quite a bit over the past few weeks having found a collection of early 1960's Jazz Journal magazines. To compliment this I have also been listening to some jazz on lastfm. I can't say I am the world's biggest jazz fan, although some of what I've heard is hitting the spot. Memphis Slim is one of these artists and below is a link to some of his music ...