Happy 80th Dad and my hidden London!

To-day 22nd of March is my father's 80 Birthday! Happy birthday William Ernest James Kelley MBE. Also known as Sir....Bill, Spike, Dad and Grampy!!

  Today's blog is going to be a bit different, it is places that most other people either just take for granted after a while or never really seem to notice. Some are beautiful. some are quirky and other's just caught my eye. The one thing they all have in common, is they are all in my beloved London!

This first image is of sunset just before Putney bridge, beside the boat sheds and near The Sailing Club. One of my favorite places to walk to and just watch the sailing boats and the rowers go past. This is also the start of The Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge that takes place each year.
The next image is for the tourists in all of us. I had to put him in because of a conversation l over heard the other day!Two gentlemen and an elderly lady were walking in front of me, just before we got to this guardsman.
Man 1: "Do you know Edith, l worked this way to work everyday for the last 15 years and today because you are here, l am seeing it all in a new light".
Man 2: " How so John"?
Man 1: "Well, l never noticed until Edith asked the question of the man in uniform, next to the horse, when they changed guard, that the men on the horses change all the time"
Edith: "Well did you think they just sat there everyday, the same men and never changed?"
Man 1: " Yes l suppose so because they all look the same, don't they? Why are you laughing, its not funny?"
Man 2 and Edith were killing themselves laughing but Man 1 just didn't get the joke!  So you see, some people see the world but never really see it!

The next image in my "places round my London" is to be found, if you go along the river from Putney to Barnes.  One of the reasons l love this particular image, is because the path it is often deserted or only has a few people on the walk, depending on the time of year and the weather. I have to admit, at the height of Summer, it can be packed with people and bikes, then it is not such a peaceful walk! The boys in this image, appear to be like ghosts, there one minute and yet not quite the next. Just the right feel for the area around this overground archway! Yet you are actually only a few minutes away from a busy road.

This next image is of an amazing looking shop, fantastically painted with a fiece orange, dragon like creature on the front and across the shop doorway. I never found out for sure, if the guy who was smoking, was part of the shop or not. If he wasn't, wearing those clothes and orange top, he should have been. This shop was in Tottenham Court rd, l say was, because very soon after it opened, it closed again!shame.

Another peaceful image of one of the many bridges along the River Thames. Can you see the rope swing?

As many of you know, who follow this blog, l love grafitti. The next image is of a boarded-up shop window, near Angel Tube Station. Each of the white-washed and paper (?) covered panes have been drawn on. From what l can judge, it has all been done with a black biro. Amazing piece of work and very time consuming l would have thought. l often wonder if it was done pane by pane or were several worked on at the same time? Has it been done by one person or several and was it done for fun or for a reason? Was it done in broad day light or at night by torch?

The following image is again of grafitti but so completly differnt in every way possible. I spotted this in Tottenham Court Road by Fowles Book Shop. It behind a locked gate, in an alley way and stretched the whole length of one wall. Some one has quite an imagination.  It is not easy to see, as the alley-way is very dark and narrow. The only reason l was lick enough to spot it was because l stopped to tie up my boot lace and just happened to catch the colour yellow, out of the corner of my eye.

Ha..if you don't like spiders, skip the next image! l am fasinated by spiders webs, not especially spiders. When we lived in Papua New Guinea, we went up into the Highlands for a picnic or a just to see the trees and amazing flowers. One time, when we were vsiting the `national park, we came across a massive cobweb, stretched across the main pathway. It had been made by about 100 spiders and was about 6ft across and abour 8ft high! The spider's web below, is much more sedate and is in my garage! What's so special about my garage you ask. Well...it has the most amazing spiders webs and lots of different kinds of spiders. l am always trying to find better ways to photograph them !

The last image is one of my favorite places to take images of grafitti and people. lt is South Bbank, under the Arches and by The London Eye. I love people watching and taking images of people when they are being natural. As the grafitti is changing almost every few days , it is always interesting to look at! Normally my images of the Arches is full of people, skate boarders or bike riders doing stunts. I rather like this image because it is JUST the Arches and its Art...a rare sight in deed!

I hope you have enjoyed the short tour of a few of my secret places round my London!