A High Tea. A Very High Tea.

You’ve heard of a high tea? Well, today a number of eye catching, very literal, high teas took place around the capital as part of the “Only In London” initiative by Visit London.

In order to high light the British love affair with a cuppa, tea was taken in some extraordinary places such as on top of the IPC Building, on the Camden Roundhouse, on Westminster Abbey, and in the City of London, on top of the Monument.

The picture below shows the Monument caretaker enjoying a brew whilst taking in the best views on London.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson said, ‘There’s nothing like the great British cuppa and the tradition of taking afternoon tea – especially high tea - has to be one of the greatest pleasures in life. If you want somewhere to relax after a busy day sightseeing or shopping, or a wonderful place to go for a family treat, only in London will you get the most memorable experience of the national brew.”

Bike Hire Scheme Details Emerge

One of the Mayor of London’s election promises was the introduction of a bike hire scheme similar to the Velib in Paris. If all goes to plan, the scheme could be up and running next year, and TFL and started the job of putting in planning applications for the installation of bike “docking stations”.

In the City, the following bike hire docking stations are planned:

• Golden Lane
• Aldersgate Street
• Primrose Street
• Bishopsgate
• Silk Street
• Moorfields
• West Smithfield
• Aldersgate Street / London Wall
• Wood Street
• Finsbury Circus
• Blomfield Street
• Devonshire Square
• Chancery Lane
• Stonecutter Street
• Newgate Street
• Gresham Street
• Wormwood Street
• Bouverie Street
• Ave Maria Lane
• Cheapside
• Bartholomew Lane
• Bishopsgate / Leadenhall Street
• Carter Lane
• Godliman Street
• Queen Victoria Street
• Queen Street
• Crosswall
• Blackfriars Millennium Pier
• Great Tower Street
• King William Street
• Byward Street
• Lower Thames Street

More information here

Ice-capades

Only my elite martial arts skills (think Kung-Fu Panda, not Jackie Chan) kept me on my feet today as I discovered that wearing my nice Rockports yesterday gave me a false sense of how easy the snow/ice was to walk on. The hard reality that work shoes = skates was nearly rammed home by a spectacular near-FAIL on my way to the station which momentarily left me with one arm pointing down, one arm pointing up and left leg parallel to the ground before I gathered it all back in. I didn’t dare look at the people standing at the bus stop opposite as I knew that they’d be laughing, damn them, if not out loud then in their heads. I briefly toyed with the idea of eliminating all witnesses but decided that might bring problems of its own so decided that rapidly hurrying to the station without looking back was the best plan, which was happily confirmed when the train arrived on time and with heating ablaze.

I see Boris Johnson has taken some flak for his now-infamous “This is the right kind of snow, it’s just the wrong kind of quantities.” quote and some Guardian readers were getting worked up over his “massive skive” comment. I’m sure they’ll be a lot of finger-pointing, lots of “snow response” plans will be produced and no-one will remember the slightest thing about them in 18 years time when it happens again.

Hats off to the City of London gritters who were hard at work after the incident I referred to yesterday and cleared the area in no-time at all. In general the streets are in great shape, well at least they’re much better than suburbia.

Anyway, just in case the snow’s all gone by tomorrow here are some photos from Tuesday lunchtime as a reminder: