12 of 12 (v6.0) - May

Way late posting this - June 21st! Sorry guys, I'll try to do better next month - though it'll be my first day back after holiday, so who knows what time I'll get back from work. Damnit, I should have gone a day later, so I could have done my July 12 in Germany!

Anyway - here we go. Here's the list for May, and thanks to Chad for organising. No times on the photos as I'm just trying to get this posted!

I'd taken the day off specially, so there are more than 12 photos. I had a job getting it as low as 18, so before wasting more time, I'll just post these, OK?

1) My flat, Lewisham, London

Drying my hair after a shower - I liked the photo, which is why it didn't get cut out.

2) Lewisham Station, Lewisham, London

The river by the station. There was a plaque showing the river's course and the wildlife areas/marshy bits along the route. I forget the name of it now, and I archived all my photos to an external HD and haven't yet transferred things back. But I like the river here :-)

3) St Martin in the Fields courtyard, central London

Reading one of the Aurelio Zen detective novels by Michael Dibdin (who's from my home town of Wolverhampton), in the sun with a Starbucks (well you have to see one in my 12 of 12). The courtyard is behind St Martin in the Fields church, off the Strand and near the National Gallery.

A few photos for the next one, as they go together and I gave up trying to pick one, OK?

4) Edmund J. Safra Courtyard, Somerset House, London

Ai Weiwei has an exhibition, the Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads, which are bronze animal heads positioned in a semicircle around the fountains. I got photos of all, but these were the best, as the weather was patchy and I had grey sky for most of it. (one thing about posting this on June 23rd, is that I saw he was in the news today, something about not being able to leave Beijing and tax evasion maybe? He was the guy who had the sunflower seeds exhibit, if you heard about that - the Tate Modern I think?)

5) Waterloo Bridge, London

Walking over the bridge, intending to check something out on the South Bank (I forget what now, as I write this 6 weeks later...). I liked the person walking into frame with the London Eye in the background.

6) Waterloo Bridge/South Bank), London

View of the South Bank as I finished crossing the bridge - I like the trees around there, and the little spit of sandy beach.

7) South Bank, London

Little sandwich/food thing I spotted - cute :-)

8) South Bank, London

Sand artist at work.

9) South Bank, London

Looking over the river at the buildings along the Embankment.

10) South Bank, London

Sign says it all really. As part of the Festival of Britain (history here, link to current festival here), they created a fake beach along an area of the pavement (not down by the river itself like my previous photos, which is a natural mini beach). There are boards for a boardwalk, benches where you can sit and wiggle your toes in the sand, and buckets and spades at the end for kids. Plus banners like this along the railings, saying things like buckets and spades.

I sat for a while and just enjoyed the feel of my feet in the sand. There were two people with a mic and camera, and I think they videod a bit of my feet in the sand lol, and then interviewed a family. I read for a while but a family came and sat down next to me - nice enough, but I was looking for a bit of quiet alone time, so I sat and continued reading for a while, then headed off to find more things.

11) South Bank, London

Mini beach further along. With old posters advertising the beaches of Essex I think.

Another multiple:

12) South Bank, London

What I went over to the South Bank to see - the beach huts! Not all were open, but those that were had exhibits in (I wasn't quite sure how some of them linked in, but hey ho). They're part of the festival.

Inside one of the huts - this had a blackboard and then information about various beaches around the UK such as them featuring in books or films, or having famous people from that area.

Funky beach hut - they all are really!

Bonus - South Bank, London

Exhibition near Royal Festival Hall. I took a photo of the sign explaining, but I archived it, so I can't tell you, sorry. They were all poems I think, on paper suspended on wires.

That's it, and finally up! Thanks for reading and being patient.