I was sitting in my cab in Regent’s Park I heard a loud thump. On of those Lycraed Lunatics, not looking on his bike has ridden into the back of a car. People stop and offer assistance, then leave not worrying about the poor bastard’s 08 VW. Well, at least he’ll be off his bike for a while.
Protected: London’s Glories
London in Quotations: Charlotte Brontë
I like the spirit of this great London which I feel around me. Who but a coward would pass his whole life in hamlets; and for ever abandon his faculties to the eating rust of obscurity?
Charlotte Brontë (1815-1856), Villette
London Trivia: Diary’s last entry
On 31 May 1669 bad eyesight forced Samuel Pepys to give up his diary. He was just 36 years old. It read ‘And thus ends all that I doubt I shall ever be able to do with my own eyes in the keeping of my journal, I being not able to do it any longer, having done now so long as to undo my eyes almost every time that I take a pen in my hand; and, therefore, whatever comes of it, I must forbear. . . all the discomforts that my being blind’
On 31 May 1915 a German bomb hit Stoke Newington, the dubious distinction of the first building attacked by a foreign power in 1,000 years
In May 1726 a stand erected at Tyburn collapsed as reviled Catherine Hayes was burnt at the stake six spectators predeceased her as a result
On 31 May 1859 the Great Clock on Big Ben started telling the time. The Great Bell and the quarter bells chimed later that year
Many Londoners died in the Black Death of 1348, it raged in London until spring 1350, and is generally assumed to have killed between one third and one half of the populace
Avenue House in High Holborn stands on the site of the First Avenue Hotel destroyed in WW2 below is built the first Atomic air raid shelter
The Savoy Hotel built by Richard D’Oyly Carte in 1889 on profits from Gilbert and Sullivan operas he produced at the adjoining Savoy Theatre
Old Bond Street predates New Bond Street by only 14 years and became popular after the Duchess of Devonshire boycotted smarter Covent Garden
Every July the Soho Waiters’ Race takes place, contestants run around the streets carrying a tray, a napkin, bottle of champagne and glass
In 1920 the world’s first passenger airport opened in Croydon adding the world’s first airport terminal and airport hotel 8 years later
The Ritz Hotel named after the great César Ritz although he never worked there, actually he was the first manager of the Savoy Hotel
St James’s Park is home to one example of every native waterfowl – the Swiss-style cottage is a hide and has a steam heater egg incubator
Trivial Matter: London in 140 characters is taken from the daily Twitter feed @cabbieblog.
A guide to the symbols used here and source material can be found on the Trivial Matter page.
The color magenta
I think it has to be me, or at least my age, for I like to first express my thoughts on – shock – paper.
Using a propelling pencil, mine being a rather fine monogrammed Visconti Vincent van Gogh Starry Night Pencil, I can jot down ideas making alterations as I go along.
So why should I discuss this rather pointless snippet from my writing life?
Well, the manufacturers of the archetypal diary once beloved of the 1980s yuppies – The Filofax – produced a quite impressive accoutrement for the writing man.
The FiloFLEX, sold in a range of sizes and colours had a pen/pencil holder, provision for a writing pad and an additional jotting pad, five pockets to save jottings and paper scraps and somewhere to secure credit cards.
In this digital world, you won’t be surprised to learn that this cleverly designed accessory is now not manufactured by Filofax.
So the only way I could purchase an A5 example (already owning the pocket version) was to buy secondhand. Enter eBay.
Hence the rather fetching shade of pink described as magenta. But at £12, no questions asked Squire, it was a bargain.
Having collected my writing essentials the question now is, what today’s missive should be, and now needs writing, so if you’ll excuse me . . .
CabbieBlog 