Vote Ken, originally uploaded by markrocky.

I thought there was something strange about these stencils I saw this morning.

Rumour has it they are part of a campaign against Banksy’s backing of Ken. Subtle. Most people will simply think Ken has gone all street and down with the kids.

[Edit: cycled past this morning and they’ve now been boarded over]

Chelsea chimneys, originally uploaded by markrocky.

Looking west across London from Peter Jones in Chelsea, on a bright and Christmassy winter afternoon.

Last night we stepped out of St Thomas’ Hospital into one of those perfectly beautiful summer evenings you sometimes get in London. The sort of evening where you have to slow down to an idle, almost continental, pace to soak it all up. This wasn’t particularly difficult given Claire’s current condition and so we slowly meandered alongside the River Thames towards the new Southbank Centre. We were there at the weekend to checkout Anthony Gormley’s “Blind Light” exhibition at the Hayward Gallery but didn’t stop to fully appreciate the amazing new developments to the Southbank Centre. At the time we were so taken by another of Gormley’s work - “Event Horizon” - that we took the locale for granted. Now, after last night’s stroll, I realise the surrounding buildings are integral to this work. The silhouetted figures, looking down on the Southbank scene, took on a serene and sentry-like quality as dusk descended - watching over the swarms below. The whole area has been opened up to encourage people to explore and enjoy the space. I love it.

From the busy streets of Brixton, the blood red dot in the sky was beautiful but rather washed out by the orange glow of the street lights. That said - it’s not every Saturday night at 11 o’clock (when most people are more concerned about what club to go to) that you see all the people on Brixton high street looking skyward! Anyway - people in less urban settings got a fantastic show by the looks of it.

Do I really need to blog my notes from the last two days at this year’s London FOWA event? No, I thought not.

Budding taggers learn how it is done..

These young whipper snappers were watching keenly as an older kid scrawled his tag on a wall along London’s South Bank. It didn’t take long. Let’s hope the pupils of this nursery school of graffiti move on to a higher level of street art sooner rather than later. Am I getting old? These pesky kids. Grumble grumble… I’ll be complaining about uneven pavements next.

Anyway - while I am on the subject, when a particular piece turned up at the bottom of Bristol’s Park Street a few months ago (on the side of a sexual health clinic, I should add for the benefit of the picture), I heard Bristol City Council were debating whether it was public art and should be left. Funny that they start to see the potential tourism benefits of leaving this stuff after years spent cleaning it up. They certainly wouldn’t have even considered the fact a few years ago. Well - they eventually decided to let it stay and it promptly made the Visit Bristol tourist guide.

hole in the wall.

The Serpentine Gallery are putting on an exhibition of Chinese art inside Battersea Power Station this month and we went along this afternoon to have a look. I’ll pass giving any judgement on the art for now - we (and, at a guess, the majority of the other few hundred visitors) were there for the chance to see this great building up close. I see the power station daily yet it remains distant and enigmatic, flanked by hordings on three sides and moated on the fourth by the Thames. We were guided through the dark, damp and derelict floors of the old turbine hall, looking beyond the bizarre art installations, and tried to understand the building’s past (and future). It’s an interesting place - with old signs warning of high voltage jostling for attention alongside newer signs warning of falling masonry.

Unfortunately photos inside the building were not allowed; the cynic in me wondered whether the developers were worried that people’s photos could affect the forthcoming coffee table book.

EDIT: A quick peruse through Flickr reveals some excellent covert shots of the sort that might well make it to said glossy coffee table book. And it looks like some discreet snapping was occuring during the art tours.

Some research from Bath University suggests that wearing a helmet might be more dangerous than not. And that drivers gave women cyclists a wider berth when passing. Personally I’m not taking any chances cycling around London without a helmet but I am considering growing my hair and wearing a skirt, just to be on the safe side when cycling to work.

As I cycled home, after a sweltering summer’s day in our Soho offices, there was a continental buzz in the air that is London after work - out on the pavements, enjoying one of England’s rare and blissfully perfect long evenings, cooled by a pleasant breeze and a beer. I turned into St James’ Park and who should drive past in a cavalcade? The Queen! I was genuinely monarch-struck - glowing with a patriotic pride I never knew I had. I’ve never understood all this flag waving, cheering and general whooping that our Queen seems to provoke but, I have to admit, she had a similar effect on me. As soon as I saw the outline of her familiar head I started to grin. I wonder, is it something to do with seeing that instantly recognisable hair-do? I am so accustomed to seeing her on casual everyday items like cash, stamps and so on that it is really quite amusing to see the real thing. A funny thing indeed.