iPad is Here!

Apple's iPad has officially gone on sale this morning at the Regent Street store. Wandering down Regents Street on my way to work I was confronted with large patient queuing crowds snaking up around the corner into Hanover Square, lots of crowd barriers blocking the pavement complete with high visibility security guards and even more media snappers camped out the front! A lot of opportunistic app sellers were also advertising their wears in a range of creative outfits and vehicles loitering in the area.

All the people went crazy for the one person patient enough to queue for days to be the first to claim London's first iPad. Stephen Fry a self confessed Apple geek was one of the first celebs to emerge with the iPad thrust thriumpantly into the air!

I am sure the crowds may even grow throughout the day might have a wander past at lunch...

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London Marathon Sunday 25 April 2010

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#288 Grab a 3am bagel at the Brick Lane Beigel Bake

The perfect bagel topped with slabs of steaming salted beef with a mustard kick! Apparently the smoked salmon and cream cheese aren't bad either.

Perfect for any time of day or night. I have dragged countless visitors to this east London institution on Sunday morning and it never fails to hit the spot despite the queue that is often out the door.

Don't forget to grab a dozen for the road and bagel goodness through the week!

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#284 Sit in the Great Court at the British Museum & #553 Do the London Museum in your lunchbreak

On Saturday I entered the strange and mysterious world of Harry Jogger!

Virgin have taken over the organisation and sponsorship of this year's London Marathon and were hosting a Marathon day for Virgins - first time marathon runners.

It included tips on training, staying injury free, nutrition and how to get to the start line. While moments were a bit repetitive the general mood was lightened by a Harry Potter knock-off theme with Harry Jogger and Ron Walkersey providing the slapstick. It provided some invaluable pointers.

The talks being based just off Russell Sqaure gave the perfect opportunity to nip out to lunch to the British Museum.

The entrance features the largest enclosed courtyard in Europe designed by Fosters and Partners it is supposedly made up of 3,300 separate tiles. A quick bite to eat in the Great Court restaurant while watching the tourists hurridly scurry around was a surprisingly relaxing respite from a morning of listening about jogging.

A quick stroll through the Room of Enlightenment - the former home of the library of King George III. Numerous objects on display revealing the ways in which collectors, antiquaries and travellers during this great age of discovery - 1680 to 1820 - saw the world.

British Museum is well worth the price of admission - free.

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#834 Blog London

Done. Well a work in progress...

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#860 Sit between Churchill and Roosevelt

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#54 Have a drink at the Library Bar

Darling should I take the Bentley, the Porsche or the Number 16 bus?

The Five star Lanesborough Hotel at Hyde Park Corner is not a venue to be taken lightly. Upon arriving in the foyer we were instantly besieged by a sea of tuxedos and ball gowns. Immediately feeling underdressed and out of our depth we scarped through to the Library bar to meet some friends for a pre dinner drink.

The wood paneled bar is offset by exquisite table lamps, burgundy leather armchairs and walls laden with leather bound books. A waiter in a white tuxedo showed us to our table happily tucked away in a corner near the flickering fire and opposite the resident pianist.

The Library Bar, reminiscent of the gentlemen’s haunts of a bygone era, is like stepping into a world in which you do not belong but which is utterly fascinating to catch a glimpse. We found ourselves whispering in hushed tones to avoid being noticed or seeming out of place and were reluctant to drag out our anachronistic mobile phones vibrating with the standard string of Saturday night sms.

The menu arrived in an old library book along with a complimentary tower of nibbles. I had a mild panic that the first bottle of wine I laid eyes on was £1250 but recovered to find the cocktails were a more reasonable £12.50.

After the first few sips of my martini the formality and the furnishings started to fade into the background and we settled into our normal banter enjoying the ambiance and atmosphere of what remains one of the finest bars in London.

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Nike Plus Running Toy

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#63 Gamble on Art

I had been forewarned coming to the UK that the British love queuing some would hazard it is a nation obsessed with queuing for just about anything. Before I had even cleared immigration at Heathrow airport I was indoctrinated into this great British tradition with a polite and ordering queue for over an hour and a half simply to have my passport stamped. No queries. No interrogation. Just a quick stamp and your on your way. By why the excessive queue??

In summer time the Brits aren't obsessed with the Ashes and Wimbledon. They adore the opportunity to queue outside in good weather for seemingly hours on end! At Wimbledon you even get a ticket / memento of your time in the queue so you can remember the occasion with grandkids in years to come!

Anyway the Royal College of Art decided that it was not fair that sporty types get all the fun, so invented the RCA Secret Postcard. Famous artists create postcard sized works of art that go on sale for £40 each. The catch is the artist is not revealed until after you have bought one and the sale starts at 9am on a November Saturday morning.

We joined the 2009 queue shortly after 7.30am having been out the night before and struggled to drag our hung over heads out of bed. When we found the queue stretching around the entire RCA building we realised we should have in fact not gone home from Crazy Bear at midnight but should have come and stood in queue. The art folk deprived of the opportunity to queue on a regular basis take this business pretty seriously.

At 10am after some bacon butties and caffeine our feet were starting to get a little sore and the cold was penetrating every pore but worst of all we hadn't really moved.

Circa midday we entered the building. The joyous moment was short lived as the postcard gallery was only feet away but RCA had a cruel trick to play forcing the queue downstairs and through a series of barriers and mazes.

Circa 12.30 and entering our fifth hour in the queue we entered a huge room with rapidly changing screens showing the available postcards. Now came the conundrum. All of the postcards that had been shortlisted were long gone. Do we fork over £40 for a postcard we don't really like or want simply to justify queuing for 5 hours on a Saturday morning? Luckily as the screens rolled through we spotted a few good ones amongst the rabble and manage to grab a few that we were happy with...

Everyone always asks me what is the meaning of the plug to which I reply the power of the British to queue. Definitely glad this one is off the list although a Damien Hirst in 2010 wouldn't go astray.

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#981 Pay Homage to the hilariously camp Christmas Tree at the V&A

Worst Christmas tree ever...
Stupid recession!

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#906 Cycle Around an empty London on Christmas Day

The 2512 Cycle Ride saw a motely crew of cyclists assemble at London Bridge on Christmas day. Everyone was in jovial spirits sharing a sherry and shortbread before setting out for the Queens Head pub in Putney. A quick stop for a mulled wine with a cycle repairing homeless man in a railway arch and then we weaved through the back streets of Southwark. The roads were relatively quiet with only a few cars honking the eighty odd bikes as they sped past. As we got near Vauxhall a few angry motorists were upset that we were taking up the greater part of Nine Elms lane. Beautiful day for a ride!

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