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Place: in and around Sloane Square, London.
Date: February 28, 2012.
Camera: BlackBerry Curve.
How eggs-citing: without even looking for them, I stumbled upon five more eggs this afternoon as part of The Fabergé Big Egg Hunt in which 209 eggs are hidden across central London.
These ones were discovered in and around Sloane Square and the Duke of York Square.
That means I've found 15 eggs in total. Only 194 to go!
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Place: West London.
Date: February 28, 2012.
Camera: BlackBerry Curve.
I love this time of year. The purple crocus have been out for a few weeks, but now they are joined by yellow jonquils. The result is a delicate carpet of patchwork flowers.
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All pictures taken: City of London.
Date: February 26, 2012.
Camera: Panasonic TZ3.
A couple of years ago the Elephant Parade came to London and I got a little bit obsessed about looking for these wonderful statues to photograph for my online gallery.
Now the same charity that brought us the elephants is now bringing us The Fabergé Big Egg Hunt in which 209 eggs are hidden across central London.
This afternoon we headed to the Square Mile to see what we could find and this is just some of what we discovered...
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You know you're middle-aged when you start feeling nostalgic for TV shows from your youth. That's the excuse I'm using, anyway, because today I went to the cinema to see The Muppets Movie.
Of course, when you're my age you can't just turn up to a kids' movie without taking a kid, so I convinced a friend of mine, who has a four-year-old daughter, to come along just so I didn't look too weird going by myself.
It turned out to be a fun film, with lots of ironic moments, 80s nostalgia (Tab anyone?), wonderful and unexpected cameo appearances (Clinton's campaign strategist James Carville, for instance) and some terrifically subversive tunes penned by Bret McKenzie, he of Flight of the Conchords fame.
If I'm honest, it was the songs that made the film and I'm delighted to see that Man or Muppet has actually been nominated for an Oscar. Be great if it won it.
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Place: Chelsea Physic Garden, London.
Date: February 11, 2012.
Camera: Panasonic TZ3.
Do you know what a galanthophile is?
Apparently it's someone obsessed with snowdrops, those lovely little white flowers that pop up in late winter, of which there are nearly 100 different varieties. The botanical name for snowdrops is Galanthus — from the Greek meaning milk (gála) and flower (ánthos).
This weekend the Chelsea Physic Garden is throwing open its grounds to the public specifically to celebrate the humble snowdrop. The garden was founded in 1673 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries so that its apprentices could study medicinal plants. It is London's oldest botanical garden.
We arrived late this afternoon and took a wander around the garden, which covers 3.8 acres, features numerous greenhouses and beds of plants labelled with their botanical names arranged in systematic order.
The sun was shining and there was still snow on the ground from Thursday night's snowfall, but it was ice-cold and my hands quickly became frozen, even in my gloves, as I took these photographs:
According to the leaflet that came with our entry ticket, you can distinguish the different variety of snowdrops by "subtle differences of markings, leaf shape and fullness of flower". At the risk of offending galanthophiles everywhere, I really couldn't tell one variety from another. But that didn't stop me from admiring these beautiful and delicate flowers.
Roll on spring!
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Place: Hyde Park, London.
Date: February 10, 2012.
Camera: Panasonic TZ3.
Poor Prince Albert. He must have been bloody freezing today.
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Place: Hyde Park, London.
Date: February 10, 2012.
Camera: Panasonic TZ3.
I disappointed this pristine-white swan this afternoon. She came swimming over to me as I stood at the side of the Serpentine in Hyde Park to take a couple of snaps. I think she thought I was there specifically to feed her. When she realised my pockets were empty and I had no bread on offer, she swam off towards an old lady and a little boy further downstream — they were probably a better prospect.
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This is a great cover of one of my favourite all-time songs. Nina Persson is the lead singer of Swedish pop group The Cardigans.
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Place: West London.
Date: February 4, 2012.
Camera: Panasonic TZ3.
After several bright winter days — blue skies and ice cold temperatures — it finally decided to snow this evening. As much as I hate snow, it's hard not to admire how beautiful and pristine it makes everything look, at least until it turns all slushy and grey.
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