Vintage Shops in Leeds

London Conclusion...

I think I have enough research and visuals to support my view that London is 'good'. It's worldwide popularity is a massive support to this as well. It is a fantastic city bursting with history and culture, and there is something to do for every age, gender...
And the fact that it is the location for the 2012 Olympics is an added bonus.

Skittles...Taste The Rainbow

Skittles is a brand of fruit-flavored candies, currently produced and marketed by the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, a division of Mars, Inc.. They have hard sugar shells which carry the letter S. The inside is mainly sugar and hydrogenated vegetable oil along with fruit juice, citric acid and natural and artificial flavours.

Skittles were first made commercially in 1974 by a British company.[1] They were first introduced in North America in 1979 as an import candy.[2] In 1982, domestic production of Skittles began in the United States. On March 2, 2009, Skittles launched a web-based marketing campaign where their official website became a small overlay with options to view different social media sites in the main area, including its official YouTube channel, a Facebook profile, and a Twitter account.[3] The move was debated by people interested in social media.[4][5]

Different Areas...

This is how London is divided up in terms of directions, as it is such a big city, people use the compass directions for example, they may be in Camden which is in North London, it is also easier for the postal system too.

East London: 'A vibrant and culturally interesting area which is the fastest growing destination in London' - http://visiteastlondon.com/
'... known for its high immigrant population...- ' http://eleflat.co.uk/londonAreas.htm

I have never really spent any time in this area before, so I am unable to comment. Although I may visit when the London Olympics 2012 is taking place.

South London: In the West there is Knightsbridge, well known for it's upmarket shopping places for example, Harrods.

I have been to this are a few times and visited Harrods, the Saatchi Gallery and the V&A, this area is much wealthier than some of the other areas, like the East End for example.

West London: 'Notting Hill can seem like a fantasy of London: film-set pretty with well-kept stucco townhouses, the chicest of boutiques and eateries and London's most picturesque street market, which runs along Portobello Road.' - London- Wallpaper City Guide

North London: 'The leafy villages of north London are a refreshing change from the hectic hustle of The City but it’s by no means boring so why not explore what the area has to offer.' - http://www.gosomewhere.co.uk/northlondon/glance.html

I have family in this area of London, and I really enjoy it, it can be really contrasting, for example there are some areas with leafy suburbs, and lovely parks, like Finsbury Park, and there are the busy 'city' areas like Camden, totally different, but just as enjoyable as one another.

Central: 'Sit back, relax, and take in the sights of London by bus.' - http://www.visitlondon.com/
'The City of London is a strange place. To a Brit, the 'City' doesn't mean the whole of London but simply the 'Square Mile' (actually 1.08 square miles) as it is colloquially known. Its boundaries encompass the financial heart of London: an area where 30% of the high-tech office buildings were built within the last ten years; an area which houses the London exchange market where a staggering $637 billion worth of trading (32% of global business) takes place every day' -http://www.virtual-london.com/sightseeing/london-areas/

Where it's at. Soho can be described as a nocturnal playground, and Mayfair is home to some of London's finest hotels. The 'West End' is a popular area with tourists and theatre lovers. The tour buses are a great way of covering a lot of distance without all the walking and crowds. I enjoy this area of London everytime I go!


These are the thirty two boroughs of London:

From Wikipedia:

London's vast urban area is often described using a set of district names, such as Bloomsbury, Mayfair, Wembley and Whitechapel. These are either informal designations, reflect the names of villages that have been absorbed by sprawl, or are superseded administrative units such as parishes or former boroughs.
Such names have remained in use through tradition, each referring to a local area with its own distinctive character, but without current official boundaries. Since 1965 Greater London has been divided into 32 London boroughs in addition to the ancient City of London.[96][97] The City of London is the main financial district[98] and Canary Wharf has recently developed into a new financial and commercial hub, in the Docklands to the east.
The West End is London's main entertainment and shopping district, attracting tourists.[99] West London includes expensive residential areas where properties can sell for tens of millions of pounds.[100] The average price for properties in Kensington and Chelsea is £894,000 with similar average outlay in most of Central London.[101]
The East End is the area closest to the original Port of London, known for its high immigrant population, as well as for being one of the poorest areas in London.[102] The surrounding East London area saw much of London's early industrial development; now, brownfield sites throughout the area are being redeveloped as part of the Thames Gateway including the London Riverside and Lower Lea Valley, which is being developed into the Olympic Park for the 2012 Olympics.[102]

Attractions...

Another reason that London is good... its home to some fantastic attractions, whether they are educational or purely for fun.


One of my top favourites has to be Madame Tussauds waxworks museum, it can be enjoyed by all the family. You can meet your favourite sports stars, actors, political figures and even have your photo taken with them!




There is a Chamber of Horrors area, and within that an attraction they used to call Chamber Live, now aptly named Scream, where you walk in the dark through a high seurity prison where the psycho killer inmates are running loose. Absolutely terrifying, but brilliant.






The London Eye is another great attraction, its a great view if the weather is good, which it was luckily when I went on! It takes about half an hour which I think was just the right amount of time, enough time to take things in without being bored.



The Science Museum is great I have been as a child, and I have been much older, and it is still just as interesting and entertaining. My favourite parts have to be the children's section which is all hands on and interactive, the IMAX 3D cinema, the motion simulator (the bigger one). the space section and psychology section.

Sleep...

Sleep is a naturally recurring altered state of consciousness with relatively suspended sensory and motor activity, characterized by the inactivity of nearly all voluntary muscles.[1] It is distinguished from quiet wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, but it is more easily reversible than hibernation or coma. Sleep is a heightened anabolic state, accentuating the growth and rejuvenation of the immune, nervous, skeletal and muscular systems. It is observed in all mammals, all birds, and many reptiles, amphibians, and fish.
The purposes and mechanisms of sleep are only partially clear and are the subject of intense research.

In mammals and birds, sleep is divided into two broad types: rapid eye movement (REM) and non-rapid eye movement (NREM or non-REM) sleep. Each type has a distinct set of associated physiological, neurological, and psychological features. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) further divides NREM into three stages: N1, N2, and N3, the last of which is also called delta sleep or slow-wave sleep (SWS).[3

Stage N1 refers to the transition of the brain from alpha waves having a frequency of 8 to 13 Hz (common in the awake state) to theta waves having a frequency of 4 to 7 Hz. This stage is sometimes referred to as somnolence or drowsy sleep. Sudden twitches and hypnic jerks, also known as positive myoclonus, may be associated with the onset of sleep during N1. Some people may also experience hypnagogic hallucinations during this stage, which can be troublesome to them. During N1, the subject loses some muscle tone and most conscious awareness of the external environment.
Stage N2 is characterized by sleep spindles ranging from 11 to 16 Hz (most commonly 12–14 Hz) and K-complexes. During this stage, muscular activity as measured by EMG decreases, and conscious awareness of the external environment disappears. This stage occupies 45% to 55% of total sleep in adults.
Stage N3 (deep or slow-wave sleep) is characterized by the presence of a minimum of 20% delta waves ranging from 0.5 to 2 Hz and having a peak-to-peak amplitude >75 μV. (EEG standards define delta waves to be from 0 – 4 Hz, but sleep standards in both the original R&K, as well as the new 2007 AASM guidelines have a range of 0.5 – 2 Hz.) This is the stage in which parasomnias such as night terrors, nocturnal enuresis, sleepwalking, and somniloquy occur. Many illustrations and descriptions still show a stage N3 with 20%-50% delta waves and a stage N4 with greater than 50% delta waves; these have been combined as stage N3.
[edit] REM sleep
Main article: Rapid eye movement sleep
Rapid eye movement sleep, or REM sleep, accounts for 20%–25% of total sleep time in most human adults. The criteria for REM sleep include rapid eye movements as well as a rapid low-voltage EEG. Most memorable dreaming occurs in this stage. At least in mammals, a descending muscular atonia is seen. Such paralysis may be necessary to protect organisms from self-damage through physically acting out scenes from the often-vivid dreams that occur during this stage.

Sleep timing is controlled by the circadian clock, sleep-wake homeostasis, and in humans, within certain bounds, willed behavior. The circadian clock—an inner timekeeping, temperature-fluctuating, enzyme-controlling device—works in tandem with adenosine, a neurotransmitter that inhibits many of the bodily processes associated with wakefulness. Adenosine is created over the course of the day; high levels of adenosine lead to sleepiness. In diurnal animals, sleepiness occurs as the circadian element causes the release of the hormone melatonin and a gradual decrease in core body temperature. The timing is affected by one's chronotype. It is the circadian rhythm that determines the ideal timing of a correctly structured and restorative sleep episode.[11]

Optimal amount in humans
[edit] Adult
The optimal amount of sleep is not a meaningful concept unless the timing of that sleep is seen in relation to an individual's circadian rhythms. A person's major sleep episode is relatively inefficient and inadequate when it occurs at the "wrong" time of day; one should be asleep at least six hours before the lowest body temperature.[16] The timing is correct when the following two circadian markers occur after the middle of the sleep episode and before awakening:[17]
maximum concentration of the hormone melatonin, and
minimum core body temperature.
Human sleep need can vary by age and among individuals, and sleep is considered to be adequate when there is no daytime sleepiness or dysfunction. Moreover, self-reported sleep duration is only moderately correlated with actual sleep time as measured by actigraphy,[18] and those affected with sleep state misperception may typically report having slept only four hours despite having slept a full eight hours.[19]

Age and condition vs Average amount of sleep per day
Newborn: up to 18 hours
1–12 months: 14–18 hours
1–3 years: 12–15 hours
3–5 years: 11–13 hours
5–12 years: 9–11 hours
Adolescents: 9–10 hours[29]
Adults, including elderly: 7–8(+) hours
Pregnant women: 8(+) hours

Sleep debt is the effect of not getting enough rest and sleep; a large debt causes mental, emotional, and physical fatigue.
Sleep debt results in diminished abilities to perform high-level cognitive functions. Neurophysiological and functional imaging studies have demonstrated that frontal regions of the brain are particularly responsive to homeostatic sleep pressure.[30]
Scientists do not agree on how much sleep debt it is possible to accumulate; whether it is accumulated against an individual's average sleep or some other benchmark; nor on whether the prevalence of sleep debt among adults has changed appreciably in the industrialized world in recent decades. It is likely that children are sleeping less than previously in Western societies.[31]

In the 1950s, a radio disc jockey by the name of Peter Tripp engaged on what was (and still is), a popular radio amusement, the "stunt." (Nowadays, it's just about the norm for wacky antics to pervade radio stations across the nation.)
In Peter's case, his objective was to break the world's record for staying awake. He didn't sleep for days and days while he played records and bantered with his audience from a glass booth in Times Square. He was on the air for about 3 hours per day. The rest of the time, he was kept awake by nurses who nudged him when he began to drop off. Doctors and scientists who were studying him also played games with him, asked him questions continually, and did everything they could to keep his attention.
In all, he was able to stay awake for a total of 201 hours before he simply passed out. That's over eight days! But it came with a price.
During the wake-a-thon, and after only a couple of days, Peter Tripp began to hallucinate. He saw cobwebs on his shoes. He saw mice and kittens that weren't there. He rummaged through drawers looking for money that never existed. He also accused a technician of dropping a hot electrode into his shoe. Basically, he had totally "flipped out."
When he finally ended the ordeal, he went to sleep for over 13 hours.

Scientists have shown numerous ways in which sleep is related to memory. In a study conducted by Turner, Drummond, Salamat, and Brown,[42] working memory was shown to be affected by sleep deprivation. Working memory is important because it keeps information active for further processing and supports higher-level cognitive functions such as decision making, reasoning, and episodic memory. The study allowed 18 women and 22 men to sleep only 26 minutes per night over a four-day period. Subjects were given initial cognitive tests while well-rested, and then were tested again twice a day during the four days of sleep deprivation. On the final test, the average working memory span of the sleep-deprived group had dropped by 38% in comparison to the control group.

Vintage.

Vintage clothing is a generic term for new or second hand garments originating from a previous era. The phrase is also used in connection with a retail outlet, e.g. "vintage clothing store." It can also be used as an adjective: "This dress is vintage."
The word vintage is copied from its use in wine terminology, as a more elegant-seeming euphemism for "old" clothes.

I quite like the idea of how old the clothes are, as there may be stories and interesting anecdotes behind the items, which makes them even more special. Its sometimes a pain going through the items too, but when you find that special scarf or bag hidden at the bag, its like a sense of achievement.

Facts...

- London is the biggest city in Britain and in Europe.
- London occupies over 620 square miles
- London has a population of 7,172,036 (2001)
- About 12 per cent of Britain’s overall population live in London
- London has the highest population density in Britain, with 4,699 people per square kilometre,
- London is in the southeast of England.
- London is the seat of central government in Britain.
- The tallest building in London is the Canary Wharf Tower.
- London was the first city in the world to have an underground railway, known as the 'Tube'.
- Some of the most important people from countries all over the world visit the Queen at Buckingham Palace.
- There are over 100 theatres in London, including 50 in the West End. London theatre accounts for 45% of all UK theatre admissions and over 70% of box-office revenues. Source: GLA Economics.
- High levels of unemployment, social exclusion, crime, deprivation and homelessness combine to create major challenges for London’s boroughs.
- Londoners will contribute £625 million to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, six times the contribution of the largest commercial sponsor.
- London's 7.5 million residents account for 12.5 per cent of the UK population.
- 44 per cent of London's residents are aged between 20 and 44 years-old, compared with 35 per cent of the UK population.
- 85 per cent of Londoners say that their local area is a place where people of different backgrounds get on well together.
- There are more than 32,000 music performances a year in London – 621 a week, 17% of which are free!
- London has four UNESCO world heritage sites: Tower of London, Maritime Greenwich, Westminster Palace, Kew’s Royal Botanic Gardens.
- London has 40,000 listed buildings and over 150 ancient monuments.
- London has 22 national museums and more than 200 other museums.
- London has twelve specialist arts and culture Higher Education Institutes.
- The new Wembley Stadium is the largest football stadium in the world.
- London has cultural centres run by and dedicated to its Polish, Kurdish, Chinese, Romanian, Hungarian, Bengali, Jewish, Somali, Hindu, and Irish communities.
- London’s 395 public libraries stock 17 million books.
- Nearly a third of all the UK’s archives are in London. These include the National Archives, which provide an unbroken record of Britain's government from the 11th century to the present day.
- 51% of Londoners visited a museum or gallery in the last twelve months, compared to 42% for the UK as a whole.
- The Tate Modern is the world’s most popular modern art gallery.
- It is estimated that 200 festivals take place in London every year.
- Baishaki Mela – the Bengali New Year – is celebrated in Brick Lane and is the biggest Bengali celebration outside Bangladesh and West Bengal.
- The O2 Arena sold two million tickets in 2008 and hosted 140 events, making it the world's most popular music venue.
- There are more than 900 bookshops in London – twice as many as New York.
- There were 14,350 film “shooting days” in London in 2007, making it the third most filmed city in the world.
- London has 105 cinemas and more than 500 cinema screens.
- There are more than 17,000 theatrical performances per year, and more than 50 theatres in London’s West End.
- Around 85% of the UK’s fashion designers are based in London.
- It took seven years and the skills of hundreds of people from five countries to make the London Eye a reality.
- You can see around 40KM (25 miles) from the top as far as Windsor Castle on a clear day on the London Eye.
- The London Eye welcomes an average of 3.5 million customers every year. You would need 6,680 fully booked British Airways Boeing 747-400 jumbo jets to move that number of fliers!
- Each rotation on the Eye takes about 30 minutes, meaning a capsule travels at a stately 26cm per second, or 0.9km (0.6 miles) per hour - twice as fast as a tortoise sprinting; allowing passengers to step on and off without the wheel having to stop. The total weight of the wheel and capsules is 2,100 tonnes - or as much as 1,272 London black cabs!
- The London Eye can carry 800 passengers per revolution - equivalent to 11 London red doubled-decker buses.
- Contrary to what many people believe, ‘Big Ben’ in London is not the name of the clock or the tower, but a 13-ton bell inside the clock. The tower is known as St. Stephen’s Tower.
- There are five international airports in London, with the Heathrow airport being the busiest airport in the world.
- The Canary Wharf Tower is the tallest building in London.
- London is a multi-ethnic city and domiciles people speaking over 300 languages.
- Windsor Castle of London is the largest and oldest castle of the world that is still in use.
- According to rumors, ghosts of King Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth I, Mad King George, and Charles I still haunt the Windsor Castle.
- There are more than 100 theaters in London. Moreover, about sixteen percent of the country’s restaurants and food joints are located in London.

History...

London has history spanning over 2000 years including:

- Plague 1665-1666

The Great Plague of 1665 was the last major out-break of the plague in England, and the first since 1636, when some 10,000 had died, and 1625, when some 35,000 died.[4] In 1603, the plague killed 30,000 Londoners.[5] The English outbreak is thought to have spread from the Netherlands, where the bubonic plague had occurred intermittently since 1599, with the initial contagion arriving with Dutch trading ships carrying bales of cotton from Amsterdam. Amsterdam was ravaged in 1663–1664, with a mortality given as 50,000.[6] The dock areas outside of London, and the parish of St. Giles-in-the Fields where poor workers crowded into ill-kept structures, were the first areas struck by the plague. As records were not kept on the deaths of the very poor, the first recorded case was a Rebecca Andrews, on 12 April 1665.
By July 1665, plague was in the city of London itself. King Charles II of England, his family and his court left the city for Oxfordshire. However, the aldermen and the majority of the other city authorities opted to stay at their posts.

- Fire

The Great Fire started at the bakery of Thomas Farriner (or Farynor) on Pudding Lane, shortly after midnight on Sunday, 2 September, and it spread rapidly west across the City of London. The use of the major firefighting technique of the time, the creation of firebreaks by means of demolition, was critically delayed due to the indecisiveness of the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Thomas Bloodworth. By the time large-scale demolitions were ordered on Sunday night, the wind had already fanned the bakery fire into a firestorm which defeated such measures. The fire pushed north on Monday into the heart of the City.

- Civil War

Long term causes:
The status of the monarchy had started to decline under the reign of James I. He was known as the "wisest fool in Christendom". James was a firm believer in the "divine right of kings". This was a belief that God had made someone a king and as God could not be wrong, neither could anyone appointed by him to rule a nation. James expected Parliament to do as he wanted; he did not expect it to argue with any of his decisions.
However, Parliament had one major advantage over James - they had money and he was continually short of it. Parliament and James clashed over custom duties. This was one source of James income but Parliament told him that he could not collect it without their permission. In 1611, James suspended Parliament and it did not meet for another 10 years. James used his friends to run the country and they were rewarded with titles. This caused great offence to those Members of Parliament who believed that they had the right to run the country.
In 1621, James re-called Parliament to discuss the future marriage of his son, Charles, to a Spanish princess. Parliament was outraged. If such a marriage occurred, would the children from it be brought up as Catholics? Spain was still not considered a friendly nation to England and many still remembered 1588 and the Spanish Armada. The marriage never took place but the damaged relationship between king and Parliament was never mended by the time James died in 1625.
Short term causes:
Charles had a very different personality compared to James. Charles was arrogant, conceited and a strong believer in the divine rights of kings. He had witnessed the damaged relationship between his father and Parliament, and considered that Parliament was entirely at fault. He found it difficult to believe that a king could be wrong. His conceit and arrogance were eventually to lead to his execution.
From 1625 to 1629, Charles argued with parliament over most issues, but money and religion were the most common causes of arguments.
In 1629, Charles copied his father. He refused to let Parliament meet. Members of Parliament arrived at Westminster to find that the doors had been locked with large chains and padlocks. They were locked out for eleven years - a period they called the Eleven Years Tyranny.
Charles ruled by using the Court of Star Chamber. To raise money for the king, the Court heavily fined those brought before it. Rich men were persuaded to buy titles. If they refused to do so, they were fined the same sum of money it would have cost for a title anyway!
In 1635 Charles ordered that everyone in the country should pay Ship Money. This was historically a tax paid by coastal towns and villages to pay for the upkeep of the navy. The logic was that coastal areas most benefited from the navy's protection. Charles decided that everyone in the kingdom benefited from the navy's protection and that everyone should pay.
In one sense, Charles was correct, but such was the relationship between him and the powerful men of the kingdom, that this issue caused a huge argument between both sides. One of the more powerful men in the nation was John Hampden. He had been a Member of Parliament. He refused to pay the new tax as Parliament had not agreed to it. At this time Parliament was also not sitting as Charles had locked the MP's out. Hampden was put on trial and found guilty. However, he had become a hero for standing up to the king. There is no record of any Ship Money being extensively collected in the areas Charles had wanted it extended to.
Charles also clashed with the Scots. He ordered that they should use a new prayer book for their church services. This angered the Scots so much that they invaded England in 1639. As Charles was short of money to fight the Scots, he had to recall Parliament in 1640 as only they had the necessary money needed to fight a war and the required authority to collect extra money.
In return for the money and as a display of their power, Parliament called for the execution of "Black Tom Tyrant" - the Earl of Strafford, one of the top advisors of Charles. After a trial, Strafford was executed in 1641. Parliament also demanded that Charles get rid of the Court of Star Chamber.
By 1642, relations between Parliament and Charles had become very bad. Charles had to do as Parliament wished as they had the ability to raise the money that Charles needed. However, as a firm believer in the "divine right of kings", such a relationship was unacceptable to Charles.
In 1642, he went to Parliament with 300 soldiers to arrest his five biggest critics. Someone close to the king had already tipped off Parliament that these men were about to be arrested and they had already fled to the safety of the city of London where they could easily hide from the king. However, Charles had shown his true side. Members of Parliament represented the people. Here was Charles attempting to arrest five Members of Parliament simply because they dared to criticise him. If Charles was prepared to arrest five Members of Parliament, how many others were not safe? Even Charles realised that things had broken down between him and Parliament. Only six days after trying to arrest the five Members of Parliament, Charles left London to head for Oxford to raise an army to fight Parliament for control of England. A civil war could not be avoided.


- Aerial Bombardment
This happened in the Blitz that ran from 1940 to 1941 by Nazi Germany, and it began with over 70 nights of consecutive bombing.
A witness recalled the evening of Friday September 6, 1940:[17]
My name is John Davey. I was born on December 27th 1924 in South Moltom [sic - Molton] Road, Custom House, West Ham, and a couple of miles from the Royal Docks. In September 1940, on the Friday evening of the weekend the docks were first blitzed, I was sitting with my friend in his house. At about 7 p.m. there was a series of explosions and the shattering of glass. We ran into the road and saw at the end a flame that shot into the sky, seeming to light up the whole area. My friend and I and lots of others ran towards the fire.
—BBC, WW2 People's War


- Terrorist Attacks (7/7)

This was a series of attacks in 2005 on July 7th that took place on London transport at morning peak time. The four suicide bombers involved were killed during this and followed Osama Bin Laden's teachings. I remember this very well as I was still at school, and all of the teachers had put the radio on to listen to what else was happening, I also remember my family being concerned for my Auntie, as the phone lines were blocked.

At 08:50, three bombs exploded within fifty seconds of each other on three London Underground trains, a fourth exploding an hour later at 09:47 on a double-decker bus in Tavistock Square. The explosions appear to have been caused by home-made organic peroxide-based devices, packed into rucksacks and detonated by the bombers themselves, all four of whom died. 52 other people were killed and around 700 were injured.

Two of the bombers made videotapes describing their reasons for becoming what they called "soldiers". In a videotape aired by Al Jazeera on 1 September 2005, Mohammad Sidique Khan, described his motivation. The tape had been edited and also featured Al Qaeda member, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a way intended to suggest a direct link between Khan and Al Qaeda; however, there has been no report that Khan said anything linking the bombing to Al Qaeda.

The Underground...

1918-1939 The Birth of London Transport

'As early as 1863 a House of Lords Committee had suggested that a single transport authority was needed to coordinate and intefrate transport services in London.'

The Moving Metropolis - A History of London's Transport since 1800
Edited by Sheila Taylor


The London Underground was the first underground train system in the world. The first part of the Underground to be built was the Metropolitan line which is represented on the map now as a purple line. Funnily enough, over 50% of the the Tube is actually above ground, even though it is called the Underground.

Here are some facts about the 'Tube' from Wikipedia:

In the Transport for London website, it supports the Wikipedia statistic that there are around three million passenger journeys everday on the Underground. The track, as mentioned earlier began as the Metropolitan Line which was nearly 4 miles long, and to build it a 'cut and cover' method was employed where, the streets would be dug up along the route of that line, the track would be placed into the trench that was created and then covered back over, but this caused as many problems as the project was to supposed to resolve.

The Tube played a major part in World War 2, as it helped to get the evacuees out of the city and into the countryside, and became a shelter for residents in the Blitz, where it was simply not safe to be on ground level. In a census in September, during the war, it was calculated that 177,500 people were using the underground as a means of shelter. The Underground was one of the safest places in the city to be, however, there were a few accidents...
In January 1941, a German bomb hit the ticket area of Bank station, killing 68 people. There was also an accident at Balham and at Bethnal Green station where 300 people were crushed in on the stairs, 173 died.

In the tube during the Blitz:

On the whole I do enjoy using the Tube, apart from peak times when it can be chaotic and stressful, but in normal hours it can be quite therapeutic. And I always take photos of the underground on every visit. I love the Tube map, it has to be one of the best designs invented, it is really functional, timeless and effective, and is such a useful piece of graphic design, with millions of people viewing it everyday.

Sweets

'I don't understand anyone who doesn't like sweets...' - Emma Cooper

Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well. The word candy (U.S.), sweets (UK) or lolly (Australia) is also used for the extensive variety of items that comprises confectionery.
Generally speaking, confections are low in nutritional value but rich in calories. Specially formulated chocolate has been manufactured in the past for military use due to its high concentration of calories.

In Britain, Ireland and some Commonwealth countries, sweets or more colloquially sweeties (particularly used by children, sweeties also resembles the Scottish Gaelic word suiteis in pronunciation and meaning[citation needed]). In some parts of England, spogs, spice, joy joy and goodies are terms used, alongside sweets, to denote confectionery. In North-West England, especially Lancashire, toffees is often used as a generic term for all confectionery. Northeast England and the Scottish Borders commonly use the word ket (plural kets) and more recently chud, derivative of chuddy, a localised term for chewing gum.
In Australia and New Zealand, "lollies".
In North America, "candy" - although this term can also refer to a specific range of confectionery and does not include some items called confectionery (e.g. pastry) (See below and the separate article on candy.) "Sweets" is occasionally used, as well as "treat".

Confectionery items include sweets, lollipops, candy bars, chocolate, candy floss, and other sweet items of snack food. The term does not generally apply to cakes, biscuits, or puddings which require cutlery to consume, although exceptions such as petit fours or meringues exist. Speakers of American English do not refer to these items as "candy". See candy making for the stages of sugar-cooking.
Some of the categories and types of confectionery include the following:
Hard sweets: Based on sugars cooked to the hard-crack stage, including suckers (known as boiled sweets in British English), lollipops, jawbreakers (or gobstoppers), lemon drops, peppermint drops and disks, candy canes, rock candy, etc. These also include types often mixed with nuts such as brittle. Others contain flavorings including coffee such as Kopiko.
Fudge: A confection of milk and sugar boiled to the soft-ball stage. In the US, it tends to be chocolate-flavored.
Toffee (or Taffy or Tuffy): Based on sugars cooked to the soft-ball stage and then pulled to create an elastic texture. In British English, toffee can also refer to a harder substance also made from cooked sugars which resembles toffee.
Tablet. A crumbly milk-based soft and hard candy, based on sugars cooked to the soft-ball stage. Comes in several forms, such as wafers and heart shapes.
Liquorice: Containing extract of the liquorice root. Chewier and more resilient than gum/gelatin candies, but still designed for swallowing. For example, Liquorice allsorts. Has a similar taste to Star Anise.

A chocolate tart.
Chocolates are bite-sized confectioneries generally made with chocolate. People who create chocolates are called chocolatiers, and they create their confections with couverture chocolate. A chocolate maker, on the other hand, is the person who physically creates the couverture from cacao beans and other ingredients.
Jelly candies: Including those based on sugar and starch, pectin, gum, or gelatin such as Lokum / Turkish Delight, jelly beans, gumdrops, jujubes, cola bottles gummies, etc.
Marshmallow: "Peeps" (a trade name), circus peanuts, fluffy puff, etc.
Marzipan: An almond-based confection, doughy in consistency, served in several different ways. It is often formed into shapes mimicking (for example) fruits or animals. Alternatively, marzipan may be flavoured, normally with spirits such as Kirsch or Rum, and divided into small bite-sized pieces; these flavoured marzipans are enrobed in chocolate to prevent the alcohol from evaporating, and are common in northern Europe. Marzipan is also used in cake decoration. Its lower-priced version is called Persipan.
Divinity: A nougat-like confectionery based on egg whites with chopped nuts.
Not all confections equate to "candy" in the American English sense. Non-candy confections include:
Dodol: A toffee-like food delicacy popular in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines
Mithai: A generic term for confectionery in India, typically made from dairy products and/or some form of flour. Sugar or molases are used as sweeteners.
Pastry: A baked confection whose dough is rich in butter, which was dispersed through the pastry prior to baking, resulting in a light, flaky texture; see also pie and tart.
Chewing gum: Uniquely made to be chewed, not swallowed. However, some people believe that at least some types of chewing gum, such as certain bubble gums, are indeed candy.
Ice cream: Frozen flavoured cream, often containing small chocolates and fruits[citation needed]
Halvah: Confectionery based on tahini, a paste made from ground sesame seeds.
Alfajor: a traditional South American cookie typically consisting of two round sweet biscuits joined together with a sweet jam, generally dulce de leche (milk jam).
Dragée - Coated almonds and other types of coated candy.

Excessive consumption of confectionery has been associated with increased incidences of type 2 diabetes, obesity, and tooth decay. [1]
Some sweets contain traces of nuts which poses risks for those who are allergic to them.

Vintage Clothes Shop... In Scunthorpe?

Vintage Clothes shops are fantastic, they are like treasure chests with many precious items waiting to be discovered, and I am lucky enough to be involved in a project with Voluntary Action in Scunthorpe, to help open Scunthorpe's first Vintage Shop. The aim is to help young people, and with the money from the shop, it can be put towards workshops etc. to help young people make the most of their spare time, and maybe even build skills to help them later on in life.

http://oldschoollogo.tumblr.com/
This is the website for all Vintage-y type research... still under maintenance.

The shop itself we want to be similar to others in the fact that the furniture will be old, to create the right atmosphere, although originally the idea was Ikea furniture... which soon got scrapped.

London 2012...

In July 2005, London won the vote to host the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. London has previously hosted the games in 1908 and 1948, but this time round a new stadium is being built to honour the event. In 2003, nine cities had submitted their bids to be the host for the event, they included; Havana, Istanbul, Leipzig, London, Madrid, Mosow, New York, Paris and Rio de Janiro.
In 2004 the International Olympic Committee, reduced this number to 5 cities; London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, and Paris. Moscow was knocked out followed by, New York and Madrid, leaving head to head between London and Paris.

The Olympic Stadium in progress...

How the stadium will look...

I think this is really exciting, and I have even considered volunteering to help be part of the biggest team recruited in Britain since WW2, working at the Olympics.

Flowers... My Photos from Kingsway Gardens

London... My Visit in August 1st-6th 2010

The main purpose of my London visit was to visit family, but I also wanted to take advantage of the time in the city, shopping and galleries. Originally the plan was to go on Sunday (in the car with my Auntie Rachel and my cousins who had been visiting in Scunthorpe) and return on Tuesday... However, I was enjoying myself that much I had to keep extending my trip everyday, and I finally returned home on Friday, all spent up...

I have visited London every year for over 10 years and still I find new places to explore, and sometimes head back to places I have been to before and really enjoyed. Family attractions I have visited and thoroughly enjoyed over the years are:
- Madame Tussauds (visited twice)
- London Planetarium
- London Eye
- Natural History Museum (twice)
- Science Museum (twice)
- National Gallery (three times)
- London Dungeon
- London Planetarium
- London Zoo
- London Transport Museum

Art Galleries/Museums I have visited over the years:
- V&A (three times)
- National Portrait Gallery (three times)
- Tate Britain (twice)
- Tate Modern
- Taschen Exhibition Space - Duke of York Square
- The Saatchi Gallery
- The Design Museum

And then obviously there are the shops... which I will not list as the list could go on forever.

I do also enjoy walking around London and just taking in the sights and surroundings, especially when I have a camera with me to document this. The following photos are from this August trip...



Looking down the Thames landscape.



Looking across the Thames portrait.



Shopping/ Places to eat along the Thames bank.

Flowers... My Photos from Twigmoor Woods

Past Visits...

Of all the years I have been visiting London, it is only in the past few years that I have been creating what I call a London 'stock library'. Instead of photographing the people I am with, I photograph everything of interest to me, this first started when I went with my AS Level Graphic Design and Photography group, and the experience really opened up my eyes to what was really in London. I visited again with my Art foundation group in 2009, and built on this library of photos, and I visited earlier this year on my own for my trip week.

From February 2010:

Art on the Underground - different coloured circles which from a distance make the Underground symbol in the centre.



The very famous Underground map. Fantastic. Enough said.




Untitled - Bharti Kher 2008
Taken in the Saatchi Gallery, at The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today exhibition. I loved the bright colours of the bindis stuck down, it even inspired my book fair project earlier on this year.

This piece consists of 4,500 bone shaped letters to form the speech by Gandhi on the night before the 400km 'Dandi March'. I thought this was an innovative way of exploring a historic event.

'Public Notice 2 recalls the historic speech delivered by Mahatma Gandhi, on the eve of the epic Salt March to Dandi, in early 1930 as a protest against the salt tax instituted by the British. Through this speech he lays down the codes of conduct for his fellow revolutionaries, calling for complete civil disobedience, the only fierce restriction being that of maintaining ‘total peace’ and ‘absolute non-violence’. In Kallat’s work, Gandhi’s ardent speech is recreated as a haunting installation with around 4500 bone shaped alphabets recalling a turning point in the nation’s history. Each alphabet, like a misplaced relic, holds up the image of violence even as their collective chorus makes a plea for peace to a world plagued with aggression.' - The Saatchi Gallery website.

This is also from the Saatchi Gallery, it is a sculpture of a deer, which comprises of many different sized glass spheres. Close up it is even more impressive...

Out into London...

Taken from Trafalgar Square.

Taken in the Underground.

This is also taken at Trafalgar Square, I really like the contrast of the blue against the white building. The blue progresses from a light blue to a darker blue, but still has a warm feel to it. This area was actually really busy so to take this picture with hardly anyone in the foreground was quite lucky.

This is looking from the top of the stairs at Trafalgar Square too. This shows more accurately how busy the area is.

This is again at Trafalgar Square looking up at the National Gallery.

Flowers... My Photos from Grandma's Garden