St Luke’s Church

Springtime at St Luke’s Church, originally uploaded by gary8345.

Here is the church that the artist in my previous post was painting. Its a magnificent church.

The church was built between 1820 and 1824, and is regarded as being one of the first Neo-Gothic churches to be built in London: the nave, 60ft in height, is the tallest of any Parish Church in London and the tower reaches a height of 142 feet.

Lunchtime in the Park

Lunchtime in the Park, originally uploaded by gary8345.

We have recently been enjoying lovely spring weather, which has made lunch-times a pleasure. There is so many different places to visit near to where I work, that 5 minutes in any direction finds you something interesting to photograph.

This picture was taken in the gardens of St Luke’s Church, Chelsea. Usually you see people enjoying the weather eating their lunches, but on this day there were a couple of things that caught my eye.

Firstly there was an artist at work. He was busy painting the church. However, in stark contrast to the weather, he was wrapped up as though snow was about to fall. It’s a shame that we won’t be able to see his finished work.

The second person that caught my eye, was the chap doing his Tai-Chi. However, from the above picture, it looks like he is playing with the dog, which is to the right of the image. However, I can assure you he wasn’t in any way connected to the dog. Also he was the first person I have ever seen practising Tai-Chi. I am not too sure what the slow movements are meant to achieve, but it did look like he was in a World of his own.

St Pancras Station- Olympic Rings

St Pancras – Olympic Rings, originally uploaded by gary8345.

I love St Pancras station. It is the London terminus of the Eurostar train services to Paris and Brussels. It has a feel of a bygone era, and although I am a little young to remember the hay-day of the railways, there is a romance about this station.

I went to see the Olympic rings, which have been put up as part of the advertising that the Olympic games are on their way. I find it quite funny that St Pancras was chosen, as this will be one of the first things visitors from Paris will see – especially as London beat Paris for the right to stage the 2012 games.

Commuter of the Week #9

This week’s commuter picture is I think my first bearded man. It’s a shame that he looks totally fed up, but then most of us commuters probably look that way.

This picture has the bonus of having reflections of other commuters, but what drew my attention was the floating head to the left of the main subject.

To see more of my Commutergraphy pictures, click HERE

Harry Beck and His Map

Henry Charles Beck, better known as Harry Beck, was born in 1902. He worked as an engineering draftsman for the London Underground, and will forever be associated with the London Underground Map.

In 1931 he proposed a radical new design to illustrate the expanding London Underground network. Up until 1931 the basis of the tube map was actually the road map of London.

The network had now become to big for it to be represented geographically. The Underground Group’s draughtsman, Fred Stingemore, who was tasked with updating the map, had found it increasingly more difficult to squeeze new lines and stations on to this type of map. So in his own time Harry Beck decided to work on the problem in his own time.

“Looking at an old map of the Underground Railways, it occurred to me that it might be possible to tidy it up by straightening the lines, experimenting with diagonals and evening out the distances between stations”.

The result of his work was to map the network schematically, using a system based on electronic circuit diagrams:

What is now a design classic, was first rejected by the Underground’s publicity department, thinking it was too radical. However, after a series of modifications the design was approved.

On Beck’s map, all the lines were represented vertically, horizontally or at 45 degree angles. As the new map did not rely on street plans, the crowded central area could be enlarged to accommodate its many stations. Similarly, the outlying areas, with fewer stations could be compressed.

The map has been played with many times over the years, but always returns to the same principles that Harry Beck kept to in the 1930s. There have been some tweaks to the original design, but today’s map is not too far off  Beck’s original:

The map has been played with many times over the years, and one of the most interesting concepts, is map below. Which illustrates how the underground map would have looked without Beck’s intervention:

I think we have a lot to thank Harry Beck, for making our daily journey’s around the London Underground network so easy for us to navigate.

Word Count

Ever wondered what the most commonly used word is in the English Language? Well this interesting website lets you find out. It ranks over 86,000 words. Here are a few examples:

WORD	RANKING
Gary	3742
Football	1533
Photography	6536
Photograph	3423
Happy	848
Miserable	6271

I like the difference in rankings for the words Happy and Miserable.

Abstract Chelsea

Air Vents, originally uploaded by gary8345.

Today was a lovely spring day in London, so I decided to go out for a walk at lunch-time.

Chelsea is a very nice place to walk around, so many side streets that lead you away from the hurly-burly city. You can walk for 2 minutes, close your eyes, and you would think you were in a village miles from the city.

I had my trusted Panasonic point and shoot camera with me today. The above picture, was my favourite from this walk. It also proves, that sometimes you should look up high, and sometimes you will see something interesting. My eye was drawn to the deep yellow air vents, which contrasts so well against the brick-work. Also the blue sky, gives you different blocks of colour, which I think works so well together.

Chelsea vs Manchester City – 20th March 2011

What an enjoyable game this was. Chelsea were back to their old-selves playing some exciting football.  The only downside was the lack of a killer instinct in front of goal.

Chelsea started with the front three of Torres, Kalou and Malouda.  I’m not too sure if I would have picked them as a starting three, but they seemed to work quite well together.  However, I’m not too sure if its fair, but the majority of the crowd are always on Kalou’s back – if he is a fraction slow to react, and even if a pass doesn’t reach him.

The referee, Chris Foy, was a bit of a hindrance in the first half. He appeared to be favouring Manchester City with his decisions. Thankfully it never resulted in anything controversial, but it did show him to be inconsistent.

John Terry had an exceptional first half and was like a rock in defence, a complete change from his recent performances. Maybe the news of his reinstatement as England captain spurred him on.  He seemed ahead of the game, anticipating the game ad making every challenge.  He also appears to be taking lessons from David Luiz as he often ventured forward.

With Drogba and Anelka on the bench, Ancelotti, after an hour decided to make use of them.  The crowed booed as Torres was brought off, but didn’t seem to mind Malouda going. To be fair, he was starting to struggle, and I must admit I was expecting Malouda and Kalou to come off.  I guess, with the team needing all three points, Ancelotti wanted an established front line to break the deadlock.

Drogba was a menace from the moment he came on. He is so strong, and although a handful at the best of times, playing against tired defenders made him look more powerful.

David Luiz is fast becoming a Chelsea legend. With 15 minutes to go, he was found attacking down our left.  There was a bit of “showboating’ as he attempted to beat a Manchester City defender, but before he could cross the ball, he drew a foul.  It was quite fitting when Drogba unleashed the resultant free-lick into the penalty area, it was David Luiz who got his head to the ball, to direct it into the goal. 1-0 to Chelsea.

Chelsea always looked dangerous going forward, especially as Manchester City were pressing for an equaliser.  However, after a scare in front of the Chelsea goal, the ball broke forward, and eventually to Rameries, who seemed to run and run, and waltzed past the Manchester City to make it 2-0. It was a fantastic goal, and so well deserved.  It must have reminded many city fans of the Ricky Villa goal they conceded in the 1981 FA Cup final replay.

Its great to see Rameries in such form.  I must admit, I was not a fan when he first started to play for Chelsea, he seemed to be a “light-weight” and not strong enough to cope with the play in the Premier League.  Now he has found his feet, he is more than a match for most opposition players, and now looks like a class player.

Final score: Chelsea 2 Manchester City 0.

This win moves Chelsea to 3rd place, leapfrogging above Manchester City, and leaves Chelsea with a very faint chance of retaining their premiership title.

My Man of the Match: Rameries.

Commuter of the Week #8

Commuter #214, originally uploaded by gary8345.

I loved the way this guy was drinking an energy drink, yet moments after this picture was taken, he was asleep. Not really a great advert for the brand he was drinking.

Champion’s League Draw

The draw for the road to Wembley 2011 has just been made.

I was half expecting Chelsea to be drawn against Real Madrid, and another encounter with Jose Mourinho. However, we managed to avoid them completely. So here is the draw:

Quarter Finals	Semi Finals	Final
Chelsea Vs Manchester United	Vs	Vs
Inter Milan Vs Schakle
Tottenham Vs Real Madrid	Vs
Barcelona Vs Shakhtar Donetsk

I am pleased that Barcelona are not in the same side of the draw as Chelsea. But what is the betting on a Chelsea vs Real Madrid final?