I don't know about you . . .

but I'm thinking of putting on the wet weather gear, saddling up the bike, and visiting my local shops. They have after all staffed up and opened all over this chill December.

A building that needs tender loving care

Beautiful modernist W1 building on the corner of New Cavendish Street and Hanson Street. I wonder who designed it. Ground floor metal shutters make it look a bit neglected: it would be wonderful if more shopkeepers and small business owners could fit metal shutters inside their windows - they work just as well, and don't have to be weatherproof, just secure.

Seeing the Light in Oxford Street

Oxford Street was doing fabulous business on Friday night. It was a pleasure to see it. It is after all London’s major commercial artery, with end-to-end shops and some beautiful buildings. 

What made me take particular notice was not only how beautiful it looked with the holiday lights on, but because, on a busy Friday night, it 'flowed'. There was no traffic-related problem in sight.
 
What happened? Let me do a quick back-of-the-envelope analysis.

There was clarity. Buses, taxis, bikes and pedestrians (very important shoppers) were all happily paying attention to one another, all engaged in an altruistic street ballet of 'you go first, I’m happy to give way'. Everyone and everything was moving.

There was a distinct absence of private cars (they were all on the north/south streets) until we got to the Marble Arch end. It seemed to make a huge difference.

PS: And if you want to really see how traffic is flowing, sit up front on the upper deck of a bus.

The Institute of Contemporary Arts: An Art Work in Itself

The singular clarity of the ICA interior.

Essence of Tree

I walked past these leaves
on Tuesday, struck by the intensity
of the scent of this dying bough
blown down from a London Plane,
below, on the edge of Green Park.

Autumn Light on Turning Leaves

Window Shopping in Marylebone High Street

Display of Retro Danish Modern - very fetching

White light interference through a window reflected on paper

Light at the End of the Tunnel: Let's All Try To See It

Tate Modern and Its Extension: Look At The Way That Relationship Is Being Built

Run, It’s the Arts Mob

Tate Britain: Hume and Caulfield exhibitions on The Crawford Arts Review will be appearing later.

Visiting Tate Britain: Don't Forget the Main Entrance is Now on Atterbury Street

Geometrically pleasing wrought iron gates

Lakeside in August

The Park on Sunday. I am photographing my 'beacon', the BT Tower in the distance, when small child leading small dog runs into shot.

Repurposing the Space at Somerset House

I find this rather charming - and Tom's Deli the purveyor of much deliciousness and great espresso - not sure if Lord Nelson would have approved.

Flooded with Light Due to Its Riverside Position, Somerset House

One of London's architectural marvels

Somerset House: A beautiful, but rather dusty, domed rooflight

The Park Treescape

The trees of Regent's Park, each leaf the equivalent of one of our lung cells.

The Shapeliness of Trees

A Cargo Bike on Pause

This is how a park landscape scheme matures: years after it was laid out, the landscape designer’s vision comes to fruition in Regent’s Park.

For more on cycling in London, visit http://girlonacargobike.blogspot.co.uk

The Garden in Summer

Leaves After Rain

with a geranium

The Park in Summer

Great Portland Street: Becoming a Hub of Cycling Emporia - and Creativity

Like Oxford Street itself, it is also a street of beautiful gabled architecture.

An Unusual Angle on Waterloo Bridge

One of the massive abutments supporting Waterloo Bridge from the north with the staircase through it and the approach road (Lancaster Place) above.

Somerset House: The beautiful terrace rooms that face the river are showing Hawksmoor Churches - Nicholas Hawksmoor: Methodical Imaginings.

Curation Mohsen Mostafavi
Architectural photographs Hélène Binet

Interior of Terrace Room © Sally Crawford 2013

A review of the Summer Showcase exhibition Collecting Gauguin: Samuel Courtauld in the 1920s will appear in The Crawford Arts Review.

Londoners Escape Down the Wormhole to the Cool of Regent's Park

They're visitors but they haven't been slow in finding one of the best spots.

Duck Island Cottage, complete with dovecotes and delphiniums, in St James's Park at the weekend

With All This Heat, Some Londoners Have Decided To Take Time Out

New Bus For London in St Martin's Place

Very nice looking bus - and the AirCon was working yesterday when I tried it. My route was not quite so cool and scenic as in the above picture of the tree-lined section of road opposite the National Portrait Gallery. No, it was Victoria Street, an irritable amalgam of rushed people going nowhere very fast until we got north of Trafalgar Square. My experience of the bus was that the stairs are extremely solid and pleasurable to negotiate and the upper deck feels - how can I put it - it has the all potential to transport that a train or plane has since you are above it all for a moment. On the lower deck, I sat next to a Chinese lawyer on her way to the Supreme Court and visibly but very politely appalled by the lack of speed on Victoria Street. On the upper deck, I sat next to a visitor from New Zealand who mentioned Wuppertal a lot (apparently they have a transport system where the rapid transit cars are suspended on a monorail - a Sky Tram - 8 m (26.25 ft) above the streets and whizz around unencumbered by other traffic getting in their way. (Must be cheaper to install than tramways I imagine but just as efficient perhaps.) I noted the stopped vehicles at each set of traffic lights and the average count included: 4-5 buses, old and new; 10-11 vans of various sizes; 8-9 taxis, often empty; 5-6 private cars; 2 or 3 brave cyclists. The people making the best speed were the walkers. Time: 2.30 pm, Tuesday 09 July.