Each week we solve one of London’s great mysteries (as submitted by you, the reader). This week Andrew Bunn from Camden asks: ‘Why is there what looks like a lighthouse on the top of a building outside King’s Cross Station? And if it’s not a lighthouse , what is it?’
Any clue? To find out the answer, see this week’s Time Out Magazine or post your answers below.Have a London Mystery you want solved? Comment below or tweet us at @TimeOutLondon.
Meet Andrew. He is just a regular single guy who works in marketing and finds it tough to approach girls. So he has set himself a challenge in which he will be handing out cards to lovely ladies up to February 29, when he’ll be standing like a lost puppy outside Spitalfields Market from 8am-8pm waiting for women to approach him. Anyone who does go up to him will be in for a surprise (no amount of probing would get him to tell us what). But ‘why, whyyyyy?’ I hear you cry. ‘What is he selling? What does he want from me?!’ Apparently the answer is nothing at all, just to be chatted to. He had the idea and decided to go for it, claiming ‘I should be able to market anything, including myself!’ Crazy idea? Wild self promotion? Desperation?! Whatever it is, we have been discussing it for the last 20 minutes in the office so the idea obviously is a good talking point. Meeting people in this city is tough and it is much more original than joining match.com so for that we salute him. Good luck Andrew. May you meet the woman of your dreams and not freeze to death underneath that goat statue in Spitalfields.
Posted at 2:30 pm, February 22, 2012 in Food & Drink
Last year saw a tsunami of new Taiwanese-inspired ‘bubble tea’ shops open in London. Hugely popular with students from East Asia, these drinks have yet to break through to the mainstream in London, and to survive some of the bubble tea shops are having to diversify. Boba Jam has one of the best locations of the clutch, a conspicuous site in Chinatown, but on Shaftesbury Avenue. It recently expanded by adding an Asian-style café and milk bar next door, decorated in cutesy pastel colours that evoke nursery school. The doll’s house impression is reinforced by the tiny booths where pals can huddle; there’s also non-alcoholic karaoke in Chinese or Korean in a tiny, private karaoke booth. The vast array of hot or cold bubble teas contains all manner of crazy flavours, colours, and types of starch balls, but it’s the desserts which caught our attention on our most recent visit – pictured is the mango dessert, a tropical concoction which contained everything but a beach towel and lost flip-flop. Guy Dimond
The Brits may have ended, hmm, a bit abruptly last night… oh who are we kidding, it was a train wreck. That table side banter with Kylie and those pointless telepathic promo clips for Best Album – nice use of precious time guys. At least Blur were the right choice for Outstanding Contribution. The first indie/alternative band to receive the award, their win comes in a year when a staggering amount of their contemporaries are hitting the road again for a second bite of the cherry. If you’re unable to give Britpop and ’90s indie the finger, here’s a few gigs to consider over the next few months. Read the full post…
Oh Fashion Week, a sea of beautiful people in expensive clothes taking over London. There isn’t much practical clobber on show but wait, what is this…is that a tube map I spy?! One clever stylist decided to use the trusty map as a hair accessory. Sadly it didn’t make it on to the catwalk but we hope it will next season. I would definately buy a range of underground inspired clothes…Sonya Barber
Seen anything else fun lately on your London travels? Email us the pic at blog@timeout.com.
Wednesday February 22 is ‘World Thinking Day’ and this year’s theme is the environment. While we boast about England’s pleasant pastures green – London’s erm- urban sprawl doesn’t give us much to sing about. A group of St Martins students aim to redress this imbalance in an attempt to empower some of the bleakest social housing estates in east London. Urban Green Line has evolved into a guide to everything ‘green’ in the capital by tagging spots in grey cities with one collective graf: a simple green line. As both a symbol and a guidance system, the Urban Green Line aims to create a strong visual and environmental impact with each green line adding to a better city.
It is cold out there so everyone is wrapping up warm. But someone think of the poor trees freezing their little leaves off outside day and night. Oh someone has. The thoughtful Yarnbombers have struck again outside Hackney Town Hall. We have spotted knitted graffitiabout the city before and like to see craft taking to the streets. Thanks to margaretlondon.tumblr.com.
Seen anything else fun lately on your London travels? Email us the pic at blog@timeout.com.
When the idea of ‘Challenge Sonya’ first came about I was well up for it. Sure, I’ll run about at London Fashion Week completing tasks. However, as the time drew closer I started to worry. Would I actually be able to pass these challenges or just end up publicly humiliating myself? The answer is – a bit of both. So this weekend with a lot of coffee, I donned my finest black outfit and intrepidly braved the cobbles of Somerset House to try and get my photo taken by a style blogger, gatecrash the front row and have a pic taken with Anna Wintour. I may not have had a helicopter, bumbag or truck like ‘Challenge Anneka’ but I wasn’t letting that stop me. All in a day’s work for the blogmistress. Sonya Barber
Did I succeed? You will just have to watch and find out…
If you have a challenge you want me to try, email blog@timeout.com.
Yet another clandestine London pop-up has appeared and this time it’s got its thinking cap on. The Lost Lectures are a series of 12 minute talks from experts, enthusiasts and odd-bods from the worlds of science, art, technology, music, entertainment, design, business and environment aiming to inject a well needed burst of energy into the stuffy world of lectures. And in true pop-up form, each location is a secret. We went along to one of the sold out evenings last week and although there were a few teething problems, this is a great idea that can only get better with time. Our suggestion? 12 minutes isn’t quite long enough- it seemed to be over just as the speakers were getting warmed up! Tickets for the January dates sold out like a flash and tickets for March 21/22 have just been released. Book now. Sonya Barber
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