About Picture this UK
Picture this UK (picturethisuk.org) Contains:- Best Places to Photograph in London, Best Places to Photograph near London, Best Places to Visit in London, Best Places to Visit near London, Best places to see in London and 100 + places to visit in London. Both inside and out.
Tower Bridge
British Museum
Please click on the ⇒Gallery⇐ for more
Cartoon Museum, London
The Cartoon Museum is moderately priced and hosts exhibitions, events and workshops for both children and adults (see website ⇒ ) and is very close to the British Museum ⇐ which is free to enter. Cartoons and single frame caricatures have been an integral part of British life and included political, satirical, sarcastic, social commentary, humour and the downright bawdy. Earlier cartoons/caricatures, than those here, can be found at the Queens Gallery ⇒.
? but it is quite fascinating.
Although often irreverent, cartoonist could also be patriotic especially in times of war.
The infamous Andy Capp by Reg Smythe
And, a little social commentary from an unlikely source.
And, something to read.
And, learn how to draw cartoons.
Or the easy way, which made me hungry.
Brighten the Day 12 – Here Comes the Sun
Before we say goodbye to winter a little applause for the sparkles and glistens of frost and snow and yuletide festivities. 🙂
– all three videos are worth seeing in HD at full screeen – with thanks to Lady Fi for making me think of Sugar Plum Fairies with her Frosty Views ⇒
And this version, by Lauren Cuthbertson, for the extraordinary elegance and precision . 🙂
And, then:-
A wash of colour
With spring there is the inevitable silliness (I insist upon it). 🙂
Harry Potter, Kings Cross Station and Platform 9 and 3/4
Inside Kings Cross one might find Harry Potter’s famous Platform 9 and 3/4
By heading for Platform 9 …..
.. and finding the shop ….
….. and then the Platform
You will have your photograph taken but only pay for if you want to buy at the shop. You can have a friend take photographs without cost. But, on busy days there is a queue.
There are tours of London film locations like this one ⇒ and the Warner Bros Harry Potter Film Studios ⇒ at 20 miles north-west of London. You can also google for travel inclusive tours. Have fun but watch out for those shop prices.
Battersea Park And Children’s Zoo and Otters
“Clare? Clare?! Are you listening to me?” “I’m not talking to you, Richard!” – Contributed by blogger Dunelight
More beautiful otters below. First Battersea Park. The park is larger than it looks and provides a boating lake, children’s play areas, a plant shop, bicycle hire, cafeteria and children’s zoo. More ⇒.
Battersea Bridge on the Thames
Battersea Park Children’s Zoo
There is an entrance fee for the zoo. More information and a broad range of facilities for children can be found here ⇒. Below are a few fun photographs but there is a lot more to see.
The park has modern technology. Here is its e-mu.
Mara (Patagonian Cavy)
Meerkats
Young children can take a tunnel into the bubble and see the meerkats close up.
And, right next door are the otters.
Its feeding time and the otters wait by the magic door.
And, each have their own portion.
Time for a little lie down after all that walking about.
Brighten the Day 11
Once upon a time, in a galaxy far far away ~
~ a new flower wonders what comes next.
Perhaps the new flower would be of the wind ~
~ or be ablaze in the sun ~
~ or perhaps hear the best guitar solo ever.
But, if not, why worry.
Perhaps there is a beautiful song of the sea by an extraordinary person.
Perhaps, if we but seek, there is something to remind each of us that we live in a world of wonders.
A good day to you all.
Canal Boat Cavalcade 2017 at Little Venice
There is a pool at the junction of the Regents Canal and Grand Union Canal that is now known as Little Venice. Every year there is a Festival and Cavalcade of canal boats. Some have traveled hundreds of miles using the vast network of canals that were once the lifeblood of Britain’s trade and industry.
There is a pleasant waterbus ⇐ between Camden Lock and Little Venice. At Little Venice there is a floating café and an enchanting puppet theatre ⇒ for all ages.
Canal boats became ornamental even as working boats.
A Small Sample of the Cavalcade
Some of the Characters
The ugly duckling.
“One likes to be a good sport, but if one more reveler refers to me as loofah neck I shall scream”.
Spring 2017 with Squirrels and Flowers and Song
And here at the Squirrel Olympics in Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, Bobtail makes his final slalom run of the day. He’s going well and it looks like it’s going to be a record.
And the crowd are going wild. They’ve never seen anything like this and it’s absolute bedlam here.
The Crocuses are cussing
They’ve lost control and applauding like crazy.
And the stamens are out of their seats.
The Windflowers are all of a flutter.
The Poppy Anemones are popping
All the other Anemones are all anemoning
Will this madness never end.
And the umpire has had enough and run up a tree. 😀
The band is restoring some calm with some cool music and encouragement to go for a walk with a little swing in your step.
.. or spring.
More Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park ⇐ (with a fox).
More Brighten the Day Gallery⇐.
Brighten the Day 10
Brighten your day. Confuse a Happiness Engineer. Ask for a Happy Meal with extra fries and the solution to Fermet’s Last Theorem.
“He thinks he’s the Lock Ness Monster. What can you do”.
Amaze squirrels with your impressions of a nut.
Sing along with Sachmo.
. . . and the squirrels. And, enjoy your day.
Brighten the Day 9
Have you just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here. Wait for the explosions and the band to start headbanging, then bob up and down like a Muppet walking, or Walk Like an Egyptian ⇒, and sneak right past the guards.
And, a few flowers to calm us down.
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A Merry Christmas to All – and extra title lines to increase the size of image on the Reader :-)
I would like to wish you all a very Happy Holidays and good fortune for the new year.
As is traditional at this time of year, I expect I will be abducted by aliens, away for a while and have no memory of what occurred.
P.S. For a little more colour, you might try A Very Many Xmas’s to All⇐ or the Brighten the Day Gallery ⇐.
P.P.S. As a last thought; please enjoy your festive fair responsibly and avoid leaving any empty bottles lying about. 😀
A Lament for The Ancient Code Wrangler at Xmas
Twas the night before Christmas,
And through all WordPress house,
Not a creature was stirring,
Because they’d eaten the mouse,
The code wranglers were nestled,
All snug in their beds,
Whilst visions of fudge brownies,
Danced in their heads,
Then down from the chimney,
All covered in soot,
Came an ancient code wrangler
Who’d chewed of his foot
Up, he proclaimed,
There’s work to do still
There’s a Reader to wrap,
And send them a bill,
The customers heard this,
And thought it unfair,
So they caught the old wrangler,
And pulled out his hair,
He’s a national treasure,
They cried loudly and puffed,
He belongs behind glass,
But first have him stuffed.
😀
I hope you enjoyed that, although it’s not up to the standard of this chap. How did he know about code wranglers so long ago.
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An Ode to WordPress Reader⇐ and more on the subject of the New Reader ⇐.
A Christmas Ode to the Word Press Reader
Twas the week before Christmas,
And through all WordPress house,
Not a creature was stirring,
Not even a mouse,
Then up jumped a code wrangler,
And shouted with glee,
Let’s cause a nuisance,
And I’ll do it for free,
It’s just before Xmas,
They will all be so busy,
We can mess with the Reader,
And make them all dizzy,
So they worked hard through the day,
And they worked hard through the night,
It was so very unusual,
That it gave them a fright,
Then the bloggers complained,
And made the wranglers feel sad,
So the the bloggers said more,
And drove the wranglers quite mad,
Then up spoke a blogger,
With “that’s well deserved”,
Let’s put them in aspic,
And have them preserved.
😀
You might also like the original poem Twas the Night Before Xmas ⇐ , or A Lament for the Ancient Code Wrangler ⇐ 🙂 or more serious comment/news on WP New Reader ⇐
We do need a sense of humour to cope and keep our spirits up. Meanwhile Sam’s Song is brilliant and Sam the Eagle is my hero:-
Appalled and shocked, but we have been here before. Making an effort does make a difference. Imagine how bad it would be if we didn’t.
More News and Articles ⇐ on this subject.
Brighten the Day 8
Out came the sun.
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Meanwhile, at Martha’s Vineyard, a lady sang and some youngsters told the tale.
So they did.
More Brighten the Day ⇐.
Clissold Park Goslings, Ducklings and Coot Chicks
“My name is Pond, James Pond, and ~”. – More here ⇓ and Here⇐.
Egyptian Geese and Goslings
“Here we come, walkin’ down the street, we get the funniest looks from, ev’ry one we meet.
Hey, hey, we’re the Goslings, and people say we paddle around.
But we’re too busy singing, to put anybody down”.
“Whisper, whisper”.
“You’re kidding”.
“Oh my gosh, he’s right”. “One small step for man, one giant leap for a little gosling”.
“Oh look, I’ve got two of them”.
“See what I have to put up with”.
“Where’s that bus. Looks like we’ll have to swim for it”
“I get around, get around round round, I get around,
I’m gettin’ bugged driving up and down this same old strip, I gotta finda new place where the kids are hip,
My buddies and me are getting real well known, yeah, the bad guys know us and they leave us alone,
I get around, get around round round, I get around”.
“We are sailing, we are sailing, home again ‘cross the sea.
We are sailing stormy waters, to be near you, to be free”.
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Coot and Chicks
Many people think that the expression “bald as a coot” refers to the white featherless shield on the adult coots forehead.
There might be another explanation.
“I saw a mouse, where, there on the stair, where on the stair, right there,
A little mouse with clogs on, well I declare, going clip clippity clop on the stair”.
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Mallard Duck
“Just call me Slick”.
Female Mallard and Ducklings
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Mallard Duckling
“Oh soup. The world is made of soup. Oh frabjous day”. 🙂
“They call me Baby Driver, and once upon a pair of wheels,
Hit the road and I’m gone ah, what’s my number,
I wonder how your engine feels, ba ba ba ba”.
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Moorhen
“This is the river police. We know you’re here somewhere. Stop all that singing and come out with your wings up”. 🙂
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More about Clissold Park and more goslings and ducks here⇐.
Clissold Park Geese, Ducks and Swan
Canada Goose and Goslings
“Announcing the Goslette triblings”. – More here ⇓ and Here⇐.
“Oh dad”. “Honestly, he’s so embarrassing”.
“Where’s Agnes”.
“I’m off”.
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“I say, lets all go see the fountain.”.
Clissold park also has a Fallow Deer enclosure, goats, an aviary and is quite close to the new wetlands nature reserve at Woodberry. More of these things later. In the meantime:-
White Duck Family
Charlie is the original “odd duck”.
He leads his aquatic family from the bank side, quacking all the way.
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It looks and sounds very much like a trainer calling instructions to a rowing crew
“Don’t do that when I’m talking to you”. “Really, no manners whatsonever”.
And, off they go again.
Female Tufted Duck
“Quackers”. Well one can’t have a post about ducks without it.
Redhead Duck
“One should be more sedate”.
“And keep up appearances”.
“Oh the stress”.
“Stress ! You should see my bill for neck maintenance”.
“On the other hand”
“I’m sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Watchin’ the tide roll away, ooh
I’m just sittin’ on the dock of the bay
Wastin’ time
doop doo doo, dup be doob be doo doo”.
More about Clissold Park and more goslings and ducks here⇐.
Sounds Like Someone Punched a Goat & Brighten the Day 7
The Ballad of Beaker video. The thing I like about beaker is he’s daft enough not to give up. There’s a lesson in that somewhere.
Ignore the adverts.
And, a little something to brighten the day.
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More Brighten the Day ⇐.
Brighten the Day 6 with Flowers, Daftness and Songs
Are you having a bad hair day ?
Just about had enough.
Or have a selfie like mine.
Perhaps you would prefer to feel like this ↑.
Take some of this. Originally by the Statler Bros but this has a little more daft ↓.
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Or perhaps a little more foot stomping ↓.
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Or a leaping lizards rocking launch ↓.
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And a blue bayou bye and bye from the bear.
More Brighten the Day ⇐.
Brighten the Day 4
8 Flora and some lyrics to brighten the day.
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“What do you say to an 8 foot tall Budgerigar ?”. “Who’s a pretty boy then”.
“Call that a hair style, check out the hat”.
“I’m feelin’ glad all over
Yes I’m-a glad all over
Baby I’m glad all over
So glad you’re mine.
The Dave Clark Five
“That John Wyndham had a good idea”.
“Purple haze, all in my brain
Lately things they don’t seem the same
Actin’ funny, but I don’t know why
Excuse me while I kiss the sky”.
Jimi Hendrix
“Yellow is the color of my true love’s hair
In the mornin’, when we rise
In the mornin’, when we rise
That’s the time, that’s the time
I love the best”
Donovan.
“Blue moon!
Now I’m no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own”.
Billie Holiday
And, one more time with a song.
“Sunny, Yesterday my life was filled with rain.
Sunny, You smiled at me and really eased the pain.
The dark days are gone, and the bright days are here,
My Sunny one shines so sincere.
Sunny one so true, I love you.”
Stevie Wonder
More Brighten the Day ⇐.
A Christmas Story – Oops
Twas the day before the night before Christmas and all through the city twas well. Then it got silly.
Brighten the Day 3
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Vera, Chuck and Dave
“And here’s some we made earlier”.
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“Alright blue then”.
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I’m not sure whether that’s a goat or a monkey. Here are some monkees with a little innocence.
More Brighten the Day ⇐.
Halloween – Don’t Turn on the Light
There was an ‘orrible rustling and I shouldn’t have turned on the light. Don’t look at the next picture, you’ll never sleep again. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
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It’s not so much the nasty sharp little beaks. It’s more the yeauchy big squidgy feet. Imagine being run over by a stampede. It couldn’t happen in your worst nightmare. Could it ?
Aaaaargh.
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Happy Halloween and may all your frights be silly ones.
Brighten the Day 2
To brighten the day. Flowers, a puppy, a ruddy duck, a little tree, a big mobile and a little tom foolery. I hope it does brighten your day. 🙂
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Mostly from the Wisley Gardens Flower Show.
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“The sun has got his hat on, hip hip hooray. The sun has got his hat and is coming out to play”.
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“Moon river, wider than a mile, I’m crossing you in style some day. Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker, Wherever you’re going, I’m going your way”.
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“They call me Baby Driver, And once upon a pair of wheels
Hit the road and I’m gone, What’s my number ? I wonder how your engines feel. baa ba baa”.
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Acer Buergerianum
“I’m a tree, wheee”.
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“I was born up in the mountains, where the rattlesnakes have legs, Where the hootowls speak in English, and the roosters lay square eggs”. (by True Blue Bill)
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“She comes in colors everywhere, She combs her hair, She’s like a raaainbow”.
More Brighten the Day ⇐.
Freed From Time 