Let me just say first off - I think July's 12 of 12 is my 3 year anniversary of doing this. And after that long, I've run out of ways to make my work day interesting (even with living in different places)! I mean you've seen my shower too many times, you know? ;-) So a couple of weeks ago, I looked at the calendar and booked all the remaining workday 12ves off for 2009. The aim being to get out and see some of London - which I keep meaning to do anyway! I know 12 of 12 is meant to show your day, but there's no reason you have to keep it boring and mundane - why not plan a day exploring a place, and then 12 of 12 documents that exploration? I also wanted to get some good photos - last month was a little restricted and not a day to really dwell on.
June was going to be an experiment, and renting a tilt-shift lens which gives some pretty cool effects (like making things look like miniature villages). But they look complicated enough that I'd need to read up on them, so I benched that idea and came up with a new theme for the day. See one of the (several) books I'm reading at the moment is Do Not Pass Go - From the Old Kent Road to Mayfair by Tim Moore. It's a comedy travelogue exploring London's Monopoly sites and their history.
So it seemed a good idea to pick 12 of the London Monopoly streets/areas, and take a photo of each of them. It took me about 6 hours and a LOT of walking, but it was a nice sightseeing day and I did learn some things!
Edit - I know the lighting's a bit wonky in these, and the b&w are a little overexposed - but since I've been using the Manual mode more, I'm trying to stick to it and not run back to P mode. But it does mean changing the f.stops and whatever the 1/200 stuff is. No, I don't know the names, and photography technical language books send me to sleep in about 7 seconds. So it's an entirely self taught, trial and error process (which I'm hoping'll at least make it stick!). I read two photography books about 15 years ago or more now, but you know, no chance of remembering anything from those! I got it mostly right in Germany with decent sunlight, but London yesterday was mostly overcast grey skies and a nightmare for a Manual novice like me. So just excuse those and I'll try to get it better next month!
1) 12:25pm - Strand, London
Strand is one of the reds on the board. It runs from Trafalgar Square up to Fleet Street, bordering Covent Garden. This in particular is St Mary le Strand, a church. Reading about it now, I find it's the official church of the Women's Royal Naval Service and it's one of two "island churches" (as it sits on a kind of elliptical traffic island) in London.
2) 1:36pm - Fleet Street, London
Another red, is Fleet Steet. It's still associated with the British press, even though the last major British news office (Reuters, woo!) left in 2005. This building I'm sure housed the publications depicted on its outer walls. Quite often, several publications would be under one umbrella company - it happens a lot with magazines I think.
3) 2:00pm - Trafalgar Square, London
Trafalgar Square, another red. It's known for having Nelson's Column and its four lions, as well as having the National Gallery at its northern end (I warn you now, there's a butt-ugly painting on the website's main page!). It is often home to political demonstrations. Reading now, I find out that on the lawn outside the National Gallery are two statues - James II and George Washington. The Washington statue is a gift from the state of Virginia (thanks guys), and it stands on soil imported from the United States - this is to honour Washington's vow that he would never again set foot on British soil. I mean really, the lengths we go to, to accommodate people... ;-)
I realised I forgot to explain this one, when first typing it up. There are a few chalk artists and performers in the large open area of Trafalgar Square, and there seem to be different ones each time I go - this one had drawn out flags for many countries, along with "thanks" in their language, and a circle for people to drop coins into - either the country you're from, or one you like, I suppose! A New Zealand family pointed out that their flag was missing, so they helped him draw it. I think he was homeless, and it was a good way to get some money without begging I guess. Nice though.
4) 2:23pm - Northumberland Avenue, London
And now for an purple (though they always looked pink to me). Northumberland Avenue leads off from Trafalgar Square and runs up to Embankment. It is built on the land which once held Northumberland House - home to the Percy family (who were the Dukes of Northumberland). In case you were curious, there are several ministry buildings there including the Ministry of Defence and DEFRA, as well as the Nigerian High Commission.
5) 2:53pm - Downing Street/Whitehall, London
This photo is actually of the entrance to Downing Street, which runs perpendicular to Whitehall, another purple. Like Fleet Street, this too has a permanent association, this time though with politics - any government departments and ministries line the road. The name comes from the Palace of Whitehall which existed there until it was largely destroyed by a fire in 1698. It also has Downing Street leading off it, home to number 10 (the residence of the British Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury) and number 11 (residence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Second Lord of the Treasury) of course.
6) 4:01pm - Park Lane, London
One of the dark blues, and most expensive ones on the board. Not that exciting to look at to be honest, and I was getting a little footweary after a lot of walking, so I didn't go along the whole thing. But I got a photo of the Dorchester hotel. Looks quite pretty and everything, doesn't it? Well let's also look at this slightly less zoomed photo - the Dorchester's side is along Park Lane, and its entrance way is in the nook between Park Lane and an offshoot road. The less zoomed out photo:
Here's something you might not know about it though - despite being in central London, an area which runs a congestion charge (an effort to reduce traffic, it charges you a premium for each day you venture inside the zone), Park Lane is of one the free through routes inside the zone. Go figure - an expensive property-lined road, but free to drive along!
7) 4:57pm - Down Street/Mayfair, London
This might have to be the hardest one I got. Mainly because Mayfair doesn't really exist. There isn't an actual street. I pulled it up on my Googlemaps app on my Blackberry, and it said it was at the bottom of Park Lane, by the corner of Hyde Park. But when I zoomed in, there was nothing. Luckily, I'd brought along my copy of Do Not Pass Go, and so I looked at that. It opened with "Except as a packet of cheap fags and a defunct pornographic monthly, Mayfair doesn't exist." This was not encouraging... so I read on. There is a Mayfair Place, which is a tiny strip of road laid over part of Devonshire House's back garden in 1924. It's the last before "GO", the other dark blue, and the most expensive on the board.
But Mayfair used to be a Tube station, and one you could take the Picadilly line to. Down Street station was officially subtitled (Mayfair). It opened in 1907, but wasn't active long - it closed in 1932. The Edwardian tiles - as you can see, an "ox-blood red" as the author puts it - now surround a small newsagents/mini market. There's a closed door but you could easily go past it and not know what it used to be.
8) 5:13pm - Piccadilly, London
One of the yellows, and home to the famous Ritz. Piccadilly has a silly sounding name, known the world over. It comes from piccadills - the spiked metal collars people used to support the elaborate ruffs that were fashionable in the early 17th century. A tailor who made a fortune from making pickadils bought and developed a large bit of land near what is now Piccadilly Circus. And so it got its name. Played with the manual focus here, deliberately softened it.
9) 5:32pm - Pall Mall, London
One of the purples again. Pall Mall runs parallel to the Mall. The name comes from a ball-and-mallet game played there in the 17th century. It was introduced by Irish travellers coming from Brittany in France, and stopping off in London. The game then was known as "paille-maille", possibly coming from the Italian for "ball-mallet". Charles II loved the game so much that he had a special alley built in a field round the back of Whitehall to play it in (as well as losing some of the vowels, to make "pall mall"). Apparently, according to Moore, he used to play it so ferociously that "after additional vowel surgery it spawned the phrase 'pell-mell' "!
10) 5:55pm - Regent Street, London
One of the green streets now, Regent Street. It's widely known for its shopping (it leads off Oxford Street, another famous shopping street), and its Christmas illuminations. Quite interesting to read about it now - It's named after Prince Regent (who became George IV), and is often associated with the architect John Nash. However, all of Nash's buildings have now been replaced, apart from All Souls Church. Here's something interesting though ('cos I know you've all been yawning thus far :P) - ALL of the buildings in Regent Street are listed buildings (at least Grade II status if not more). Combined, they are the Regent Street Conservation Area.
11) 6:01pm - Coventry Street, London
Coventry Street is another of the yellow set, and nowadays houses the Ripley's Believe It Or Not! museum, and the Trocadero Centre. It connects Piccadilly Circus with Leicester Square.
12) 6:15pm - Leicester Square, London
Leicester Square is another yellow, and famous now for its cinemas - though it has a pretty seedy past from what I read in Moore's book! Yikes. The square this guy was walking over is a new addition, honouring Dustin Hoffman's attendance there to watch Last Chance Harvey - it wasn't there last time I visited and looked at those squares, which are set into the floor outside the cinemas which line the square, similar to Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. It also has Capital Radio there, which broadcasts across London and wakes me up each morning. Interestingly, the main electric substation for the whole of the West End is beneath Leicester Square. And apparently, Westminster Council are planning to change the Square's apparence slightly over the next few years - not significantly change its character, but make it more film backdrop-friendly, if I understand Wikipedia's comment correctly.
Bonus - 6:42pm - King's Cross Station, London
Very foot (and hip) tired by this point, I hopped the Picadilly Line from Leicester Square to King's Cross Station, came above ground and into the rail station for this photo, then ducked back into the Underground there to get the Northern Line back to my house. It's famous nowadays for housing Platform 9 3/4, of Harry Potter fame. It is normally located (logically) between platforms 9 and 10, but as they are doing work there, it has been "magically" moved a short distance away. 'cos you know, magic can do that. There is half a trolley sticking out of the wall, but as I had no-one to take a photo of me looking like a muppet and pretending to push the trolley, I went for a photograph of the station's architecture, which I find prettier anyway ;-)
And it seems it was built on the site of what used to be a fever and smallpox hospital - nice. Ooh, and Wikipedia tells me that according to recent urban folklore, it's also built on the site of Boudica's final battle, or else that her body lies under one of the platforms - possily platforms 8, 9 or 10. Supposedly there are also passageways under the station, which her ghost haunts.
So maybe the whistles aren't trains, but her ghostly sounds.
Anyway - that's your lot! I hope you enjoyed the Monopoly-themed tour of London, and learnt something - I certainly have (and gotten a lot of exercise too!). Thanks as always to Chad for the idea and hosting everyone's links. Click here to see everyone's 12 of 12s for June!
