See Stonehenge in London

The Olympic Games throw up all sorts of things you wouldn't expect to see, and as part of it an inflatable model of Stonehenge has been travelling around the country. It may sound awful, but it's not as bad as some of the things they've been spending the money on.


This weekend it pitches up on the Greenwich Peninsula, for free, to allow members of the public to bounce around and get close to the stones. Just don't take any sharp objects with you.

For more, see http://sacrilege2012.co.uk

_{^Picture © john bristow used under a Creative Commons license^}

Have a picnic at Arnold Circus

For a small roundabout in the East End of London, Arnold Circus always seem to do very well at organising events, and today the Friends of Arnold Circus have organised an Olympicnic to celebrate the summer season and the upcoming fortnight-of-sports.


It's a bring-your-own sharing picnic, and we are promised fun, games, food & music, including Ping Pong, the Wheelers Cycle Challenge, Infinity Hopscotch, African Drummers, a primary school choir, Asian RnB and a barbecue and bouncy castle at nearby Rochelle School.

For more, see http://foac.org.uk/

_{^Picture © the Friends of Arnold Circus^}

See the Diamond Jubilee Beacons

As another way to mark this weekend's orgiastic celebration of leadership-by-birthright thousands of Jubilee Beacons will be lit around the UK and the Commonwealth this evening, including many in London.


For South Londoners, a number of beacons are being lit with a possible highlight being the one by the Friends of One Tree Hill, which if your author has read it right will be lit at 10.26pm, whilst for North Londoners a beacon will be lit at Kenwood House at 10.01pm, because that is a place where a member of the aristocracy once lived and is therefore deemed more important than a public park.

For more, see http://www.thediamondjubilee.org/diamond-jubilee-beacons or see this map.

Eat a big lunch at the Old Royal Naval College

As part of a combination of the annual Big Lunch series of street parties and the Diamond Jubilee, the Old Royal Naval College is today holding a street party for up to 8,000 people, on a table stretching the length of the college.


The event, which lasts from noon until 5pm, hopes to be the largest street party in the UK, and is attempting the world's longest ever lunch table, also hopes to have live entertainment, market stalls, workshops, ales and activities for kids.

For more, see http://www.ornc.org/events/detail/the-big-jubilee-lunch

Attend Speakeasy & Swing at the Half Moon

Tonight we are told to expect the Half Moon in Herne Hill to be transformed with the sounds and tastes of the 1920s, as big band Le Chat Creole entertain us with swing, Dixieland and jazz.


Your author will be there, and not just because a former flatmate is singing, but also because it offers the chance to sip on a Sidecar, feast on fried chicken and pretend that we are back in the 1920s, which were apparently terribly fashionable.

It promises to be a good night and tickets are available at http://www.wegottickets.com/event/168823

Attend London Reads at the Deptford Lounge

Tonight at Deptford's new Deptford Lounge library-community-leisure-space-thing, Londonist Editor Matt Brown is hosting a London book event with two very talented London writers and one lightweight chancer speaking about their books on London.


Your author is joined by Craig Taylor, author of Londoners and we are told erstwhile writer of the Guardian’s One million tiny plays about Britain, and Christopher Fowler, author of am amazing 30+ London novels, notably thrillers such as the Bryant and May mysteries.

For more on all this, see http://londonist.com/2012/05/londonist-presents-london-reads-deptford-lounge.php

Celebrate May Day on the docks

As part of a drive to spend some time outside London, your author is off to Rochester today for the annual Sweeps Festival, but for people looking for something a little more London-centric, the Museum in Docklands is hosting events with a distinct May Day theme.


In the build up to a May Day procession at 3pm, the Museum is offering folk dancing, a Jack in the Green making workshop, storytelling and other events.

For more, see http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/Docklands/Whats-on/Events/

Walk Plymmes Brook

Up in Enfield's Pymmes Park today, the Parks Outreach Team are leading an interesting-sounding walk along Pymmes Brook, tributary of the River Lea named after a local land owner called William Pymme.


The 7 ½ mile walk begins this morning at 10am and requires stout footwear and a packed lunch. Walkers will follow the Brook from Pymmes Park in Edmonton, through various parks in Enfield and Barnet, to Jacks Lake at Monken Hadley approx. For those up for a less regimented ramble it sounds like a fine wander at leisure at other times.

For more information, see http://www.enfield.gov.uk/events/start/29-04-2012/end/29-04-2012

_{^Picture © Copyright Martin Addison used under a Creative Commons Licence^}

Explore the gardens of Trafalgar Square

To celebrate St George’s Day this year, the Mayor of London is has decided to focus on gardens today, and whilst the forecast looks unsure, the plan involves engaging an award-winning horticulturalist.


Whoever it is they have been tasked with creating a flowery garden in the centre of London for a single day, and whilst your author isn't really sure what to expect, we are told there will be flowerbeds, inevitable pop-up gardening installations and also a bandstand with bands on.

For more, see http://www.molpresents.com/stgeorges

Walk the lines

Last week while browsing the always-excellent Londonist events guide, your author stumbled across a walk with Mark Mason, author of the fantastic Walk the Lines book, and it sounded too good not to share.


Walk the Lines is a great book which documents Masons's experiences walking the whole of the London Underground system overground, meeting some London characters along the way, and seeing the real London above ground. The walk is your chance to walk a section of the line with Mason, from Bank to Chancery Lane along the Central Line, and leaves today at 2.30pm, when hopefully London traffic is at its quietest.

For more, see http://www.theimportanceofbeingtrivial.com/a-walk-the-lines-walk.html

_{^Picture © UggBoy♥UggGirl [ PHOTO // WORLD // TRAVEL ] used under Creative Commons^}

Attend the spring bazaar at Limehouse Town Hall

The spring bazaar takes place at Limehouse Town Hall today, offering a showcase for community groups in the Tower Hamlets area in the grand hall of the beautiful building. Designed by A & C Harston, and opened in 1881, Limehouse Town Hall has just undergone extensive roof repairs, and the bazaar is being heralded as a celebration of their completion, with free entry for all.


We are told to expect local community groups such as Stitches in Time and Hackney & Tower Hamlets Friends of the Earth, as well as arts and crafts and plants from the East London Garden Society. There will even be live music from jazz singer Chantal Santos and folk singer/ songwriter Caroline Grannell, as well as photography by local photographer Marian Spiers.

It all sounds excellent, and to find out more, see http://www.towerhamletsarts.org.uk/?guide=events&cat=10&cid=46285

_{^Picture © HerryLawford used under Creative Commons^}

Take a twilight tour of Apsley House

Often referred to as Number One, London, the most famous address in London, The Duke of Wellington's former home at Apsley House, on Hyde Park Corner is a Grade One Listed house, originally built for Lord Apsley in the 1770s.


Tonight from 6pm - 8pm, English Heritage offer a rare chance to visit in the evenings, for a twilight tour guided by torchlight, in the company of a knowledgeable guide, to help visitors discover the fascinating history and beautiful collection of art of the building.

For more, see http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/events/twilight-tours-ah-29-mar/

Visit the Roots and Shoots Garden

A half-acre wildlife garden in Kennington, the Roots and Shoots Wildlife Garden Study Centre is part of a broader project to allow local people to study learn about wildlife.


The garden is home to an array of insect species, as well as breeding and migrating birds and pond life, and is open today for an open day with storytelling, microscope workshops, pond dipping, art and refreshments for all the family.

For more, see http://www.rootsandshoots.org.uk/2012/03/spring-open-day-2/

Attend a talk at Dr Johnson's House

It won't surprise many readers to hear that your author is an admirer of Dr Samuel Johnson, and his house in Gough Square is a fascinating place to visit. There could be no better opportunity than tonight, the museum's very talented curator, Stephanie Chapman, is giving an illustrated lecture on Johnson's visits to different country houses around the country, which sounds fascinating.


We are told that the talk will concentrate on Johnson's visits to Kedleston and Chatsworth, taking a look at the great man's experiences and his predictably vociferous opinions of his visits. As the museum is small, tickets (£12) are limited so please check the website, and telephone ahead if necessary.

For more, see http://www.drjohnsonshouse.org/events.htm

Attend a late opening at the Guildhall Art Gallery

Your author is dashing off this evening for the 18:20 to Manchester Piccadilly, and is sad to be missing what sounds like a brilliant evening at the Guildhall Art Gallery in the City of London this evening inspired by the current exhibition entitled "Age of Elegance: 1890 - 1930".


In a departure from the usual City of London Corporation style, the gallery will host a pop-up cocktail bar, big band music and costumed dancers from The London Swing Dance Society. There will also be readings from P.G. Wodehouse and some suitable1920s entertainment, as well as Jazz Age verse from the Keats House Poetry Ambassadors.

For more, see http://www.guildhallartgallery.cityoflondon.gov.uk/GAG/Learning/Late+Views.htm

_{^Picture © Copyright Basher Eyre, used under a Creative Commons Licence^}

Celebrate Greenwich's Royal Weekend

This weekend, the London Borough of Greenwich marks its accession to Royal Borough status with a number of events and activities already having taken place in Woolwich and Eltham town centres, today is the biggest festival day in the centre of Greenwich.


The day finishes up with a Grand Royal Greenwich Parade and a spectacular musical fireworks display, and before that special events at the National Maritime Museum, the Queen's House, the Royal Observatory and the the Old Royal Naval College take place. Though your author is no royalist, the crown making sounds particularly engaging...

For more, see http://www.greenwich.gov.uk/events/event/65/royal_weekend

Sing carols at Christ Church, Southwark

This lunchtime, the Portcullis Singers lead a carol concert at Christ Church, on Blackfriars Road in Southwark.


The replacement for a 17th Century structure destroyed in the Blitz, Christ Church was finished in 1958, making it a fairly modern addition to the area, but with a history which dates back much further, to a demand made in the will of Rev'd John Marshall, who died in 1631.

The service kicks off at 1pm. For more, see http://www.christchurchsouthwark.org.uk/newsandevents.html

_{^Picture © Stephen Craven licensed for reuse under Creative Commons^}

Meet the robots at the Science Museum

This weekend the Science Museum in South Kensington is holding the Robotville Festival, showcasing the best in European robot design.


So if you're annoyed that it's 2011, and you're still not being waited on hand and foot by a robot slave pop in to meet 20 robots and their creators, and give them all a piece of your mind.

The festival is free but timed entry applies. For more, see http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/events/festivals/robotville.aspx

_{^Picture © heatheronhertravels used under Creative Commons^}

Tour the Brunswick Centre

As part of Bloomsbury Festival, it's open house at the Brunswick Centre in Bloomsbury today and tomorrow, with free guided tours of the Grade II listed housing and shopping centre.


Designed by Patrick Hodgkinson in the 1960s, we are told that the centre aimed for a low rise, low cost, high density structure with no social segregation, and open space for each unit.

The tours will explain more about how the architect tried to achieve this, and whether or not he was successful. For more, see http://www.bloomsburyfestival.org.uk/event/id/89

_{^Picture © Matt From London used under Creative Commons^}

Attend the Lewisham Pensioners Book Sale

The excellent Transpontine blog, always a treasure trove of South London information, informs us that today Lewisham Pensioners Forum is holding a book sale today at the Saville Centre, 436 Lewisham High Street.


We are told to expect a wide range of bargain books , and with a budget-friendly pricing structure of all paperbacks 25p or five for a pound, you really can't go wrong.

For more, see http://transpont.blogspot.com/2011/10/lewisham-pensioners-book-sale.html