Buy junk at The Junk Shop, Greenwich

In these days of overdevelopment, high turnover in high street shops, and upselling of old things as 'vintage' places like the Junk Shop in Greenwich South Street, Greenwich are few and far between nowadays, and whilst prices for its contents have inflated along with similar items elsewhere, it still retains a rather timeless aladdin's cave air.


The shop continues into a segmented downstairs rummaging area, which is well worth a visit, and where you will encounter various antiques dealers, and there's also a cafe/ tea room out the back, which is open daily from 10.30am until 4pm, and your author has recently heard rumours of a Junk Shop Meridian, though he hasn't seen it himself.

For more, see http://www.greenwichmarketlondon.com/shops/detail/the-junk-shop

Attend the St Patrick's Day Parade & Festival

The annual St Patrick's Day Parade & Festival take place today from noon until 6pm in London. The event begins with a 1.5 mile parade from Piccadilly to Whitehall, before a stage in nearby Trafalgar Square will offer Irish music, song dance, culture and arts.


There will also be an Irish food market, children’s activities and the chance to talk to representatives of Irish community organisations. Notable events on stage will include people from the Commitments musical a W.B. Yeats 150th Anniversary celebration with Irish Ambassador Dan Mulhall and Young Poet Aisling Fahey Irish folk rock band Hermitage Green and the Lord of the Dance.

For more, see http://london.gov.uk/get-involved/events/st-patricks-day-parade-and-festival-2014

_{^Picture © Blowing Puffer Fish used under a Creative Commons license^}

Attend the Affordable Art Fair in Battersea

The Affordable Art Fair returns to Battersea Park this weekend, with art from over 1,100 drawn from 112 different galleries. Whilst some tend to have a slightly different conception of what constitutes 'affordable' than the rest of us, we are told there is plenty to be found under £500.

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As well as the chance to buy some art, the fair also features workshops, demonstrations and talks, including a talk from SLAM (the South London Art Map) of the newest and most innovative galleries at the fair at 2.30pm.

For more, see http://affordableartfair.com/battersea/

_{^Picture © radim99 used under a Creative Commons license^}

Come to the launch of 'London, The Weekends Start Here'

Your author's new book, 'London, The Weekends Start Here: Fifty-two Weekends of Things to See and Do' should be taking to shelves in bookshops all across the capital today, and readers of this website are invited to attend the book launch at Stanfords in Covent Garden this evening from 6.30pm to help celebrate its release into the wild.

In principle, everyone is welcome, but it you could please make sure you rsvp to tomtiredoflondon[at]gmail[dot]com if you'd like to attend, that will help to make sure that things don't get too busy and there is enough wine and biscuits for everyone.

For more, see http://www.tiredoflondontiredoflife.com/p/book-launc-12-march.html

Buy books at Stanfords

Tomorrow evening, your author will be celebrating the release of 'London, The Weekends Start Here: Fifty-two Weekends of Things to See and Do' at Britain's best travel bookshop, Stanfords in Covent Garden, and all readers of this website are invited. It's an honour to be able to launch it in such a historic venue, for Stanfords traces its history back to 1853, and has been trading from the same premises at 12-14 Long Acre since 1873.


It was to Stanfords on Long Acre that famous travellers like David Livingston, Robert Falcon Scott and  Ernest Shackleton and Sir Edmund Hillary came to find the maps and guides that fed their thirst for adventure, and the shop continues to attract modern adventurers like Ranulph Fiennes, Michael Palin, Bear Grylls and others. Truly, Britain's greatest explorers have always gone to Stanfords, and for as long as the doors remain open, they will continue to do so.

For more, see http://www.stanfords.co.uk/The-History-of-Stanfords.htm

See History Is Now at the Hayward Gallery

A couple of weeks ago, your author found time on a sunny Sunday for a walk to the Hayward Gallery, to see History Is Now: 7 Artists Take On Britain, an incoherent exhibition reflecting on Britain in the run up to the General Election. The result is seven completely separate exhibitions not linked by any theme, but featuring some interesting collections of things John Akomfrah, Simon Fujiwara, Roger Hiorns, Hannah Starkey, Richard Wentworth and Jane and Louise Wilson made or found, with an almost-invisible theme of current-affairs-from-the-last-fifty-years-or-so.


The lack of any real structure isn't necessarily a bad thing, although some of the artists clearly just offered whatever was lying around in the studio when they were approached with the cheque book. In other places - such as with Simon Fujiwara's collection of objects - the interest of exhibition is more as an examination of the artist's brain through the prism of object choices, which is interesting in its own way. This, together with Roger Hiorns' exploration of the BSE epidemic and vCJD, makes the whole thing feel at times much more museum than art gallery, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing, and the point is driven home by the Bloodhound surface-to-air missile on the roof, presumably meant to make us reflect on war, rather than just think "Awesome...".

For more, see http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/history-is-now-7-artists-take-88866

Attend a lunchtime lecture at the Museum of London

First founded in 1597, following instructions in the will of Sir Thomas Gresham, Gresham College is an educational establishment which hosts more than a hundred free lectures each year in the City of London. One such talk takes place at the Museum of London this lunchtime, where Dr Nathaniel Millett giving a lecture titled "North America's Largest Act of Slave Resistance?"


The talk explores the story of a place known as "Negro Fort", established at Prospect Bluff in Spanish Florida during the War of 1812. The Fort came about when British Royal Marine and radical anti-slavery advocate Edward Nicolls recruited hundreds of slaves from across the south east of what is now the United States to join the British war effort, making them British subjects. The Fort was left heavily armed when the British were forced to withdraw, and for a while a free community thrived with a strong sense of British identity. It sounds like a fascinating story.

For more, see http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/north-americas-largest-act-of-slave-resistance

Attend the Crossbones Garden fundraising launch

Moves are afood to create a community garden on the site of Crossbones Graveyard on Redcross Way in Borough, a pre-medieval unconsecrated burial ground with the remains of around 15,000 poor people were laid to rest, including many of the local prostitutes known as "Winchester Geese".


Today sees the launch of the funding campaign to transform the graveyard, with volunteers meeting outside the gates around 1.30pm.

For more, see http://www.bost.org.uk/open-places/crossbones-graveyard/

Celebrate International Womens Day at the Museum of London Docklands

Over at the Museum of London Docklands, they're celebrating International Women's Day today, with the chance to hear stories of Grace O’Malley, the Irish Pirate Queen who sailed up the Thames to meet Elizabeth I at Greenwich Palace and petition for the release of her children, and an account of Mary Driscoll's struggles as a striking match girl.


There's also a chance to make art and hear about famous women who travelled the world throughout history.

For more, see http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/docklands/whats-on/family-events/weekend-fun/

Go late at the Wallace Collection

The University of the Arts London takes over the Wallace Collection this evening for a special free late night opening, featuring performances, talks, special displays, installations, drinks and live music.


Visitors are told to expect 18th-century French slow fashion salons, 3D printed decorative motifs. performances based on Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s The Swing, and live music in The Wallace Restaurant.

For more, see http://www.wallacecollection.org/collections/event/6178

Remember the Cornish Rebels who marched on London

Today is St Piran's Day, the Cornish national day, which seems a fitting moment to remember a Cornish Army who once marched on London. A plaque on the outer wall of Greenwich Park, just to the east of Blackheath Gate entrance remembers Michael An Gof and Thomas Flamank, the leaders of the 1497 Cornish Rebellion. The Rebellion saw around 15,000 Cornishmen march from Cornwall to London in an uprising rooted in high taxation of tin miners. The rebels camped on Blackheath and by Deptford Bridge, before they were finally met by the King's forces at Deptford.


The battle is known as either the Battle of Deptford Bridge or the Battle of Blackheath, and this dichotomy is at the root of the rebels' loss, for the forces were split, with a group left guarding the river crossing at Deptford, whilst the rest camped on Blackheath. As the King's forces approached from central London, they met the isolated force at the Bridge first, and quickly defeated it. Once this had happened, with the rebels in disarray, the battle was all but over. Those left on the heath were soon defeated.

For more, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornish_Rebellion_of_1497

Attend the GLA Housing Committee

Most people your author encounters complain about the state of the London housing market, and many say 'the Government' should do something, but few of us really consider how our elected representatives might be working to combat the problem. Well for those with an interest in the minutiae of London housing policy, today's public GLA Housing Committee meeting at 2pm is a goldmine.


The meeting will consider reports on The Impact of Investor Buyers on London’s New Build Market, and the relative benefits of Knock[ing] it Down or Do[ing] it Up?. When your author is retired, all he plans to do is attend these sorts of meetings and ask difficult questions. For meeting fans, the draft minutes of the last committee can be read here.

For more, see https://www.london.gov.uk/moderngov/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=302&MId=5721

Talk to Strangers at The Globe

Once a month, your author joins with London best socialisers Thinking Bob and others who he has never met before for an evening of conversation above a central London pub. Thought provoking questions are written in the preceding days and new conversations are fostered every half hour or so so things don't get too dull.

The result is almost always a great night out, where all are tested to talk about new things in a safe environment, and everyone is there for the same reason. That reason is that it is good to talk to new people for its own sake, as having conversations can help us learn how the world works.

If you fancy it, do come along tonight from 7pm. For more, see http://www.meetup.com/talkingtostrangers/

Attend the London Bloggers Meetup

Your author will be returning to the London Bloggers Meetup to speak on a panel with Matt Brown from Londonist & Mena from Kids Love This Stuff. Laughably, the topic is 'monetisation', a topic which this blog knows very little about, but hopefully there will be scope for some broader talking about writing on the internet.


This excellent regular meetup group was and is a must for everyone starting out in regular blogging on any topic in London, and your author is fairly certain he would not still be writing today if it hadn't been for the early help of organiser Andy Bargery and the wisdom of the bloggers who attend.

For more, see http://www.meetup.com/londonbloggersmeetup/events/220278324/

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

Attend the Reel Islington Film Festival

The Reel Islington Film Festival draws to a close today, with short films, long films, drinks and music in various venues across Islington.


Today's highlights include Leos Carax's Franco-German fantasy drama Holy Motors, live music by Walter Cronkite and the Seven O'Clock News Andrzej Wajda's 1960 fil Niewinni Czarodzieje, described as 'a provocative film about contemporary youth in post-war Warsaw'.

For more, see http://reelislington.com/festivals/full-programme/

_{^Picture © .Reel Islington^}