Hunt for bargains at the Battersea Car Boot Sale

The weekly car boot sale held at Battersea Technology College is one of only a few proper car boot sales in central London. It’s held every Sunday afternoon from 1.30pm - 5pm, so unlike some Sunday Markets you don’t have to rush out of bed.


It’s not a fancy sale, but you can pick up a few bargains and there is plenty of proper old-fashioned car boot tat to sort through.

When a correspondent popped by recently she spotted old cameras, record players, DVDs, CDs, bathroom products, sunglasses and more. There was also a bakery stall, an ice cream van and a burger van, for all your culinary needs.

The sale is open all year round except two weeks over Christmas, but sellers must book in advance on 07941 383 588, and there is a fee.

For more on London car boots see a helpful article on the Time Out website here.

_{^Picture by bbcworldservice under Creative Commons^}

Go to a wine tasting at Harrods

Harrods food halls are as famous as the rest of the store for the depth and breadth of their offerings. You can get almost anything in the world you want if you have enough money to spend, so it should be no surprise that their wine cellar is also well stocked, and they want to show it off.


The wine tasting events at Harrods are monthly, and offer you the chance to taste a different type or region of wine each month, with a selection of canapés and the chance to pick up certain wines at an exclusive 10% discount. Your author still thinks it will all still be terribly expensive.

Tickets to wine tastings cost £25 per person. For more information, and to book, call 020 7893 8777, or see the Harrods website here.

_{^Picture by sonictk^}

Free Friday lunchtime concerts at the Royal Festival Hall

Great news! On Fridays until March, the Royal Festival Hall will be running weekly free concerts at lunchtime, in case you feel like getting out of the office and watching some music.


The Friday Lunch series showcases a range of musical styles, with an focus on small-scale classical and contemporary music, and today's concert features Skip 'Little Axe' McDonald. Born in Ohio in 1949, 'Little Axe' is an American blues musician, who is today playing a special acoustic duo set in advance of his new Realworld album release.

In other weeks you can catch a diverse range of acts, often featuring students from music colleges or in association with Southbank Centre's Resident Orchestras. The concerts also feature jazz, folk, and non-Western music. So take some time out and enjoy some great music in interesting surroundings.

For more, see http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/festivals-series/friday-lunch

***Update - your author popped along today and, though he had to sit behind the stage, and his friend kept wanting to talk about how her mum wouldn't let her have a key to her home even though she is 26, it was very pleasant. Little Axe is definitely worth seeing***

_{^Picture by Matt From London under creative commons^}

Have a drink in the Bull's Head, Pratt's Bottom

As you get further out towards the M25, whilst you are still technically in London boroughs, it feels much less like London. The Bull's Head pub, in delightfully-named Pratt's Bottom, is a perfect example of a village pub that's technically still in a London borough, but is basically in the countryside. Still, that's enough to earn it a place here.


The village gets its odd name from the Pratt family, who lived in the valley from the 14th century onwards. The village was unremarkable until it became a key stopping off point for stagecoaches on the toll road from London to Hastings or Tunbridge Wells. The Bulls Head has stood on its current site for roughly 400 years, so was perfectly placed to take advantage of passing trade.

The stagecoaches were a unique selling point, but also had negative consequences, as the village soon became the haunt of smugglers and highwaymen. It is even rumoured amongst locals that the infamous highwayman Dick Turpin frequented the Bull’s Head Inn until he was caught horse stealing in 1739 and hanged for his crime. Local folklore has it that he slept in Pear Tree Cottage in the village, and moved between it and the pub through a tunnel which was long since bricked up.

For more from the pub's eccentric landlord Vern, visit http://www.thebullsheadpub.net

_{^Picture by Matthew Black^}

Go scuba diving in the London School of Diving pool

The London School of Scuba, in West London, is a PADI Scuba Diving centre, with on-site facilities to allow you to experience diving without venturing outside the M25.


For £25 you can take the first step towards being a diver with a try-dive in their heated dive training pool. This allows people to experience breathing underwater for the first time with a professional scuba instructor or divemaster.

Sure, this is thousands of miles away (literally and metaphorically) from diving on a tropical coral reef, but it can help you to develop the necessary skills so you wont have to waste money on the basics if you do find yourself on holiday and wanting to swim with the fishes.

The school can also arrange PADI courses at various levels and even diving holidays to places like Mozambique, Sharm el Sheikh and the Galapagos Islands.

London School of Diving is located a short walk from Gunnersbury tube in West London. For more information, and opening hours, visit http://www.londonschoolofdiving.co.uk

Take a walk by Connaught Water

Connaught Water, in Epping Forest, is an ornamental lake which was constructed in 1883, and enlarged in 1893.


Originally the site of a marshy pool, the lake is now eight acres and contains some small islands. It was decided to place a lake on the formerly marshy spot in order to drain areas of forest to improve it for Commoners' cattle.

The lake is named after the first Ranger of the Forest, the Duke of Connaught, and it is a popular spot for walking and licensed fishing, but also attracts a wide variety of wild fowl, making it popular with bird watchers.

For more, see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/8101 or to see the location on a map click here.

_{^Picture by Stephen McKay through Geograph, under Creative Commons^}

Learn Scottish Dancing

Two Scottish articles in two days, but it is Burns Night. And the London Branch of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, celebrates its 80th Anniversary in 2010. As part of the celebration, alongside their usual dances and classes, they are holding a Weekend School, a Tea Party, an extra midweek dance and an anniversary ball to mark the occasion.


Every week, the society runs a wide range of classes for all abilities across the London area. There are also classes and dances for young people. Their prize-winning London Branch demonstration team can also provide displays of Scottish dance for your function if you would prefer that. Some events are held at St Columbas Church Hall, Pont Street, Knightsbridge, but there are a wide range of locations.

For information on the range of classes and locations available, click here, or for more information on the London Branch of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, visit http://www.rscdslondon.org.uk/

_{^Picture (of an Edinburgh dance, rather than a London one) by twistyfoldy.net^}

Celebrate Burns Night with Talisker Whisky

Your author loves a freebie, and when he was treated to a very pleasant pre-Burns-night celebration by Talisker Whisky, one of Diageo's many brands, last Wednesday he very much enjoyed it. It was a great evening with whisky, haggis and a lot of Scottishness.


Burns night itself is tomorrow, and Talisker are attempting to ensure their market share on the most Scottish of occasions by hosting burns nights around the country and giving away free 'rocking glasses'.

Your author isn't too sure about the glasses - having dropped a full one over himself last Wednesday - but it's the perfect excuse for a celebration, and for Scots, January 25th is a bit special the world over.

So, in the words of the promotional material, 'it’s the night we get together and raise our glasses to the much-loved Scottish poet and songwriter, Robert ‘Rabbie’ Burns'

Talisker are holding their burns nights in West Hampstead, Hammersmith, Twickenham and Kingston. To find your nearest, click here, or for more click here.

_{^Picture very generously provided by Tiki Chris^}

Wonder at the Elfin Oak

The Elfin Oak, in Kensington Gardens, is a 900-year-old tree stump covered in carvings, and painted to look like elves, gnomes and small animals are living in its bark.


The stump, originally from Richmond Park, was moved to Kensington Gardens in 1928 and was declared a Grade-II listed structure in 1997. It was only after it was relocated that the illustrator Ivor Innes carved the figures into it.

Figures include Wookey the witch, Huckleberry the gnome, and Grumples and Groodles the Elves being awakened by Brownie, Dinkie, Rumplelocks and Hereandthere.

Pink Floyd's 1969 album Ummagumma features a picture of David Gilmour in front of the Elfin Oak and the comedian Spike Milligan was a lifelong fan, leading a successful campaign in 1996 to have it restored.

All the above information is lifted almost verbatim from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elfin_Oak but it is a Saturday so please forgive your author.

_{^Picture from Wikipedia under Wikimedia Commons^}

Get sporty with Richmond Volleyball Club

Volleyball England have been on to tell your author about a series of free winter events being run by Richmond Volleyball Club, the UK Sports Club of the Year 2009.


As part of Boris' 'A Sporting Future for London', the Richmond Volleyball Winter of Sport is encouraging greater participation in volleyball in the build up to the Olympics. Your author probably doesn't have to remind his male readers that the 2012 Olympic women's beach volleyball is being held on Horseguards Parade right in the middle of town - the Scandinavian teams are usually especially talented.

Established in 1992, Richmond Volleyball Club has played a big part in making volleyball one of the fastest growing sports in the Richmond and Kingston Boroughs. Driven by a love of the world's 3rd most popular sport for participation, they aim to further promote and develop volleyball in local communities.

The Winter 2010 indoor programme is already half way through, and is being help for two more weeks at Tiffin Boys School in Richmond, providing fun structured coaching sessions and a tournament.

For more information, head over to http://www.richmondvolleyball.co.uk/

See the National Radiator Company building

Often regarded as one of London's few gems of art deco architecture, black granite-clad Ideal House is an office block on the corner of Great Marlborough Street and Argyll Street designed by Raymond Hood and Gordon Jeeves and built between 1928 and 1929. The building received Grade-II listed status in 1981.


The seven storey building was designed for the American National Radiator Company, and was inspired by their famous building in New York, constructed a few years earlier. The black granite is complemented by enamel friezes and yellow, orange, green and gold details, chosen because black and gold were the company colours.

For more, see http://heritage.elettra.co.uk/artdeco/profile.php?building=ideal

_{^Picture from Flickr courtesy of oosp^}

Take a Fat Tire Bike Tour

London is a great city to see by bike and your author takes great pleasure from touring it with a book at his own speed without having to wait for others. If guided tours are more your thing, however, there are a number on offer and it's an excellent way to see the city.


Fat Tire Bike Tours (sic) are one such company departing daily from just outside Queensway Tube Station for a 4 hour tour of Royal London, which takes in Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, as well as other sites of interest.

This is possibly one of London's best and safest areas to cycle as you only rarely have to leave the parks. Even so, the cost of the tour includes an optional helmet and reflective vest to maximise safety.

Tours depart at 11am and tickets are £20, which includes bike hire. For more information, see http://fattirebiketours.com/london

_{^Picture by dearanxiety^}

Visit St Jude's Church, Hampstead

Saint Jude-on-the-Hill is the Parish Church of Hampstead Garden Suburb, and was designed by Edwin Lutyens, widely recognised as one of the greatest English architects of the first part of the twentieth century.


The church is a hybrid construction and whilst building began in 1909, and the church was consecrated in May 1911, the west end was not completed until 1935

The author Evelyn Waugh was confirmed at St Jude's in 1921 and C. S. Lewis gave two speeches there, in November 1942 and April 1945.

For more information, see http://www.stjudes.org.uk/index_files/HistoryandDescription.htm

_{^Picture by stevecadman^}

Gaze on Cleopatra's Needle

Cleopatra's Needle, on the Embankment, was presented to the nation in 1819 by Egyptian ruler Sudan Muhammad Ali, in commemoration of the victories of Lord Nelson at the Battle of the Nile and Sir Ralph Abercromby at the Battle of Alexandria in 1801.


The Obelisk is actually one of three Ancient Egyptian obelisks which were sent to cities around the world in the Victorian Era, being re-erected in London, Paris, and New York City.

Despite the gift being made in 1819, the obelisk remained buried in sand in Egypt until 1877 when Sir William James Erasmus Wilson, a distinguished anatomist and dermatologist, sponsored its transportation to London at a cost of some £10,000. It was finally erected on the Victoria Embankment in 1878.

For more on Cleopatra's Needle, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra's_Needle

_{^Picture from flickr with thanks to Frankie Roberto^}

Find Monty's Statue

Standing beside the Ministry of Defence Main Building on Whitehall is a statue of Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, or Monty as he is better known.


Monty is famous, as you will no doubt be aware, for leading Allied forces at the Battle of El Alamein, a major turning point in the Desert Campaign during the Second World War.

He later a led troops in Italy and North-West Europe, where he was in command of all Allied ground forces during Operation Overlord until after the Battle of Normandy, and was the principal commander for Operation Market Garden.

For more on Monty see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Montgomery,_1st_Viscount_Montgomery_of_Alamein

_{^Picture by Christine Matthews ^}