London Streets 2014

This is a genuine licensed London busker. To get a job like this you have to apply to be auditioned….wait several years to be auditioned and have about one chance in one hundred of being selected.

Many are called few are chosen. And when you do get taken on you are not allowed to sell anything nor are you permitted to hand out even a biz card nor display any signs cause one company has sole advertising rights on everything in the underground. Good sorts.

20140412_163513

Food for thought. So this was sobering…to say the least. The only way to make a name for yourself in the underground is to buy advertising with exterior media. I wrote to them. I wonder if they do micro budget deals. Ha ha.

In my experience dealing with big companies tends to be like “talking to the taxman about poetry” to use the title of a Billy Bragg album. So i am more inclined to support little family places like food for thought in Neal st. This veggo place has been around since the 70s and hasn’t lost out to the enemy yet. Food is great and not priced to kill. It took me days to find such an oasis.

20140412_202809

St Paul’s is surrounded. Ha ha. There are two of these and other franchises between. Christopher Wren has a big fan club.

20140412_144802

It’s surreal. The money changers outside the temple. So lets go look in the temple itself.

Pay to pray. Gone are the days when you could go to a church to pray. Not in this one pal. There’s a timetable for that pal…

20140412_142926

Easy access. Only one entrance is open and it’s gatekeepers are not there to make friends…

20140412_142742

Thou shalt not. I had to walk all the way around to get onto the lobby. I had to ignore this sign to get a shot of the stairway.

20140412_143648

Stairway. What would Christopher Wren say about all this commercial lockout?

20140412_143750

As you leave thru the revolving doors you have to laugh at the irony. Irony rules.

20140412_143231

Next time i will look for a more modest church. (St Paul’s Cathedral)

20140412_141609

Or save up so i can get in. Here is a view from the counter. In ancient times the money changers worked outdoors…

20140412_143607

Don’t mess with my security. The best minder ever.

20140412_153404

An unbroken family. Had a little strum outside and this friendly family listened out and the little guy guarded my axe. Lovely spot and the franchises were quiet…no one can afford to take family into killerpocket eateries on a regular basis unless they are so rich they wont wanna anyway. They were eating a packed lunch. More fun that way.

20140412_153122

Gotta love this graffiti. Really cheers you up walking down a dark street to see this illuminated by the moon and the sodium light…

20140413_221842

Church by moonlight

20140413_222703

What a superb simple way to stack em. Way easier than a power monster dishwasher.

20140413_172715

2 thoughts on “London Streets 2014

  1. Fabulous journal Luke. Yes I remember being dismayed at the locked churches in America and the homeless sleeping in the steps. Very Christian. Not

  2. Hey Luke, just to let you know that you can always attend services for free at Westminster Abbey (and im pretty sure all the cathedrals inc St Pauls) they do restrict where you can go to stop tourists trying it on for a free tour. They will also allow you to enter to pray, once again in a specific area… i guess within a particular chapel within the building? They get no govt funding for upkeep etc of these staggeringly beautiful and significant and expensive to maintain buildings so I for one do not begrudge them charging access to those who just want to look. As a commited agnostic my reasons for entering such buildings are purely aesthetic and historical so am happy to pay my way and support the buildings ongoing existance. Having said that, last year I attended evensong at Westminster and was very very very impressed with the inclusive, non judgemental, sharing nature of the service…it was in no way “preachy” and i did not feel i was about to be turned to salt or burst into flames as one of the “enemy”… (it helped that I was metres from the graves of Darwin and Newton heheh,) A great experience… if only to hear the choir and organ in full “bellow”!

Comments are closed.