36 Days of London Life
For 36 Days of Type 2018, I decided to do a London themed set. It features some locations, some mannerisms, some experiences, and a whole lot of love.
An iconic location for any Beatles fan, Abbey Road is rarely seen empty as illustrated!
B is for Boris Bikes, illustrated in the style of the Transport for London posters.
The unfortunate nickname for these bicycles owned by Transport for London always amuses me. The bikes themselves are awesome though, placed all over the city for everyone to rent.
You'll hardly find one docked on a sunny day!
C is for the Christmas lights on Oxford Street that stay up for many months of the year!
D is for Dippy the Dinosaur (Diplodocus carnegii) who lives in the Natural History Museum on Exhibition Road in London when he's not holidaying at different spots in the UK (like he is currently)
E for Emirates Cable Cars! They run on the Eastern side of London, between Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Docks.
I never got a chance to sit in them so they're still on the bucket list!
F is for the (approximately 10,000) foxes that roam the streets late at night and in the wee hours of the morning, usually in search of food.
The urban fox might feel like a city fixture, but it’s a surprisingly modern phenomenon. The species only colonised London after WWII. In the late 1950s, the Natural History Society recorded that foxes were common in parts of the capital. By the early ’70s, they were established throughout London.
The foxes have snuck their way into a number of the following letter illustrations. See if you can spot them!
H is for Hoxton Street Monster Supplies
They pride themselves on being (possibly) the only purveyors of quality goods for monsters of every kind. Due to an unfortunate curse, all their proceeds go to the Ministry of Stories, a creative writing and mentoring charity for children (of the human kind)
Whether it's salt made from tears or a tin of a vague sense of unease, they have it all. Make sure you plan your visit when a giant isn't in the store though, they tend to take up a lot of space!
I is for Ice Skating at Somerset House!
Every year for little more than a month Somerset House (which is a breathtaking building anyway) turns its courtyard into an ice skating rink that gets booked completely before you even realise it's winter again!
The large Christmas tree and the Christmas shop are things you should definitely catch!
K for Kings Cross!
The original station was designed by Lewis Cubitt and built in 1852, with the steel "reverse waterfall" added by Arup in 2012. One of the busiest stations in London, it has 11 platforms for trains and is served by 6 tube lines too!
Therefore it's no surprise that you'll see all kinds of characters walking around the station, from tourists and potterheads to buskers and brides!
L is for Labyrinth
This is a series of artwork created as a commission to mark the 150th anniversary of the tube. There's one at each tube station in London, making 270 of them in all.
The style of each Labyrinth is based on one of 11 design families ( Chamfered, Cretan, East, Emboss, Medieval, Native American, Opposed, Organic, Square, Turf, and Woodcut)
If you plan to visit them all in order, you'll start your journey at Chesham(1/270) and end up at Heathrow Terminal 5.
M is for Monopoly!
The London locations on this board are what come to mind when one thinks of the game, even though it was originally made with locations in USA. This set has been celebrated by the Monopoly pub crawl, which attempts to visit all the locations on the board and have a drink at a pub in each one.
Even though the prices on this board are outdated (I mean who can buy property in Mayfair for £400!?!), the game continues to be as popular today as it was in 1935, when the UK edition was made.
N is for Narrative Environments, which is what got me to London in the first place!
This course prepares students to design visitor experiences by working in collaborative multidisciplinary teams. They learn how create immersive, engaging experiences by telling stories through a combination of text, image, sound, light and physical space.
Be sure to visit their graduate shows in June every year, where they take over the street by creating stunning displays using elements that range from giant balloons, to forests and flags.
O is for Oxford Street!
The very popular shopping destination has stores that pay some of the highest rentals in the world. Approximately 1,75,000 people get on or off a bus on Oxford Street everyday, in addition to people who arrive on foot/by tube. In 2009 a diagonal crossing opened at the busy junction featured here, allowing pedestrians to cross without having to wait for two signals. The Christmas lights on the street are a sight to behold and the switching on of the lights has called for a ceremony featuring a celebrity since 1981
Disclaimer: unlike the others in the series, this illustration has not been made completely by me, but I have edited it.
P is for Pimms, the unofficial national drink of UK during summers.
The perfect mix of fruits and alcohol, it feels so light and tasty that you can easily have about six of them before they hit you all at once!
Q is for Queues!
Londoners have become so conditioned to the painfully boring art of standing around in line, that they even queue without being asked to.
Standing at the back of the queue and complaining to other people standing around you is almost a rite of passage for anyone who wants to be a true Londoner.
Some Brits feel this ability is like a national super power!
R is for Rubber Duck Races!
The Great British Duck Race was an event for charity where people had to buy custom made blue ducks to race down a stretch of the Thames near Hampton Court Palace. In 2008, a record breaking 250000 ducks were used.
The ducks are coloured blue to distinguish them from the popular yellow ones that spectators end up throwing in, and are recycled at the end of the event.
It looks like fun, and maybe this can provide an answer to Mr. Weasley's question "what exactly is the function of a rubber duck?"
S is for Strawberries and Screen in Summer when the Sun is out!
I never understood the Brit's fascination with the sun (I mean they wrote a song called 'Here comes the Sun') until I lived there.
The sun is spotted so rarely that it IS a cause for celebration when it does. People fill up the roads and parks doing all kinds of outdoor activities.
Strawberries and Screen is a setup where anyone can rent a deck chair in a public square and cheer their favourite Wimbledon champions on.
T is for Tower Bridge!
This bridge is often mistaken for London Bridge by unsuspecting tourists because of its proximity to the Tower of London and because it is also on a lot of posters promoting London Tourism
It is a combined bascule and suspension bridge built between 1886 and 1894. Ships have to notify bridge authorities at least 24 hours before, so the schedule of the opening timings can change often, but it does open and close approximately 3 times a day.
U is for Umbrellas, one of the three things you always carry with you (the other two being sunglasses and a pair of gloves) due to the unpredictable weather.
The capital's fascination with the object has led to it turning into a number of street installations hidden away in little lanes. There's one very close to Borough Market if you're interested in getting some pretty pictures :)
V for Very Little Helps, the art by Banksy
Graffiti is a very prominent part of London culture, whether commissioned or guerilla, usually raising awareness/ commenting about an issue. Banksy is a world famous, anonymous England based artist whose street art is satirical and combines dark humour with graffiti.
In this piece, one child raises a Tesco branded plastic bag up a pole while the other children pledge their consumer allegiance. You can see the original artwork on Essex Road, though it has been defaced over time.
W is for Word on the Water!
This charming bookstore is a barge that has been lovingly transformed. They float along Regent's Canal, and are usually parked just off Granary Square at King's Cross
They also have concerts on board sometimes, and a Spotify playlist you can follow!
X is for XOYO
This nightclub on Old Street was voted one of the world's top 100 clubs in 2014 and 2015. Their choice of music covers house, disco, techno and hip hop
Y is for Yeoman
The Yeomen Warders of Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, popularly known as beefeaters are the ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London. They were once responsible for looking after prisoners and safeguarding the crown jewels.
Their current duties include giving guided tours, maintaining the welfare of the Ravens that reside there, and performing the Ceremony of the Keys every evening, said to be the oldest military ceremony in the world. Between 40-50 escorted spectators are allowed every night, but the tickets (obtainable from Historic Royal Palaces) sell out a year in advance!
5 is for Guy Fawkes day! "Remember remember
The fifth of November
The gunpowder treason and plot
I know of no reason
Why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot"
On the fifth of November 1605 Guy Fawkes was arrested for trying to blow up the House of Lords. The anniversary is now celebrated as bonfire night/Guy Fawkes night where people light bonfires and fireworks, often with an effigy wearing the Guy Fawkes mask.
This event is even used as a major plot element in V for Vendetta and the mask from the graphic novel/film has become the most popular one to date!
6 is for 606 Club (also known as "The Six") This basement jazz club in Chelsea is one of the busiest in Europe, open seven nights a week and sometimes on Sunday afternoons too.
The club is owned and run by musician Steve Rubie since 1976, though according to him the club's history goes much further and it was active in the 1960's.
7 is for Seven Dials!
Seven dials is a small junction in Covent Garden where 7 streets converge. At the centre of the roughly circular space is a column bearing six sundials, with the column being the gnomon of the seventh dial.
This layout of the streets was chosen to produce triangular plots, in order to maximise the frontage of houses to be built on site, as rentals were charged per foot of frontage rather than square footage of the properties in the 1690's.
8 represents Gasholder Number 8
Gasholders were originally used for balancing the daily demand and generation of town gas. With the move to natural gas, their use steadily diminished.
Holder No. 8 has been re-erected behind St. Pancras station and has been fashioned into a park with a mirror installation.