Motorcycle madness in Lambeth

We all know the perils of driving a car in a bus lane in London.

I recently received two penalty charge notices for riding my Motorcycle in a bus lane. I have to admit I didn’t realise this constituted an offence.

I have been driving a car for 25 years in London and I am always on the look out for bus lanes and their varying times of operation. All London boroughs’ seem to have different policies and this leads to confusion.

One of my tickets was for riding in the bus lane that is on Norwood road, skirting round the edge of Brockwell Park in Herne Hill, I was not causing any obstruction or slowing the flow of traffic.

When you ride a motorcycle in town you are freeing up road space for cars and other larger vehicles. It seems grossly unfair that Lambeth council are dishing out penalty notices to bike riders, riders help alleviate the traffic congestion in town not add to it. Bus lanes should be available for motorcycles to use as well as buses and taxis.

If you have had a similar penalty fine I suggest you email your local councillor and make a complaint about.

This practice is one that should be stopped and soon. 

penalty notice for riding a motorcycle in a bus lane in Lambeth

Seve Ballesteros at St Andrews 1984

Golf is an odd sport if you don’t play and even odder if you do.

I came from a sporting family, my dad was a talented footballer, he had a trial for Aston Villa back in 1956 and was good at anything that involved a ball and running.

I was never any good at sport when at school, mainly because I had no competitive desire and so when I started to play golf at the age of fifteen I was amazed to find out I was pretty good and so began my obsession with golf.  

To play golf you need a fair amount of controlled physical power and the rest is about playing the course which requires some head skills. I was attracted by the mental challenge that golf presented, a controlled physical burst of energy coupled with course management skills.

I was blessed with a good physic, I was six feet four inches, stick thin with big lungs. If only someone had told me I could run they would never have caught me, sadly no-one pointed out my enormous competitive advantage and so I went largely unnoticed in sport.

All sports have stars that stand out from the rest, in the 1980’s there was no one more charismatic than Seve Ballesteros. When I got to see him play at the Belfry two weeks before the British Open he was out of sorts and playing badly. I still followed him round for 18 holes and had goose bumps watching him play every shot.

Seve’s Open championship victory in 1984 will always be one of sport’s greatest moments. True champions don’t just win, they win in style and that’s exactly what he did at St Andrews when he holed the winning put on the 18 hole.

Seve wasn’t playing in the last group on the final day, he was one hole ahead of defending champion Tom Watson who was going for three wins in a row. The roar which went up when Seve’s ball curled into the cup must have got to Watson who was battling up against the wall on the 17^th Road hole.

Seve Ballesteros wins 1984 Open at St Andrews 

Its 30 years since that dramatic win and it always reminds me of being a dreamy teenager whenever I watch it.

Seve Ballesteros was a class act and my sporting hero. 

Taking religion out of our schools

This week we have seen senior government ministers arguing over allegations of extremism in state schools in Birmingham.

Whatever the differences of opinion between Home secretary Teresa May and Education secretary Michael Gove, it seems to me that the core of the problem is how religious studies are taught in our schools.

When I was a kid growing up in a small Shropshire village in the early 1970’s the choice of religious preferences for education extended to two. You either went to the Church of England school or you went to the Catholic school and no one made much fuss about it and certainly no-one ever bothered to ask what differences there were in the religious education we received.

Much has changed these days, particularly in large city areas where we have many different religions competing for the same time slot in the schools weekly schedule.

So my answer to the problem is simply to take the religious lessons out of the school day.

Rather than the children being taught in school, the lessons would be taught at the local church or religious centre. So for example of Wednesday afternoon at 2.30pm the children would leave the school and make their way to the lesson. After the lesson finishes the children would be picked up by their parents or make their own way home.

Parents would be free to make their own choices about which religion their children were taught.

This seems a very simple answer to what is really a problem of logistics, there are simply not enough hours in the week to satisfy all preferences.

21st Army Group

This week sees the 70^th anniversary of the D day landings.

Operation Overlord the code name for the Normandy Landings commenced on the 6^th June 1944 when nearly 160,000 troops left England and headed for the French coastline.

My grandfather Douglas Roche who is 94 years old and lives in Shropshire was on one of the ships that crossed the channel that day. A few years ago I asked him about his experience and he said to me ‘It was pretty much all over when I got there, blood and bodies everywhere’. He didn’t say too much more about it.

In 2004 he went over for the 60^th anniversary, this time he not up to the trip but I am sure he will be there in spirit.

Here is a photo of my grandad with his army mates, I think he would have been about 23 years old. He is standing 3^rd from the left with hands in his pockets. I am not sure what year this was taken or where it was but he did tell me he was in the Devonshire Regiment.

TAC HQ 21st Army Group with Douglas Roche

If anyone knows anything about the other men in this photo then please get in touch or comment below.

my view at 50

This week I shared my 50th birthday with BBC2 which was launched in April 1964.

To mark the occasion the Beeb are showing some re-runs of old classics, The Likely Lads being the first ever comedy broadcast on the channel, I grew up watching Bob, Terry and Thelma.

Here is my photo of the day, a view from my window and one I hadn't noticed before today. Its amazing that we don't see half of what is around us.

view from my window 

David Hockney at Dulwich Picture Gallery

I first saw David Hockney's work in 1986 in London at his exhibition Moving Focus prints at the Tate. I bought a poster took it home and hung it on my bedroom wall and like all budding photographers took a photo of it. Here is the photo complete with my own reflection.

Hockney Poster and me

Today I visited the Dulwich Picture gallery to see his latest show Hockney Print Maker. The etching and lithography are superb and give insight into some of the  techniques he would later go on to be famous for. The work with printer Ken Tyler being particularly good.



Once you discover David Hockney you never grow tired of his work and today affirmed that when I saw  'views of hotel well' print in the Dulwich exhibition 28 years after I first encountered it at the Tate.

View of Hotel well 

         

Hockney Printmaker at Dulwich Picture Gallery 

Dulwich Picture Gallery
Hockney Printmaker
until 11 May 2014

The View from Blackfriars Bridge

I cycled over Blackfriars Bridge last week about 6pm just as the sun was going down. The pastel colours were stunning in the dying sun and I got off my bike and took a couple of  pics on my Canon G10 . This one struck me , I hadn't seen this view before and thought it was worth a post. 

There are three London Landmarks in this photo, one is obvious but can you name all three ? 

Blackfriars Bridge London 

Money and Sex

Money, it turned out, was exactly like sex; you thought of nothing else if you didn’t have it and thought of other things if you did.

-- James Baldwin

James Baldwin

Robert Harrison at the Half Moon Pub review from 2008

London Tourdates Magazine

Venue Review - Half Moon, Herne Hill

Your guide to essential bricks and mortar - the venues that are home to the capital’s greatest live music events

by Tourdates Staff Writer, first published in London Tourdates #024 ,13th June 2008

Not many people know about Herne Hill. Like Brixton’s quieter, more well behaved neighbour, it sits at the entrance to the sprawling Brockwell Park. And with its leafy Victorian streets, you’d be forgiven for dismissing the area as just another boringly wealthy South London suburb that’s not on the tube. It does, though, have its livelier side!

The Half Moon has existed as a live venue since the early 60s. The Police, U2 and Van Morrison have all reportedly played there and it’s rumoured that once upon a time even Frank Sinatra popped in for a jam after a show.

Robert Harrison took over the venue in 2006. He’d worked in bars and venues since the early 90s and after starting out at the Tea Rooms Des Artiste in Clapham opened The Dogstar – often regarded as the first DJ Bar - in Brixton in 1995.

Since taking over, Harrison has transformed The Half Moon in terms of both a pub and as a live venue. Though the building always had an impressively grand exterior – all the stained-glass finery of a traditional Victorian pub – the interior was in need of a makeover.

Nowadays the bar area is immaculate, with polished wood floors and ornate detail that includes chandeliers, gilding and stained glass as well as a host of other period features.

And the refurbished stage area means The Half Moon is a decent sized venue too. A back room off one of the main bar areas, it has a capacity of around 200 but has the kind of intimate feel that means it wouldn’t feel empty with a much smaller crowd.

And with good PA and lighting systems and great acoustics, the venue is starting to attract more and more credible bands and a few regular monthly nights too.

“It’s a lovely surprise in the back room of a pub,” says Harrison. “It works with 200 or 20. It doesn’t shout or blow it’s own trumpet, but when it does it sounds sweet.”

And what have been the highlights of the live stuff so far? “Tymonn Dogg was a revelation to me,” he says, “not knowing anything about him before he played.

“Miss Paloma Faith was fabulous too. But the best so far for me has to be Turin Brakes in 2006. It was packed to the rafters and and they were an excellent live band.”

One of the new regular nights at The Half Moon is Feeding Time. Held on the last Saturday of each month by Rod and Jake from Dazed and Confused Magazine, it’s a cutting-edge indie/electro showcase that is gaining in popularity and developing a reputation for good music (recent acts to appear include John and Jehn and Let’s Wrestle) and a good crowd. Added to this there’s Folk At The Moon on a Friday - a monthly indie-folk night which has seen Indigo Moss play recently - and regular open mic sessions.

With such a thriving calendar of events and regular flow of great music, you’d think Robert Harrison would be jubilant about the future of The Half Moon, but as an experienced pro it seems he doesn’t take anything for granted…

“The pub is a listed building,” he tells me. “So they won’t be building flats anytime soon.

“However the economy is struggling and London is such an expensive city to live in, I worry that we will loose much of the vibrancy and creativity that we have seen in the past.

“Young people will be forced to move further out of London. You only have to look at the Kings Road to see how corporate we are getting; I don’t see anyone doing anything to challenge this trend. “I remember when I was in Brixton, there was always so much going on… parties every weekend, it doesn’t seem the case now. Maybe I’m getting old.”

Michael Wylie-Harris

Thanks to Michael W H for the above article
for a link to original click below
tourdates

Taj Mahal Restaurant in Streatham

The Taj Mahal Indian Restaurant Streatham

Back in the late 1980’s I shared a bedsit with my friend Dennis in Streatham, it cost £23 a week, unimaginable these days.  In true bedsit tradition we had our local Indian curry house, we went there most weeks, eat the same dishes and always seemed to pay £22 for two.

Recently when Dennis was back in London I returned to the restaurant for a trip down memory lane, some 20 years after my last visit.

The Taj Mahal was established back in 1962, it has basic seating for about 30 people and a small bar at the front of the restaurant. 

On arriving we were met by the owner Moben, who remembered us from years before, he is very knowledgeable about his food and he made us feel very welcome.

We chose starters of, Onion Bhaji, Prawn Puree, Vegetable Samosa and mains of Chicken Jalfrezi, Lamb Naga and for old times’ sake we had Chicken Korma and Lamb Rogan.

The Naga Lamb was tender and fell apart in my mouth the flavour was excellent and the chicken in the Jalfrezi was perfectly cooked. The curries were very tasty and not overly spiced.

We had Sag Paneer to go with our mains which was very creamy and sweet.

The usual accompaniments of rice, Nan bread and poppadum’s were also good.

We also had Cobra and Kingfisher beers and a Mango Lassi.

The bill for the meal for four people including drinks and service was about £85 which seems reasonably good value.

Delivery Service

A few weeks later on a Wednesday evening I tried their delivery service and I am pleased to say this is pretty good too. All the dishes were equally as good, although the Nan bread was a tad cold on delivery, a minor slip which did not spoil the experience.

On the whole Taj Mahal is a good value restaurant serving quality produce in a friendly environment and definitely worth paying a visit.

Taj Mahal

11a Leigham Court Road

Streatham

London

SW16 2ND

020 8769 0704

^{https://twitter.com/TajCurry}

National Pisco Sour Day in Peru

Apparently its National Pisco Sour Day in Peru  1st February

I discovered this only today on the fb would you believe.
It reminded me of my time in Peru a couple of years back , I loved the Pisco Sour and had many when I was in Lima

Here is the last one I tasted in the airport on the way back.
The top is whisked egg white with a dash of Angostura bitters.

The best Pisco Sour I had in Lima was at Huaca Pucllana a lovely bar at the historical site with my friends Javier and Ronald who runs Lima Walks