London calling...

After a meeting up in south London yesterday, I braved a trip up to London's West End - I must have been mad! and the weather didn't help either, so I am sorry for the poor quality of the photographs.

Count down to the Olympics in Trafalgar Square

Count down to the Paralympics

The Olympics is just 14 days away and all the signage is in place and the VIP routes are being painted on the roads (much to the annoyance of the London bus and taxi drivers who will not be allowed to use them!).

After some retail therapy, I took a taxi back to Charing Cross station - I was tired, wet and miserable! London is so busy and it was trying to get photographs without half the picture being taken up with umbrellas!

Here are some more photographs sans umbrellas :-)

The national flags of the Olympic teams down Regent Street

The banners in Oxford Street



 My absolutely most favourite department store in the whole world!
John Lewis, Oxford Street



Display window in John Lewis





Display window in John Lewis



This picture has been added, just to prove that we can have nice...ish weather in London!

 This is the Shard. It is Europe's tallest building and completely faced with glass. It officially opened last Thursday. Poor old Guy's Hospital, which is to the right of the Shard, is the world's tallest hospital building (I trained and worked there. My office was on the ground floor - no windows and therefore no views!! but the views from the top were spectacular). It was the tallest building on London's South Bank, but now it is completely dwarfed :-(

The Shard will have offices, a shopping centre, hotel and, private flats reputed to be on sale for the bargain price of just £ 50,000,000 each!

The exterior walls of the Shard have been designed to lean in, so that when the sun hits the glass there is a shard of light, which is quite spectacular, but I haven't seen it myself... yet!

The photograph below was taken earlier this month and appeared in the Daily Telegraph.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100169296/the-shard-is-absolutely-beautiful/

Have a good weekend!