Five great London journeys into the sunset
A couple of weeks ago I was playing football in Willesden when the sun set. This may sound an unpromising start to the article, but for ten minutes the sky exploded in bright orange light, then slowly turned a colour which I can only compare to florets of purple sprouting broccoli. It was, in a word, sick. Because sunsets are amazing. So print off this handy sunset timetable, clear some space on your camera’s SD card, and make like an American frontiersman. In other words, Go West!
Anyway, by any means, westward along the Thames
This goes without saying, but just because it’s obvious doesn’t make it any less valid. Light and water go together like George Osborne and a punch in the face. It’s just natural. The first rule of sunset chasing is…follow the water.
Leisurely stroll/cycle up Regent’s Canal
And for Regent’s Canal, read your local bit of towpath. The stretch between Victoria Park and Broadway market is particularly fine in the hour of dusk. First there are some weeping willowy sort of trees which lend the journey a pleasantly mournful feel, then you hit the gas holders which do some wonderful things with the sun behind them. And then you’re perfectly placed for an evening pint.
Cute bits of the Overground
Yes, yes, any public transport can be horrid. But some bits are less horrid than others. I was recently coming back up from South London through Brockley and New Cross when the sun started diving behind the Gherkin. It was epiphanic. Also works for the Ealing – Paddington line if you get a seat facing backwards.
Brisk walk round Wormwood Scrubs
I’m not suggesting you go loitering round here long after dark. Just noting that the juxtaposition of heathland, prison, and setting sun can take on a splendidly romantic aspect for those of a gothic disposition.
Gallery, sunset, gallery
If you have a free afternoon, start at the National Gallery and admire Monet’s beautiful Water Lilies, Setting Sun. Then march through Trafalgar Square and past Westminster, taking care to note the sun starting to dip in the sky ahead of you and to your right. Arrive at Tate Britain before it closes at 1800, make a beeline for Turner’s The Scarlet Sunset and then go find yourself a nice spot along the river to watch the real life ensanguination of the sky. Then compare and contrast over a pint. Great stuff.
Email [email protected]
Tweet @mikpollitt
08 Mar 2011
Today, We Are All Hollaback Girls
A group of Londoners have joined Hollaback! — a world-wide movement to end cat-calls and street harassment.
08 Mar 2011
Iron & Wine - 8th March @ Union Chapel
For contemplative, stream of consciousness, poetic ponderings look no further than Iron and Wine. Performing with a full band at Camden’s The Roundhouse on 8th March Sam Beam’s live shows are intimate affairs, shrouding you in a cloak of music from the humblest back porch folk to the Motown and ’70s Californian pop channelled on his latest recording Kiss Each Other Clean. A huge name amongst contemporary songwriters and one not to be missed.
08 Mar 2011
London agenda for Tuesday 8 March
1. Hear the twisted psych-pop stew of Erland and the Carnival [Le Cool]
2. Test your lady knowledge at the Return of the Quiz at the Horatia [Run Riot]
3. Forget that religious nonsense and eat pancakes in Spitalfields [Flavorpill]
4. Cash in at London’s oldest pawnbrokers [Tired of London]
5. Listen to some glam pop at David Devant & his Spirit Wife and The Mystery Fax Machine Orchestra at the Lex [London Gigs]
6. Watch the contemplative, stream of consciousness, poetic ponderings of Iron & Wine at Union Chapel [Melanie McGovern]
08 Mar 2011
Siphon Away by Altrice
Following last week’s news of a split Four Tet/Daphni vinyl release, fans of Caribou’s Dan Snaith may want to head over to his Soundcloud page. For a limited time you can download Altrice’s dark reworking of Caribou’s Swim – entitled Stem – in its entirety, for free! Go on, what are you waiting for?!
07 Mar 2011
The Week in Books: From Hammer & Tongues to Apples & Snakes
Hammer & Tongue 7.30pm Monday 7th March
Housed in the Dalston’s newly opened The Victoria, this spoken word night features Salena Godden, Tuggstar and Rob Auton, as well as an open slam slot.
The Victoria, 451 Queensbridge Rd, Dalston, London, E8 3AS. £5
Exiled Lit Café 6.30pm Monday 7th March
Exiled writers from the Arab world respond to the tremendous upheavals in their home countries with poetry and literature. Features Egyptian novelist Khalid Albarry amongst a host of others.
Free Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Rd, EC1R 3GA. £5
Apples & Snakes 8pm Wednesday 9th March
As one of the leading organisations in performance poetry, Apples & Snakes always offers a great evening. Tonight’s wordmongers include spoken word celeb Polarbear and the rising stars, Indigo Williams, Professor Elemental and Mia Jerome.
Soho Theatre, 21 Dean St, London W1D 3NE. £8
The Raven’s Reading Club 6.30pm Wednesday 9th March
This monthly reading group stages impromptu cult film and TV scripts. The script won’t be revealed until the night, but if you fancy playing Darth Vadar or Basil Fawltry with minimal sound effects and a pint in hand, this is certainly the evening for you.
The Miller, 96 Snowfields Rd, SE1 3SS. £3
07 Mar 2011
Howl
As well as telling the story of the 1957 obscenity trial concerning City Lights Books’ publication of the seminal poem, Howl, Friedman and Epstein’s film attempts to navigate the murky juices of Allen Ginsberg’s life and work during the 1950s, with a little slick black and white reconstruction of some of 20th Century literature’s most seditious moments to boot. And it fails to do any of it convincingly.
07 Mar 2011
The strange death of...TV impressionists
The world is changing fast. This occasional series chronicles some runners whom the race outran
Alistair McGowan turned up on TV over the weekend on the BBC’s Final Score Comic Relief special. It was a curious outing, and made me wonder whether British television has moved into a post-Impressionist age. Spitting Image, McGowan, Ancona, Culshaw, Bremner – the mimicking voices who used to rule the roost are now silent. Have they expired for good? Are they now, indeed, ex-parrots?
The reason for this pondering was that, though no fault of his own, McGowan’s outing was such a depressing watch. The man’s talent for mimicry is unquestionable, but watching him autopilot through decade-old impressions of Alan Hansen and Sven Goran Eriksson sank the heart. Sounding the same as someone else is uncanny, it’s not automatically amusing – unless you’re a 12-year-old boy or Garth Crooks. You applaud the artifice, but you’re unmoved by the art.
In the glory days of impressionists, the verisimilitude was secondary to the satire. Spitting Image and Rory Bremner tore the Tories a new one. McGowan at his best, along with the underrated 2DTV, held a mirror to celebrity excesses so revolting that the mirror cracked in disgust.
And now? There’s stuff to mock, there always will be. But the professionalisation of politics and celebrity have blended the targets into an unappetising mush. Could McGowan do a good impression of Cameron, Clegg and the Milibands? He does pretty decent ones just by speaking in his own voice. In the land of the bland, the one toned man is king.
Perhaps this is cyclical. Perhaps the impressionists are only sleeping, waiting for Prime Minister Boris to complete his ascent to power. But it’s telling that the only recent show to make impressions impressive was The Trip, in which multi-talented Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon dicked around with other people’s voices without ever losing their own. Perhaps pure impressions are going the way of vaudeville and mother-in-law gags, to the end of the pier where they can still raise a smile without threatening the TV schedules. For McGowan, a talented Shakespearean actor, this may not be unwelcome. Why mimic Hansen when you can create your own Hamlet?
Email [email protected]
Tweet @mikpollitt
07 Mar 2011
London agenda for Monday 7 March
1. Listen to 15 minute monologues from director Mike Figgis, mathematician Marcus du Sautoy, pigeon fancier Mark Cocker, novelist Victoria Hislop and Martin Gayford at 5×15 [Le Cool]
2. Hear modern opera at Doris Day Can Fuck Off [Run Riot]
3. Check out video renaissance man Bill Viola at The Quintet of the Unseen [Flavorpill]
4. Find the LSE Penguin [Tired of London]
07 Mar 2011
Ye Ye by FourTet/Daphni
Four Tet’s Kieran Hebden and Caribou’s Dan Snaith (under the alias Daphni) are set to release a split vinyl, according to Pitchfork. Though no release date has been confirmed (‘soon’ apparently), Pinnacles/Ye Ye will be available via Hebden’s Text Records.
Stream Daphni’s early Detroit house channelling Ye Ye, below.
04 Mar 2011
Snipe Highlights
Some popular articles from past years
- Random Interview: Eileen Conn, co-ordinator of Peckham Vision
- Could red kites be London's next big nature success story?
- Punk brewery just as sexist and homophobic as the industry they rail against
- The five spookiest abandoned London hospitals
- London has chosen its mayor, but why can’t it choose its own media?
- The best church names in London, and where they come from
- Diary of the shy Londoner
- The five best places in London to have an epiphany
- Silencing the Brick Lane curry touts could be fatal for the city's self-esteem
- A unique collection of photos of Edwardian Londoners
© 2009-2026 Snipe London.