Panic on the streets of london

I just got back from a long weekend in London visiting Mr Stones. I didn't take a photo of him (much to his dismay) so I'll post another one a bit later. I have a nice one of him and Jesus, although its a bit old now. Anyway, here are a few pix, (please remember my camera screen is bust and has no view finder, so I never know what my pictures are going to look like till I see them on computer, hence the slightly wonky nature)

I believe this is the frowning ghost photographer of old London town - I was lucky to catch him

the lounge, please excuse my bag messing the place up and disturbing the feng shui

the lounge/kitchen from the other end

what's this doing here? in our capital as well

the windows of the sally-bash (aka the salvation army)

some bloke

a posh street

ok, so I took this photo another time, (like winter), but I like it

came across a pair of mr gormley creations in the street, funny how the one inside was rusting???

So, I've always loved going to London, but this time it kind of scared me a bit... just a little. Every time I squeezed my way through packed tube trains and crammed myself onto creaking escalators I couldn't help but think about the terrible tube fires of a few years ago and the more recent bombings. I felt nervous and suspicious. I imagined the chaos of that many people trying to escape from such tiny trains and corridors and wondered who would be kind enough to help someone else in that situation, and would I be pushing people out of my way too?

Phil loves it there, after living in China and New York, he says he definitely prefers London. I don't think I could handle it. I love the idea of all the facilities and the mixture of styles etc, but I think I actually experienced a bit of culture shock. (which is weird cos I've been loads of times before and not noticed - or maybe I'm just getting old). I can't cope with the odd tension and the blank faces everyone wears all the time. I had to try stretching mine out while no one was looking - it was getting stiff from lack of use.

On Sunday we went to Kew Gardens, which is a glorified park that you have to pay to get in and what seemed totally insane was the fact that it was right on the flight path for Heathrow airport, so these jumbo jets were screaming down to land, literally every thirty seconds. Whatever tranquility that should have existed and been enjoyed there was just lost in the roar and pollution of engines. I've never thought of myself as a country person, a wooley back or whatever the name, but my recent visit has really made me very glad to be living in a place filled with such peace and beauty.