Rebranding: Markets are our culture...

Enjoying reading "Real England" by Paul Kingsnorth, which has an accompanying BLOG, which I'm of course very much in favour of...

There are some very good sections in the book for geographers.
One I read last night is in Chapter 6 of the book, and features the Queen's Market in Upton Park, London

"Saving the market is not just about money, it's about our culture, and our culture is priceless"

Poet Benjamin Zephaniah on Queen's Market

This is a market which has been in operation for many decades, and has a remarkable cosmopolitan feel to it. The market apparently hasn't had a lot of investment in recent years, but has now been made available to a redevelopment firm called St. Modwen.
This has not gone down well with all of the traders, some of whom fear that the rents will be increased once the development has finished.
There is a website to help keep the market: FRIENDS OF QUEEN'S MARKET

Image by Adrian Arbib from http://www.friendsofqueensmarket.org.uk/

The website has a range of excellent resources which would help students to appreciate the issues.
There is an obvious connection with a certain other event which is happening in E. London in 2012...

Also check out the GAMES MONITOR website... (a new find...)

Plenty of information at the local COUNCIL SITE (including maps and plans)

A nice article in the LONDONPAPER.

Also check out this interesting INDYMEDIA article.

The website of the developer: ST MODWEN.

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On the trail of the 'Detectorists'

As I was in Suffolk last week, I headed for Framlingham as I knew that there were various locations from the series 'Detectorists' and also a wonderful pub just a few miles away where we could go for lunch. Parked up in the Market Square, and from there it was a short walk to several locations. Here are plenty more on a map. Managed to track down four locations: the outside of the 'Two Brewers' pub (the interior was filmed elsewhere), Lance's upstairs flat, the shop where Lance's former partner sells Spiritual goods and scented candles, and the village hall where the DMDC met. Here's me outside said hut. Don't forget the uniformbooks book of course. Still available and an excellent read.

Jonathan Meades on Sustainability

Have blogged about Jonathan Meades before, and his particular presentation style which I like... Lunchtime today was spent in the company of the first in the series "Off-Kilter", made for BBC Scotland and was about Aberdeen . I liked the look of the area known as Fitty. Towards the end, he moved on to Donald Trump and his controversial plans for a golf course in the sand dunes close to Aberdeen. He called the planned development "New Trumpton on Sea" and talked about gated communities and their absentee residents. He riffed on the idea of ' sustainability ' and how every architect and development trumpeted its sustainable credentials. New words like : "Sustain-abulous" and "Sustain-astic" ! Called it "architectural correctness"... "It's a slogan of conformist unoriginality..." "The very act of making a building is energy hungry and vastly wasteful even if the building is an eco-igloo of Fairtrade otter dropp...

Street Art trail of Reykjavik

I'm heading for Iceland again in April, and have made a start on updating my notes for the group I will be taking. I do this for each group that I take, and also have a chat with the group leader to ensure that I pitch my explanations and talking on the coach (and in situ) correctly. There is plenty of street art in the city of Reykjavik (and of course in other parts of the country). I've added a few images that I've taken below. These are mostly off the street called Laugavegur. I know roughly where they are, but am going to try to map them and then piece them together to make a nice map. Images: Alan Parkinson Guide to Iceland has produced an illustrated list of their own favourites. This is not easy to navigate as each icon needs to be clicked on. I've produced a Google Form where you can enter the location of your favourite street art. If you know the What3Words address that would be an additional extra. The form link is here: It would be good to eventually h...

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