March 2026 Archives

A couple of weekends ago just after the season turned to spring, I visited Rainham Hall and enjoyed some slightly warmer and sunny weather to signal that spring has finally arrived. Rainham Hall is a property managed by the National Trust, and it is located on the edge of east London in Havering. The property also has a garden, and I visited the home and garden. 

Before my visit to the estate, I did have some time to spend. I had a walk to Ingrebourne park and had a look at a little lake and a climb up to the hill to the viewpoint. This is part of Hornchurch county park, and there was a former air strip here.

From the hill viewpoint, I could see Canary Wharf's towering buildings in the distance. Afterwards, I walked back and had a look at the High Street with its small shops before heading back to Rainham Hall.

I walked through the cemetary from the back endtrance where the High Street is, and I caught some pleasant views of the house and the church. The church is a very old one dating from the 1000s, and Rainham is considered a conservation area.

Rainham Hall is a Queen Anne's style of home and built in 1729 by Harle. Harle was a captain who purchased the land due to its proximity to a river into the Thames, which is also nearby. He opened a wharf, and coal from the north and other goods were shipped from here. After Harle, the property was tenanted. The next people to live here included a priest, collector of English furniture, a photographer who worked for "Vogue" magazine, and children who resided here during World War II.

The stables of the site now contain a second hand bookshop and tearoom.

The rooms had different exhibitions from those who lived here or who owned the property. I was told the history of the house through the (nearly) three-hundred years. 

The views into the garden were lovely, and I enjoyed seeing the sun and the trees in blossom.

The bath was put in by one of the tenants, and I was told that it is unusual. There isn't another one like it. It has a sink area as part of it.

One of the other tenants who lived here was Sturges, and the upstairs room was laid out for this time period in the 1920s. 

There was another room that covered the years when the home was a nursery during the 1940s.

There was also a small kitchen to see before heading out the back and into the garden.

The blossoms and the tulips were in bloom. There were also daffodils at their prime.

The garden had an upper bit where the house is and a lower recessed bit below.

After a wander around the garden, I headed to the stables and had a slice of cake and a can of wine and sat at the peaceful garden area to enjoy the sun.

I enjoyed the visit to Rainham Hall and this different part of London which I had never visited before.

Chocolate and cocktails - what a combination! This chocolate-inspired cocktail bar in Farringdon creates cocktails with a little bit of chocolate. Chocolate can be paired with the cocktails, and the cocktails can also have chocolate as one of the ingredients. I decided to give it a try, not knowing what to expect, after work one evening.

There were a few items on the list that I liked the look of, but I decided on two. I had a couple of the items from the summer menu. First up was the Dubai Chocolate Cocktail, which was a new and viral flavour last year. This cocktail contained chocolate vodka and pistachio liqueur and syrup with the crunchy kunafa on the rim of the glass. I also had a White Choco Picante Margarita, which contained white chocolate, tequila, lime juice, and chili. I asked for it to be extra extra spicy, and it was delicious.

The cocktail bar is located just north of Farringdon, and they do offer seasonal menus. 

Dan Kitchener (DANK) is a street artist that creates street scene art with neon signs and iconography from Asia, portraits of Asian women, and night-time street settings with lights or raindrops. The artist often paints on a couple of walls in London near and on Brick Lane. One is on Brick Lane, and the other one is located on Commercial Road. I enjoy seeing new artwork by this artist.

One of the most recent pieces this summer was titled "LOST", which was pasted up after someone had damaged the artwork. The paste-up shows the original face of the figure in the street art that was painted over and with the word "LOST" across the face.

For more work by Dan Kitchener (DANK) featured in this blog, please read the following links:

<p><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2024/03/street-art-from-dank-in-east-l.html">Street Art From Dank in East London</a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2022/11/dan-kitchener-street-art-arcad.html"><br />Dank Kitchener 'Arcade' Street Art on Commercial Street</a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2022/04/dan-kitchener-tokyo-dreams-mur.html" rel="bookmark"><br />Dan Kitchener "Tokyo Dreams" Murals in Evelina Road, Penge</a><br /><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2022/03/dan-kitchener-2022-1.html" rel="bookmark">Round-up of Dan Kitchener Street Art in East London and Camden</a><br /><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2021/07/dan-kitchener-addition-to-east.html" rel="bookmark">Dan Kitchener Paints "London Colours" at NYX Hotel Holborn, Southampton Row<br />Dan Kitchener Addition to "East London Geisha" on Commercial Road</a><br /><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2020/10/2020-dan-kitchener.html" title="Dan Kitchener Paints &quot;Midnight Drive&quot; on Hanbury Street">Dan Kitchener Paints "Midnight Drive" on Hanbury Street<br />Street art by Dan Kitchener in Summer 2020</a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2020/03/dan-kitchener-tokyo-graffiti.html" rel="bookmark"><br />Dan Kitchen Returns to Clifton Street with "Tokyo Graffiti" Mural<br /></a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2019/06/latest-street-art-by-dan-kitch.html">Latest Street Art by Dan Kitchener</a><br /><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2019/01/dan-kitchener-ghost-cities-pedley.html">Dan Kitchener Paints 'Ghost Cities' on Pedley Street</a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2018/09/dank-upfest-2018.html"><br />Dank Paints 'Ghost Cities - Bristol' for Upfest 2018</a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2018/07/dan-kitchener-meeting-of-syles.html"><br />Dan Kitchener Paints "Meeting of Styles"</a><br /><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2018/03/dan-kitchener---future-tokyo.html">'Future Tokyo and Tokyo Ghosts'</a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2016/06/dan-kitchener-dank-london-rush.html"><br />Dank "London Rush"<br /></a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2015/05/dan-kitcheners-new-art-on-scla.html">Dan Kitchener's Street Art on Sclater Street and More<br /></a><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2013/07/street-art-dan-kitchener.html">Street Art: Dan Kitchener</a><br /><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2016/01/downtown-mural-by-dan-kitchene.html">"Downtown" Mural by Dan Kitchener</a><br /><a href="http://almostafternoon.com/blog/2017/03/dan-kitchener-on-goswell-road.html">Goswell Road</a></p>

At the top of Covent Garden market facing St. Paul's church in the piazza is a pub called Punch & Judy, and it is here that you can sit down and watch street entertainment that takes place in front of the church. Last October, I visited and got a glimpse of one of the acts before heading to Drury Lane theatre to be in the audience for Michael McIntyre's "The Big Show".

I had a gin and tonic, and the weather was pleasant and warm to sit outside.

The street performer was a Charlie Chaplin one, and he was dressed in the actor's iconic style but painted monotone colours as per the film in those days pre-colourization.

He involved members of the audience, and he was really entertaining with different props - balloons, hats, suitcase, umbrella, and other items. 

The Punch & Judy bar is not very large and has a small indoor area and the balcony with the viws onto the piazza. It is a perfect place to have a drink and enjoy some free entertainment. While I was there, one of my good friends and her husband also happened to come in there at the same time that I was there.

Before long, it was time to go into the theatre to Michael McIntyre's "The Big Show" where it is filmed before being edited to show on television. This was my second time with this show as I had been with another friend a couple of weeks earlier where the guest was Frank Skinner. On this evening, the guests included Judge Rinder, Romesh Ranganathan, and Joe Marler.

The filming takes hours, and it was a late night for this showing as they overran a bit of the time. 

Earlier this month, I went into the office for a special event recognising women for International Women's Day. It was an event in the office near Bank to discuss women's contributions in industry and the workplace and also the challenges we fac. Afterwards, we shared some discussions with others in a networking session where we enjoyed Lola's cupcakes, sandwiches, crisps, and sweets before continuing on the day.

We listened to some speeches and a question and answer panel. I got one of the International Women's Day cupcakes.

As a couple of my colleagues came to London for the day for this conference, we left work a few minutes early and headed to Social42 at Tower 42. This is on the 24th floor of the tower with beautiful views. We watched the sun get lower in the sky across the city.

The bar was not too busy, and visitors can dine here too.

I had a glass of wine and one colleague had gin and tonic.

We admired the beautiful views over London as the sun was setting on a clear day where we started to enjoy slightly warmer weather.

Afterwards, we headed toward Simmons Bar for some sharer teapot cocktails.

I would definitely go to Social42 again and perhaps check out the dining options. Overall, it was a memorable day and a good time to network with colleagues.

WOM Collective is a group of female street artists, and they have an annual paint jam in east London. This year, they gathered at Allen Gardens off of Briick Lane and painted the walls around the railway siding. The collective comes together on one of the weekends surrounding International Women's Day, which was held earlier this month. The paint jam took place on March 8. The backgrounds of the street art were a taffy purple colour.

Madame Ruby

Damitta

LOURS

ThisIsLostBoy

ELNO

LOR, Nic Mac, Tash, Shauna Anseo CuteBaby, SammiArty, unknown

7th Pencil

MONDI

Dsoh

IAmSprite, Ajarts Hadland, Ola Intu, BulletOnAString, Hybrid Desire, Vane Moi, Elfin and others

Denilsa

London-based restaurant chain Kricket has a few different restaurants across London. Soho, Brixton, Shoreditch, and Canary Wharf are the current locations. The restaurant has been on my "must try" list for a couple of years now, and I finally got along to visit it a couple of weeks ago. I must say that the food was delicious. 

I visited the restaurant in Soho.

I had the whipped channa masala to start. The chickpeas are whipped into a creamy texture and can be enjoyed with the khakhra.

I also tried a couple of the cocktails - the Santra Paloma contained Mezcal, clementine and chili. I did not taste any chili. I also had the Anar Margarita, which contained tequila, pomegranate, and rose.

For the main, I ordered the Mangalorean Chicken Gassi and brown butter paratha. Both were delicious.

I enjoyed the restaurant and would visit again. The Soho branch was very small inside and not as comfortable; I was seated at the bar area. I would enjoy to visit one of the larger and less busy restaurants.

Last autumn, the London-based dessert company Chin Chin have launched a marshmallow dessert cafe in London called Mello, and it is based at Seven Dials Market. I do like marshmallow, so I had to go and check them out soon after they opened. I tried the hot chocolate ice cream and marshmallow bar, pictured below.

This is a sweet dessert filled with marshmallow and chocolate, and it is very sweet and rich. It's not a huge bar, so it's just enough without feeling too heavy and rich.

Most recently, I tried their salted caramel chocolate mousse creation. This is servd in a cone, and the mousse is accompanied with marshmallow fluff and a chocolate cookie crumble. It is topped with a wafer.

Both desserts were good. I think I'd have preferred the mousse in a cup instad of the waffle cone. It isn't ice cream, so it was a little strange to me to serve room-temperature mousse in a cone. The ice cream bar is a definite winner for me. I did love the mousse too, and it's so difficult to find a good one in London.

At the end of last month, I paid a visit to Putney Market to visit Pandan Bakery. I had heard about this London-based and family-owned bakery selling Malaysian treats for the past several years, but I only just visited it for the first time. The bakery is named after pandan, which is a plant that is edible and has a hint of flavour of coconut and vanilla. Twice a month and fortnightly on Saturdays, Putney Market (next to the church by Putny Bridge) is set up, and Putney Bakery is one of the vendors who visit the market on some of these weekends.

The bakery has been in operation since 2012 and also make wedding cakes and items to order to serve a gap in the Malaysian treats scene. 

I was expecting Putney Market to be a little larger, but there were three vendors. one was selling fish and seafood.

Another one was selling cheese, olives, and pate.

The third one was Pandan Bakery.

I bought a few of the items, and I especially enjoyed the brioche bun (which looks a little bit like a muffin). This was filled with ground pandan and coconut to give a subtle flavour. The treat was very light in texture and not too heavy.

I would recommnd a visit to Pandan Bakery if you happen to be around Putney on one of the Saturday market days from 10:00 in the morning until 3:00 in the afternoon. I would get there early, though, as sometimes they sell out.

I did not expect to find Tracey Emin's neon sign artwork in Shoreditch when I recently visited the area. The neon sign, "I Whisper to my past; do I have another choice", is placed up at ground level next to a former car wash around the corner from Shoreditch High Street station. There are apparently twenty-two of her neon artworks around the city until the middle of March. The works highlight her newest exhibition (called "A Second Life") at the Tate, and the exhibition shows what she has been doing since the 1990s. The artist actually lived in the area. 

Tracey Emin still shows her work across London at sculpture festivals, and one of her signs hangs at King's Cross. She also decorated one of London's Christmas trees.

Tracey Emin Neon Art at King's Cross: "I Want My Time With You"

For London Theatre Week, some of the shows in the West End were on sale to Londoners. It was a good chance for a day out during a miserable period of wet and cold start to 2026. I headed over to the edge of Soho and Chinatown to watch "The Book of Mormon" at the Prince of Wales theatre, which is located between Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square. With Ramadan having started in the middle of February and finishing next week, this part of London has some lights to mark the occassion.

"The Book of Mormon" is a story about two young missionaries who embark on a journey to convert followers. The two main characters are two very different boys, and one of them is prone to telling lies while the other wants to do great things but is less than impressed when he finds out that they are joining fellow missionaries in Africa. The play was written by the characters of "South Park", so that type of humour is present throughout the story. It pokes fun of religion, race, culture, politics, and other topics as per the usual style of comedy.

The story and music was entertaining; it's not a complex production with costume and set design. The comedy is a strong point here, though perhaps it is not to everyone's taste. It's probably not one to watch if you are easily offended.

I was actually booked to celebrate bottomless brunch with a friend at The Little Violet Door near Carnaby Street, but after turning up at the venue, we were informed that the restaurant had closed due to an electrical issue. They had already booked us in to their other restaurant, The Little Scarlet Door. The menus and drinks for bottomless brunch are different between the two restaurants (after being told they were the same, though I did not believe as I had looked at the menus before deciding on The Little Violet Door.) We were craving some of the food and drinks on the other menu, so I was actually quite disappointed.

The bottomless brunch at The Little Scarlet Door comes with a selection of beers, Prosecco, Pina Colads, a couple of different Spritz cocktails, and non-alcoholic options. I wasn't keen on the vibe of the Soho restaurant; the basement was where they were going to put us originally. It was dark and smelled funky, and the venue was very loud. 

Instead, we got sat in a corner with a view outside the windows. 

Because of the issue with The Little Violet Door being closed, we were offered a free cocktail. I had the spicy one, which was served in a tin can. My friend really wanted the bottomless rum punch, so they a rum punch cocktail.

The bottomless brunch comes with a mezze board to share, a toastie sandwich (from a selection of three options), and a side of tortilla chips. As I do not eat meat (except for chicken or turkey on occassion), we had to have two separate mezze boards. My friend had the meat one, and I had the vegetarian one. It came with peppers stuffed with cheese, flatbread, artichoke, feta cheese, and cheese wrapped.

My friend had a selection of meats and bread.

I had the cheese toastie but without the blue cheese. 

I had to ask a couple of times for the tortilla chips. 

I was not feeling the vibe and did not enjoy the menu at The Little Scarlet door. I would have come for drinks, but this venue was not for me. It was a shame as my friend visited from outside of London for the day to celebrate a special occassion.

Street artist Annatomix is based near Birmingham, and she is known for creating street art that appears to be origami in the shapes of different animals. Her work is mainly located across the UK. I photographed this wall at The Roundhouse that was painted by the artist on a trip to Birmingham. It depicts a horse lying down

More work by Annatomix on this blog can be seen below:

• Street Art by Annatomix
• Street Art from Leicester's Bring the Paint Festivals in 2017 and 2019
• Bristol Upfest 2018
• Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park Environmental Street Art
• Street Art Tour of Birmingham
• Street Art Round-up: Winter 2015-2016
• Bristol Upfest 2015

Last month, I took a day off of work and had a wander around Greenwich Market. It was Pancake Day, which fell just a few days after Valentine's Day in the middle of the month. The morning was sunny and a little chilly, so I had some time to wander around and enjoy the surroundings. I was amazed to see many daffodils already out in bloom; some of the earlier varieties do start to bloom at the end of February. We have had non-stop rain, so perhaps it is forcing everything to come out sooner.

My first stop was to Greenwich Market, and I had a wander around the different stalls and food market.

As it was Pancake Day, my breakfast consisted of pancakes by Planet Pancake. They come in three sizes with different choices of toppings, and I had the small size. It was topped with strawberries and pistachio sauce.

The small size comes with eight miniature pancakes.

I had a sample of fudge at one of the shops inside the market.

The winter punch was still on offer, so I had the Festive Berries punch. I tried one of each, and both were delicious. I didn't have any rum in it, but it was an option.

I wandered around some of the little shops. One shop that I went to last year for some Easter desserts had Valentine's Day cupcakes.

I then found my way around the beautiful buildings at Greenwich and saw the yellow daffodils.

I also discovered some photographs of Greenwich that I had taken in the summer of 2014. I saw this ship in a bottle near the museum.

Greenwich Market looked very much the same but with more market stalls and less food stalls.

With all the rain and cold weather we are continuing to have, I can't wait for spring to hurry a little quicker this year. It's been a very gloomy and depressing time, and I am waiting to see the back of it.

For Bristol's Upfest in 2024, Tymon de Laat painted "Moon Over Matalán" on the side of a large building in Bedminster. The artwork is a portrait is a native of the Americas. The artist enjoys painting people who can inspire and interest in the wider world. The title of the piece takes its name from Santiago Matatlán in Mexico, the mezcal (alcoholic drink made of agave) capitol of the world. The artwork showcases the production of the plant and drink.

Tymon de Laat is an artist from the Netherlands and focuses on painting people from the wider world and hopes to get viewers interested.

The Greenwich Foot Tunnel opened in August 1902 connecting Greenwich with Island Gardens (Tower Hamlets) underneath the Thames. It is approximately a ten minute walk to get from one side to the other, and I explored it on my recent February visit to Greenwich. The entrances to the foot tunnels are red-bricked domed shafts. The shafts do have a lift/elevator that operates approximately fifty feet down. 

The Greenwich entrance/exit shaft is located near Cutty Sark, and there are som good views over London's Canary Wharf.

I took the lift down; the tunnel expands into the distanc and dips in the middle. It is too far to see the other end. White tiles line the tunnel.

On the Island Gardens end, the tunnel had been damaged by a World War II bomb, so it was repaired with the metal rings. The damage happened on the first night of the Blitz in September 7/8 of 1940. The tunnel was fully closed for immediate repair before the condition worsened, and it was reopened a few months later. The tunnel was originally built for dock workers to access both sides of the river, so it was important strategically.

On the Island Gardens side, I had views over Cutty Sark and Greenwich's beautiful buildings.

The shaft entrance on the Island Gardens side is within a green square. The blue skies made it feel almost tropical, but the weather was cold and became cloudy later and colder.

Over 4,000 people apparently use the foot tunnels daily.

Earlier this month, I paid a visit to Anya Cafe. This cafe is inspired by Anya Hindmarch and her brand (artistic style). The cafe is located on Pont Street in west London where Anya Hindmarch has a few shops, including her home store "Anya Life", her concept store and collaboration with Boots, and her designer shop. The cafe brings her creations into edible artwork. 

I went to the cafe on Pont Street, and there is seating indoors and also inside/outside the front with heating. I decided to try a couple of different items on the menu. I had the gin and tonic, and I had one of the chubby hearts and the brown monster; there was also a white monster.

The signage around the cafe (and her other little shops) was simplistic and the artist's style. She often uses her illustrated eyes in her designs, and these were used in many of the items in the cafe and on the products and packaging.

She is also known for a chubby clouds installation, and one of the desserts paid a tribute to this.

The chubby heart was my actual favourite of the two desserts that I ordered. It was dark chocolate mousse with a raspberry flavour.

The monster cake was a hazlenut and vanilla flavour. It was a little too dry for my taste, but I loved the design.

I also photographed Anya Hindmarch's shopfronts. The chubby heart was in the window of one of the shops, and this was combined with Valentine's Day tribute "LOVE YOU".

At the end of last year, she had a collaboration with Boots on some of their items using her branding and a shop set up with her artistic style and play on the brand.

You may remember that I covered her chubby hearts in London over Valentine's Day a few years ago.

Anya Hindmarch Chubby Hearts in London

Katie Scott is a street artist based in Manchester, and she often creates large scale murals on walls. Her work focuses on nature and a series of vintage toys, such as Barbie. In the mural painted for Bristol Upfest 2024, she painted a red-haired troll on a yellow background. Her work is often bright with colours, and featuring the toys brings back memories of childhood. The artwork is located in Bedminster.

Mosaic artist Angus is based in Bristol and creates street art using tiles. Popular culture, video games, and cartoons often feature in the artist's work. He has painted a lot for Bristol Upfest, and I've photographed a couple of the pieces blow in the past. I was in Bristol this summer and saw more of his work with video games being featured. The pieces below are in Bedminster, which is the artistic side of the city and hosts Upfest. Recently, the artist has also been working on th sculpture trails for WildInArt, which I also enjoy.

There are a couple of items I discovered on Christmas Steps and College Green in Bristol that may also be Angus, but I think it may be a different artist. It's not Invader. If you know who they are by, let me know.

More street art by Angus in this blog can be read below:

Street Art Round up in Bristol 2018
Angus at Bristol Upfest 2018
Happy Leap Year Day, A Quick Update & Thoughts on My Blog
Street Art Round-up: Spring & Summer 2015

Street artist and poet Angry Dan first hit the streets at the end of the 2010s with a series of poetic street art murals around east London. One of the artist's most recent works was for Bristol Upfest in 2024 with an octopus and facts about the creature. The artwork is located on Lime Street in the Bedminster area of Bristol. Angry Dan uses an illustration style that is whimsical and colourful along with the text with the "poem".

More work by Angry Dan on this blog:

Street Art: Angry Dan

When I visited New York City last autumn, one of the museums that I went to was The Tenament Museum. This museum documents the living conditions and lives of some of the people who lived in the building over the decades. It documents the lives of different groups who came to the city to seek new lives from abroad and gave America its unique "melting pot" of culture and identity.

Each of the apartments have separate tours to be booked at different times, and the tour will give the slice of information about that specific apartment and its inhabitants. "Family Owned" is the tour that I went on. It is the oldest apartment tour offered at the Tenament Museum. Below is the saloon, which would have expanded further to the right behind the present day wall.

"Family Owned" follows the story of German immigrants in the 1870s and spans 75 years. The German husband and wife managed a beer saloon in the basement apartment block, and there were a lot of these in operation in this area of New York. There was a whole life around the saloon with clubs, political organisations, entertainment, food, and drink.

We saw a table with food on it that would have been traditional food served by the German family, and these foods are still popular in Germany - pretzels, sausages, pork, saurkraut, and more.

At the back of the saloon were their private rooms - a kitchen, living room/office, and bedroom.

The family did not have a good ending when the wife passed away, and the husband did a couple of years after. This would have left their small child an orphan, and they have not been able to trace what happned to him.

 In the 1930s, the apartment became an auction house selling a variety of items. We had an interactive display of this phase of the tour. 

The tour was very interesting, and I would return to one of the other ones.