Bern Cathedral bell ringing on a Saturday Listen on radio aporee Recording by Felix Blume, 24.02.19 Dotmaker Tours has now gone global! Well, perhaps not global, but I did just have a thrilling long weekend in Switzerland with postgrad students at the University of Bern. I was there to lead a soundwalk and give a classroom presentation […]
It was a real treat to launch our new tour Trinity Buoy Wharf and Secrets of the Docks with this lovely group of families last Saturday. It’s a walk that explores the twists and turns of the Thames round North Greenwich peninsula, and the ebbs and flows of water, people and industry. The group photo was […]
Our last walk of the year, The London Ear, will take place on Remembrance Sunday. It’s a poignant time to think about peace, silence and noise. London experienced a noisy kind of peace on Armistice Day 1918. The social reformer Beatrice Webb wrote in her diary: ‘Peace! London today is a pandemonium of noise and revelry, […]
To slow down a city that relies on speed to function can be a very effective way to draw attention to your cause. It’s something we discuss on London In Slow Motion. And we’ve seen some impressive examples recently. Take the People’s March last week and the student Climate Strike the week before – […]
Last Saturday I gained an insight into what London might feel like without cars. As part of the Ride London festival, Waterloo Bridge (pictured) and other roads round the city centre were reserved for cyclists. It was strange to walk along the Strand and hear only the sound of chatter and spinning wheels. For cyclists, […]
It’s been a hot few weeks here in London. Above-ground, things have been made worse by the heat island effect: all the reflective hard surfaces and heat from cars and air conditioners, which mean that temperatures in the city centre can be up to 10C warmer than in the countryside. Things have been pretty steamy […]
For most of us, our experience of London most of the time is as a noisy fast place. We arrive at crowded stations, rush to work along busy roads, shop to blaring music, and go for drinks in places where we have to shout to be heard. The challenge of finding a slower side to […]
It’s May, the sun is out and the trees are looking good! As well as their gorgeous spring finery, here are five things to love about London’s trees. London’s trees are as much a part of the capital’s human history as are its buildings. Take the London Plane, which is in fact a cross between […]
The Monument – the flame-topped Doric column to the north of London Bridge – was once the capital’s tallest building. At 202ft, it’s as high as it is distant from the bakery on Pudding Lane where the Great Fire started in 1666. Visible from all around, it would have reminded anyone who looked up of […]
I was delighted to be invited by Lush cosmetics radio station to join a conversation about slowing down. It’s an explicit theme of London In Slow Motion walk. But actually the idea of slowing down – taking time to stop, look, listen and think – is key to all our walks. It was an interesting morning bouncing ideas around with Eloise King (executive […]
