Paul in London

Scenes from the City, Thursday 17:05 Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . The streets were empty but the pubs were full...

Scenes from Noel Coward Theatre Wednesday 22:29 Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . Trekkie Monster and actor Simon Lipkin post Avenue Q tonight. It is still in preview until the end of the month but if the audience reaction is as strong as it was tonight for the show, then Avenue Q surely will be around for a while in the West End. A great show with an amazing amount of energy where twenty somethings (some real, some puppets) sing about life lessons such as "What do you do with a B.A. in English?" and "The Internet is for Porn". The latter song is where we meet Trekkie Monster... Of course humourous songs aside, this show has a real story and a lot of heart. It is warm and fuzzy on so many levels. If the Muppets grew up (and were not sanitised when Disney bought them out) then they would be doing shows like this. A show for the Miss Piggy generation if there ever was one...

Scenes from Liverpool St Tuesday 17:51 Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . Rush hour home...

Scenes from Clapham Common Sunday 18:27 Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . Love on the common... Even in this heat and with the shopping...

Scenes from Clapham Common Sunday 18:21 Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . That lovely light effect is the smog hanging over the city. Nevertheless as temperatures hovered near 30 this afternoon, the punters flocked to the Common thinking it was a lovely day for fresh air... Across London high moderate levels of ozone were measured and it is expected to get worse over the next few days...

There is just one more thing I will mention about my trip to New York. It involves an exotic dancer and getting lost in the East Village until the wee hours of the morning. Of course no illegal substances were consumed. Read on…

Scenes from N1 Saturday 15:16 Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . It is going to be a quiet month if England do as well as expected in the World Cup . England's first match yesterday afternoon against Paraguay emptied the streets and filled the pubs. It also closed shops (such as this one). I was in a pub where the match was only on a 42" CRT television set so it wasn't quite such a focus of attention (a true sports pub should have nothing smaller than a standard issue plasma television nowadays)... Interestingly England's performance yesterday wasn't as crash hot as everyone was expecting . Their victory (thanks to an own goal by Paraguay) wasn't really celebrated on the streets of London. The reaction was more like relief... Assuming the team picks up their game, it is going to be a long month...

Scenes from SW4 Saturday 13:43 Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . If you drive a really crap-looking car in London, then the chances are that you will have St George flags protruding from the back windows of it to show your support for England in the World Cup . The flags are sold everywhere and are really cheap. This makes up for the extra £10-20 you are likely to spend on fuel consumption due to their drag if you have them up for the entire duration of the cup. To be fair to England supporters, now that the cup has started other flags have appeared as well. On Friday I saw a Merc sporting both English and Mexican flags...

Scenes from the V&A Museum Wednesday 17:32 Originally uploaded by Pauly_ . If there is something Londoners love, it is boring looking chairs on display in a museum as part of a justification of modernism . Politics, design and cheap mass production all combined made up for an incredibly dreary and mind-numbing exhibition. Nevertheless the punters are flocking to it, as afterall why wouldn't you pay big money to see a chair like this? Much more interesting (and quicker to get through) was an exhibition on Che Guevara based around his iconic photograph taken by Alberto Díaz Korda on March 5, 1960. It is considered to be the most reproduced image in the history of photographs and whether or not it is true, it has become a symbol of pop culture. The original photo (and contact sheet) is on display along with the countless t-shirts, posters, ice cream wrappers, handbags, album covers that either used the image or were inspired from it. What is it about that scruffy-looking revolut...

Another postcard from NY… This time a review of The Drowsy Chaperone ...