With Rina having returned to Japan for work I was left to my own devices for a day and a bit in London. Camden Town was one of the areas I wanted to revisit as I’d come across a couple of quirky places whilst navigating my maps app. Camden is a cool and funky place but it is very touristy.
Amongst the loud, in-your-face, and slightly tacky High Street shop facades is the Stables Market which is a great place for street-food, and it was also a shooting location for Continue reading
It was a very early start to 2020 for me as I took a walk down to Canary Wharf Station and some other places before my wife got up. After checking out, we headed to the Tower Bridge area as that was the destination of our DLR Line and we didn’t really have much idea what to do on a day when most places were closed. In a way it was quite nice as places were nowhere near as busy as usual but that’s not to say the areas we went were deserted! There was still a few people milling around and some were enjoying the temporary ice-rink set up to the side of the Tower of London.
The nearby Tower Bridge (below) is one of the landmarks of London but so often Continue reading
As we took a taxi direct from Heathrow Airport to my parents house in Leicestershire just before Christmas we didn’t actually see anything of London until we returned there for the New Years period. Due to maintenance work though it wasn’t quite so simple to get to London as we had to first take a bus to Bedford before changing to the train to St Pancras.
Rina’s main desire was to visit the British Museum but motion-sickness on the bus put paid to that idea and so once we got to our hotel near Blackwall Station in East London we didn’t rush back out as originally planned. She booked our hotel and I was very happy with the location as I am …(nerd alert!) … a fan of the driverless DLR Line which it’s on.
Piccadilly Circus (and not Piccadilly Circle as Rina said!) was our Continue reading
Bond #25 is on the horizon as ‘No Time To Die‘ is set to hit cinemas this Spring with Daniel Craig appearing for the final time as the British secret service agent. Norway and the Faroe Islands make their debut appearances whilst England, Italy, Scotland and Jamaica return having all featured in previous James Bond movies. Ever since 1962, the 007 franchise has taken viewers on jaunts to all corners of the globe and here is a full and comprehensive list of which countries were used for filming. Please note that the country filmed in may have doubled up as another country or two at times.
#1. Dr No (1962)
England (London), Jamaica
#2. From Russia With Love (1963)
Scotland, Turkey Continue reading
The new J-League season is just round the corner with games kicking off over the weekend starting March 21st. In anticipation, Tokyo Fox has compiled a list of ten grounds which any fan of the beautiful game should visit when in Japan. It should be stressed that this is a personal choice and that every stadium experience is basically what you make of it.
10. Yokohama F. Marinos @ Nissan Stadium (72.327), Kanagawa Prefecture – If it wasn’t for the fact that it hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup final, I would not have included this stadium as it’s got a running track around the pitch which means that you’re always quite far from the action. Still, it’s not too bad a place to be when full but all too often the attendance is less than a third of it’s capacity. More details here
9. Nagoya Grampus @ Continue reading
“Don’t you think you’re taking a risk marrying a Japanese girl?’
They were not words of advice given to me ahead of my wedding in 2014 but the question posed by US Air Force fighter Major Lloyd Gruver (Marlon Brando) to his fellow airman Joe Kelly (Red Buttons), who is set to wed a Japanese woman despite the disapproval of US military authorities who do not recognise such an inter-racial marriage as it’s generally illegal under American law.
Warning: Contains Spoilers!
Gruver resolutely supports the military’s opposition to such multicultural romances and, having failed to talk Kelly out of getting married, agrees to be his best man and before you know it Continue reading
This fourth Bourne movie to actually have Jason Bourne in it saw Matt Damon return to the role after a nine year break and it was business as usual. I thought it was enjoyable enough but just lacked a bit of the emotional attachment I had for the first three films. ‘The Bourne Legacy‘ (2012) was good but other than the title it wasn’t really a Bourne film so it was good to have the main man back for this self-titled movie. It all just felt a bit too familiar and similar to the other Paul Greengrass-directed films. Maybe unnecessary too as ‘The Bourne Ultimatum‘ (2007) rounded things off so well.
Filming locations are principally the Canary Islands (standing in as Greece), Berlin and Las Vegas but there’s about 15 minutes of London scenery and action around the hour mark. First up on 61 minutes is Sonic Digital (71 Praed Street) where Bourne pops in to get some electronic gadgets.
Bourne contacts a former CIA analyst linked to the Continue reading
When it comes to ramen, there are many tastes and regional variations whether it be shio (salt), shoyu (soy sauce), tonkotsu (pork bone broth) in Kyushu or miso ramen which is served up in Hokkaido. On top of that come the crazy novelty ones which include things like cheese, coffee, ice-cream, tequila, kiwi, ham, pizza, sake, pineapple and so on. The kind of things that the true ramen masters would most definitely turn their nose up at!
2019’s chocolate ramen showed that even Continue reading
When you get a guide book for Tokyo you maybe think that there are about a dozen museums in the capital city. They are just the main popular ones though. The Grutto Museum Pass opened my eyes to a much larger array of museums but the reality is that there are hundreds and hundreds devoted to all manner of things and it is always fun to come across them, usually when exploring areas on my maps app.
Here’s yet another story of an unknown one escaping the attention of me and just about everyone else who has ever set foot in Tokyo. No doubt there is someone reading this and rolling their eyes in disbelief at those words whilst screaming “I’ve been there you ****!” at me through their screen!
I’m certainly not a museum type of person but when I came across this one I thought it was quite unique. It should definitely be said though that I DO NOT agree with the practice of whaling, dolphin-hunting and so on. Anyhow, this museum is on University grounds about fifteen minutes on foot east of Shinagawa Station.
I’m sure I was probably supposed to sign in at reception or something but Continue reading
Ever since the late 80s I have listened to the football output on BBC Radio Leicester. Every match is covered live nowadays but back then (and going into the early 90s) we were lucky if we got second half commentary but more often than not it was just goal updates. The Monday night football forum has been around for as long as I can remember. I used to hear it in the early 90s when I lived with my parents but then I moved away. Many years later as the internet took over the world, and podcasts became common, I could start listening again.
I’ve long enjoyed hearing this show in podcast form on Tuesdays over the years and I was delighted to be on the programme in early January. I texted presenter and match-day commentator Ian Stringer to say that I was back in the East Midlands on the morning of the Wigan match in the FA Cup 3rd Round. He instantly replied and invited me on to the following Monday’s radio show to which I gleefully accepted despite saying I thought I was a bit rubbish when I was last on in Hong Kong in July 2017. He assured me I was brilliant which is obviously not true but was all the reassurance I needed! I’m easy like that!!
The palace of glittering delights!
When I was last in the UK five years ago I was invited Continue reading
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