Snow Globe over Anteros

Son of Ares and Aphrodite, Anteros was given to his brother Eros as a playmate. In Greek mythology, he was the God of requited love. He punishes those who don't correspond to the love of others, so it is the avenger of Cupid. 

The most important statue of Anteros in the world is located on the top of the Shaftesbury Monument Memorial Fountain in Piccadilly Circus. The landmark, popularly mistaken for Eros, is known as well as The Angel of Christian Charity. The monument, erected in 1892 by Alfred Gilbert, represents the philanthropic works of Lord Shaftesbury with the poor people.

But this monument has a difficult story. The statue was made from aluminium, whilst the fountain is cast in bronze, and it was damaged several times when vandals tried to climb to the God, specially on the lead up to New Years.

Lego Snow Globe

Maybe Winter is coming but Christmas is already here. The light displays are on, most of the Christmas markets will be ready this week (Winter Wonderland will open on Friday) and everything is ready to welcome Santa. 

But Christmas can't be perfect without the master Duncan Titmarsh. Last year we could enjoy with a huge LEGO advent calendar in Covent Garden and two years ago, the world’s tallest LEGO Christmas tree was installed in St Pancras station.

This year, Duncan, using 120,000 bricks, has built a 3 metres tall snow globe filled with 14 of the most iconic buildings in London, including The Shard, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Nelson's Column, The O2, Battersea Power Station, The London Eye, The Gherkin, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Emirates Air Line, St Paul's Cathedral, Tate Modern, and Covent Garden Market.

The Lord Mayor's Show

The Lord Mayor's Show is a 798 years old parade.

The new Lord Mayor this year is called Fiona Woolf and she is only the second woman to hold the office in nearly 800 years.  

The newly-elected Lord Mayor started the day with a breakfast in Guildhall. The Mayor was escorted, in her coach, to the Mansion House, her future official residence. Fiona watched the show from the terrace and joined them after the flypast executed by the Royal Air Force. 

The parade travelled down Poultry, Cheapside, New Change, St Paul's Churchyard, Ludgate Hill, Fleet Street and The Strand, where Lord Mayor swore her loyalty to the Crown in the Royal Courts of Justice.

The fifth of November

Remember remember the fifth of November. The rhyme tells us it’s important to make the 'gunpowder, treason and plot' stick in our memory, but how much of this grisly tale of rebellion and religion do we really know?

Newham fireworks display (3rd of November, 2013)

In 1605 a group of 14 provincial Catholics tried to kill the King James I of England, who was Protestant, and replaced him with a Catholic one. The 5th of November, Guy Fawkes, one of the conspirators, was arrested when the police found a cache of explosives placed beneath the House of Lords. To celebrate the fact that the King was alive, the people lit bonfires around the city.

Knightsbridge, 1935

Hoardings in Knightsbridge, c. 1935