City Sunsets in Canary Wharf

I’ve been a busy bunny these days, so it feels like I hardly get time to blog. It’s frustrating as heck because I have a few blog posts to write and a few book/food/cupcake/city reviews to write and I keep getting caught up with domesticity!

I’ll do my best to post this weekend, but in the meantime, here’s a beautiful sunset hubby and I caught last week while dining in Canary Wharf. I feel like I don’t see enough of these (either the day is too long or the sky is too grey!), so this was a special one for me – first sunset picture in ages!

Happy weekendings all, I’ll be posting soon!

View From My Window: Blue Skies and Concrete Jungles

We’ve been enjoying some late summer weather recently (although we haven’t been enjoying the humidity!), so I thought I’d post the view from my office window. There’s plenty of buses, trains and pedestrians below (there’s a train station and a bus station nearby) but I thought I’d crop out the hustle and bustle and focus on the serene, beautiful blue clouds : )

A Bright Eye

Every now and then, my husband and I will take a break from our normal routine (work -> home -> dinner -> computer -> bed) and take a walk somewhere different, go try something  new to eat or just do something spontaneous to see where we’ll end up and treat ourselves to a new experience.

I’ve been in a bit of a writing/blogging slump in the last month or so, partly because I feel like I’ve run out of ideas to post about, and also because I’ve been feeling a little bored of my ideas and have wanted to write new things. I’ve also been taking a break from writing for a little so that I can look for new things, more inspiration and generally have a deep think about the things which are important for me to write/photography/doodle about.

As ever I’m sure the world of blogging will keep calling to me, and I’ll be blogging here and there until I get into my groove – but until then, here’s a picture of the London Eye at night. I’m used to seeing the usual London landmarks but they’re look entirely different at night, and it’s a rare treat to see them looking ethereal and beautiful at night. We saw this a few days ago while wandering around Embankment and crossing one of the bridges to listen to Big Ben (and the big crowd around it at night). In front of this view is a small plaza to sit on a bench and enjoy the view, perfect to watch the waters, the boats and the still night, before you can step out again into the hustle and bustle of the busy roads.

View From My Window: London at Night

It’s nice to have an odd wander around London every now and then to see when we’ll end up, and it’s always nice to find a different view. This is a random view of some docks and the River Thames, against the Shard and the Tower London, which all look glowy and surreal at night – loved how the neon lights looked against this backdrop.

Journal Your Ramadan – Day #14: N is for Night

Night-time is becomes a busy time in our household – as the sun sets the kitchen bustles with ovens warming up food, glasses clinking and plates being set out with food; and the lights slowly pop on all over the house as the blanket of night creeps over. (And occasionally I’ll creep out into the garden and whisper ‘I AM THE NIGHT’ as well before the husband shakes his head and drags me back in again.)

I took these photos today to show the view outside my window, it’s difficult to take pictures at night because they seem a little blurry but also surprisingly, the pictures came out a bright blue compared to the dark outside.

So here’s a peek of the clear sky, I tried to looking for the moon but didn’t have much luck, but I’ll keep trying – until then, it’s evening time so back to stuffing my face!

Cable Cars over River Thames

This weekend we took some of my nieces and nephews out to ride on the Emirates Air Line, which have cable cars flying across the River Thames from Greenwich to the Royal Docks. We got there at the perfect time, the sun set while we were in the cable car, and by the time we got to the other side, it was already dark.

The kids had great fun in the car (my toddler niece was fascinated by the view and was the quietest I’ve ever seen her!), and we took plenty of pictures and selfies from our height. It was pretty amazing seeing the o2 Dome, the River Thames and all the boats, and also the bright lights and motorways around which added to the view.

If you’re ever around this area I’d recommend a visit, it’s cheap and doesn’t take long, and it’s a great way to travel across the river!

Reflected Buildings

So I was walking across a bridge near my workplace while the sun was setting, and thought I’d take a quick snap of the way the buildings on one side of the bridge was reflected on the glass panes of the bridge. I like the end effect of this photograph, the buildings and colours were reflected so that it looked like some weird alternate reality colliding with another one (although I would have preferred a space-ship or two as well in the background!)

So although this is an everyday image that I walk past nearly every day, here’s a different twist on it. May you ever look at your world-view in a different way each time you look at it (and happy Monday!)

Also part of this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflections

Street Memories of a Past Era

I love seeing the layers of history in the streets of London today – the Roman roads, the posters which go all the way back to the ’60s and the culture of the 90’s, 00s and of course today’s technology which is also very visible.

This is an old poster seen in London on a walk around the Embankment area, which from one of the World Wars (I assume World War 2 but I could be wrong) and it’s one which has an air of nostalgia around it, despite the fact that hundreds of people walk past it everyday and probably don’t take a lot of notice of it.

It’s interesting to see old-fashioned posters like these, especially because there’s not many of them around anymore, and I think they’re a valuable part of the streets today – they may not be paid much attention to but they make up our history and the richness of the streets.

Also part of this week’s Weekly Challenge: Abandoned

City Dreams from a distance

Sometimes I enjoy being in a congested, crowded place to work in and live in, if only because of the beautiful night lights I see on the way home. There’s unexpected moments where I stop to appreciate the beautiful little things, the hidden street art, the pretty lanterns, the beautiful skies.

This is something I saw when I peeked out of my window at work about three minutes before putting my coat on to go home – the lights looks lovely, the sky was a wash of colours and there’s something dreamy about the city skyline in the background, especially with the string of coloured lights. I go past these lights every day (they change colour, that’s why one is green!) and have always wanted to get a decent picture of the lights, and have never quite managed to. Today I got a lucky shot which I was quite happy with, although no doubt I’ll keep trying to take better shots!

Big Ben Behind the Big Wheel

This is a lucky photography I took this weekend while wandering around Waterloo area – two iconic London landmarks merged together in one view.

I’d like to play around with colours and make some ‘Pop Art’ style montages with this image, although what would really make this picture more London-y would be a big red double decker bus in the corner (for now I’ll have to settle with the train going past, London Underground yaay!)

Also part of this week’s Weekly Photography Challenge: Juxtapositions