Living the high life

No doubt you've noticed recent blog posts have been punctuated by periods of inactivity. A combination of a heavy workload and a routine home life are conspiring to keep me offline. I'm either too weary to craft something inspiring, or life has been so predictable that chronicling it could send you to sleep in seconds. However, there have been a few moment worth compiling in a brief potpourri post.

Olympic Countdown
A couple of weeks ago my company hosted an event at the Paramount Club in central London. This is truly a stunning venue that opened in late 2008. It's a private members club located on Level 31 of Centrepoint, a controversial high-rise building in Soho. Centrepoint was built in 1966 and rises to a height of 117 metres, or 32 floors. It was one of the city's first skyscrapers and very nearly became its last. At the time it violated every conceivable height restriction imposed by the City of London, creating massive public outcry. As a result, no other buildings of similar height were ever built in the area and so it offers unrivalled views across London in every direction.

Everyone at the event commented on the view and spent the evening identifying popular London locations in the dark; the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye, Wembley Stadium, Buckingham Palace and so on. However, it was the Olympic Countdown clock wrapped around the top of BT Tower that caught my eye. It was unveiled on October 31 last year to mark 1000 days until the opening ceremony of the 2010 Summer Olympic Games.


Within a few years this view will be surpassed by that from the rapidly rising Shard of Glass, a new skyscraper being built over London Bridge station. When completed in 2012 The Shard will rise 310 metres above the Thames and briefly hold the tile of Europe's tallest building. It's a stunning trianglar design created by world-renown architect, Renzo Piano. He's the genius behind Paris' famous Pompidou centre and Aurora Place in Sydney. The Shard will have 72 floors, including a public observation deck at the top of the building's stunning glass apex. I've read that the concrete core currently under construction rises an incredible three metres every day.

Garry remains employed
Garry's contract has been renewed until June. We'll both be gainfully employed until Summer. I'm currently holding down two jobs at the moment; my regular day job as well as interim manager of UK business. We're actively searching for a suitable replacement so I'm hopeful life will return to normal fairly soon. One job is quite enough.

Wining and dining
We've both been out wining and dining in recent weeks. My CEO was in town last week, which offered the perfect opportunity to enjoy a few of my favourite London venues; Roka and Balans. Garry and I have also caught up with friends for lunch and drinks, again enjoying a few of our favourite restaurants; Boheme Kitchen and Balans (again!). We even tried our local Indian restaurant for the first time in four years. It's been fun going into the city as our frequent travel last year often kept us away from Central London.

Country Living
Finally, a group of us have combined resources and booked an Elizabethan Manor House near Bath for a long weekend in February. We'll be celebrating a friend's 40th birthday in style, relaxing on deep leather sofas in front of roaring log fire. Garry did some phenomenal research, tracking down this stone home built in 1604, then negotiating a deal far below the website sticker price. We've already spotted a suit of armour in website images!


And finally, our neighbourhood fox is in good health. We've seen him several times in recent days enjoying the warmer weather (that means, temperatures above zero). I still marvel at the fact we have such an animal in our yard.

The Big Freeze

Nasa's Terra satellite took this image of the UK earlier today.

Britain continues to shiver under the coldest winter in three decades. Parts of Scotland will endure an overnight low of -18°C, while we'll enjoy a relatively balmy -4°C in London. We've had the central heating burning all day as we strive to keep the cold at bay. No doubt we're contributing to the nation's record gas use. Earlier today the National Grid issued its second gas alert in three days as demand was forecast to set a new daily record of 454m cubic metres. The current record of 449m cubic metres was set on 7 January 2003.


This morning we gingerly shuffled to work after waking to an inch of ice covering local roads and pavements. Yesterday's melting snow had frozen solid overnight, while two inches of snow cover lay undisturbed in every yard. You can see the view of our backyard above. The snow is still there this evening with more light falls forecast later tonight. Incredibly Garry and I spotted the neighbourhood fox sitting in the middle of our snow-bound yard this evening. He seemed oblivious to his surrounding and clearly had no issue planting his furry butt in its icy midst.


A snow-bound colleague at work sent the scene above from her garden. You can see the 15cms of ground cover now lying across the Western fringes of London and the Home Counties. The mercury's not the only thing plunging to new lows. Last night the UK Pound hit a 25-year low against the Australian dollar. Tonight one pound is worth A$1.71.

UPDATE: January 8
The National Grid confirmed that gas consumption hit a record 454 million cubic metres between 6am yesterday and 6am this morning.

Why gulls live on our chimney pots

The Clean Air Acts of 1956 and 1968 allowed London boroughs to establish smoke control zones. Almost overnight it became an offence within such areas to burn fuel which generated “dark smoke” – and yes – the law clearly defines a shade of grey that constitutes dark smoke. These Acts all but banned the use of traditional domestic fireplaces burning wood and coal. As a result, most domestic fireplaces have become purely ornamental or a home for inherently smokeless gas and electric heating systems.

These laws were introduced in response to the heavy, unhealthy smogs that once made headlines. The worse of them all was The Great Smog of 1952. A five-day period in early December of that year saw London smothered by a thick yellow-grey cloud, much of it generated by dirty domestic coal fires. Visibility across the city was reduced to a few yards making driving difficult or impossible. Public transport ground to a halt. The smog even seeped indoors, causing concerts and movie screening to be cancelled.

The Great Smog also demonstrated a powerful, but deadly, relationship between pollution and public health. As sulphur dioxide and smoke particles peaked (up to seven times higher than normal), so did the number of deaths. By the time the air cleared, at least 4000 premature deaths had been attributed to the Great Smog. More recent research suggests that correct figure may have been closer to 12,000.

The Clean Air Acts have proved incredibly effective. London’s air is remarkably clear for a city of seven million people. The city’s many dormant chimney pots have also become popular nesting spots. Our own home at Swiss Cottage hosts an annual gull nest atop our main chimney stack. This week we spotted the first of this year’s brood attempting to fly the nest.

As happened last year, the young gull became stranded on a window sill part way down our building where it remains for several days. We last saw it striding around the neighbour’s yard on Thursday evening. It was gone by Friday. I wonder if our local fox had a tasty meal overnight?

UPDATE - July 27
Sunday evening we saw an young gull on the neighbour's roof ridge. Shortly after we also saw our fox run by with a large garbage bag in his mouth. It would seem that our baby gull has survived its flying lessons and our fox isn't going hungry.

The fox

Our neighbourhood fox gave a rare daytime sighting today. For much of winter we've only seen him scurrying down the neighbour's driveway at dusk or briefly bathed in late-night street light. However, as Garry glanced out of our window this morning, he spotted the local fox boldly sunning himself on ivy that covers our back fence. It seems everyone is making the most of our warmer weather.

Summer fox

The fox first spotted in our neighbour's yard two weeks ago has become a permenant resident. We've sighted it stretched out in the sun on several occasions since. On Friday evening as Garry and I walked to the corner store our furry friend even ran across the road a mere ten metres in front of us. It was quite a sight to see a fox in full stride. I was equally mesmerised by the way it slipped effortlessly over a low brick wall and disappeared through a gap in a nearby hedge.

Urban Foxes: Part II

The most astonishing thing happened today. This morning I looked out of our window and saw not one, but two, foxes frolicking in our neighbour's backyard. Barely a week ago I wrote a post about urban foxes in London, noting that Garry had seen them in the same yard. I'd never seen one in 2.5 years until now.

I told Garry this evening about my fox sighting. As I spoke, I glanced out of the window. Incredibly, as if on cue, a fox trotted from the shadows and sat in the middle of the neighbour's lawn. That's him in the photo above. We watched, mesmerized, for minutes as our furry (and slightly mangy) friend gave himself a jolly good scratch and wandered out of view. Garry says he's only seen them at night, never in broad daylight. A magic moment for both of us.

Urban foxes

Several weeks ago while walking at dawn I encountered a red fox in the driveway of a house in Swiss Cottage. I'm not sure who was more surprised - me or the fox. This was last animal I expected to see in the heart of London. However, given that I spotted it on property bordering Primrose Hill, I imagine it lives in the surrounding parkland. Garry says he's also seen foxes in our neighbour's yard.

Urban foxes are apparently increasingly common. As scavengers they've adapted well to city life. National Geographic reports that up to 10,000 live in London, or 16 for every square mile of the city. Incredibly one such animal was recently found sleeping in the Houses of Parliament, while others have raided the gardens of Buckingham Palace. It seems my local friend has plenty of companions.

(PS: The photo in this post isn't mine. It was taken by an English couple called Lindy and David who've been sailing around the world. It seems that despite their global adventures urban foxes fascinate them as much as myself).