Bryn's so called life

What happened to the London paper's gay about town

2011-12-22T20:05:00.000Z

I don't know what started me looking at this today. I was thinking about blogs that I had not seen in a while and wondered about 'gay about town'. Josh Hunt used to write a regular column for the London paper and I was pretty sad to see the column disappear with the paper. Hence for a little while the column continued on the blog 'Gay about town'. The blog had not been updated in over a year, so

Merlin and Arthur respond to the 'love story' question

2011-12-22T11:59:00.003Z

So the new series of Merlin is on TV and I again seem to be getting quite a lot of hits for my post in 2008 which commented on the evolving 'love story'. I thought I would take another look at what was on the internet around this question and found this video on MerlinTVshow.com where the actors respond to a Gay Icon question.

Bryndlewindle on Cupcake Mafia

2011-12-22T11:18:00.000Z

So bizarrely I find myself on the Cupcake mafia tumblr following my trip to Brugge. They spotted the cakes! Am loving the Beyonce soundtrack to this website. I hope that the Cupcake Mafia team have spotted Bath baby cakes and the pics of their amazing cupcakes. B x

School boy stabbed in the neck on Chingford Mount road

2011-12-20T13:59:00.001Z

... and even more now. Apparently a few days ago a schoolboy was stabbed in the neck. You can read all about it again at the Waltham forest guardian.

Leyton: Capworth street attack

2011-12-20T10:39:00.001Z

So after updating the map yesterday I would have hoped (stupidly) that all would go quiet for a few days. Anyway, first thing this morning the Waltham forest guardian reports on a probable stabbing in Leyton. Read more about it here. **Update** It apparently was not a stabbing but an attack with a baseball bat.

What has happened to 'Crap cycling in Waltham forest'?

2011-12-19T22:18:00.001Z

So there was I thinking something was missing in my life when I realised Freewheeler@CrapCycling seems to have disapeared. Can anyone shed any light onto the lack of posts since August. The last post does say that four years have passed since the first post, but there was no goodbye?

Updated Walthamstow violence map

2011-12-19T14:00:00.001Z

So I have been slow at updating this. Sadly there is quite a lot to add. In reverse chronology we have. December 2011 Higham Hill recreation ground stabbing Street fighting outside Walthamstow academy Pensioner gun and drugs find Stabbed for refusing to buy alcohol Hatherly mews attack November Bell corner stabbing Marlowe Road attack October Cedars avenue stabbing Wood street attack St

Update on St Saviour's Markhouse road

2011-12-19T12:10:00.000Z

So this post is a little behind schedule. After my post in 2009 about David Waller there is now have a new vicar Steven Saxby. I am not a regular church goer, but I was impressed a few weeks ago when I heard the bells of the church ringing out in the morning. I hope to hear them again. It would perhaps make this part of E17 feel a bit more 'walthamstow village' though there is some way to go.

Gerde de Jonghe and Hans Memling

2011-12-18T23:20:00.000Z

I had to share both of these. Amid the Christmas shopping we spotted works by both of these artists. Very different though both pretty amazing. The first is Gerde de Jonghe. This bronze (above) was on display in a gallery in Brugge and you can see a further selection on his website. The second is Hans Memling. The hospital museum has a number of hit works however this image is just

Weekend in Brugge

2011-12-18T23:07:00.000Z

So R and I took the eurostar on Friday to Brussels and headed onto Brugge. I have never been to Belgium before and I totally loved it. Hot chocolate at De Proverie, dinner at Spinola, millions of chocolates for all the relatives. All in all a great weekend. So as ever here are a few of my favourite pics from the weekend. See the full set here.

Ordessa national park

2011-12-16T13:02:00.000Z

So I am being very slow at sorting out photos etc. I am off to Belgium today for a spot of christmas shopping and need to make room on the camera for some photos. Anyways here are some of our pics from earlier in the year when we went to Spain (Pyrenees and Donostia). The ordessa national park is amazing and apparently bigger than the grand canyon (without the helicopter rides and zillions of

A leave of absence

2011-09-19T18:31:00.000+01:00

So I have not posted on here for ages. There is no point in a full update but you can see pics of what I have been up to on my flickr account. Alissa and Nick Legroux's wedding Rome for IAS Mull Rashmi's wedding. At the moment I am in a hotel in Biarritz heading back with Ryanair tomorrow. We have been away for the last 7 days and I am not at that point of hankering for a good cup of tea and

Simon Clarke on Vimeo - When it rains

2011-09-19T18:24:00.000+01:00

when it rains from Simon Clarke on Vimeo. So I was just checking out R's cousin's videos that he has put on Vimeo when I came across this. I love Aphex anyway and this just goes with it so well. Had to share. B

Walthamstow - the fire and the smog

2011-04-23T08:19:00.003+01:00

So I woke up this morning, worried that something was burning in the house. Thanks though to the power of twitter I realized that half of Walthamstow was worried about the same thing. There was a huge fire yesterday on Billet road in a tyre factory. Mix that with the still air and all of the smog warnings we have been having and you have an issue. StowScene has some excellent pics of the fire on

Gay Kiss in at the John Snow Pub

2011-04-16T11:29:00.001+01:00

So last night R and I headed to the Kiss in at the John Snow pub. We have been in the lucky position of not having much to complain about (in our lives at least), so the prospect of actually having something to say (without having to leave Soho) was quite exciting. The event was in response to two guys being chucked out of the pub for kissing as reported here. Sadly we arrived at 1915 and

Update - Walthamstow violence

2011-04-16T11:16:00.000+01:00

View Walthamstow violence in a larger map There is a lot to update with regard to this map. Jan Teenager bus death - was he chased? Clay path machete attack Feb Attack on cyclist teenagers held March Roma cafe killing on Lee bridge road Teenager shot on priory court estate Pembroke road stabbing 10 year old wields knife in mugging April Burka woman sought over knife attacks Man stabbed to

Long weekend in Dorset

2011-04-16T10:48:00.000+01:00

So last weekend R and I headed out from London to Dorset. We had an amazing time and fantastic weather. Two days in Beaminster followed by a night in Dorchester. Golden Cap, is one of the highest points on the South Coast. In reality it is not actually that high but the views last weekend were amazing. Here is R posing at the top! R had to spend a day in the graveyard in Swanage with Martin

Favorite pictures from the last few months

2011-04-16T10:33:00.000+01:00

So it has been ages since I posted here. The crime map has fallen behind and we are now quite definitely in spring (I seem to have missed documenting winter). In order to catch up I just wanted to share some of my favorite pictures from the last few months. So these two pictures above are taken in the Pentlands, on a very wintery trip to Edinburgh early this year. Below was a trip a couple of

Greasy spoons - Caffs.co.uk

2011-01-06T12:43:00.001Z

I was in Epping the other day (for the first time). R and I spotted Poppy's and we find it difficult to resist a good greasy spoon despite the new year's resolutions. Poppy's was not bad but I was even more impressed later by twitter. Within a few hours caffs.co.uk had contacted me for details. Yes I know I write this blog and occassionally you do get contacted by people/websites but I was

My top read posts of 2010

2010-12-25T12:30:00.000Z

So this is what people have been reading on my blog this last year. 1. Its all about the Richard Dennen. I know he is awful but people just want to read about him. 2. The London Fields shooting. This may have happened in 2008 but we are still lapping it up! 3. The Merlin and Arthur love story continues to be popular. 4. I think this should be higher but a number of you are looking for the Nic

Markhouse road assault and other shootings

2010-12-25T12:01:00.000Z

So I realise that I have fallen a bit behind with my Walthamstow violence map. What better to do on the 25th of December. Firstly there is the recent Markhouse road assault which Police speculate may be linked to the Michelle Samaweera attack last year. You can read all about it here on the local papers website. Next we have the Hollow Ponds stabbing near Whipps Cross where a man was stabbed 15

Merry Christmas from Kitty

2010-12-25T11:38:00.000Z

So we could not help ourselves in our cheesyness over the last few days. Kitty has had to endure a photo session with various playthings to keep her entertained. Here are a couple of the pics.

Nottingham

2010-12-18T18:32:00.000Z

A couple of weeks ago R and I headed to Nottingham to see my brother and his girlfriend in their new house. Having not really been to Nottingham before we did all of the tourist things. First we went to Nottingham castle. I have to say this museum was particularly unipressive and could not decide whether it was a museum of local history, modern art, textiles etc? Essentially it was a big mish

Bookgroup - All my friends are superheroes

2010-12-18T18:31:00.000Z

So this was our first bookgroup meeting since our summer break and we read 'All my friends are superheroes' by Andrew Kaufman. I think the general opinion was good. I quite liked it though I was pleased how short it was. Essentially all the characters are turned into caricatures in a superhero form. It is quite fun but you would not want too much.

November the 5th in Walthamstow - quite some time ago

2010-12-18T11:34:00.000Z

So I have been busy and neglected the blog yet again. Anyways today I am going to create a quick retrospective of the last month or so. First here are a few pics from Bonfire night in Walthamstow. I was pretty amazed at the amount spent on fireworks given the savings the borough is supposed to be making. Still I really enjoyed it.