Damien Hirst @ Tate Modern

"Life and death are the biggest polar opposites there are. I like love and I like hate...I like all those opposites. On and off. Happy and sad. In an artwork I always try to say something and deny it at the same time" Damien Hirst

A stroll through Bermondsey street

Bermondsey street, once a shabby neighbourhood, full of derelict warehouses and old victorian houses is slowly becoming one of the hip areas of London. It is now home to around 15 restaurants and bars, a new food market under the railway arches, shadowed by the Shard, the tallest building in Western Europe.

Soaking in the sun on Maltby street

Maltby street market - Gourmet food served under the railway arches in Bermondsey

 Best coffee in town, without the Borough market queues

Picturesque wine/flower shop on Bermondsey street

Modern italian food in chic surroundings...prepare to book in advance

 Some of the atmospheric Victorian buildings that could be found in the area

St Mary Magdalen's Church

Gilbert and George's London Pictures at White Cube - comprising 292 pictures based on more than 3000 newspapers' posters they have stolen during the past 6 years

The images are grouped together by stand-out words: Money, Bankers, Tube, Racism and others, a reflection of today's London society

A small tribute to Spitalfields

Since moving to London, I have always been attracted by the East End, and especially by the area around the Spitalfields Market.

Besides the trendiness of the area, the thousands of tourists and Londoners alike that descend here every weekend to explore the markets, there's something truly genuine in the old cobbled streets mixed with new rising skyscrapers, fashionable restaurants and cafes. 

Spitalfields is a living history of generations of immigrants that have settled here in search for a better life and of street trading, with Petticoat Market open for business continuously since 12th century.

For about a year I've been following the stories of the Gentle Author at www.spitalfieldslife.com on a daily basis. So it's no surprise that I was very eager to attend his book launch last night at Christ Church, where not only hundreds of his readers came, but also some of the subjects of his pen-portraits.

Going through his book and rereading some of the stories has prompted me to put together some of my own pictures of Spitalfields and its surrounding areas.

For a genuinely deep insight of the area I can't recommend enough the Spitalfields Life book and blog.

Steaming food at the Sunday Up Market

 The famous beigels on Brick Lane

 Painted door, next to Shoreditch High Street station

Phone break

The interminable cash queues in Spitalfields

Anything from Banksy to funny poems and rhymes posters

The mirror seller

 Sponge hat

Magician in Spitalfields

Spitalfields Life newly released book

Cockney Cash Machine on Commercial Street

You won't believe it but this cash machine will give you some "sausage & mash" instead of cash and will ask for your "huckleberry finn".
I have previously heard that there are a few ATMs around East London that have Cockney as a language option, however I came across this one by chance, one winter afternoon as I was in a hurry to take money out for a lunch at the Rochelle Canteen.
This time however I came prepared with a camera, so here it is....

Saturday afternoon on South Bank

 And you would think London doesn't have beaches...

Foggy morning in St Katherine Docks