Spotted on our recent trip to London the Super Yacht AVIVA III moored up at Georges Stairs next to Butlers Wharf a favoured location of mine, and with Tower Bridge in the background.

This very impressive looking super yacht was apparently built in 2007 (according to Wikipedia) and is 70m long and can accomodate 16 guests and 20 crew across her 6 decks.

The yacht apparently is owner by a part owner of MB plc who also own Browns Brasserie which happens to be on Butlers Wharf, wonder if he popped in for dinner?

Please read the synopsis below and click on the links to see more and book.

Twitter for Business click here

You may already be on Twitter or you may be thinking about it.  Whichever applies to you, going back to basics allows you to learn and apply the best techniques to grow your audience and your business online.  I’ll also show you some common mistakes and how to avoid them!

We will explore the purpose of Twitter and where it fits not only within social media but also within a wider marketing strategy. We will be looking at Facebook, LinkedIn and other sites, how they interlink and what drives traffic.

Click here for more info or to book.

Solicitors and Social Media how to get it right click here

You will have read in the Gazette and elsewhere that more and more solicitors are developing followings online. This session, run by former corporate commercial solicitor James Barisic, will guide you through the basics of social media, looking at Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn – and show you how to get the most out of it.

Click here for more info or to book.

Both events are at the St Giles Hotel in Bedford Avenue, London.

• Imperial War Museum Duxford opened 1976 – I visited this as a school boy.
• HMS Belfast became a branch of the museum in 1978 – ditto
• The Cabinet War Rooms opened in 1984 – well worth a visit, you can even have a sleep over.
• Imperial War Museum North opened in 2002 – never been, have you?

The museum’s mission is; ‘to enable people to have an informed understanding of modern war and its impact on individuals and society. I visited the Lambeth site in early June 2010 and for me the highlight was the atrium, a massive panorama of some of the machines of war, the video below is from my visit and surely coves the size and number of exhibits you can get ‘hands on’ with.

Exhibits which you can see on the video include: ‘Devil’ a Mark V World War 1 tank; ‘Ole Bill’ a B-type bus used to transport troops to and from the front in World War 1, a V-2 and Polaris missile, and a Grant tank used by Montgomery and Sherman Tank from World War 2.

Suspended aircraft (partially obscured) include a Sopwith Camel, Heinkel He 162 and a Supermarine Spitfire which flew in the Battle of Britain.

So go on pay it a visit you won’t be dissapointed.

Even though I made a stop at the champagne bar (worth a visit for sure!) I was interested also to find the London 2012 Olympics shop that the mayor Boris Johnson had recently opened.

It’s only a couple of years to the Olympic games start but this hasn’t stopped the organising committee started the push of t shirt, toys, the mascots – Wenlock and Mandeville (!) as well as the usual souvenirs, mugs, pin badges there are some nice London taxis it has to be said…

So that’s the London 2012 shop, apparently the only place currently to buy the Olympic souvenirs, although I am sure there will be more opening as we get closer to the opening ceremony. Until then if you are near St Pancras why not have a look for yourself?

I was lucky enough to be there and a very mild day and recorded this on my Flip Video Ultra High Definition Camcorderand uploaded the vid on YouTube so have a look and do let me know what you think.

The flypast order was as follows;

• Spitfire
• Hurricane
• Typhoon
• Tornado F3
• Typhoon
• VC10
• Tristar
• Tornado GR4
• Sentinel
• HS125
• Nimrod R1
• Tornado GR4
• E3D
• Hawk T1 flown by the Red Arrows – as always awesome….

Subscribe to my YouTube channel here.

For information the flypast forms a holding pattern over the sea East of Southwold, with the slower flying Battle of Britain Memorial Flight holding North of Cambridge. The main formation routes to Buckingham Palace via Colchester, with the BBMF joining the main route at the outskirts of Northeast London. The now combined formation will overfly the Palace at 1 o’clock, before exiting via RAF Northolt and RAF Halton before finally dispersing over RAF Brize Norton.

The pictures that were chosen can be seen on my Flickr photostream here;

Saatchi Gallery, Paddington and London Heathrow Airport

The Schmap London Guide comes with dynamic London maps, useful links, playable tours, top picks, plus photos and reviews for hundreds of London hotels, restaurants, bars, sights and attractions, London shops, cinemas, theaters, museums… It’s FREE to download, get your copy here.

If you use an iPhone or iPod touch, then these links will take you directly to the photos in the iPhone version of the Schmap London guide. On a desktop computer, you can still see exactly how the photos are displayed and my credit in the iPhone version of the guide at:

Saatchi Gallery, Paddington and London Heathrow Airport

So get yourself a Flickr account, take some good and vaired photos and see where that takes you….

My Flickr photostream can be seen here, please connect with me and comment i would love to see your images.

My Fotolia photostream has some more commercial images you may be interested in.

When I recently visited the exhibition was ‘The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today’ a collection of stunning modern art pieces beautifully presented in the gallery spaces. Take the Binidis on painted board aside here a piece that is massive in size and this very size draws you in and left me with a curious questioning while at the same time impression.

Then you move onto Huma Mulji Arabian Delight 2008, a camel being stuffed into a suitcase. Whose very art explores the idea of displacement, the rather crazed manner in which the camel is seemingly forced into the suitcase is a humorous comment on ‘Arabisation’ by the artist.

And so the gallery went on throwing images to tease and make you smile, as well as question. My favourite though is Hungry Dogs Eat Dirty Pudding by Bharti Kher, it simply is a household hoover covered by loud animal skins which give a very surreal look to an everyday object.

As for the Gallery well it also has a very popular online arm which can be found at SaatchiGallery.com this provides a place where art can be seen talked about and sold for free. And according to Alexa is now the worlds largest Art Gallery website.

Duke of York Square Food Market adjacent and worth a visit also (here on my blog) – why not visit both?

Each time I have seen maybe 40 or 50 different food producers, everything from small 1 person outfits to larger maybe family businesses.

View Larger Map
The market was started by the adjacent food store Partridges in 2005 and I think is a great way to spend a Saturday morning, when you have finished have a coffee or pop into the Saatchi Gallery, you are a ‘stone’s throw’ from Sloane Square also.

Well firstly they say it covers 20 acres and i would have to agree it is rather large and i can imagine on the run up to Christmas it will be rather busy, as to what is you or your family can do well;

Childrens themed area with rides and train – i thought this was great, all the rides were 2 tokens and the staff friendly and approachable, and around this specific area was a Santa Steam train waiting for Santa’s grotto.

Central Londons largest ice rink – and it is massive, i dont ice skate, but if you do i dont think you’ll be dissapointed.

Various rides – bit of an ambiguous one this i know but there really is a whole varity of rides from a Power Tower to a Roller Coaster.

A great German Market – yes Christmas in the UK just doesnt seem right without the German Market, i wonder if in Germany they have an English Market?

A giant ferris wheel - now if you like Big Wheel’s this will please you, unfortunately when i was there it was wet and horrible so the viewing opportunity was poor.

And a Christmas Circus – i’m not one for a circus but i am told this is very good, and the big top is heated!

Tickets are sold as tokens from special booths at £1 each, and the rides are simply x tokens each, the kids rides seem to be 2 tokens and the adults a various amount more. Do bear in mind also the tokens are only valid on the day of purchase so if your planning on a long weekend with a couple of visits you have been warned.

a wet Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park

Father Christmas in Hyde Park

Finally on the subject of prices i should mention the Big Wheel, Circus and Ice Rink are all priced outside of the tokens so you may need to book, and more info can be found here.

Is it worth a visit, well yes i think it is, even in the rain we all had a good time.

Hello there! If you are new here why not subscribe to my RSS feed for updates on this and other topics.

Harrods was founded in 1834 by a Mr Charles Henry Harrod and like most businesses of the time started small selling grocery, perfumes and some stationary. Today some 175 years later Harrods has grown to arguably the world’s best luxury store found and is located in Knightsbridge London.

Egyptian Escalators in Harrods

If you visit now for Christmas there are many great seasonal items and selections in their variety of Food Hampers. Prices for these are from x to y the most expensive has a b c in it, everything you will need according to Harrods that is.

Don’t forget they also have a great website (http://www.harrods.co.uk) from which you can buy individually biscuits, jam, coffee etc and the Harrods online experience is one I would recommend.

So why not vote now for Harrods in the Best Gourmet Grocer/Food Hall Category, the winners are announced at the end of November?

Each of finalists for the Readers’ Choice for the Best Gourmet Grocer/Food Hall is a leader in the industry. One started out with a small store in Texas and today, it has more than 270 stores in North America and the United Kingdom. An Ohio-based nominee that is family-owned and operated is recognized for its great food and service. Two nominees are New York institutions offering gourmet foods from around the world. Last, but not least, there’s an opulent Food Hall in London that is known worldwide for the sheer volume and selection of its international goods all presented in breathtaking displays.