The Knights in White Denim Tour -AKA The White Trash Tour…
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My parents habitually head through to Kendal on a Saturday for the weekly shop and market. It's a small, old town, famous for Kendal Mint Cake, which is the traditional fuel of British mountaineering expeditions; Catherine Parr, who outlived Henry VIII, and worked her way through four husbands; and Alfred Wainwright, who lived there for many years and wrote a series of guides to the Lake District Hills.
This is Farrer's Tea and Coffee Merchants. I've got a feeling that the building is three or four hundred years old.
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At Oxenholme Station on the way back to London.
It commemorates the shooting of PC George William Russell by a suspect, who later shot himself.
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Back in Cumbria for a minute, this is Hazelslack Tower, a medieval peel tower. It's believed to have been built in the fourteenth century, and derelict since the seventeenth.
The border between England and Scotland was bandit country in the Middle Ages and Tudor period, with raiders, known as Border Reivers engaging in cattle rustling and worse. To give you a flavour, two words that originated during that time were blackmail and bereaved.
There are a number of these towers along both sides of the border. There are four or five within a few miles of this one.
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This is Farringdon Street in London, which follows the course of the old River Fleet. It is the most famous of the city's lost rivers.
By the middle of the nineteenth century it had degenerated into a fetid ditch.
So the fact that the British press is collectively known as Fleet Street, due to their historic location, is somewhat appropriate.
This is a shot of St. Paul's Cathedral from the end of Fleet Street.
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I went out to look at watches today. Giles is keen on the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, and I found a suitable version for the Knights in White Denim.
(TWSH-06, IH-634S-WH, Gieves and Hawkes Admiral Coat.)
I need to get saving.
A few random shots of London. A carved owl in Liberty's.
Centre Point at the end of Oxford Street. The Portacabins you can see at the end of the road are to do with the Crossrail project, and a whole block has been levelled to make way for a new station. It's a huge infrastructure project to build an east-west line across London.
One Hyde Park in Knightsbridge. This is some of the most expensive real estate in the world, and mostly sold to Russian oligarchs and Arab sheikhs as far as I can tell. That seems to be who's buying most of the superprime properties in London.
And for Seul…
Or if he prefers a huge lump of chocolate. Well, he is Belgian after all…
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Yesterday was Alex Thomson's homecoming, and being a miserable February I decided that a trip to sunny Gosvegas was in order.
The train from London runs out of railway at Portsmouth Harbour. Just outside is this old ship.
I took the ferry across the harbour, and caught the tail-end of the Parade of Sail.
Welcome to Gosport.
Skaters aren't popular there, though.
The Gosport navy? A World War 2 motor torpedo boat. These used to be really popular in boys' comics in the seventies, along with the German E-boats.
I arrived at the pier at about the same time that Alex did. Giles and Paula were already there.
At that point we decided that the pub was the better option. Some of Giles friends run Hardy's, which I suspect will be the official hostelry of the Chain Stitch Massacre, and we found Simon lurking in the bar. (Sensible man.)
Hardy's was the venue for Alex's celebratory shindig. I spent much of the time chatting to Giles and his friends, as Paula had been roped into serving behind the bar. Got a chance to shake Alex's hand and say well done, but he spent much of the time circulating. He's very good at working the room.
Oh, I found out that one of the possible new office locations could have military guards. Which, as I pointed out, would have guns. I think they'd be the real 21 oz Army…
On the way back, I saw this sign. I think that it's necessary given the prevalent conditions in Gosport...
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Kung Hei Fat Choi!
At least, thats's what the banners in the centre of London read today. Being the Chinese New Year there were some festivities going on. Unfortunately being the middle of the English winter, it was damp and miserable.
And, of course, there were a few dragons about…
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More shots of London, including Piccadilly Circus. It's become a byword for somewhere being busy, but it's relatively quiet in this shot.
Brick Lane.
This is the John Lobb shop, and they make some of the finest boots and shoes in the world. If you want a pair they start at about £3000, plus VAT, and will take eight months to arrive.
I like the Battle Boots. Unfortunately I don't like the price.
Carreducker are a new bespoke shoemaker. They're a bit more avant garde than Lobbs, but that isn't really difficult. This pair of boots has been tattooed, and, especially for Chris, has a Commando sole.
And this is the sort of experiment you hope they don't get wrong…
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Yeah, but you won't like the price…
The boots themselves are £3,600.
Then you need another £930 for the boot trees.
And then another £170 for the embroidered shoe bags.
So that'll be £4,700 in total. If you live in the EU then there'll be a further 20% in VAT on top of that taking them to £5,600. Those with medical conditions that require orthopedic shoes or live in the Colonies will avoid that.
However, you'll probably get thirty odd years use out of the boots before they bite the dust.
I actually rather like these boots by Scheer, the John Lobb of Vienna. I suspect that they'd be somewhat cheaper than the Battle Boots.
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you would hope if last more than 30 years. I know they were pricey but didn't think was that much
i have a customer that inherited 8 pairs of Lobbs from his father when he passed [he is now in his 50s] send them all back to get re- lasted and resoled. every pair still going strong and looks stunning.
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Graeme incredible leg. thank you for your contribution.
i would like to make a request for more pics of the denim. really curious to see what they look like at this stage of the game.
thanks again
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Agree with Monday, great leg Graeme. I've enjoyed seeing London, our shared home, from a different perspective.
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You've done the Whites proud Graeme, great leg/ updates.
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I've been knocked down by a nasty cold that's been doing the rounds here in London, so haven't been up to much. However, I did receive my entry for the HWDC.
They're a pair of the Eight-G stupidly heavy 28 or 30 oz jeans (depending on who you ask). They're not as nice as the Whites, and don't seem as well finished. If Iron Heart are engineered, these are bashed out in a Brunellian fashion.
In the eternal battle between legs and shuttle-loomed fabric I fear that there will be only one winner. Anyone willing to offer a wager on my legs?
I hold Megatron entirely responsible. Something about wanting to see the EightGs in the Contest…
Suddenly these seem a much better idea.
