A stroll in Pimlico and Chelsea

This weekend we finally had some summer weather and went for a stroll around Pimlico and Chelsea with as usual, my trusty Leica M8, this time with the beautiful 90mm F2.8 lens, which is great for picking out little details that your eyes pick out from the mass of distractions presenting themselves to us every minute of the day.

Here are a number of those things which caught my eye and you can see a few more of them in the slideshow.

Carlos Ulloa of El Blason 25/12/09 RIP

I wrote this post on October 3rd 2009, about yet another lovely lunch spent at our favourite restaurant, with our charming host Carlos Ulloa. Little did we know that he was battling with cancer, which he very sadly succumbed to on Christmas day. He will be sorely missed by everyone who knew him and I leave this post as a tribute to him and the wonderful people who work with him and to his family. Our condolences are with you.

The holidays now far behind us, it was off to the Kings Road for a walk and some window shopping, followed by a long lunch at our favourite haunt, El Blason a Spanish restaurant just off the Kings Road in Blacklands Terrace.

What makes it special, apart from the welcome, carpeting, panelling and well spaced tables, great food from a tapas snack to a full blown three course meal, a terrific wine list, plus brandies, vintage rums and much else is Carlos the owner, shown above on a previous visit and his team who make every visit memorable.

Today we had Jabugo ham, a wonderful paella, "Tocino de cielo" (Toucinho do céu) a sweet that is both Spanish and Portuguese, then espresso's accompanied by delicious Cardenal Mendoza brandy from Jerez. A great way to end the week and start the weekend.

Weekend in Chelsea with my Leica M8

I had my camera with me last weekend and snapped at various things which caught my eye: a purposeful pigeon.

A flower head on the pavement

A quirky scene of someone washing down the road with some interested spectators which I show in black & white and then colour with a different cropping.

Finally what I think is a wonderful bit of natural art, formed by a damp patch/puddle that thinks it's a poodle!! with a giraffe's head.

As usual I would value your comments.

Strange goings on @ the Estorick Collection

For some reason I keep coming back to the elements of this picture: a room at the Estorick Collection, a small museum in Islington and two girls I photographed in the King's Road Chelsea.
This time what emerged was a Dali-esque confrontation of the two girls with themselves, perhaps triggered by the flying picture which may absorb their image/souls?