Police and Thieves

Kano - Fightin' The Nation (from London Town)

Tottenham, a day after

The area is still closed and I didn't try to sneak into - anyway, there already are plenty of pics everywhere and actually vandalised shop fronts are not so pleasant to look at, so to speak. I noticed many police vans parked alongside the street but few officers outside. More vans were constantly moving through the junction in Tottenham Hale direction.

So I just took a glance up the blocked High Road which looked absolutely deserted:



One of the burnt police cars:



TV crews:





Also to mention, stickers and tags are already there. London stays London, after all:



Meanwhile, riots are spreading to Enfield and I also heard about the anxiety in Brixton today.

Riot in Tottenham

I heard a police helicopter an hour ago, then opened my Twitter to complain about the noise and found that:

http://yfrog.com/h4yu8gpj
http://yfrog.com/h79y8roj
http://yfrog.com/kjrmmdmj
http://yfrog.com/kfcf8tfj
http://yfrog.com/kjji3jej

(sorry for the lack of original pics, I wasted my chance to become a famous reporter and stayed at home)

First coverage from BBC is also available by this moment (and more).

My first idea about the reason of the riot was obviously that recent Ferry Lane shootup when supposed gangster was shot dead by police (BBC, local Indy).

Earlier anonymous witness told Evening Standard that the man was shot at point blank range pinned to the ground. I don't know if that's true and what exactly happened as there is no official release from Met yet (at least as far as I know) due to internal investigation launched, but anyway most likely that very information has triggered the rioting.

I believe things were not like that especially given the fact on which everybody seems to agree that the man shot first wounding an officer. Also, that place is usually crowded as a huge retail centre is just across the road plus buses to local IKEA stop nearby - so there should have been many people witnessing the operation, and only one stepped out with that version. Still, that information cannot be immediately discharged as total nonsense as the similar thing happened at least once.

So far no reports on wounded or injured people tonight, hope it stays like that.

Spitfire Works and Edgware Road

Today we have stopped by another famous London building yet unknown to us, the Spitfire Works. I won't even bother writing about its history as it speaks for itself:



The building was restored to its current state by architect Terry Farrell, whose offices are now housed inside.

A fantastic Art Deco gem - one side, unfortunately, obscured by scaffolding.



Not only wings on its walls, you can also see easily recognisable Spitfire silhouettes by its roof:





If you liked that, check out this fabulous Art Deco London map.

***

And also I'm going to use this opportunity to show a couple of pics from the other side of Edgware road:

Pics from today's walk

London Hackspace

Popped in to London Hackspace today as they were hosting an open day.



Surprisingly, that felt a bit sad, but in a good sense. Being busy with commercial development for all those years I started to forget that it can also be pure fun and an endless source of pleasure. Those tiny things I do from time to time to explore "grey areas" are definitely not enough.



The place is not only about software (which is actually the most ordinary and probably least interesting bit) - as I got it, technical creativity of all kinds is welcomed. It's good even just to know there are people supporting that and sharing their knowledge.



I'd rather not tell "yes, I'm surely joining" right now as the initial urge will go and usual routine will quickly take over. It's always not enough time, it's always "I don't know what to start with", it's always "Awkward to be a noob when you're an adult" etc. However, I'm thinking.



There are more pics in the dedicated set on Flickr.

Sketching near the Tower bridge