Monday miscellany - a little early

(oh DRAT - this was supposed to appear on Monday. I pressed the wrong button, and now everything is out of synch! Never mind, more to come ... later ...)

Love those maps of London! This one is by, and available from, Ollie O'Brien -

It's based on buildings - leaving unbuilt areas white. So you have to use "negative spaces" like parks to find your location, or places you know. (Maps aren't always about getting from here to there.)

The  1900 Golding press that printed suffragettes' handbills - there's a 1900 Wharfdale too; it
printed their posters - both are leaving east London for a new home in Norfolk. Read about the
last days at WF Arber & Co in Spitalfields Life

Another urban nuisance?  - first the foxes, now the deer -

See the pix and read the story here. They're taking advantage of parks and green spaces - and why not?

In the 1890s London had lots of orchards - the fruit was important in feeding the capital -

London still has many sites with fruit trees - including new ones planted by the London Orchard Project -

It seems that some orchards planted in the last decade are being neglected, and the project has stepped in to apply for funding to care for them. To deal with the urban fruit going unharvested, on streets and in gardens, local "scavenging" groups have been formed, often as part of environmentally friendly collectives.

Of course you'd want to know if there's a new orchard near you... My nearest is at Haden Court, planted in 2010 -

Exciting news - London is to have its first Cat Cafe, on Bethnal Green Rd. Food is prepared in an area inaccessible to the cats, that's fine, but I'm not sure about having them walking around on the tables... still, a cat's gotta do what a cat's gotta do, and that includes ignoring human rules.

Cats on the ipad - watch out David Hockney!

Catch the cute video here.