Notting Hill Carnival is back again this weekend!
The carnival runs every August bank holiday and is mass of colourful costumes and hundreds of Caribbean food stalls and wonderful floats. The carnival pretty much takes over west London for the weekend and is used by most people as a good excuse to get pretty drunk and generally have a good time. You can find out more about the event on the Notting Hill Carnival website.
This year the festival is starting with a steel band competition on the Saturday and a kids …

It’s that time of year again, when Mr Cloud Man doesn’t know if it’s summer or winter, rain or shine. This can be pretty depressing when you’re cooped up in work, battling traffic during the daily commute, or sitting indoors at night as the wind howls against your window.
However, never fear, as we haven’t given up yet! There are plenty of things to keep us cheery round about this time of year. The city is your oyster, and London in particular is hardy and resilient against all the weather the …

As a hobby photographer, I did a little research recently into photography courses in London. There are loads of courses available out there, from lots of different institutions and colleges. Choosing a photography course to take in London is a little bit like saying ‘how long is a piece of string’!
With literally hundreds of courses on offer and lots of places to take courses, I think choosing the right course boils down to your requirements and aims in terms of what you want to get out of it. Also, this …

Oooh I’m so excited! I’ve been wanting to go a Secret Cinema event for a long time now but haven’t quite got my act together.. just to fill you in, Secret Cinema is a group of genius individuals who create screenings of popular cult films in the theme of the film itself. The main draw is the mystique surrounding the events - each month a film, which is kept secret until the very last minute, is screened in an undisclosed location. You are given a few cryptic clues such as …

Red Bull X-Fighters is coming back to London on the 14th of August!
X-Fighters is the world’s biggest Freestyle Motocross (FMX) tournament as is coming to Battersea power station as part of the UK leg of the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour 2010.
After the huge demand for tickets and success of last year’s event, the London leg of the series will now be held in front of a huge 28,000 crowd, giving more fans the chance to experience a night of electrifying, high-octane action. Those with tickets will not only be able to …

Boris recently unveiled the new Barclays cycle hire scheme in London you can find out all the info you need about how to hire a bike and how the scheme works on the tfl website.
Tfl have also made a cool video explaining how the scheme works which answered most of my questions give it a watch below:

All the illustrations for the new cycle hire scheme are really cool and seem pretty geared to making new cyclists understand road safety:

I haven’t tried the scheme out yet but will do just to …

We were recently asked to take a look at an ebook from London Cyclist called ‘25 London Cycle Routes’, which unsurprisingly is a list of 25 cycling trips in London. The book costs around seven pounds - which is really decent considering you get lots of ideas for trips out on your bike. So even if you only go on one or two rides then you are getting your monies worth.
If you think of it in terms of pub items it roughly works out at two drinks and will no …

Hiccup….. I am sitting down to write this one gin cocktail, a bottle of red wine and a rather hairy cycle home later after a most excellent night at Volupte lounge. Having been invited for a free meal courtesy of the lovely little supper club, luke and myself head down after work, tired and slightly scruffy, and in need of cheering up after a long day.
Volupte lounge certainly does that. It’s the third time we’ve been here now and it never fails to please. After several cocktails in the …