My London Olympic Games 2012 - continued

Waking up to sunny Sunday, I felt full of energy that I just wanted to put on my skates and go out exploring some local venues. First friend I called actually had exactly the same idea and so we met up on skates and set off on our adventure...

Starting at the Royal Albert Hall, I fell in love with these graphics. So simple yet describing the disciplines so clearly.

There I decided that these figures would be the focus of the day.



As we were passing through Hyde Park, I spotted this image of a cyclist and the iconic 'Boris' bike (named after the London mayor who introduced them to the public) leaning against a wall next to the graphic.

What a fitting image for the cycling olympic discipline that was about to start at the Mall (Buckingham Palace). This is exactly where we were heading...

We got to the Buckingham Palace on time to secure ourselves a great spot to see it all (and hopefully take some great pictures).

It all started so well. Every now and than, bikes would go past to the cheer of the growing audience.

The sun was shining.

The atmosphere was magical.

It is hard to believe (or not since we are in England), that within the space of half an hour, the weather would take such a turn.

To cut the story short, the sky turned from a lovely sunny blue to atmospheric grey. Yes, the rain was coming...

Such scary was the atmosphere that even Queen Victoria frowned and a girl cried.

However, luckily for us, the rain went past reasonably quickly just in time for the race to start. Do you know what 'Sod's law' means? It means that if something can go wrong, it will (usually at the least appropriate time). And that is what happened to me with my camera.

As the race was approaching our spot, my camera decided to misbehave and all I actually captured was this little snipped of the entire peleton.

I kept the picture for you to see showing the few girls in cololur on the left. And our spot was so good...

Well, at least I can say that I was there. If it continues like this my memories will be with a twist. K-)

My London Olympic Games 2012

On the day of the opening of the London Olympic Games 2012 I decided to visit the heart of it all; I decided to visit Stratford, the home to the Olympic Park. Before I set up on my journey, I visited the Czech House located in the Business Design Centre. After all, do not forget, I am Czech and so felt it was my rather pleasant duty to support my team with my presence.

What welcomed me and everybody else was an installation of this double-decker bus by David Cerny placed so well in front of the entrance. We all just stopped and stared with amazement and amusement, observing the workout this fella does day in, day out. Just check out the triceps.

No wonder this red beauty breathes so heavily. To perform push-ups all day long is quite an achievement. Hopefully, this sets up an example to the entire Czech team and good luck to the athletes.

After such an up-lifting start to the day I finally put myself on the underground, destination Stratford. The closer I was getting the more busy the train became. But still, full of pride and surrounded by the excitement of the Olympic Games, I kept on going. I would call this stamina.

I was so much looking forward to the Anish Kapoor sculpture in front of the stadium, to the structures and to the entire Village...

Well, this is as close to it all as I actually got. All I could see were crowds of people (luckily well-natured) and this large poster of the olympic stadium spread over a wall of the Westfield shopping centre with quite an eye-catching decoration. Without a ticket, there was no way to get closer. Oh well, I just have to come back after the Games are over.

After coming home and turning on the TV, I just managed to catch what the English are famous for, the air squadron flying over the Olympic Village, releasing red, blue and white behind. This is always a joy to watch.

What I did not realise (and should have done) was that they would continue over London. And so, all of the sudden, they flew past my windows. Having been taken by a complete surprise, all I managed was to stumble towards the windows only to return to grab my camera, realising that I had a wrong lens on and by the time I sorted myself out the picture looks like this; fading colour smoke over a sunny wall of the building opposite.


All of this happened to me yesterday, on the official opening of the Olympic Games 2012 in London. What a day this turned out to be. K-)

Who are The Tap Tap?

The Tap Tap is a Czeck band I went to see last night here in London. What is worth mentioning (and the reason I am writing about it) is that this band consists of musicians with various disabilities. However, none of these stops them to perform and spread a feel-good atmosphere. The Tap Tap tours across Europe, Amsterdam, Warsaw, Luxembourg to name a few, and I am sure its success will grow.

Lead by an enthusiastic conductor, the band brought me back to my home country with such a strength.

The rhythm, beat, lyrics and the pure joy of entertaining reminded me of my childhood and youth, the years without worries, the years worth remembering.


I have taken a few pictures (deliberately without flash) to share with you.

Here, you can see the main singer (left) whose voice I just loved and who was often joined by a female voice (right; voice that was so strong); the sound grew even stronger by the vocals of the entire band. Also, you can just about work out some of the instruments in this section of the band; various drums. And this is the structure of music that reminded me so much of my childhood. Strong voices, the beat of the drums and the lyrics that would deal with problems of that given time (I grew up in the '80s under communist regime - that is all I have to say).

What else to add? Only that I had a smile glued to my face from the moment The Tap Tap started to play to the time they finished, and beyond. Even now, I sit here with a big smile on my face. And this is what I want on a sunny Sunday morning. Kx

Bauhaus at Barbican

Waking up in the morning, I realised I had no idea what to do today. I managed to do all my Saturday duties earlier this week and suddenly found myself without any plan. Of course I could do my usual, grab the camera and take pictures of half of the park. The only problem is that I have done this so many times before that it is becoming just the 'usual'. And that is something I do not want to happen.

This is why I reached for Crafts magazine I received yesterday and turned straight to the Review pages. And guess what, a plan was created. I read an approving article on the 'Bauhaus: Art as Life' exhibition at the Barbican multi-arts centre. A friend of mine had mentioned this to me already a few weeks earlier and the article reminded me that I actually wanted to see this exhibition. And so I booked a ticket online before noon and some hour later entered Barbican and the 'Bauhaus' show. I have not done anything this spontaneous for a long time. And what a good decision that was.

I am not going to lecture you on Bauhaus, there are more knowledgable figures for this. I can just say that I utterly enjoyed the show. I remembered my study years and wondered how well and if I would fit in Bauhaus. To see shapes simplified into geometric forms, interlacing circles in both 2D and 3D, the more defined use of colour. This exhibition also explores students & teachers relationship and lifestyle as the art form of Bauhaus manifesto. The displayed photographs reveal the life on the campus, the parties, the theatre performances, the costume design...

What started as a school (founded by Walter Gropius) with focus on painting, drawing and craft later turned to mechanical production that was still supported by hands-on approach. The focus on physical exercise and relaxation before the beginning of a lesson to release the mind, the use of play and designing toys to loosen imagination and support creativity and the idea to be self-sufficient as a whole are the key points that appealed to me the most. Bauhaus with its workshops for pottery, weaving, printing, metal, stained-glass, stone-carving and wood sculpture was more than able to design furniture, textiles, stained-glass windows and wood panelling for Adolf Sommerfeld's house in 1920. In the later years, architecture was also introduced to the curriculum and to top it up, a photography workshop was established in 1929.

With all this knowledge, it is no wonder that Bauhaus has left quite a legacy behind. What a shame that the political situation of the 1930's and the pressure from the National Socialists destroyed such well established college.

What a better fitting place to host this exhibition than the Barbican centre. Leaving the building and returning to the station through a tunnel (left), I could not resist but take few pictures. These are on my 'Photo' page so do not forget to click on the link.

Have a great Sunday, enjoyable week and see you next time. Kx

Time to think

You must have noticed that I have missed my weekly post. Yes, indeed, something for me so unheard of happened last week. For the past two weeks I have been recapitulating the achievements of 'kpDeco' after a year (and a bit) and this is why I did not post last week (apart from entries on my 'Updates' and 'Photo' pages).

How interesting to go through this blog, post by post, and compare interests to productivity and speed with which the designs have been produced. 'kpDeco' has been an amazing exercise in terms of self-discovery. Not that I did not know my interests before, but to put them on a time scale of productivity and see the speed with which the outcome is reached is something I actually needed to experience first hand; also by putting it all to an action and making it public.

And so, now that I know more of my strengths and weaknesses, I can focus on the former and eliminate the latter. This is what year two of 'kpDeco' should be all about so let's see what this year brings. There are still some ongoing projects to which I return every now and then (I simply like their idea) but to keep me awake they need to go faster. This makes the crochet projects stand out. Here is 'Spine & Veins & Reflection' and 'Joker' to remind you:

Of course, there is also the 'Photo' page that does not support only the design ideas but also my photo development. This brings me to introducing to you my photo activity on G+. For those who have not visited me there yet, I put there photographs I have captured on the day or the ones that are suitable for the day's theme. So make sure you also visit me on G+ and leave some comments if you please. Thank you, all is appreciated.

This is where it all stands right now; with crochet and photography. However, feel free to leave me your observations and suggestions below. They are more than welcome. Have a great week and see you next time. Kx