Update - Inside the 50p Building

Checking out the views from the 21st floor

A while back I blogged about one of my favourite London buildings No. 1 Croydon, otherwise known as the 50p Building. It's a one that divides opinion; you either love or hate it.

Well I love it, so when I read that it would be open to the public as part of Open House London I jumped at the chance to get inside and check out the views.

A bit about Open House London; for one weekend each year, Open-City (a not for profit architectural organisation) works with hundreds of buildings across London to see them open their doors to the public for free. A huge range of buildings are open to view; there are contemporary office blocks, London landmarks, private homes, schools, courts, hotels and palaces....the list can be viewed here. Last year i went to a windmill. In Croydon. It can't get more random than that.

So yesterday me and The Boy visited the 50p Building. They had opened up the 21st floor as a viewing gallery and also the location for a consultation on the development of the area around East Croydon Rail station (hopefully I'll blog on that at a later date). It was a perfect day for it - clear and sunny so the views were amazing. You could see as far as Wembley Arch and Canary Wharf. It's at times like this that I wish I had a better camera....

That's Canary Wharf in the distance...honest.

I love this picture too. Suburb-tastic or what?

Looking East from 50p building towards my street.

If you get the chance, get out today and discover a building in your area. Otherwise, get a date in the diary for next years event.

All the tools, but not a clue...yet

My clothes making course has now started and I'm really enjoying it. Having a sewing machine and all other bits and bobs for making clothes is all well and good, but seeing as though I haven't followed a sewing pattern since school (which is, shockingly, 12 years ago now...), I am definitely ripe for a few lessons to get me started.

Our first class was a good introduction and reminder of a lot of things I'd forgotten. It's a mixed ability class and there are 13 of us on the course this semester. The group is a good mix of ages and stages of ability and everyone is keen to get advice from our amazing teacher Sue who's been teaching since the sixties, and entertains us with her tales of the art scene in South London in the '60's (teaching David Bowie, working with Malcolm McLaren, hanging out with the Small Faces and The Who.....)

After the first class I was really excited, and armed with our list of essentials, went to the huge Wimbledon Sewing Machine centre to get my fabric and a pattern. I'd been a bit disheartened by some of the patterns I'd seen (why are they so crap?), but found these which I'm very excited about:

I bought two patterns by Cynthia Rowley at Simplicity; one that I would love to make (the dress on the right), and one I think I have a hope in hell of making (the tunic on the left), and I think it will look great in this lovely leopard print fabric:

So, I'll keep you posted with how I get one- hopefully I'll get a picture of me in the tunic on the blog soon...

The Joy of Charity Shops: Vintage London postcards

Here's a great set of vintage postcards of London that I found in a charity shop near my flat. It's quite amusing to look at the pictures of Piccadilly, Carnaby Street, Oxford Street and the like from the late 1960's.

But the real treat for me - and what made me buy the set - was this one:

It caught my eye, because it looked familiar...i turned it over and saw that it was Croydon's Whitgift shopping centre - just 10 minutes from where I live! I love things like that - not only do they look good, but there's a connection too. Not bad for £2.