London Archives - samuelshoesmith.uk

My March 2024

Dear Diary, I am typing this at the end of the first day of April. We are somehow 25.1% of the way through the year of 2024. As per my new tradition, as with each month, so far, January and February, I now do a photo review. As each month passes, I look back which […]

2021-08-31 – Why the abnormal felt so normal

In this podcast I talk about a recent weekend away in London then Brighton. It was one of the first times I have felt normal in a long time, in an environment many would find abnormal. Cycling completely naked!

London and Brighton Naked Bicycle Rides

Every year since 2014, I have cycled in the London part of the World Naked Bike Ride.  This year, like usual, I stripped off and cycled in the capital back on Saturday 8th June 2019 with hundreds and hundreds of other cyclists.  But this year, on the following day I then cycled in the Brighton […]

Watching PMQs

During the first month of any year, I have this feeling that I am not going to do enough. I know exactly where this feeling comes from. For the last handful of years, I have put up a fresh wall planner as we enter the New Year, so being able to see all the crossed […]

Happy New Year 2019!

I often start my Happy New Year post by saying the year just gone has been “great”, “special” or even “wonderful”, but 2018 has been marked by a devastating loss and it has overshadowed the good times. However, these good times do need to be revisited as now is the time to reflect on the […]

Anti-Trump protest

I wanted to share some photos on here. On Friday 13th July 2018, I attended the anti-Trump protest in London. As well as this sharing of my photos on my website, I felt compelled to write about it and I am not entirely sure why. As per usual, I cycled from my home to Wellingborough […]

London Gay Pride 2017

This was my third time at London Pride, where I watched the parade and absorbed the atmosphere. It is a wonderful event. I think it is the ambience and the sprawling crowds. One is free to be how they want to be, to wear what want to wear and celebrate who they are. Wider society […]

Protest, crawl and ppaaarrttayy

I had a bloody good time. On Saturday 11th February I was scheduled to work and did everything I could to get the day off. I managed it. The week before I had met up with Tom who had said about the idea of doing a Spoons bar crawl. That Saturday was also the day […]

Two cities

I meant to write this last year. Opps. I never got round to it. I went to Paris on my own back on November 21st. The accompanying photo album was waiting on my desktop to be uploaded here along with an article. Then it went to the front of the queue. It was joined by […]

Anti-Trump protest

On Monday 30th January 2017, I took part in the anti-Trump protest in London. It was a demonstration organised within just two days. Thousands of people lined the streets of Whitehall to voice their opinions. This was in response to Trumps executive ordering banning the entry into the US from 7 Muslim majority countries. It […]

No trousers on the tube 2017

Back on Sunday 8th January, I took part in the no trouser on the tube event. It started in New York in 2002. It has continued every year over there and since spread across the world. Each year, around this time, the “no pants subway ride” as it is known in the states occurs. There’d […]

Happy New Year 2017!

Happy New Year everyone! 2016 was a pretty great year for me. A huge thank you to everyone who made it wonderful. Life can be taken so fast so it’s important to grasp it and enjoy it. Live it! Carpe diem. YOLO. I shall make 2017 a special one. The plans on how to do […]

Consecutive weekends and coincidences

I meant to finish and publish this piece soon after the 2nd October.  It is now November 10th.  Ouch.  I kept putting off finishing it and eventually it fell down my to-do list and almost fell off.  Ohhhh.   I thought to myself as I began composing this post over a month ago, that you […]

World Naked Bike Ride 2016

I recently took off my clothes and rode a bicycle around London for my third World Naked Bike Ride. It has now become an annual event and one which I would not miss. The event is a series of protests and one of making statements. It calls on society to reduce its reliance on cars […]

Doing January

The month of January is about to end; the first month of the year of 2016 gone.  How did that happen?  I’ve “done” January. The year of 2015 was very eventful. But I want to make 2016 even more so.  The first month was a relaxed one, but still quite eventful and now I feel […]

Royal Critical Soho

On Friday I got the train down to London. Every so often, East Midlands Trains sends me via email a £10 money off voucher for any journey to or from London St. Pancras so a return was only £9.10.  I decided I wanted to go exploring and do something different so after arriving in London […]

Notting Hill Carnival

On Monday 31st August, I went to Notting Hill.  It was a wonderful atmosphere. I went down with my sister Tiffany and met my friend Giles Gear, who went with his friend Calum Suggett.  We briefly met my sister’s friend Kiara. Finally have I got around to editing together some footage I shot on the […]

Critical Mass, Ride London, and Ben and Jerry’s

On Friday I took part in Critical Mass.  I met Tom at Hyde Park and we cycled to meet his friend, Felix and his friend, Thomas and then onwards to roughly assemble for around 7pm.  At 7.15pm the mass rolled out.  The 1000 odd cyclists that take part in Critical Mass is a spectacle.  Despite […]

Marx, laugh and Brighton

Hello, Recovering from the tail end of a light cold reminded by an intermittent tickling cough, and listening to the rain as it patters down on my bedroom window, here I reflect on a wonderful few days a week ago. On Tuesday 21st I got the train down to London, bicycle in tow.  From St. […]

Critical Pride

Hello there. Oh, I headed down to London last Friday 25th June. I partook in June 2015’s Critical Mass.  If you have stumbled upon this blog, or have somehow missed the plethora of posts from me about it before, Critical Mass is an assemblage of predominantly cyclists which occurs on the last Friday of every […]