More London

I went to London again....this time for work but we also had a day to have a wander before heading home. We wanted to go to BeanoTown. 

Dundee, my home town, was in the past known for the 3 J's - Jute, Jam and Journalism. 

• Jute - once the largest employer in the city, the manufacture of cloth and sacking from fibres grown in the Indian sub-continent. At the height of the city's industrialisation in the 19th century there were over 100 jute mills in the city employing well over 50,000 people, many of them women and children.
• Jam - Dundee was the home of marmalade, a jam made from Seville oranges by the Keiller Family. Keiller's Marmalade, mass produced and distributed around the world.
• Journalism - the only remaining J in Dundee, the home of DC Thomsons, founded in 1905 and still in family ownership. Besides publishing the city's daily newspaper, The Dundee Courier, the company is famous for its comics - the Dandy and The Beano. The Beano is the longest running weekly comic in the world, celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. The comics introduced the world to famous characters such as Dennis the Menace, Minnie the Minx, Desperate Dan and The Bash Street Kids 

As part of the comic's 75th anniversary celebrations, the Southbank Neighbourhood Festival in London has developed BeanoTown, paying homage to the comics of DC Thomson and the pranks and mischeviousness of it's main characters. We stopped by for a little bit of fun.....

The Beano Brand

Bash Street - Home of the Bash Street Kids

Me in my Dennis the Menace Outfit

 The Fan Club Badges that I had in the 1970a - I still have my Gnasher (Dennis' dog) badge somewhere.

We also wandered along the SouthBank where we saw the new urban allotments, another element of the Southbank Festival, where local people are growing a range of vegetables and fruits.

The Millennium Bridge and St Paul's Cathedral

We also managed early morning runs along the Thames, passing the Globe Theatre, Tate Modern, the Houses of Parliament, the Tower of London and over Tower Bridge - inspirational places to run.