Noticing yesterday that the Naxos girl had vanished from her High Road window, I began to lament the loss of quirky things in our area. 

London's most interesting underpants are long disposed of (unless Nick preserved…

**disclaimer: I work for Londonist**

... and we have a merchandise partner who produces print to order t shirts with various Londony designs, among them place names and postcodes. So I asked them to put up a Bowes Park N22 one. And they did.

The t-shirts are a little pricey as they're print to order, and let it be known that Londonist gets a small commission on sales, but…

The third Haringey-set Rex Tracey novel opens with a dramatic and tragic scene as a young girl plunges in flames to her death from the balcony of Wood Green Shopping City.

Suspicious that it's not the political suicide it's made out to be by police, journalist Tracey gets on the case, digging into her family, discovering a lot about Kurdish, Turkish and Cypriot history…

EnfieldThinks is offering over 250 free courses, classes, talks and workshop out of an empty shop unit off Church Street. There are some good local history sessions coming up in May but also GCSE revision classes, vocational stuff, help on getting into further education and much more. I wrote about it for Londonist today. 

Visit…

I've spent this morning reading up on the history of the Piccadilly Line northern extension in "The Piccadilly Tube: A history of the first 100 years" by Mike Horne. There are some fascinating images included and I've scanned a few to share with you. You can watch the slideshow below or to read the captions that go with the pics have a look at…

Pete and I took the train up there last weekend as we'd heard that it had some garden centres. We were really surprised by the area, Britain's "Horticultural Mile'. I wrote an article with photos about it for Londonist which you can read in full here: http://londonist.com/2014/09/explore-the-greenhouses-and-garden-centres-of-crews-hill.php

But here are some…

This Saturday Londoners are being encouraged to say hello to people in the street and strike up conversations with strangers on Talk To Me Day. 

My experience of our 'hood is that people are very friendly and it's not too unusual to greet folk as you pass them, have a chat with staff and customers in Red Sea or The Step and pass the time of day with a neighbour but if you need an excuse to break the ice with someone new, Saturday…

Haringey have launched an online exhibition that will develop over the next four years exploring what the borough was like during World War I. 

Here's an extract:

"War was declared on 4 August 1914. The impact of what this meant for local people was immediately felt. The mounted King Edward’s Horse Regiment was sent to Alexandra…

Hugh Myddleton, New River local hero and he whose name our shopping street bears, is now a talking statue. 

The crumbling statue of Sir Hugh sits on Islington Green and if you approach him, swipe your phone on a nearby tag and pick up your phone when it rings, he'll talk to you. 

Talking Statues is an initiative of Sing London. …

I'm a big fan of the Gardening Against the Odds awards run by the Conservation Foundation. They celebrate gardens created in hostile or unlikely environments and/or by people struggling against 'the odds'. 

This year they've added a new category, Gardens that make you smile, with nominations welcome from the public. 

I'm not sure where in N22 this is, but an early nomination is for a street where neighbours are giving their multiple wheelie bins a green makeover (photo Sue…

Troubled local news reporter Rex Tracey is back and untangling more mysteries in Haringey, this time arising out of the sudden death of an entire family of Hasidic Jews enjoying a picnic in Finsbury Park.

He might have kept to the reporting had his mate and photographer colleague, Terry, not been been charged with the murder of next door neighbour, the annoying Dr…

Two contrasting ones today!

26 April 1981: Wood Green Shopping City Multistory Car Park looking to Tottenham and Edmonton

By Mike Lidgely

Broomfield Park boating pond, 1910 uploaded by …

I love pubs. I especially love traditional pubs with a strong local community so when I heard that Tottenham locals were attempting a community buy-out of their local, The Antwerp Arms, I was interested to find out more. I've written about the story for Londonist here. I've also pledged to support the buy-out. Not that I've been to the Annie yet but it sounds excellent and if it was my…

After the Community Garden plant sale last weekend we went to see what Wolves Lane Nursery had for our garden. There are tons of plant bargains to be had at present. We got 12 allysum plants for £3.50 (pictured planted up in our yard) and there were lots of different species on sale at the same 'double pack' price.

A couple of their…

Pete found this story and wrote about it on his website: 

In 1933 Mr Norbury, an amateur photographer and chicken keeper, invented the world’s first security camera in London. His invention was largely ignored at the time, only now can we see him as the true father of camera surveillance. …

Jane, a friend of mine with a keen eye for detail, snapped this alarm in the doorway of EBH Electrical at 112 Myddleton Road recently. She told me that SHO is the old telephone code for Shoreditch. 

Look, here's another …

On 28 September, an intrepid group of Londoners set out from Hertford East station to walk the length of the New River Path on the weekend of its 400th anniversary. 

It was a wonderful, friendly group including some Bowes & Bounds locals and London enthusiasts.…

Sharing a message from Thames21's Love The Lea Facebook page. I recommend 'liking' it or having a look at the Love the Lea campaign page. It's shocking how polluted the Lea and its tributaries are. 

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I picked up a copy of A Death at the Palace on Richard's recommendation. It's a murder mystery set around Wood Green. 

The blurb on the back cover tickles me: "Stunning new crime set in the capital's least loved quarter". Which is ironic, as any reader will instantly feel Matt Baylis's love for and deep connection with the area. Our anti-hero, reporter Rex Tracey,…

Found while browsing Flickr, a rather marvellous collection of views of Bounds Green & Bowes Park, uploaded by Janet Smith.

Browse images here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/76267652@N06/sets/72157629245974640/with/6846661116/

Nice postcard of the cottage hospital, including a plan:…