Some snaps from last weekend – celebrating Chinese New Year in London. The best pasts were easting dim sum in Camden on Saturday (spicy cucumber; I could eat that forever), then heading to Chinatown on Sunday for the mass throw-down of fun snaps. Bang, bang bang. Xīn nián kuài lè!

This clip of an ant megalopolis blows my mind. An ant colony was pumped full of concrete* for three days, left to set, then excavated. It turns out ants are prolific and thoughtful architects, creating a system of highways and connected hubs – there’s even areas for waste disposal. Visually, it reminds me a little of the city structure in Mission Impossible, because of the way everything is connected. What do you think?

* The colony had been abandoned for a while before pouring began, so please don’t worry about the possibility of cruel concrete encapsulated ant deaths.

See previously: an ant colony living in a scanner.

“Negativity is the enemy to creativity. So if you want more ideas flowing, happiness in the doing, happiness in the doing, happiness in the doing. I love, capital L-O-V-E, building a thing that ultimately has to feel correct before it’s finished, and that feeling correct is like a drug. It’s like a thing that kicks you and makes you feel so good, You almost pass out. You fall off your feet.”

– David Lynch, to Melena Ryzik of the New York Times

I’ve lived in London for nearly 6 months now. It’s starting to feel ‘real’. Some things I have learned:

1. Local natives are rare. I seem to be hanging out with a lot of French kids lately. And Brazilians, Swedes, Dutch, and of course Kiwis.

2. Coffee is not great here, but exceptions can be found. Maps: Allpress, Climpson & Sons, Shoreditch Grind, Brill, Flat White, Monmouth

3. Moving makes all the other smaller decisions about change easier. If it’s not working, start fresh. Job, house, attitude.

4. Always take your A-Z out and about, even to the local pub.

5. Having never encountered it before – IKEA is amazing. You can even drink a beer there, it makes the housewares sparkle.

6. The best way to explore is on foot.

7. Also, there’s no hills, so cycling is far more fun. The downside – no hills means less sticky-outie landmarks, so see point 4.

8. Europe is just a flight or train ride away. Over Easter I’m going to Barcelona with some pals, I can’t wait.

9. Squirrels never fail to amuse.

10. The homesickness does pass. But calling home is still important.

Last weekend Thom and I headed to Maltby Street in SE1. Tucked away from the tourists of Borough, and far from the puppy mêlée at Broadway Market, it has a reputation as a place to make a food pilgrimage. It’s for serious foodies. Of course, that ruled us out as the target market, but we still enjoyed ducking in and out of the railway-arches-cum-food-warehouses.

There was all manner of things to buy: crumbly cheeses, oatcakes, beer made from New Zealand hops, and fresh shellfish – still wriggling about in their polystyrene coffins. My favourite was the Colombian drinking chocolate, shaved from solid bars, and stirred into warm milk. I also really liked the remanents of industry lying about too – stacks of wood, old radiators, and piles of tiles. It was certainly interesting, so if you’re game for a different Saturday morning scene, head south to Maltby Street.

Karangahape Road, Auckland, in 1910. Rendell’s Fashion House, George Court and Sons, Jas Clarkson, the British Photographic Studio and The Frisco Candy Kitchen. There is a car on the road as well as carts and pedestrians with a pram

Don’t you think Frisco Candy Kitchen would be a great name for a K Road bar? Or maybe just a high end chocolate shop, selling salted caramels and stretchy taffy. I miss this place, and I never stop dreaming for it.

Starting the year off right with new inputs and fresh thinking.

Jan 1. A rainstorm on the Thames, a trip to the Tate Modern, spellbound by Tacita Dean’s film work.
Jan 2. The sun came out, street art in Hackney, amusing signs, new cafes on my street to try.
Jan 3. Today will bring a new job, and an unexplored neighbourhood. I can’t wait.

It’s been a big year and my camera(s) have taken a thrashing. New jobs, festival season, tonsils removed, first ice hockey game, adventures in Europe, a new city…

Some have commented that I don’ really include pictures of people on my blog. Which is fair. Not to say that my friends aren’t the hottest babes around, because I do take lots of photos of them! It’s just I find a lot of beauty in the details of things, and tend to post those.

Anyway, here are some of my favourite pictures from 2011. Babes included. Hope you’re ready for this jelly – and 2012!

And one more for luck – from Christmas Day 2011. I met this cutie when I went to the stables with Hari:

While we’re waiting to move into our new flat, Thom and I have a sublet in Hackney. (Or Crackney, as I’d heard it called before I came to the UK, but I have only seen evidence of that once   late at night outside the Buddhist Centre.)

It’s not the most glamorous of areas, but what it’s got is pretty beaut. Lots of little cafes, pubs, galleries, and places to grab a classic East London fry-up. While there is a tiny glimpse of sun in the winter gloom, I love to be outdoors. My favourite places to walk include the Hackney City Farm, and the canal.

Y’know, it was the usual Saturday. Get up, make breakfast, visit a farm. Babes, pigs in the city. I love the cycle-take of a steer skull at the ranch. Next, meet the chubbiest squirrel in all of London. He was all puffed up, the size of a small cat!

Not far from the farm, Regents Canal winds through south Hackney. It’ so peaceful there, you forget you’re in the middle of a city. Until you hit Broadway Market, and the flotilla of canal boats. Lots of them have been converted into sweet little floating shops – a vintage store , a café, a bookshop. Lovely.

Right, off to go deal with Christmas madness. Only a week to go!