Listen to a Londoner: Anastasiya Lagno

When Anastasiya moved to London a few years ago from Ukraine, not only was she always freezing but she found out she was pregnant with her first child. Now, she’s coping with the weather just fine, has a baby son and runs the social networking site London Parents to help others make sense of it all and find connections. Read on to find out a bit more about her business, her favourite London discovery and what she’d do with a Saturday night, no kids or husband in sight.

LLO: Tell us a bit about yourself and your background. Where are you from originally, how long have you been in London and what brought you here?
AL: Originally, I’m from Ukraine. It’s a former USSR republic in Eastern Europe. I’ve been in London for about three years. My husband brought me here. He is a website developer. He got a job here and we moved. We plan on staying, but currently we do not know for sure where life will bring us when his contract ends.

LLO: With your husband, you started the website Londonparents.co.uk. Why did you set up your business? What was your motivation?
AL: When we just moved to London, we found out I was pregnant. With it being my first pregnancy and in a foreign country, I was quite lost. I didn’t know where to go and what to do… As it turned out, to find any info I had to browse a lot of websites. I complained to my husband and we got an idea to create a website for parents specifically in London. Creating LondonParents was a hobby for my husband. He got to play with it quite a bit. When he finished it, he gave it to me and told me to do whatever I want with it. So now it is my project.

LLO: What is London Parents it all about and when did you launch?
AL: LondonParents is aimed to be the ultimate source for most useful and interesting information for London parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, godparents and pretty much every Londoner. We dreamt it to be a social network where one can discuss birthing centres, nurseries, parks and activity centres, pretty much everything related to pregnancy and children, and London of course. We launched a couple of months ago. The website is just a newborn, but we hope it will continue to grow and become a useful place for all London parents.

LLO: Do you think London is a kid-friendly city? Why or why not?
AL: Compared to our home-town in Ukraine, London is really kid-friendly with all the museums, parks and theatres, and hundreds of nurseries and good schools. There is always something good going on for kids here. I especially love the children’s theatres in London. I can’t wait for my son to grow up a little bit more so we could enjoy it together.

LLO: What has been your biggest challenge and most rewarding moment since moving to London?
AL: My biggest challenge is definitely the weather. I grew up in the Southern part of Ukraine. It is really hot there in summer and it does not rain so much. When we first moved to London I was always cold, even in summer. I’m getting better now. The most rewarding moment was when my parents came to visit and I got to show them the view from the London Eye. My mom was really impressed.

LLO: What’s the best part about living in your postcode and why?
AL: We live in Shepherds Bush, W12. And the best part about it is Westfield of course! I am a bit of a shopaholic.

LLO: Did you always get a seat on the tube when you were pregnant? Any advice for pregnant women in London in general?
AL: I didn’t have much of a bump to be frank, so it was not really obvious I was pregnant until I was about seven months along the way. So no, I didn’t always get a seat, but it was never a big problem for me really. My advice for pregnant women everywhere is to enjoy your surroundings, take care of yourself and be happy!

LLO: Give us your recommendations for London’s best kid-friendly restaurants that still serve up delicious food.
AL: I would recommend the Giraffe in Southbank. Mainly because of it’s location – it is near the London Eye and Aquarium, a good place to have a meal after a family day out. And the food is great.

LLO: Favourite London discovery?
AL: I am still discovering the city. I think one can never stop finding amazing things here, especially the architecture. My latest discovery though was the sci-fi costume parade. I didn’t know it existed, shame on me. We will definitely go next year all dressed up!

LLO: Best way to spend a Saturday in London, no children in sight?
AL: If there were no children and no husband to consider, I would go to the opera. I hope one day I will do it.

Thanks Anastasiya!

GIVEAWAY: Pair of Tickets to See Roger Hodgson of Supertramp at Royal Albert Hall

I grew up with the sounds of Supertramp – The Logical Song, Dreamer, Give a Little Bit. My dad was a roadie with the band long before I was born and has shared plenty of stories. Supertramp were the first concert I went to at the age of 11. Co-founder Roger Hodgson still plays solo shows singing the songs he wrote for Supertramp and is currently on a worldwide Breakfast in America tour. (Here’s a review from a happy fan who saw him play last month.)

Excited to hear he has a show on May 25th at the Royal Albert Hall, an amazing London venue, I bought tickets. I’ll be travelling for work now which means I won’t be able to go, so I thought I’d give away my pair of tickets to one of you!

THE GIVEAWAY:
One pair of tickets to see Roger Hodgson at The Royal Albert Hall in London on Saturday May 25th

HOW TO ENTER:

1.) Share the link to Little London Observationist either on one of your social networks or in some way – perhaps a friend who you know might like to follow along.

2.) After you shared the link, leave a comment on the blog to let me know where you shared it and why you want the tickets!

THE DEADLINE: 
I will need time to get them to you, so I’ll ask a friend to choose a winner by selecting a random number correlated to the comments on the blog on May 16, one week from today.

Good luck!

Protected: PHOTOS

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

A Stroll Through Soho and an Exhibition at The Society Club

The news came through the other day that four of my Soho photo will be featured on the walls of The Society Club from this Friday, May 10, for about a month. Very exciting!

The images were chosen from some submissions to Yelp’s contest to capture this area of London. Any sales go to The Soho School. Stop by if you can. The Society Club made it onto CNN Travel’s list of 10 of the most interesting shops in London. We popped in there a few weeks ago when we were to Ginger & White and it’s definitely eccentric with a quirky mix of books on the shelves lining the walls, a long table in the middle and a small gallery space downstairs. There is also a resident dog that hangs out inside. Stop down and check it out if you get a chance. There should be 24 photos of the area in the exhibition, I believe.
One for the diary! (The Society Club, 12 Ingestre Place Soho, W1F 0JF). 

And now for some photos from the walk Jorge and I took around the once-much-seedier streets of Soho. These aren’t the photos in the exhibition (except one and I’m not going to tell you which…). I loved that this fish & chips joint is called the Dining Plaice. A little creativity in a shop name goes a long way! Reminds me of The Codfather.

We walked through Berwick Street Market, which is small but still vibrant with the few stalls that are left and the creative shops on their side of the street. In the 60s, this street was the place to buy records from independent shops.

The music scene has been replaced by fruits, vegetables and vintage clothes now and there were a few street photographers scattered around against the walls waiting for a good shot.

I took photos of a few colourful shop fronts because I liked the names or the colours. Soho is still one of London’s eccentric areas and it attracts a creative and trendy crowd as well as a steady stream of tourists.

Flowers were for sale in quite a few places as well, outside shops like the one above, or from vendors working a market stall like the one below. Some of these stalls have likely been passed through families as the market has established in the 18th century.

A little taste of Soho fashion in that one up there as well. And looking up can be key, as my dad says to do in this city. You never know what you might see, like this here roof garden and funky green tiles.

The Market leads into Walkers Court, a little alleyway.

There’s not so much left of London’s sex industry for which this area was the main hub. It still is, but there’s no obvious prostitution on the streets as there was once upon a time. It’s mainly closed up in flats now, indicated by signs that say “model” on street level doorways.

Walkers Court has a few sex shops selling vibrators, whips and DVDs, private dance clubs for a good old striptease and plenty of Viagara advertisements.

From there, we made out way to Soho Square, with its French church, nearby Hare Krishna temple, the British Board of Film Classification and Paul McCartney’s MLP Communications company.  In the 1700′s it was home to The White House which was called a “high class magical brothel”…

There’s a small cottage at the center of the square which was an air raid shelter during the Blitz.

Not sure if they are still there, but there was a series of sculptures by Bruce Denny in one corner of the square.

We sat on a bench in the park people watching for a while, enjoying the nice weather.

We had a little wander through Chinatown, where you can get a massage and dinner in the same building…

I found a splash of colour and made Jorge do a bit of modelling for me.

And then we had a tea and cake in Ginger & White, which I loved and wrote about already so I won’t bore you with any more photos. At the end of that same street is The Society Club which the photo exhibition I wrote about above will be held. We couldn’t help but scope it out. If there’s poetry on a board outdoors, that’s always a good start.

We ended up exploring the little basement gallery.

On our way back home, we wandered through the back alleyways.

Sometimes my favourite photographs to take are the simplest ones – little splashes of colour and textures that are tempting to touch.

And, of course, street art, like this Invader piece that’s been in Soho for what seems like forever.

We walked back through the throngs of tourists on Carnaby Street.

And I played a bit of the tourism game outside of Liberty just for fun. When in Rome, right?

Speaking of Liberty, it’s a bit of an institution around here and well worth a visit, particularly the first floor which sells expensive but nice things (and they’re one of only a few shops that stock French brand Sessun, which I love) and the top floor which often gets skipped over but they have some amazing furniture and home decor as well as the brand RE, in a little room of its own, where they sell “raRE, REmarkable, REcycled, REscued and REstored homewares and accessories”.

The old building itself is stunning with its natural light, beautiful wood floors and high ceilings.

Love their creative plant displays!

And the spray-painted shopping baskets in RE are pretty fabulous too.

Do you spend much time in Soho? If so, where’s your favourite place to hang out? 

Spring in Regents Park

Spring is always one of my favourite times of year in London. It came slowly this year but has finally given us a few days with no coats and glorious sunshine. Over the weekend, Jorge and I spent an afternoon walking through Regents Park. It was filled with flowers.

The buildings around the outside near Marylebone make an interesting architectural image.

Cherry trees aren’t just for Japan. They are a sure sign of Spring here too.

And they were everywhere.

The petals flew down like a pink snow storm when the wind blew.

The ground was covered in blossoms.

And they’re incredibly photogenic.

There were beds of tulips mixed with other flowers lining the pathways.

The rose garden was not yet in bloom, but still pretty.

With parents who have always kept a nice garden and a garden designer for a boyfriend, you’d think I’d be better with the names of plants and flowers by now, but I’m pretty useless so I’ll just show you the photos!

It’s so nice to see green after such a long Winter, especially at this stage when it’s all new and bright.

This little circle will look even more beautiful when the roses come out.

We hung out for a while amongst the flowers, soaking up the sun. Jorge stuck some blue forget-me-nots in my hair.

And then we strolled on. We came to the bridge.

A group of people was looking intently over the side, so we went to see what the fascination was. There was a bird perched in a nest with babies poking their heads out from under its belly. The mother was dropping food into their open mouths. Unfortunately I didn’t have my zoom lens, only my small 20mm, so you can’t really see it!

There’s another small bridge nearby with a waterfall on one side and a Japanese garden on the other.

Are there any other waterfalls you’ve seen in London besides this one and the one in Kyoto Gardens in Holland Park?

We decided then that it was time to hunt for a coffee and went in search of the park cafe.

The cafe itself is nothing exciting, but these two trees across from it were so full and vivid.

After coffee, we walked on.

There were tulips…

…tulips…

…more tulips…

…and, you guessed it – even more.

And I spotted an apple tree.

It had big bunches of pretty pink blossoms.

The ground looked like snow as we neared the edge of the park.

We left the park near the London Mosque and carried on down the canal for our next adventure, which is for another entry!