Tag: London

Summer in the City // Tip for Surviving Smelly Armpits

Summer in the City // Tip for Surviving Smelly Armpits

It’s that time of year when it heats up a little, which for the most part is a good thing. Less rain and a bit of warmth can make us forget for a little while that winters, in this part of the world, are for the most part cold and dank.

On most public transport systems, temperatures can get uncomfortable, especially while the world and their mother are trying to get home at rush hour. Take this onto overground trains, where people are squished together to get to work. Then go underground. It gets a bit warmer and even the early morning commute can be a form of torture. According to Gizmodo, the Bakerloo line is can reach 31 degrees and the Central line 30 degrees.

With most rush hour commutes, you can, unfortunately, get to know your neighbour pretty intimately. During the summer months, that means you old sweaty armpits too. And let’s be honest, it can be pretty revolting.

Surviving Smelly Armpits

Let me clarify, everyone perspires, yes, even the Queen. (Hey Liz, hope you’re enjoying the read) But, by evening time on a packed train, after a hot day, it can get potent. So much so, I’ve wanted to be physically sick.

Enter a tip I’ve been using for the past couple of years. A major hat tip has to go to Mr Mulley who passed this gem onto me. This will be my third year of using this and I feel, now, it’s my turn to pass on this simple effective tip to survive smelly armpits.

Make Your Own Travel Pack

Pop into your local pharmacy or supermarket. Go to the aisle with all the cold remedies, and look for the decongestants. Now, you see the stuff you rub on your chest? Yes, that minty eucalyptus rub? Pick it up. You can go for the well known Vicks brand, or you can go for a generic brand. If you’re allergic to any of the ingredients, don’t to this! Seek a pharmacist/doctors advice before you go ahead.

I’ve gone for Boots own brand. I think the jar was about two pound something. You don’t need to spend much on this. If you’re in the pharmacy, spend a pound and buy those little travel containers with a screw top lid.

Don’t use your hands for this, an old spoon or something you can throw away. Take a spoonful from the jar and put it into the travel container. Wipe the outside clean.

So now you have your own travel pack. It’s small enough to pop in your bag or even put in your pocket.

Make Your Nose A Happy Nose

There’s two ways to make your nose happy now. Pre-empt the event of smelliness and go straight ahead or wait until you board the train and see what it’s like. Just remember though, if the train is totally mad busy, you may feel uncomfortable doing this.

Get a tiny dap of the chest rub on your finger and dab it on the inside of your nose. It may tingle a bit and if you’ve a tiny cut, it will probably sting. The upside though, is that is all you will smell. You can’t smell your overly intimate neighbour, just minty camphor eucalyptus smells. Enough to make any grandmother proud of you but not enough for the rest of the Tube’s inhabitants think you’re an oldie.

It’s so easy, I never would have thought of this. But as I said, I’ve been using this now for a couple of years and it definitely makes life a lot easier for me. If you’ve a sensitive nose, turn it into a happy nose. Let me know how you got on in the comments below.

Happy travels!

June 17, 2017
Tune of the Week // Kidepo – Ramada

First time I heard this track the sun was shining, it seemed like summer was on the way. The tone vibe and atmosphere of the track matched beautifully.

Kidepo’s track, Ramada, is taken from his forthcoming EP, ‘Reunion’. Where’s the reunion? Jonah Mutono, aka Kidepo, was born in London, but moved to Philadelphia at an early age. The family then returned to Uganda, their native land, nine years later. But Jonah went off to school in the UK when he was 13. Kidepo is a river in Uganda, no doubt where Jonah takes his moniker from.

His debut EP, ‘Reunion’, looks at his repatriation with Uganda and his transient life. Jonah’s music takes influences from his travels too. The percussion on ‘Ramada’ sounds very rooted in Africa. This is blended beautifully with R’n’B tinged electronic elements and finished off with vinyl-esque surface noise.

Simply delightful, a fantastic track from a debut EP. Really looking forward to hearing more from Kidepo.

You can find out more about Kidepo on Facebook and Twitter . You can find him on iTunes here.

https://youtu.be/HC_HwwJ77Z4

May 21, 2017
The Radical Eye at Tate Modern // Review

The Radical Eye: Modernist Photography from the Sir Elton John Collection

On the very first page of Susan Sontag’s book, ‘On Photography’, she says ‘To collect photography is to collect the world.’ That’s exactly what The Radical Eye is.

Taken down from the walls of his home, The Radical Eye exhibition has been curated from the collection of Sir Elton John. These photographs hang in the same frames here at the Tate Modern as they do in Sir Elton’s Atlanta base.

Since 1989, the music legend has built up a fantastic collection of photographs from the golden age of modernist photography. This was from the 1920s/50s, a time of experimentation, a time where these photographers wrote the rule book for what we now know.

From the image of Man Ray’s ‘Glass Tears’, which has been used to promote the exhibition, to Dorothea Lange’s ‘Migrant Mother’, these are world known images and I felt like a kid in a candy store, wandering through the exhibition.

Before Instagram, before being able to take a photograph on your phone, these were the pioneers. Film was expensive, developing film was pain stakingly slow in today’s terms. Each frame set up was a deliberate click, not a series of random clicks until you get the one that works. The results these photographers were able to achieve with their knowledge of their equipment and media is staggering.

Curator, Shoair Mavlian has done a fantastic job choosing from Sir Elton’s 8000 piece collection, one of the biggest private collections in the world.

It runs until May 21 2017. Go see it! Who knows when you’ll ever get a chance to see all these masterpieces together in one place again. That is of course, unless Sir Elton invites you over for a cuppa.

You can see some of the images here but you know what? Go see it, the vintage prints look better in real life than on a computer screen.

Find out more from Tate Modern.

May 18, 2017
The London Ear on RTÉ 2XM // Show 146 // Gráinne Hunt and Our Krypton Son

Hello, hello, hello, (hello hello) maybe I should play Something Happens on next week’s show?! This week I had the opportunity to catch up with Gráinne Hunt and also to Chris from Our Krypton Son.

If you’re in London, or Irish abroad, it can be anywhere, if you’re involved in music, arts, culture, maybe you do something interesting or not of the everyday, do get in touch, I’d love to feature you on the show.

Chat with Gráinne Hunt

Gráinne Hunt is a singer songwriter, from Dublin. She released her mini album, ‘Firing Pin’, at the end of 2015. Next Friday, St Patrick’s Day, is Gráinne’s first solo gig in London, as she opens for Kíla in The London Irish Centre.

You can follow Gráinne on Twitter, Facebook and on her website.

Chat with Our Krypton Son

It’s about five years since I last spoke to Chris McConaghey from Our Krypton Son. He’s been busy getting over the past while getting his new album ready for our ears and it’s a cracker.

The new album ‘Fleas & Diamonds’ is out now on Smalltown America Records.

You can follow Our Krypton Son on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and their website.

The London Ear // Show 146 // March 11 2017 // Playlist

Here’s today’s playlist:

1. Meljoann: Personal Assistant
2. Chat with Gráinne Hunt
3. Gráinne Hunt: Lilacs
4. Our Krypton Son: Alexandria
5. Chat with Chris from Our Krypton Son
6. Our Krypton Son: I’ll Close The Door On My Way Out
7. Chat with Chris from Our Krypton Son
8. Our Krypton Son: Can’t Make You Come Back
9. aboveDat: Better

Listen Again

Thanks for listening, The London Ear broadcast on DAB radio, Saorview and outside Ireland you can listen online.You can listen to the show again on the RTE player. The show is broadcast every Saturday at 1300.

Don’t forget to check out the RTE 2XM website. You can keep up with me here.

Check out The London Ear on Facebook and Twitter

Photo of Gráinne from here by Mushypea

March 12, 2017