Category Archives: Phone camera

V&A East storehouse

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There’s a new V&A museum that’s due to open in East London. Nearby they have opened to the public, their storehouse, a building that houses all the art pieces that are not officially on display. It’s right by where I work so I went to have a look. It has three floors with a wide range of beautiful and interesting art works.

V&A East storehouse, showing 3 floors of items

They also have a huge mosaic ceiling saved from a church which is definitely worth a look.

Mosaic ceiling

The store house is free to visit and I like that what it holds will change as the displays in the main museums update theirs.

Knole house

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I recently visited Knole house. It is said to be a calendar house, having 365 rooms, 52 staircases, 12 entrances and 7 courtyards. The house was built by Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury, between 1456 and 1486. We didn’t have time to look in many the rooms but we did climb up steep spiral staircase in the tower up to the roof which gave us great views.

Knole house

Knole house also has medieval deer park, with deer roaming the grounds for 500 years. The deer we encountered were quite timid and let us get fairly close, which was amazing.

Deer

With large grounds to walk in and with the deer and nearby stream Knole house is a lovely place to visit.

Eid-ul-Adha 2025/1446

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Eid-al-Adha is the second Eid of the year that Muslims celebrate and coincides with the pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia and honours Abraham’s (pbuh) promise to God. This Eid will be celebrated with a heavy heart, thinking of those that are oppressed, facing wars and of those without families. In these blessed days may all pilgrims’ prayers and ours be accepted. May the prayers of all those facing hardships be accepted and I pray they find ease.

Eid Mubarak. Taqabbal Allahu Minna Wa Minkum (May Allah accept it from you and us)

Local Street Art

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Some street art has been commissioned by the local government to brighten up our streets. It was great to see the artwork coming into shape and the end results I think are brilliant. The artists are very talented and I will enjoy looking at their pieces when I pass them by.

Ramadan Mubarak 2025/1446

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Quba Mosque in Medina

Ramadan Mubarak everyone. The days of fasting this year will be a bit shorter than they have been for many years now, as they fall before the clocks change for summer time. Although shorter the fasts will be just as important and I hope that Muslims can reflect, earn forgiveness and blessings during this holy month. We will also be thinking of those that are facing hardships in the world, wars, displacement and oppression and pray for their ease.

Umrah

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I was fortunate enough to travel to Makkah, Saudi Arabia recently to complete an Islamic pilgrimage Umrah. Umrah is known as the lesser or minor pilgrimage that Muslims can complete at any time of the year. It was my first visit and I feel it was a blessed and easy one. It was amazing and quite emotional to enter The Sacred Mosque and see the Kaaba, the black cube that Muslims use as the direction to pray in.

Kabaa with the Clocktower behind

I was then able to travel to the city of Medina to visit The Prophet’s Mosque, which was built by our beloved Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and where he is buried. It was a beautiful mosque and I was able to pay my respects.

Al-Masjid an-Nabawi, known in English as The Prophet's Mosque

My trip to the holy cities of Makkah and Medina and to the two most important mosques in Islam was quite special and I hope one day to be able to go back. May Allah accept my Umrah and prayers, and peace to you all.

Northern Lights

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Like many I’ve always hoped to see the auroras boreales or Northern Lights as they are known. People usually have to travel north to countries like Norway or Greenland, but this year there’s been a lot of solar activity and the Lights have been visible all the way down to London. They were visible earlier this year but personally found them hard to make out. Back again in Autumn, they were much more visible, to the naked eye and through a lens. I found it such a magical phenomenon and feel lucky to have experienced it.

auroras boreales or Northern Lights, red and green hues

1 Year and 76

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It’s been one year since Israel’s genocide against Palestine began, an anniversary I prayed would never come. In truth though, it’s not one year, it’s been 76 since Palestinians have been killed and displaced off their land. There were 300,000 of us and more in London calling for a ceasefire for Palestine and now Lebanon and every oppressed people across the world. We won’t tire and we will use our voice to call for freedom, rights and dignity for all.

Palestine and Lebanon flags at a march

Trip to Europe part 3: Bruges

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On our third day we wanted to explore more of Belgium so we decided to spend the day in Bruges. It’s only an hour and half from Brussels so we got there in good time.

We went to Markt square where there are museums and a cathedral. You can also get rides on horse drawn carriages. The buildings were gothic looking and dramatic but quite beautiful I thought.

We decided to go on a canal boat ride after looking around. It was nice to hear some history of the town and feel the breeze and relax. I heard about Bruges from the film In Bruges that came out a few years ago. The brown wooden front building is featured in the film, which was cool to see. The Belfry of Bruges with it’s tall viewing tower is not too far either.

After our boat ride we looked around some shops on the main street before heading home. I really enjoyed our day trip, there were lots of shops, beautiful buildings and it looked well kept. Would certainly recommend a visit.