There was a time, not that long ago – alright, it was in the 1970s and early 1980s – when the only person to be seen in London's Oxford Street shopping district carrying a placard (or sandwich board) was a militant vegetarian pacifist (if that's not a oxymoron) who urged people not to eat meat because he believed it stoked our animal passions and led on to war and cruelty. Today, by comparison, Oxford Street is filled with latter-day hawkers advertising English language schools, tanning & waxing salons, sushi bars, mobile phone unlocking, body piercing, tattoos and a host of other equally essential, can't live without 21st century needs and services. In case you are wondering why everyone is wearing heavy coats in April – it was unseasonably cold weather.



(London, 14:36pm, April 2, 2008, f 4.9 - 1/640 - ISO 400)