How more far removed can you get from the graphic front pages of Mexican tabloids, with their beheaded bodies and other gruesome photo shoots? It’s easy to jump to the obvious conclusion. Mexico must be far more dangerous than the UK. The truth? It is! Far more dangerous! But that’s rather a broad truth. Sure, measure the murder rates per capita of each country, and there’s only one conclusion you’ll come to.

There are about five crimes that you’d think you could, potentially fall victim to on the streets of Mexico. Being murdered, kidnapped, robbed, assaulted or pick-pocketed. Being murdered didn’t worry me. Highly unlikely. I gave murder less consideration than I did my chances of winning the lottery. And I didn’t play the lottery. Robbed? It definitely happens. Probably a bit more in DF than in London, but I’ll bet there isn’t a massive amount of difference in it.

Assaulted? I never felt in fear of that in Mexico, and not just because the average would-be-assailant would need a ladder to clock me one on the chin. The average Mexican just isn’t particularly violent or confrontational. Not compared to the average Brit, who seems only too happy to lash out with little to no provocation. Pick pocketing? Pretty similar odds in both countries I’d say.

Then there is kidnapping. It is virtually unheard of in the UK, and when it does occur, it’s rarely the type of ransom inspired kidnapping that Mexico has earned a degree of infamy for. It’s usually a non violent, non threatening custody dispute between parents. There’s no way around it, as far as kidnapping is concerned, Mexico is much the more dangerous place. The prospect never kept me awake at night, but I must confess that of all these crimes it is the one I was most wary of, the one I would most worry about. Mexicans agree. The Green Party had plenty of support from people I knew there when they proposed executing kidnappers.

So where do I feel safest? Mrs P told me the other might that she’ll miss the safety and security of the UK. I understand her point. Me too. But there is one consolation. We can sleep pretty well at night in DF, safe in the knowledge that whatever the next day might hold in store for us, it is extraordinarily unlikely that either of us will have our toes mildly squashed by a rampaging, arthritic señora in a mobility scooter.

Yet soon I must say goodbye to my Comadre. I took her for a special clean at a local jet wash, picked a spot on the drive on a sunny morning, and snapped away. Potential buyers will want to see a nice selection of photos. One of the potential buyers is going to be a very lucky actual buyer. I think, having studied the competition, that £2,650 is a fair asking price. I am throwing in a helmet, disk lock.

And a fabulous black Dainese motorcycle jacket. That jacket might be 15 years old, but it’s been well looked after and apart from light but expected wear around the cuffs and collars, but it’s otherwise good as new. It’s Gore Tex and boasts Kevlar shoulder and elbow pads. It cost £500 when I bought it. And to be fair, it has spent half of those 15 years on a hanger. You can have a looky see at my Comadre on Flickr.

I was very disappointed to see that they have decided to charge £15 for a ride to the top. Not, if I might be so bold as to suggest, in the spirit of either austerity or the Olympics. I’m not alone in thinking so, of course.

A fairer price would have been £10 at most. With a discount for games ticket holders, perhaps. Or you can just watch the video below, a time-lapse of the construction, completely free of charge.

I do search long and hard for flights though, and start well in advance. And I may have stumbled across a potential bargain. It does seem possible to get a one way ticket to Mexico from London. There are two companies offering the fare. The first is Budgetair.co.uk, a shady looking company based in the Netherlands who are not ATOL members. I wouldn’t touch them with a very long stick.

The other is Travel Up, who look a bit more professional, are ATOL members and are based in the UK. They get mixed reviews, and I’m the positive ones aren’t convincingly genuine. It has to be said, people tend to leave reviews when they have something negative to say. I also understand what I’d be buying, and the consequences. Not a ticket from London to Mexico City with a connection in Madrid. I’m getting two single tickets, London to Madrid and Madrid to Mexico.  The flight to Madrid is with Air Europa, a Spanish airline, owned largely by Spanish banks. Which is further reason to pause. How will they be doing in September/October? Rest assured, I’d be paying with a credit card, not debit card. One would want the protection.

Normally, I’d probably steer clear. But it’s a one way ticket with a one way price. Plus, I need two tickets – that’s £780 instead of £1,400. It’s a big saving, to say the least. I’m going to keep checking them out, and monitor prices before I commit myself. I’ve been through the booking process as far as one can without typing in card details. It seems fine, and there was no sudden last minute jump in the price. We’ll see. And I’ll let you know. Travel Up will be getting either a rave review or a dose of literary wrath on these pages at some stage!

Sadly, it’s tricky to get a good shot of all four cultures in the same shot without really going to work on a Panorama. And whilst it is possible to get all four in the shot, one of them will always be mostly hidden from view. The oldest of the cultures belongs to the Romans, who left a pretty solidly built wall that once protected Londinium.

Then, nearly a thousand years ago, William the Conqueror (aka William the Bastard) introduced what would be one of the most influential cultures in the creation of modern Britain – the Normans. And the Tower of London was left as their gift to 21st century London tourists.

During the height of the British Empire, Victorian era engineers built the wonderful Tower Bridge. That’s the bridge that many (perhaps most) foreign visitors assume is London Bridge. The fourth culture? That’s our current culture. Take your pick, but with the Shard towering over the skyline as it does, that’s my choice.

But back to the Tower of London. Mrs P and I parted with £20 each to visit the Tower at the weekend. Money well spent? Well, depends how much money you’ve got to spare, doesn’t it? For historical content and history, only Westminster Cathedral is even a competitor. But personally, if I were to be asked to name the top five ‘must-see paid-for’ attractions in London, the Tower of London wouldn’t be in the list.

It is impressive, and you should see it, at least from the outside. But unless you’ve really got a thing for diamonds, or absolutely must have your photo taken with a beefeater, you can probably give the interior a miss. Fact is, the most impressive view is from the outside. And the crowds on the inside are such, and the view over the parapets so covered in glass and metal skyscrapers, that I found it hard to let my imagination run.

It was hard to soak in the historical atmosphere. I just couldn’t picture Anne Boleyn having her head chopped off. Or German spies (actually, I think it was just one) being executed by firing squad in WW2. Or even the Rudolph Hess or the Krays being briefly incarcerated there. The interior of the Tower almost has more of an amusement park atmosphere than it does that of an ancient and historical monument .

Most disappointing, for me, was the ban on photography in the Crown Jewels exhibition. It was once allowed. I took a whole bunch of snaps when I last visited in 2005. The new policy makes it even more irking that I lost all of those photos. Still, aside from the Crown Jewels, I did grab loads of photos. Many on Instagram but a few on Flickr too.

Functionality was our speciality. Design for purposes of use was our strong point. Weaponry, tools and tooling. Especially from 1800 onwards. But post war, everything changed. Musically, artistically, architecturally. It’s hard to put a finger on exactly why, but the British suddenly developed a massive, all conquering creative industry that has, at times, dominated the world.

There’s an exhibition on at the Victoria and Albert museum at the moment, British Design 1948-2012. It’s a slightly pricy £12 – the most I think that I’ve ever paid to see an exhibition. But it was, perhaps the most enjoyable exhibition I’ve ever been to. That’s probably because I can relate to or grew up with so much of the contents of the displays.

I’ve also found a use for Pinterest. Photography isn’t allowed at the exhibition, so for a taster of what’s inside, I put together a gallery of images that I’ve filched across the web. I was quite fun putting it together. It’s nice to know I can add stuff. Have I missed any wonders of British design that I should have added? Let me know. Till then, enjoy the show – courtesy of your friendly local British designer. There’s Concorde, a Jaguar E-Type, some David Bowie pants, and a couple of pieces of design that many of you will have near to hand as we speak – your iPhone.

As I mentioned, photography wasn’t allowed. But I hate to post a post without a photo of mine at the bottom. Here’s a snap I took of a work by Damien Hirst that is currently sitting outside the Tate Modern, where he has his own exhibition going on. He also has works in the British Design exhibition, of course.

Another cloud is one that has hung over every Olympiad for decades – the drug cheats. I find it sad that proven cheats such as Dwain Chambers will be allowed to compete for a place at the tournament. In my opinion, anyone found guilty of using performance enhancing drugs should be shown the door, which should then be locked with the key thrown away.

The final cloud? The political misuse of the games. I understand that many Argentines believe the Falklands to belong to Argentina. I understand that they would like the UK to transfer sovereignty of the islands over to Argentina. But do Argentines understand that their president is doing everything within her power to ensure that the islands remain British? Just to bolster her support during a difficult financial situation, and at a time when she is isolating Argentina from much of the rest of the world? Probably not.

General Galtieri did his bit to ensure that the Falkland Islands remain a British territory for several generations to come. De Kirschner has done her bit to add a generation or two to that. The recent video ‘incident’ is really quite petty, particularly with the athlete concerned using a war memorial as an exercise step,  and serves only to keep an open wound festering. I did like this spoof video though…

I often use Pixlr O Matic to add extra filters to my Instagram snaps. The two apps make buying an iPhone or Android device worth the expense all by themselves. On my latest trip to London, I couldn’t even be bothered to take my Olympus out the bag most of the time.  If you’re on Instagram, look me up and add me – garydenness.

If you’re not on Instagram, then all is not lost, despite Instagram being rather locked in to mobile devices. I’ve been looking for a purpose for my Tumblr blog for years and years, and have finally found it. Instagram will post to a Tumblr blog (or Facebook, Twitter and something else) whilst uploading the photo. So I found myself a nice photo oriented Tumblr theme, and….hey presto!

There will be a viewing gallery up at the top, but that won’t be open until February 2013. Alas, I will be gone. I will have to make do with visiting the Gherkin in September – that will be accessible thanks to Open House London. Want to know more about the Shard? These guys did, and took an illicit close up look. A more legit bit of film about the building of the Shard can be seen here, but it’s probably only available to UK viewers.

For those outside the UK, you’ll have to settle for my photo. Clicking on the image will take you to the large version in Flickr.  I used Silver FX Pro for the effect. I like Silver FX…