According to the Transport for London web site:

Barclays Cycle Hire, launching on 30 July, will be a public bicycle sharing scheme for short journeys in and around central London.

You’ll be able to pick up a bicycle, use it as you like, then drop it off at one of 400 locations in central London, ready for the next person.

I took this photo today of a series of newly installed cycle rack was taken outside Loewy’s office on Bankside.

Next time you’re in central London on a hot day, seek out Gelupo a new Italian-style gelateria on Archer Street, in Soho, that opened on Friday. Its an offshoot of the Italian restaurant across the road called Bocca di Lupo and serves a selection of home made gelati, sorbets and granitas.

Have you checked out the CIPR’s Social Summer 2010 series of social media workshops?

No? You really should. The two-hour sessions are being run each Thursday evening at the CIPR HQ in London from 5pm. The cost is £10 on the door to cover beers and nibbles.

Throughout the summer members of the CIPR Social Media panel and other social media doers will cover topics from social media basics to social TV and from SEO to social media etiquette.

I’m up on 5 August with a session entitled ‘How to get ahead in social’ that will explore how to build your own social networks and reputation online.

The workshops are the brainchild of Phil Sheldrake and have been pulled together openly on a wiki. Experts have been given free reign over their content.

A better and broader introduction to social media you will not find. Check out the schedule on the wiki and register your interest in any of the events by following the links.

In an email to Escape club members that travelled during the period that saw planes grounded due to the Icelandic ash cloud the train operator explains that it wants to show its appreciation to frequent travellers following the surge in passenger numbers.

“Over this period we carried over 32,000 extra passengers and did everything we could to manage the unexpected level of demand; we provided 27 additional services between London and Edinburgh and 36 extended services between London and Newcastle through to Edinburgh.”

“However, we recognise that this unprecedented level of demand may have had an impact on the comfort of your journey so we would like to show our appreciation for your patience by giving you an extra Travel for One voucher on your escape account.”

It’s an extraordinary move by a company that is clearly keen to delight its customers.

We used the occasion to welcome Mital and Chrissie to our growing ranks. In the event of any confusion they’re the women in the snap below sat either side of Steve (the gormless looking one) and me.

John Brown took the snap with his shiny new Panasonic DMC-TZ8.

We added another to the list this weekend: The Monument to the Great Fire of London in the City at the junction of Monument Street and Fish Street. The haul up the 311 steps makes for hard work but the panoramic views of landmarks such as the BT Tower, the Gherkin, the London Eye and Tower Bridge are breathtaking.

Only the views from the top of the dome at the nearby St Paul’s Cathedral come close but that’ll cost you an admission fee of £12.50 for adults and £4.50 for children – compared to £3 and £1 respectively to climb the Monument.

The simple Doric column is topped by a flaming urn of copper symbolising the Great Fire. It is 202 ft high which by design is exactly the distance from the base of the Monument to where Great Fire of London started on Pudding Lane in 1666.

The Monument has given its name to the nearby tube station (Central, Circle, District, Northern, Waterloo and City and Docklands Light Railway) and was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke and built in 1671. It reopened almost 12 months ago after a £4.5 million refurbishment.

Here’s a City editorial from a 1940s edition of The Evening Standard that I bought at the weekend. Its striking because the article could have been written yesterday.