Every week we select a photo from the Londonist Flickr pool, taken in the last seven days, that illustrates this season or time of year in London.

More daffodils this week, with the unconventional accompaniment of a sea of red plastic temporary fencing in the background, captured by SabineThole.

Nathan Jones at London Word Festival last year

Following on from their nuptials late last year they're proceeding through the church ceremonials and baptism is on the menu this time. Fear no babies but baptisms of fire, total immersion, the head of John the Baptist and the opportunity to perform your own ritual dousings with BYO booze as is the tradition of St Leonard's.

Throwing music, poetics and performance into the mix there's a lot to take in, not least visual stimulation courtesy of Mercy's artists in residence. A few things to look out for are The Wave Machines co-hosting with Mercy creative director, Nathan Jones, Sarah Nicholls experimenting with a piano, vocal pugilism from David J and the marvellous Homework textual twister Ross Sutherland collaborating with musician Eugene McGuinness directing a musical of his life where he's played by a woman.

Amen.

WIYRT#6 happens on Saturday 10 April from 7pm. £10 adv. Find out more about Mercy Collective and get your tickets online.

       

The Goat Race 2010 took place yesterday at Spitalfields City Farm and was won for Cambridge by Bramble in a record time of 1m 14s. Oxford was represented by Bently who came in a respectable second place. This was the second time that the goat race had been held with the 2009 race having been won by Cambridge.

There was added family rivalry this year as the competitors were brother and sister. In the pre-race parade both goats showed a distinct lack of pace with Bently refusing to move at one point and having to be coaxed with a feed bucket.

The course bookies were doing a good trade with 1-2 odds being offered for both competitors and a sweepstake for the winning time was also being run. During the race both goats managed to unseat their riders and Bramble took a lead which Bently was not able to make up.

All proceeds from the event go to assist with the running of the city farm. Find out more online: www.spitalfieldscityfarm.org or go and visit.

Photography and words by Andrew Smith AKA McTumshie with thanks.

• An 83 year old woman has been found dead in her Winchmore Hill home in suspicious circumstances
• Dr. Who has been stopped at Heathrow for carrying a sonic screwdriver. No really.
• Ponders End ponders future as they win a London planning award.
• London has a shiny new 'trauma network'. Sounds like the title of a TV soap.
• There's been a gunfight at the Tottenham corral.

      

If we had a nickel for every blog post (even books) urging us to look up above eye level in London, we'd have...well, whatever a nickel is worth, times about a thousand. But all clichés have some truth to them. One place where it's easy to forget to raise the gaze is Gerrard Street. The constant thong throng of visitors, from seekers of exotic ingredients to noodley clumps of tourists don't make it easy. However, we managed to find a rainy spring day when the footfall was light enough to allow leisurely exploration. The heart of Chinatown has a rich history, played out in a series of plaques along the street. Click through the gallery above to learn more about some illustrious former residents and patrons of Gerrard Street.

Eat your way through the credit crunch - bring your own booze! £5 bottles of wine in hand we bring you our guide to the best of the BYOs.
The outfit: Masoud, 201, Castelnau, Barnes, LONDON SW13 9ER Tel: 020 8563 8638
The hours of business: 12 noon - 11pm, 7 days a week.
The bottom-line: a popular Iranian restaurant under the same ownership as Super Masoud in Olympia. Although the canopy outside proclaims it to be a bar as well, it is unlicensed. This is in all probability because Iranians are ever anxious to please, and this way they keep both the devout and the decadent camps of their fellow countrymen happy. If you forget to bring your own, the staff are very happy to whizz across to the offy to fetch you a bottle. A row of shishe pipes in the corner suggests that (at least when the weather is good enough) you can enjoy a post-prandial puff at the outside tables. The gaff stands out from other Iranian eateries in two important ways: firstly it is subtly lit, oozing ambience. And secondly the staff are actually all (English speaking) Iranian and well-informed about the food they serve.

The local market: the premises are but a frog's leap south of Hammersmith Bridge, which means that Iranians feel secure enough to make their way there (there is a certain snobbery amongst ex-pat Persians which makes them feel nervous if they are too far from Kensington). But it was obvious from our visit that a lot of well-heeled Barnes locals have discovered it too.
The bread, chips and gravy: Not an obvious venue for the vegetarian about town (although the menu does have a token veggie main course). Iranians out on the culinary razzle want meat cooked over fire, and that is what this place is all about: kebabs. There is an (inoffensive) sizzling, woody haze about the place as the chefs cook in front of you. We chose panir and sabzi - the quintessential Iranian starter or fresh herbs, feta and walnuts, with fresh hot lavash naan so big you could wrap a small child in it. We added a few dips - kashk-e-bademjun being a favourite, a smoky aubergine dip with whey, and guzzled doogh - fizzy salted yoghurt drink. For the main courses we recommend the mixed grill, which is enough for three Iranians (perhaps four of anything else). Although we actually tried the sea bass out of sheer contrariness: this was also barbecued and cooked to perfection, if served on a rather 'busy' plate. Pudding? Well, not much choice, but it is unlikely that you will have room. There is Persian ice cream or sorbet, or sticky honey cakes: try the latter with a big pot of Persian tea. The Iranians we had borrowed to take there gave it eight out of ten - which is pretty impressive.
A capital choice to: enjoy an indoor barbecue, bisto some Persian atmosphere, indulge your inner carnivore.
The damage: £20 per head will see you eating like shahs. Mains start at £6.95.
What's your favourite BYO? Have a look at some of ours.

Brighter Later launches its new series of gigs for charity on Thursday at Highgate's Boogaloo; yes that one where Kate Moss and Pete Doherty used to hang out. That aside, it's a smashing boozer replete with 1960s photo booth for when you get drunk and need to have terrible photos and one of the best juke boxes in London. Not that you'll be needing that as taking to the stage are four up and coming acts who are all giving their time and talent for free, in aid of Cancer Research UK.

The line up features Bethia Beadman, fresh from backing Courtney Love and a solo set from The Train Chronicles - Lightspeed Champion’s bass-player showcasing his alt folk songwriting. One of the silliest band names we've heard in a while comes in with Whales In Cubicles but reserve judgement for their "majestic indiepop" and, finally, Semaphore promise an "unmistakable deep, dark and gravel-lined baritone". Throw in a shamanic poet compere and DJ till late and you've got a groovy night in aid of a great cause to go to.

The Brighter Later launch party is on Thursday 8 April at from 7pm. Become a fan on Facebook and keep up with the line ups. Buy £5 tickets online

Polar Bears by Mark Haddon opens at the Donmar tonight

Be There First: London Shows Opening

Tonight's hot theatre ticket is Mark Haddon's much talked-about theatrical debut, Polar Bears, opening at the Donmar Warehouse.

If you're looking for something with tickets easier to come by, comedy Wet Weather Cover, starring Michael Brandon and Steve Furst opens at the Arts Theatre tomorrow.

A double bill of American angst comes the National Theatre tomorrow: Beyond The Horizon by Eugene O'Neill and Spring Storm by Tennessee Williams transfer from the Royal and Derngate Northampton as part of a Young America Season.

Andersen's English imagines at meeting between Charles Dickens and Hans Christian Andersen at the Hampstead Theatre from Thursday.

Also opening on Thursday is a double bill of Willy Russell goodness at the Menier Chocolate Factory: Shirley Valentine starring Meera Syal and Educating Rita (with EastEnder Larry Lamb) are only on for a month, so be quick!

If you're looking for some new dance this week, here's a couple of nods: tomorrow sees Britain's Got Talent winners Diversity dancing at the Hammersmith Apollo. Bringing A Toy Story To Life is a new show about, well, toys coming to life, actually. If you're looking for something more classical, Cinderella comes to the Royal Opera House from Saturday. On Monday, Micro opens at the Gate Theatre: it's an electrifying live music concert with theatre and dance that "defies classification", according to the website.

Artswise, the ever-interesting Haunch of Venison gallery has two exciting openings this week. Choose from "Glasnost" (Soviet non-conformist art from the 1980s and 190s) or "Forever Foreign" by Rina Banerjee (sculpture, drawings and assemblage by the Bengali-American artist), or see both as they're both free. Elsewhere, Lowry's Travels opens at the Halcyon Gallery on Saturday, showing 20 of the popular artist's works from around the UK.

Last Chance To See: London Shows Closing

Saturday sees the final curtain for a whole bunch of London's current theatre shows: Duchess of Malfi at Greenwich Theatre, Gambling at the Soho Theatre, The Little Dog Laughed at the Garrick Theatre, Measure for Measure at the Almeida Theatre, and Sweet Nothings at the Young Vic.

Decode at the V&A closes on Sunday, as does Identity at the Wellcome Collection and the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Natural History Museum. Anything hot you think we've missed? Tell us in the comments below.

Carrying on their monthly series of comedy, the organisers of Joke Party are hosting the latest event this evening at The Wilmington Arms in Angel.

The line up doesn't differ too much from when we attended the launch party a couple of months back, but we won't let that worry us since it was such a cracking night. The night was launched to showcase some of the country's up and coming comedians, providing them a platform to showcase new material and us a good excuse to visit the pub on a Tuesday.

The evening will be hosted by William Andrews and features the fantastically funny Colin Hoult alongside an extended set from Will and Greg and a very special guest appearance from someone off the telly.

The last Joke Party was almost sold out so we're expecting tonight to be busy - get down there early so you don't end up disappointed.

Joke Party @ The Wilmington Arms, Angel takes place on Tue 6th Apr at 7pm, £7/5 (concessions), for more information visit The Wilmington Arms website.

Bleak, harrowing, traumatising, devastating. Not the usual things itemised as highlights of a theatre production, but for Cheekish Productions' Shoot / Get Treasure / Repeat and Eschara at Union Theatre, these are the downbeat elements that make this an extraordinary evening.

Three-part Eschara by Philip Whiteman premiered at Brighton Fringe 2009, Mark Ravenhill's three-part cycle was created for Edinburgh Fringe 2007. Shoot / Get Treasure / Repeat focuses on the war on terror and feels like deleted scenes from Sarah Kane's Blasted: a soldier assaults a civilian, demanding her love, a woman discovers why her neighbour habitually screams in the night and a middle-class couple succumb to fears and prejudices bred by war. The cast bring out the dark humour in Ravenhill's writing and present the violence and menace admirably; it's rare to feel frightened while simultaneously laughing.

Eschara's three parts focus on the London bombings - a fraught chess game, a clinic with patients too scarred to leave and a conversation between two sisters, one still grieving for her son killed on 7 July. This last piece was beautifully written and performed, pitched perfectly to show how important it is to move on and how impossible it seems to do so. There was sobbing in the audience when this gem came to a close; it was bleak, raw but dignified and deeply moving.

Due to the episodic format, there is no climactic ending to Shoot / Get Treasure / Repeat and Eschara, resulting in no catharsis. Cheekish Productions is a victim of its own success - such is the ferocity, intensity and tenacity of writing, direction and performance and the slick, confident staging, this theatre cycle weighs heavily on the mind long after it finishes. The horror, pain, guilt and anger since 7 July 2005 hangs in the oppressive atmosphere, with no ultimate resolution or exorcism and therein lies the recommendation to see this - it really sticks with you. But also, a word of warning: it may scar you.

Shoot / Get Treasure / Repeat and Eschara at Union Theatre until 24 April. For more information and tickets, go to the Cheekish Productions website.