Tag Archives: london

Flatiron Isn’t Even Trying

We were taking a walk through South Kensington heading in the direction of Sloane Square. Our route included crossing the alignment of the District Line on the Tube. This line was built via the cut and cover method and there are some areas where they didn’t need to cover it again and it is open to the air. The road crossed in this area and the buildings along the road had been profiled to fit the space between the road and the track. The result was this building that tapered to basically nothing. I know that the Flatiron Building in New York is famous for its shape, but it is positively wide compared to this building!

Leake Street Arches

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This post is credited to an old friend of mine, Dave Babs. He has been living in Waterloo for many years, and he has shared some images of this space before. I have been in and around Waterloo for longer than I can think yet I never knew about this place until he shared this. Leake Street Arches are under the main station at Waterloo. I was walking back to the station from the Victoria area so coming from a different direction than normal. I suddenly realised that I was passing the arches so decided to divert in on my way to my train.

The quality of the graffiti was excellent as expected. There were a few people in there at the same time checking out the work, but it wasn’t too busy. It was a midweek afternoon so probably not such a surprise. Weekends are probably a different story. There was one artist that was working on a wall. I would have liked to have hung around and seen them work but there was a train waiting upstairs and this was an unplanned diversion. I will have to go back with a bit more time in hand.

Riding the Thames Clipper

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During some previous visits, I had seen the Thames Clipper/Uber ferries running up and down the river. They seemed to be pretty powerful beasts as they fought the strong currents that the Thames can produce. However, I never used them myself. I finally got around to using one recently. We had been down to Battersea and decided to take the ferry back towards the station rather than retrace our steps on the Tube.

It was a pretty good ride but had me wondering about its use in the centre of town. We didn’t go very far but we stopped multiple times en route. We were crisscrossing the river a lot so our overall progress was slow. We were not in a hurry but, even so, decided not to go where we originally planned and cut short to walk to the station. The speed with which they dock, unload, load and depart is very impressive. They have the whole thing well worked out. It is just a slow process. I imagine that a longer run would be a very efficient way to get through the city, but the price premium wasn’t worth it to me.

Wandering Through Trafalgar Square

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I had been meeting up with people for a drink in town after work one evening. Once we had gone our separate ways, I had time in hand to walk back to Waterloo for my train home. My route took me through Trafalgar Square and, in the oncoming darkness, the illumination of the National Gallery looked really nice and I couldn’t help but stop to get some images. Taking photos in London is a bit awkward because you don’t want to look like a tourist but sometimes you have to overcome the pride!

Battersea Power Station

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When I was a kid, Battersea Power Station was still an active power station. It ceased to generate a long time ago and then there were endless proposals as to what it could be converted into. I remember one discussion of an amusement park being built within the main hall but this, along with all the others, came to nought. Finally, a plan was developed that did get traction and the building was gutted to create a shopping centre, flats and office space.

The four iconic chimneys were removed and rebuilt to look identical but to be safe for the long term while also providing a viewing space at the top of one – something I will need to try at some point. The surrounding area has also seen a lot of residential development assisted by the arrival of a tube station. We were up in town for a day and had a little time on our hands so decided to pay it a visit.

The building is very imposing, and a lot of the architectural features have been preserved well. The halls that now hold the shops still include features like cranes and control consoles to show a bit of the heritage of the building. What is original and what is a replica I don’t know but I like the effort.

When it comes down to it, this is really just another shopping mall so, unless there is something specific that you want there, I suspect there is no real need to make a regular visit. However, as a once off thing, I enjoyed taking a look around. I have no objection to going back and might do so just to go up the chimney.

Good Morning Gandhi

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Our London office is on Tavistock Square and, every morning when I jump off the bus, I am next to the path into the middle of the square and I find myself looking at a statue of Mahatma Gandhi. Normally I am in a rush into the office so don’t stop to look at it. However, one morning I had started a call as I was getting off the bus and, rather than have it interrupted by signal loss in the lift, I walked around the square while on the call. When it was finished, I was right by the statue so took a moment to look at it and take a couple of photos.

Distant Farewell to the Pumas

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The RAF retired its Puma helicopter fleet at the end of March after 54 years in service. They undertook a tour of various parts of the country with three Pumas. Sadly, I wasn’t able to be in place for any of the flypasts. However, one of the last legs included a flight across London using the Thames helicopter route. I was working in the London office that day and so I did head up to the roof to see if I could see them. We are too far from the river to be in a good spot, but it was better than nothing. I also only had my phone. Stills were pointless so I decided to try and get some video instead. Here is what I got.

BT Tower

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As I look from our office on Tavistock Square, the BT Tower is the conspicuous landmark to the west of us. When I was a kid, this was called the Post Office Tower. Then it became the Telecom Tower and then the BT Tower. In those days, large microwave antennae were mounted on the structure to communicate with other parts of the country. The need for them is now gone and so there is a rather bare part of the structure beneath the floor space at the top. It changes the whole look of the building. I believe it has recently been sold to a hotel group so maybe I will get a chance to finally go up it. I shall probably make the effort to get closer to it in the coming months to try other photo angles than just looking out of the window.

Parakeets in Their Natural Habitat?

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Parakeets must be remarkably adaptable birds. When they escape, they seem to rapidly establish themselves in cities from which they did not originate. When we lived in Chicago, there was a park on the south side of the city which had a large parakeet colony. Richmond Park in London is a similar spot. We heard the parakeets before we saw them, but their bright flashes of color made them easy enough to spot when they got moving. They just seem to flourish wherever they are, even if they really should not be there.

How Much Purple is There on These Houses?

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While walking through Richmond, we came along a street of older houses in what seemed like quite a desirable neighborhood. The dominant feature of most of these houses was the preponderance of wisteria on their frontages. Some of the plants were confined to one house while others seemed to span whatever property that they felt like. The purple blooms were most impressive, and it seemed like they were competing to see which house could be more purple than the next. I don’t know how long wisteria blooms for so did we get lucky with our timing, or could we have been there at a wider range of times?