We took a trip up to Vancouver at the end of November. They had set up their Christmas market near where we were staying and our hotel rate included tickets. It was only open at peak times while we were there but I think the hours were expanding not long after our visit. These markets are always interesting to walk around but they rarely have anything that I would actually want to buy – other than food and booze! In this case, we were heading out to dinner with friends afterwards so we even skipped that side of things. They are always a colorful and popular place so you can just enjoy watching everyone enjoying themselves and occasionally wonder at some of the strange things people will buy!
I spent a lot of my childhood in a town called Cowes on the Isle of Wight. Cowes was on the coast by the outfall of the River Medina. The other side of the river was East Cowes and the two were connected by a chain ferry known to everyone as the floating bridge. I remember as a small boy when the previous floating bridge got replaced with a newer and larger version. This same one was in service until relatively recently. A new one was ordered and its introduction to service has not been smooth.
I see the content of some Isle of Wight Facebook groups and complaints about the new bridge are widespread. Like most people, I don’t know the actual details of what is behind the problems, but the online experts know everything, and the accusations of corruption are widespread. In my experience, the most likely problem is just a screw up. People make mistakes a lot and looking for a deeper reason is usually fruitless. I don’t even know if it is all working properly now, and everyone is rehashing old stories or whether it is still problematic.
We did take a trip on it though. It was working and we needed to get from East Cowes to Cowes so we gave it a go. Everything was fine. However, it was busy and the car in front of us was the last one to get on. That did give me some time to get some photos of it and I also took a little video too. As an aside, while we were in Portsmouth, I saw the old bridge laid up awaiting its fate.
My visit to Hatton Cross was to shoot airplanes but, as I came out of the tube station and walked along the A30 to Myrtle Avenue, I passed some fields that had a bunch of horses grazing in them. This seemed like such an incongruous thing to see. I was in amongst the housing and right next to an international airport with a major road passing through. Having so many horses there seemed like the last thing I would have expected.
Some of them looked like large working horses while others were either ponies or foals. I am not a specialist so can’t tell the difference. The approach lights for the runway were in the field surrounded by fencing which seemed to attract some of the ponies for some reason. They looked pretty tranquil and clearly had no interest in the planes passing overhead. How could they not be looking???
Every once in a while, you have a moment when you realize something obvious. I used to occasionally go to Camden Market when I lived in Town and I knew of Camden Lock but it never occurred to me that Camden Lock was called that because it had a lock. How did that never register? Anyway, it became obvious as we came to Camden during our walk along the Regents Canal. There were the locks and a bridge over the top of them. It was absolutely heaving with people. Camden is a tourist magnet and so I was keen to keep moving through. I did stop long enough to have a look at the locks, though.
The day after we arrived in Town, I headed out on my own for a while. Before I hopped on the tube to go east, the sun was up and illuminating the Houses of Parliament rather nicely so I strolled along the South Bank and across Westminster Bridge to get some shots of the newly refurbished clock tower before heading off. It was very busy with tourists but it was great to see everything looking so nice on a sunny morning. (Besides, while I may have considered this area my manor, I am just a tourist too at this point.)
When we lived in the UK, there were plenty of good local breweries producing bitter that I could sample. Some of the larger brands would have national reach and one of those was Wadworth and their 6X bitter. I am very partial to this beer. I have had occasion when I have had a bad 6X but that is down to pubs that don’t keep their beer well. Wadworth is based in Devizes and this was where we went to see the Caen Hill Locks. It would have been churlish not to pay a brief visit to the brewery. It is alongside the main road through the town so getting a clean shot of it took some patience but I was successful. I think went to the gift shop because how could I not?
Our walk along the Regents Canal took us to Kings Cross and, when we got there, plenty of people were out enjoying the sunny Saturday. This included a bunch of car enthusiasts that had brought a variety of vehicles. These were not the sort of thing I see at Exotics@RTC. This was more a focus on enthusiasts for older vehicles that they have restored with much love. Old vehicles from my childhood were all over the place. I liked lots of them but the Bond Bug was a particular favorite. I had quite forgotten about this type of car until I saw it here.
The car ferry terminus at Portsmouth has moved locations over the years. The current Gunwharf location is tucked in quite a tight spot and the ferries are getting ever larger. It requires some skill to get a boat that big in to the berth frequently and quickly. I had multiple opportunities to watch them do this when in Portsmouth and when waiting to board so I got stills and video. A little video of them working is below.
We also were close to the terminus when we had our lunch on Spice Island. The ferries actually come around Spice Island and in to dock and the view along the shore looks almost continuous so, when the ferry goes in or comes out, it looks like it is emerging from the land. For some reason, I don’t tire of watching this happen.
There were lots of swans in the water along Caen Hill Locks. Some families were swimming around together with the cygnets well grown. One of the families had a member that had one foot up and out of the water. I have no idea whether this is a normal behavior for swans or the sign of an injury but the swan did not seem to be having any problems.
At some point, a couple of the swans got into a little bit of hassle. I don’t know whether this was a territorial thing or a case of swan flirting but one of them was really chasing another and seemed to be intent on getting them out of the way. A little separation was enough to stop all of this so I don’t know what it was all about.
When I worked in London, we used to go top Borough Market a lot. Nancy would shop there sometimes and we would often go up at weekends. Consequently, we were keen to go and see how it is now. In some respects, it was very familiar but in others it had changed a lot. The railway bridges over the market have been expanded in more recent times. At one point, there was a suggestion that the market would go as a result of the railway changes but thankfully that has not been the case.
What does seem to have changed is the balance of the types of vendor that are there. There were always plenty of places to buy food to eat straightaway. However, I seem to recall a lot more vendors of meat, fish and produce. There are certainly still a lot of these but now the balance seems to have shifted towards more of the immediate eating options. I am not saying that this is a bad thing but it does feel like it has turned away from being a market towards being a tourist attraction.
Since we were tourists, I can’t have much ground for complaint about this. I love looking around the market with its cast iron framing and the variety of stalls. There are some great meat vendors present and a few fish stalls too. We did have a guilty treat with some donuts and they were very good indeed. I am obviously part of the reason it has evolved. There is an old sign on the wall that lays out rents for the market. I suspect this is a little out of date at this point.
We took a trip up to Vancouver at the end of November. They had set up their Christmas market near where we were staying and our hotel rate included tickets. It was only open at peak times while we were there but I think the hours were expanding not long after our visit. These markets are always interesting to walk around but they rarely have anything that I would actually want to buy – other than food and booze! In this case, we were heading out to dinner with friends afterwards so we even skipped that side of things. They are always a colorful and popular place so you can just enjoy watching everyone enjoying themselves and occasionally wonder at some of the strange things people will buy!
