St. George in the East
Walking round London, you often come across surprising buildings, gardens or other sites.
I was in need of a drink and the courtyard of this church was selling tea, coffee and cakes in aid of a children’s hospice, Richard House.
Note the excellent information board from English Heritage. We need a lot more of these!
So I went in and had a cuppa.
St. George in the East was designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, who also designed Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard amongst many other famous buildings.
The church was badly damaged in the Blitz and a new interior was built inside the shell of the original.
My First London Marathon
C and I akways said that one day we’d go and see the London Marathon. But we never did!
So today, I took the East London Line from Dalston Junction to Shadwell and walked through to The Highway to see the leaders of the men’s race and a lot of the other runners pass. Interesting I talked to a couple of people, who were using the line for the first time. They were impressed. I should also say that the line was crowded, but it appeared to be coping wioth probably the busiest Sunday of the year.
It was a very good atmosphere and I enjoyed it. Quite a few of the pictures were taken by standing on the wall outside St. George’s Gardens. At least my balance must be getting quite good.
I also took this video standing on the wall, as the elite flashed by and the others jogged towards Canary Wharf.
I always said that one day, I’d do the marathon. But I suspect after the stroke and with my dodgy heart valve, it’s now out of the question. Unless of course, I can persuade a good cardiologist to run, or more likely walk, with me.
Part of the reason was always that Chris Brasher was one of my heroes. In this post, I explain why and also say a bit more about the London Marathon.
My New Trainers
I got my new trainers on Friday from Runners Need.
I wore them all day yesterday in Bristol and in the end we had to walk all the way from Ashton Gate to Temple Meads, which took about thirty minutes.
This morning, I have no stiffness or soreness!
I’ve not had any cramps in bed either.
So perhaps everybody should get their trainers properly fitted.
Sacrilege
On the train on Thursday evening, when I went for a drink in Hampstead, the young lady next to me was highlighting texts in her bible with a pink fluorescent market pen.
In my view to deface any book in such a way is sacrilege.
Josh Carson Does It Again
The football wan’t the best although in the end the result was what I wanted. Lee Martin got himself sent off and then the ten men of Ipswich attempted to hold on for the rest of the match.
The deciding goal had a touch of good fortune about it, as Josh Carson intercepted a stray pass and then beat David James from over twenty metres. I felt at the time, that it might have been a goalkeeping calamity, but it appears it was just a well-placed shot, that James couldn’t reach.
Carson has now scored three times in three starts and when Ipswich have won in those three games, he’s scored all the goals.
How many world-class strikers have started their career with such a record? Not many I suspect!
The Disappointing SS Great Britain
I found Brunel’s SS Great Britain very disappointing.
SS Great Britain
This is the best view you can get of the ship without paying £12.90 a person. That is just too much! Compare with how the Belfast or the Cutty Sark are displayed in London, where you can get a good view of the outside for nothing.
When you only have a couple of hours to visit an attraction, there needs to be some way to get a flavour.
The cafe was a bit of a disappointment too, as nothing was marked gluten free and it took a great deal of time to find out what was OK for me. In the end I had some very nice soup, but I still paid for the bread I didn’t need. Not that I worried about that, as the food was more important, but it would make it difficult for a family of coeliacs.
Walking Around Bristol
We walked along the water to the SS Great Britain.
Here are a few pictures. We could have taken a ferry, but it was an easy walk.
Note the statue of John Cabot, who is now thought to have landed in Newfoundland in 1497. Click the link to Wikipedia to find out more about this adventurer, who is just a footnote in much teaching of history.
Should It Still Be Called The Royal Bank of Scotland?
We walked past this building on the waterside at Bristol.
Royal Bank of UK Taxpayers
It occurred to us, that surely now is the time to drop the word Scotland from the name. After all, it is now the Royal Bank of UK Taxpayers.
Perhaps we should all be given a few shares!
By God’s Wonderful Railway to Bristol
To many, the Great Western Railway from Paddington to Bristol, Wales and the West is a cut above all of the other lines radiating from London.
As I was brought up close by the main line out of Kings Cross to the North and could hear tha A4 Pacifics and later the Deltic as they picked up speed through New Barnet, my affections are generally towards that route. One of my most memorable railway journeys happened on that line.
The Great Western Main Line differs from the other major lines in the UK as it was built on a grander scale and virtually straight for most of the way to Bristol. In other words, Brunel got his engineering right. In many ways it was the first high-speed line to be built anywhere in the world. (In fact as much of the line speed between London and Bristol is 125 mph., it meets the European definition of a high speed line.) Today the workhorses of the line are High Speed Diesel Trains, like the one where I rode in the cab from Edinburgh to Inverness.
But in some ways the line is showing its age.
Renovating the Roof at Paddington
Finally, as the picture shows they are doing something with renovating Paddington. It is long overdue and it’s not much better now, than when I used the station to go to visit Plessey in the 1970s. It has also been announced that the line will be electrified as far as Cardiff. Why this wasn’t done years ago, I have never understood. Perhaps the reason it hasn’t been electrified is that the High Speed Diesel Trains have outperformed even the most optimistic expectations. But even then it took them so many years to name a power car after the man behind the project, Terry Miller, as good engineers are so undervalued by politicians.
Yesterday, I went with a friend to Bristol to see Ipswich play at Ashton Gate. We left on time at 10:00 from Paddington and just 99 minutes later we arrived in Bristol Temple Meads. The distance is 118.5 miles, so the average speed was a shade under 72 mph, including stops at Reading, Swindon, Chippenham and Bath. Not bad for a nearly forty year old train, but it did have the advantage of two men of vision; Brunel and Miller. I have a feeling that the last High Speed Train in regular service might be well in the second half of this century.
The Anonymous Widower 