Anthony Caro At Canary Wharf
Jubilee Park in Canary Wharf is being used this summer for a series of sculpture exhibitions. The first is of Anthony Caro’s work.
I wonder how many sculpture exhibitions are held on the roof of a station.
Where The Great Eastern Was Built and Launched
Brunel’s most famous ship, the Great Eastern, wasn’t built in Liverpool, Belfast, Glasgow or on the Tyne or Tees, but on the Thames at Millwall. If you take the DLR to Island Gardens station and then walk along the Thames Path towards the City, you’ll see a sign pointing you to the Great Eastern Launch Site. It’s shown in these pictures of the Launch Site itself.
The Great Eastern was so large it was actually launched sideways, as the river wasn’t wide enough for a traditional launch. It was also pushed in by scores of hydraulic rams, as it was reluctant to move. It is said that these rams, built by Tangye, launched that company as well.
Father and Son Footballers
They were talking about these on Radio 5 last night.
Perhaps I have a better memory, but the two pairs I know, weren’t mentioned.
Les Allen, who was in Spurs double-winning side of 1960-61, is the father of Clive and Bradley Allen, both of whom, had reasonably successful careers.
Roy Bailey, who was the goalkeeper in Ipswich’s First Division winning side of 1961-62, was the father of Manchester United’s goalkeeper, Gary Bailey.
An Amazing Coincidence
Yesterday, whilst descending to the DLR on the escalator at Bank station, I held a lady up because I rather slowed the queue. I apologised and then we found we were both going to Cutty Sark. I was going to see HMS Ocean and she was meeting a group of people to explore Maritime Greenwich.
We sat together on the DLR and then found that she had been brought up in Westpole Avenue in Cockfosters, which was a parallel road to where I lived at the time in Sussex Way. We were also very much in agreement, that the area was the coldest place in London.
We exchanged memories all the way to Cutty Sark.
The View From the North Bank of the Thames
After an excellent gluten-free sandwich and a coffee in the Starbucks by the Cutty Sark, I got onto the DLR again and travelled back to Island Gardens, where I walked along the North Bank of the Thames taking pictures.
Note you can just see the three masts of Cutty Sark in some of these pictures in front of HMS Ocean.
HMS Ocean Arrives At Greenwich
With a great deal of professionalism, the Navy’s largest ship, HMS Ocean, was positioned at Greenwich this morning.
She will act as a base for helicopters and Royal Marines during the Olympic Games.
Pudding Mill Lane Station – 4th May 2012
Pudding Mill Lane station on the DLR is unique in that the platforms can’t take full length trains and the track is only single on the Canary Wharf side of the station. This picture shows the new station being constructed.
The New Pudding Mill Lane DLR Station
Completion date is given as 2013. Towards Stratford, the viaduct that will carry the track is now visible.
The New Viaduct at Pudding Mill Lane DLR Station
The station will be a great improvement on the one it replaces.
The Mayoral Referenda
What is the most disappointing about this election is the rejection of new mayors in places like Manchester and Nottingham.
I moved to Hackney in London because a stroke meant I couldn’t drive and I needed good public transport. The Mayor, whoever he or she is, certainly gives London a focus and I believe helps to improve public transport and other things, that are important to the city.
The rejection of mayors is probably a vote for the status quo, as a good mayor would probably do more for the city, than an entrenched party of old time-servers.
Recently, I visited all 92 football clubs in alphabetical order by public transport. Manchester, and I mean Greater Manchester, has the worst public transport of any major conurbation. An elected mayor might just bring it all together and create a system that works. At present, all the local authorities have too much control and create the mess they’ve got.
Putin Is The New Tsar
In the iconic film, Dr. Zhivago, set around the time of the Russian Revolution, the question is asked if Lenin is the new Tsar.
But this story on the BBC’s web site really says that Putin might be behaving like a Tsar and is having a palace built on the Black Sea coast.There will be a full report on Newsnight tonight.
The Election That Wasn’t
Has there ever been an election, that was so low key? I haven’t seen one window sticker or been canvassed. If it wasn’t for the coverage on television and in the papers, you would have thought there was no elections at all. I did see Boris once, but he wasn’t actually doing anything, except being nice to everybody.
The only result that says anything, has been turn-out of 32 %, that has been the worst for a decade.
I did vote, but the polling station was like a morgue. I saw two other voters and the one of those had got lost as he tried to find the room, where the vote was taking place.
In some ways the election that matters for London, other than the Mayor, takes place at the weekend in France. Turbulence and political uncertaincy there, will certainly affect London, but until we see the result of the Sarkozy-Hollande run-off, we won’t know how.
The Anonymous Widower 