I have some happy memories of Barbican Station and on Saturday, I passed through on the way to the Anniversary Games.
Barbican Station
I can particular remember pushing our youngest son in his buggy along the central platform, from where the picture was taken, sometimes with C and our two sons and sometimes without.
Sad to think, that C and the baby in the buggy have both died from cancer.
July 27, 2013
Posted by AnonW |
Transport/Travel | Barbican, Cancer, Death, London Underground |
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I saw this film last night and it was thoroughly enjoyable and a very good study of the tensions and relationships of a group of talented people.
In some ways, I found it a bit allegorical, as the tensions between the major players in Metier, were rather similar at times, although we had simpler relationships.
Of course, philistine that I am, I didn’t recognise any of the music in the film. This probably means that you don’t have to be a music lover to enjoy the film.
I saw it in the excellent Barbican Cinema and afterwards had a drink looking out of the window, at the front door of Cromwell Tower. That was a bit surreal and I did wonder how my life would have mapped out, if C and myself had kept the flat there, which we probably would have done, if Metier had been sold earlier.
Do we just go round in circles in our lives?
April 8, 2013
Posted by AnonW |
World | Barbican, Entertainment, Films, Metier Management Systems, Music |
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London is having a sprouting of tall residential buildings like Vermilion.
As someone, who with his late wife, brought their children up in one of the tallest building in Europe in Cromwell Tower, I can’t say I am against this trend.
One of my sons, still talks with affection about living there.
Provided of course, that they are well-designed and built.
January 16, 2013
Posted by AnonW |
World | Architecture, Barbican |
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This notion is put forward today in Caitlin Moran’s piece in The Times.
It also contains the piece of information that Manchester has just one public toilet. That can’t be true can it?
I rarely get caught short, but if I am, I usually go into a betting shop as many have very good toilets All you need to do, if you feel guilty is to watch a race before or after doing the necessary.
Last night though in the Barbican, I went into one of the worst toilets for some time. The door had been spray painted by a vandal and the pan was slightly blocked and didn’t pull too well either. For one of Europe’s largest arts centre it was a disgrace and very inferior to the immaculate ones inside Ipswich Town’s ground at Portman Road. In fact on the whole football clubs do seem to try to get good facilities. I can’t think of a bad one and I’ve used toilets in perhaps thirty grounds in the last few years.
January 5, 2013
Posted by AnonW |
World | Barbican, Betting, Coffee, Ipswich Town, Starbucks, Toilets |
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I saw this film last night in the Barbican, but this time in the original screen in the main complex.
As when I saw Safety Not Guaranteed a few days earlier, I watched most of the film without my glasses. What is happening to my eyesight? It’s certainly not getting worse, which you might expect as I get older.
As to the film, I found it a bit disappointing, although, if like me, you are an older person and like your stars to be stars, it is a good film. I note too, that it was a BBC film and it certainly isn’t wasting my licence fee.
January 5, 2013
Posted by AnonW |
World | Barbican, BBC, Eyesight, Films |
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I say mine, although, of course, I have had nothing to do in any way with its creation. Except perhaps some of my taxes have helped to build it.
Opposite, where we used to live in Cromwell Tower in the Barbican, was a space that was originally to be used for an exhibition centre. The Barbican Centre was still being built in those days and I hardly ever remember us going to the cinema at the time.
The Barbican Centre has had a cinema for some time, but now part of the exhibition centre has been converted into a delightful two screen cinema. I say delightful, as I’ve never been to a cinema with such a well-designed foyer/bar/restaurant, where I had a bottle of Aspall cyder before going into a cinema with such a great feeling. Sight lines were superb, seats were extremely comfortable and small things like lighting and the low-angled stairs, made it so very easy to get to your seat.
The film I saw was I, Anna, which as part of it was shot in the Barbican, was a very appropriate film for an introduction to the new cinema.
The film has it faults with dialogue and some of the continuity, but overall I’d give it four out of five.
It was however rather strange to see the end of the film in part of the Barbican, that C, myself and our children would have known extremely well. But the film brought back memories of very happy times for the years around 1970.
As to the cinema, I’d give a massive ten out of ten.
I also of course got two Suffolk beauties in an enjoyable evening; the sultrily beautiful Charlotte Rampling and the delicious cyder.
The evening was only spoilt by coming home to hear the terrible news from Connecticut.
December 15, 2012
Posted by AnonW |
Food, World | Barbican, Cider, Entertainment, Films, Suffolk |
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I took this picture of Cromwell Tower from where I took the picture of The Heron and CityPoint.
Cromwell Tower
We used to live on the eleventh floor, which is just about the lowest floor visible in the picture.
Considering this tower was built at the end of the 1960s, it is still an iconic and distinct building.
November 20, 2012
Posted by AnonW |
World | Architecture, Barbican, Building, London |
8 Comments
This picture was taken from the Barbican.
The Heron And CItyPoint
CityPoint used to be known as Britannic House and it was a much plainer and brutal building, when we lived in Cromwell Tower. It has since been rebuilt. The Heron is a new residential block, yet to be completed.
November 20, 2012
Posted by AnonW |
World | Architecture, Barbican, Building, London |
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C, myself and our three boys, were the first occupants of 111, Cromwell Tower in the Barbican. It was a good place to live and we all enjoyed it.
So I was very surprised to see a similar flat featured in yesterday’s Times comic. It is in the middle tower;Shakespeare, with a picture showing Cromwell in the background.
Our’s was a three-bedroomed flat and they say that the one shown is two, but they may have been a similar layout.
It’s funny how you notice things, but we were mandated by the lease to have carpets everywhere to cut down the noise. The flat shown has got wood block floors.
But otherwise they are surprisingly like the flat we knew.
If I walk to the end of my road, I can see Cromwell Tower, in all its crenellated glory.
I may have gone many miles in the forty years since we left, but all I’ve done is take a short run up the road to where my ancestors lived.
September 30, 2012
Posted by AnonW |
World | Architecture, Barbican, Building, Good Design |
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If you look south from the river, you’ll see a curious building with what look like three clock faces. The building is called Strata London and today I went to Elephant and Castle to have a closer look at it.
Unfortunately the sun was in the wrong direction and the pictures aren’t the best.
The clocks are actually wind turbines. Although there are doubts about their effectiveness. Wikipedia says this.
Strata SE1 is one of the first buildings in the world to incorporate wind turbines within its structure. The three nine-metre wind turbines at the top of the building are rated at 19 kW each and are anticipated to produce 50MWh of electricity per year. They are expected to generate sufficient energy to provide power for the common areas of the building (8% of the energy needs of the building), although questions about their real efficiency will remain unanswered until the completion of two years of comprehensive wind data analysis.
Having lived on the 11th floor of one of the towers in the Barbican, I’m not sure that this building would be as nice a place to live.
January 13, 2012
Posted by AnonW |
World | Barbican, Building |
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The Anonymous Widower 