Finsbury Circus Appears Fully Open
I bought my breakfast yesterday in Leon on Moorgate and ate it in the nearby Finsbury Circus Gardens.
It is now fully open.
This picture shows the gardens during the construction of Crossrail.
Note.
- The bandstand can be picked out amongst the trees.
- The shaft towards the bottom is forty metres deep and was used to get men and materials to the tunnels.
Comparing the pictures shows that the gardens are now able to used for their original purpose.
MAHYTEC Creates World’s First Hydrogen-Powered Riding Lawnmower
I searched for hydrogen-powered lawnmower and found this page.
Surely ideal for the Prince of Wales to buy for Camilla, when she does the mowing at Highgrove.
But seriously, if you can make a hydrogen-powered ride-on mower, you can make any number of smaller horticultural and agricultural vehicles, that run on hydrogen.
How long before John Deere or one of the big Japanese manufacturers releases a hydrogen-powered lawnmower, that takes the large grass-cutting market by storm?
It won’t be just the grass, that is green!
I suspect a company like ITM Power will provide the operator with their own hydrogen generator.
I can envisage the farm of the future, having the following.
- Hydrogen powered tractors, loaders and other powered machinery.
- Hydrogen-powered Range-Rover to speed through the lanes.
- Hydrogen-powered lawn mower to make the place look good.
- Hydrogen-powered vehicles for road use.
All would be powered by the farm’s own hydrgen generator, which might use their own wind turbine.
A Garden Is Being Created Under London Bridge Station
I took these pictures as I walked in one of the tunnels under London Bridge station.
Somebody is doing a bit of garden creation.
Square Comes Full Circle For Grosvenor Estate
The title of this post is the same as that of an article in the Business section of today’s copy of The Times.
It describes the history of Grosvenor Square and its relationship to the Grosvenor family.
There has been an American presence in the square since 1785, but with the moving of the American Embassy to Nine Elms earlier this year, the need for security measures has decreased and control of the square has returned to the Grosvenor Estate.
These are the last two paragraphs of the article.
After a public consultation, Grosvenor is seeking ideas from urban designers, architects and artists to “recreate a place fit for the 21st century”.
Craig McWilliam, chief executive, said that Grosvenor Britain and Ireland wanted to create “a haven where locals and visitors can enjoy the best of the city”.
Donald Trump has stated that moving to Nine Elms is crazy, but London will gain immensely from that move.
Volunteers Transform Neglected Rail Station Gardens Into Welcoming Area
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in the Westmoreland Gazette.
In my travels I come across many stations, where volunteers make a difference.
Kents Bank station can be added to that list.
Many more stations need volunteers to do some community gardening and other work.
Improving The Wisley Interchange
It is probably nearly ten years since I drove through the Wisley interchange where the M25 and A3 meet.
The BBC this morning is discussing a proposal to improve this junction by taking some land from the RHS Wisley Garden.
This Google Map shows the area.
Note how close Wisley Garden is to the A3, which all proposals say should be widened from three lanes to four.
Two proposals have been put forward by Highways England.
This is Option 9, which is a four-level flyover.
And this is Option 14.
I suspect as far as Wisley Garden is concerned it’s a choice between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea!
Just out of curiosity, I looked up on the RHS Wisley Garden site, how I could get there easily by public transport.
Effectively, it means taking a train to Woking and a taxi!
Wisley Garden can’t have it both ways, as they encourage people to drive to the Garden and yet are objecting to widening of the A3.
A Wider Problem
Wisley Garden illustrates the wider problem, of how so many attractions are only easily accessible by car.
Some attractions like Brighton and Hove Albion’s new Falmer Stadium, have been built with decent public tyransport access, but others assume everybody comes by car.
Surely, in this age, where the environment matters, no development should be allowed without due consideration of well-thought out public transport.
I’ve Now Got A Back Garden!
On BBC Breakfast this morning, the weather is coming from Woodberry Wetlands, which is London’s newest Nature Reserve, that opens to the public today, after being opened by Sir David Attenborough yesterday.
This Google Map shows the area.
One entrance is on the road between the two reservoirs and I think there is a second one by the Castle.
To get there, I just walk across the road by my house and get a 141 bus to the castle. It takes me about ten minutes.
How many readers of this blog realised that North London had such an impressive castle?
It was built to keep Tottenham and Arsenal supporters apart. Tottenham is to the North-East and Arsenal is to the South-West.
This morning, I visited Woodberry Wetlands.
I walked across from where the 141 bus dropped me by the Castle along the New River Walk.
It was crowded, as would be expected on the first day.
One thing that surprised me was that I saw a fox in broad daylight, strutting about as cool as you like.
I think it will turn out to be a popular attraction, but I think that transport bus, bicycle and walking access should be improved.
- Probably the easiest way to go is to walk from Manor House station. Some signs showing the shortest walking route would help.
- The maps on the web site need updating with buses from both entrances.
- Bicycles were everywhere and there needs to be better storage.
- A bus running between the reservoirs would certainly help.
It is the sort of attraction, that would benefit from some Boris bike stations.
- Manor House station
- Finsbury Park station
- The Castle
- The entrances to the attraction.
The first two would also serve Finsbury Park.
London Gets A New Garden
The British on the whole love their gardens and London’s new garden over Crossrail Place, the shopping centre on top of the Canary Wharf Crossrail station has now opened under its plastic roof.
It will be interesting to see how this station-cum-shopping centre develops. The cinema opens soon and there’s a floor and a half of shops at least to open before the station opens towards the end of the decade.
DownThe Hill In A Sunny Sheffield
I took these pictures as I walked from the Leopold Hotel to the station.
The Winter Garden was a total surprise. In fact, when I saw it, I was rather disappointed that I’d had a morning coffee in a Cafe Nero.
It was a very easy walk with the hill.
As I got to the bottom, it struck me that it might have been an idea to put the odd escalator in the climb to make it easier to walk up. Perugia has a similar problem of getting up the hill and they have used escalators to advantage.