Richard Rogers At The Royal Academy
I went to see the Richard Rogers exhibition at the Royal Academy yesterday.
It was really worth visiting, with lots of drawings, models and quotes from the architect, of the Pompidou Centre, the Lloyds Building, the Millennium Dome and many others.
They also had a wall for ideas, about what you would like to see done to improve London. I couldn’t resist adding my four pennyworth about my plan to reduce chaos in Oxford Street, by building a first floor level walkway above the buses and traffic.
I also followed someone else in moaning about the lack of public clocks in London. Especially when you compare it with Liverpool.
But one particular idea occurred to me. Why not give all those who live in London, who don’t drive or who have returned their driving licence, a Freedom Pass?
It is definitely, a must-see exhibition.
London’s Hydrogen Buses
London has a few hydrogen-powered buses that run on route RV1 from Tower Gateway to Covent Garden via the South Bank of the Thanes.
I used this route to get back to North of the Thames, so I could get home, after visiting the Tate Modern.
There’s more about the technology between these hydrogen buses here. The buses would appear to be powered by fuel cells from Canadian company, Ballard, running on a Volvo chassis with a body by Wrightbus from Northern Ireland. There’s a lot of independent hybrid vigour there to go with the conservative bit from Volvo.
Three Reasons To Join The Tate
Obviously, if you join the Tate as I have, you get various advantages with the entry to exhibitions, but there are other less obvious ones.
In the Tate Modern, you get to use a Member’s Room with good views over the river.
The View From Tate Modern
This picture probably shows the Barbican and St. Paul’s better than the one I showed in the gallery. The Member’s Room also serves a mean cup of tea.
A Two Pound Pot Of Tea
At a mean price, I should say too, as I got two cups from the pot for just two pounds.
There are also two viewing galleries off the Member’s Room.
The Shard From Tate Modern
I only explored the South-facing one, which sadly is overlooked by the dreaded Shard.
Even if you’re not a member, the Tate has several cafes and restaurants and none seem to be small.
The Bold Millennium Bridge
The Millennium Bridge was not without controversy and many still call it the wobbly bridge.
But my walk shows how good the concept is and it was right to build a bridge there in the first place.
If you’re going to the Tate Modern, then in my view, it should be approached over the bridge.
It might be sensible too, to go back across using the new Blackfriars station, which is a bridge as well.
Or you could do as I did later and take the RV1 hydrogen-powered bus route to Covent Garden.
The BBC’s Gloomy Reporting
Despite the good news of the near £10 billion boost the Olympics gave the UK, BBC London is leading with two negative stories.
In one they are saying local business in London are moaning about loss of business because of the games.
And in the other, we have the residents of Surrey complaining that they have more road closures this weekend because of another cycling event. I suppose that it does make it difficult to drive the 4×4. I did hear once that you need a degree in moaning to live in Surrey.
Of course for balance the BBC is also reporting that too much of the Olympic benefit came to London.
In some ways the best legacy from the Olympics in this weather, are the new air-conditioned Class 378 trains on the London Overground and the S Stock on the sub-surface lines of the London Underground. It can also be said, that the place which has benefited most from these trains, is Derby, where they were built or are still being built in the case of the S Stock. It can also be argued that these trains would have been ordered anyway. The value of the orders is approaching two billion pounds.
London 2018
I saw this sticker at the ViewTube.
London 2018
London 2018 refers to the city’s bid to host the Gay Games in 2018.
A Walk In Hyde Park
I went for a walk this afternoon in Hyde Park.
I had gone to see the awful statue that someone had put in the Serpentine to publicise a new TV channel. But I couldn’t find it. There’s a picture here from the Belfast Telegraph.
But I did take a few pictures.
It turned out that the statue had been removed. Judging by the quality of the statue, I hope it’s been recycled.
I did have a very nice ice cream in the Lido Cafe by the Serpentine. I t might have been a bit expensive, but it was good. And I had it in a tub.
Thinking about the walk later, I reckon it must be nearly forty years since I have been to that part of Hyde Park. We occasionally used to go swimming in the Serpentine with the boys, although, I don’t think I ever ventured in. But C did, as she was a manic swimmer. I don’t have any pictures of that time, but the park has been spruced up a lot since.
They were difficult but happy times!
I Didn’t Think They Used Buses In Hampstead
You can easily make the assumption, that those upmarket people in Hampstead don’t use buses, as why would they travel with their inferiors, when you can drive or use a taxi. So this story from the Ham and High is very surprising. The headline in the paper says it all.
C11 bus driver asks passenger ‘Where’s Hampstead?
For those unfamiliar with the C11, it’s one of a series of single deck buses that meander all over London boroughs to provide local transport and fill-in for the Underground and the major bus routes. They’re almost like rural buses in Central London.
Farage Won’t Use An Oyster Card
This article in the Standard shows a lot about how Nigel Farage thinks.
I have both an Oystercard and a Freedom Pass, both of which track me through London. The only reasons, I have the Oyster, is to use it on the cable car and the river boats and also to give to visiting friends, so they don’t have to queue up to buy a ticket.
So I can be tracked, but then so what? Perhaps Nigel has a few secrets that he doesn’t want revealed. Perhaps, he’s even having relations with someone from Uganda?
The Dalston House
I went to look at the Dalston House Art Installation by Leandro Erlich, this morning.
The idea is basically very simple. a fake house front has been created on the ground and a large mirror at 45° has been placed so that if you say sit in the windows of the house, you can see yourself sitting in the reflection.
It was fascinating and many of those exploring it, seemed to feel they were children again.
One of the best things, was seeing the expression on a three-year-old’s face as he walked towards the mirror, seeing himself sticking out of the wall.
I can see that this simple idea being replicated all over the world.
My mother used to work at Reeves just round the corner and she used to tell a tale about how an enormous German bomb in the Second World War, destoryed a lot of the area. I checked at the library and the whole site, where the Dalston House has been built was a bomb site. They have a copy of the LCC Bomb Damage Book, which is a must-read book, for anybody, who lives or is thinking of living in an area of London that suffered bombing.
And to make everything even better, there is no entry charge to see this unusual work of art.
You just turn up and play! But they do limit the time you spend walking up and down the house to five or six minutes!
The Anonymous Widower 