Coming North On The Cable-Car
I usually traverse the cable-car from north to south, but on Sunday, I went the other way, as the DLR wasn’t running to Royal Victoria because of Crossrail works.
Afterwards, I walked to Canning Town station, took the Jubilee line to Canary Wharf for lunch.
Blue Skies Over London
On Friday, back in London, I was out and about in the morning doing a bit of shopping.
I saw a lot more sun in those few hours, than I did on ten days of the cruise.
A New City Is Growing Up
Forty years ago, when we lived in the Barbican it was a good place to live, and it was very convenient for me to get to my various jobs in the City and for C to get to University College. But it wasn’t a place for living at the week-end.
Now though, with places like One New Change, the City is becoming a complete place to live, work and play.
As it’s only a short bus ride from where I live, I can partake of the good life. I have found in recent months, that I’m visiting shopping centres like Eastfield less and less.
One New Change
I said in this post yesterday, that I would go to One New Change to check out the views.
I did this morning and although the weather wasn’t good, the views from the top were stunning. I also had a pot of tea in Madison’s cafe on the roof, which did cost me £3.91. This was worth it, as I got two full cups, sat in very comfortable leather arm chairs and had magnificent views of St. Paul’s.
The charge to go to the roof is a big fat zero and for that you got a lift with views of the cathedral. Surely, if you want to have good views of London from above, this is even better value than walking to the top of Primrose Hill.
I think One New Change could be the prototype in London and other places for this type of development Only six floors high, but with a double basement, it mixes high-quality offices, shops, bars and restaurants, to create a working, shopping and visiting community. Read their ecological statement here. The building is so much better than that monstrous erection by London Bridge station; the Shard.
I know we won’t see it, as the plans are probably fully in place and approved, but wouldn’t a building with this ethos, fit well into the railway lands, between Kings Cross and St. Pancras, which will probablt be filled by more anonymous high-rise buildings.
Leadenhall Market
Despite the awful weather, today was a good day to walk through a virtually empty Leadenhall Market.
Note the date of 1990. Was that when the art students repainted the inside, as I reported here?
Wet Sundays aren’t generally that nice, but in London, they do mean that you can often walk the streets of the City more or less totally by yourself.
Construction Seems To Have Resumed At The Pinnacle
The cashpoint I used at Tower 42 was opposite the Pinnacle.
Work seems to have resumed, which must say something about the economy. Although there are reports, that they may be demolishing it and starting again. There’s a piece here in the Architect’s Journal.
No Budget; Employ Students
In the depths of The Times is a story about a walk in the City of London, with the planning officer; Peter Rees. This phrase caught my eye.
As we walk through the ornate arcades of Leadenhall Market he points to the rich roof decoration and says, “the Corporation had no budget for restoration, so I employed art students to do the job.”
Good lateral thinking. They did a very good job too!
The article also says that some of the best views of London are from the roof of One New Change, the new shopping centre in the City by St. Paul’s. I must check! There’s more about it here.
The Restaurant Would Have Loved This Revue
a couple of weeks ago, I was so impressed by what Giles Coren said about a restaurant, that I just had to visit The Quality Chop House and duly did, as I reported here.
I doubt, I’ll be going to Balthazar, as Giles has given the place, one of the worst reviews I’ve ever seen, with the same exquisite use of a hatchet, that would have done justice to the late Michael Winner. You can read it here in The Times. It is one of those reads, that are worth a visit to the dentist in a couple of months time.
Giles scores the restaurant 0 for food out of 10, but gives it 9 for the room and service. His last paragraph is a classic.
I had hoped that London was too sophisticated now to fall for this sort of thing, but the critics seem to be going wild for it. And I am in no way saying that you should not go. Just go prepared. For the best restaurant in London, and the worst food in Europe.
I shall see what Giles recommends in the next few weeks.
Barclaycard On The Buses
Barclaycard are pushing their alternative to Oyster for London buses and tubes.
Barclaycard On The Buses
It will be interesting to see in a few years, if credit and bank cards actually replace Oyster.
Rhinitis: A Tale Of Two Cities
It’s very strange bus over the last couple of days, my health has been very much a roller coaster. or should I say my rhinitis.
On Wednesday, it was particularly bad and I was getting through the usual small packet of paper hankies a day. I did have a swimming lesson and I suspect, I did give my nose a bit of a washout, but the running nose was very much the same as it normally is.
Thursday in Liverpool is was a bit better, but on Friday, despite it being a day, when God had decided, she would empty her bathwater, my tissue consumption was much reduced. We were also indoors for a lot of the day in a warm room. But was it dry?
Yesterday, as I came down from Liverpool on the train, it was fine, except that I could taste the softer Liverpool water running into my throat.
Today, though it has been awful and I’ve got through over a small packet of tissues on my walk around London this morning.
So which is the dominant factor controlling the rhinitis?
I think, I can throw in here, one other useful piece of information. I saw no improvement on my trips to Blackburn or Huddersfield.
As I do know that my health problems improved as a child, when we moved to Felixstowe and maintained the improvement at Liverpool University. So, perhaps being by the sea helped. After all, I sometimes notice, that when I go to the football at Ipswich, I do sometimes breathe better.
It could too have been the temperature and humidity in the hotel. I set the temperature to the nineteen, I aim for at home.
One thing though, that the pain in my teeth and around the old break in my left humerus, seems to increase with the rhinitis.
So if I can stop my nose running, I may get rid of some other symptoms.
As I’m going on a cruise in eight days time, perhaps this will help me solve the mystery.
At least though, I’m certain that what causes the rhinitis, caused it as a child and as it didn’t kill me then, it probably won’t now.
The Anonymous Widower 