Around The Limehouse Basin
From Ilford station, the one for TUCA, I took the train to Stratford from where I took the DLR to Limehouse station, where I walked around the Limehouse Basin.
My goal was to find another building open today in Open House; the Limehouse Hydraulic Accumulator.
It’s Open House Weekend!!
I’m following an engineering theme this weekend.
Saturday
- Bond Street Crossrail Station
- TUCA – London’s University of Hole Digging
- Limehouse Accumulator Tower
Sunday
Obviously, I may add some more.
Walking From Manor House To Harringay Green Lanes
According to Wikipedia this is considered to be a walkable interchange between Manor House and Harringay Green Lanes stations between the Piccadilly and Gospel Oak to Barking lines.
Yesterday I walked it from the Manor House end and took these pictures.
It was a reasonably easy walk, as it’s all downhill. It was also very pleasant going into and out of Finsbury Park and past a cafe and a nursery, that sold plants.
Note the Manor House Pub, which was famous in the 1960’s for its rock music.
Coming back, I took a bus from Harringay Green Lanes to the Angel to do some shopping.
Is This £300m Home Unlucky?
It’s reported in the Standard that a house is being sold for £300m in London.
As the two previous owners died prematurely, would you want to buy such an unlucky house?
I wouldn’t even if I had the money.
And if I did, I certainly would spend that amount on a house.
Bicycles On The Emirates Air-Line
Although, they say it’s possible on the web site, but I’d never seen bicycles being carried across on the cable-car before today.
As you can see, the seats tip up and the bikes are strapped in by the attendant.
I was in the gondola behind and there was no hold-up at all.
Signing Off In Style
I suppose that when you’ve gone, it doesn’t really matter to you.
But surely this is the way to go. Especially with such a pair of beautiful and well-behaved horses.
The undertakers are called W. G. Miller, which I often pass on the Essex Road. My father was W. E. Miller and signed his articles and letters in technical journals as WEM.
The View From Tate Modern
I took the lift to the top of Tate Modern to have a coffee with a friend.
This is surely one of the best free views of the City of London. Especially, if your friend buys the coffee.
The only better view is that of the peregrine falcons nesting on the chimney. They can be glimpsed by telescope and video screen from in front of the building. There’s more about them here.
Modesty, Manners And Fair Play
The Evening Standard is London’s newspaper, but it hasn’t always been totally behind the Olympics. However, in this article, Nick Curtis, thinks we got it right.
I do too!
Crime and health problems were down and I have commented how everybody has been talking. Certainly, the police have been friendlier too!
Only time will tell, if this is the correct impression. But talking to Olympic tourists generally confirmed we’d got it right.
Roll on the Paralympics! And the world aThletic Championships in 2017!
An Oyster Card And A Freedom Pass
Although, I’m entitled to free travel in the London area, I actually carry both and I suspect many Londoners eligible for a Freedom Pass carry an Oyster Card as well.
I carry the Oyster Card mainly for the Emirates Air-Line, as it’s cheaper than paying cash and it gives me speedy boarding. But I also carry it, if say a friend should turn up and doesn’t have a card. I do keep them separate, so I don’t pay twice for a journey.
Yesterday, I went to Ipswich, which is outside the Freedom Pass and Oyster Card area. Ipswich like many stations has the same Cubic barriers at London, so wouldn’t it be nice if I could use an Oyster Card to pay for the journey. I know there’s the complication of the fact that I pay for my Senior Railcard to get a discount of a third on rail fares outide my Freedom Pass area, but computing could work that out.
Perhaps, even a Freedom Pass could also be uploaded with money like an Oyster Card.
There are endless possibilities and hopefully a sensible solution will be found. And of course, one that desn’t use a dreaded smart phone!
Has London Got Friendlier?
Every Sunday morning, I take the Overground to Shadwell, where I switch to the DLR and go to Royal Victoria station, from where I get the Emirates Air-Line over the Thames to the O2. From there, I go to Canary Wharf station, where I have a late breakfast in Carluccio’s. This was my intension this morning, but I left my Oystercard behind, so I took the Jubilee line from Canning Town station to get to Canary Wharf. I’ve done it now perhaps six or seven times and it allows me to get a good view on the mood of London. Today everybody was very chatty and there was a generally friendly mood.
This wasn’t the first time, that I’ve noticed this upbeat mood on a personal level in recent weeks. One particular feature, is that I’ve had more talks with black people lately, than I’ve ever had in my past sixty-odd years. Could it be, that the Olympics is helping us to live together better, as in fact we all have more common interests, than those things that divide us?
In one instance, I walked away from a bus, with a black woman about my age, chatting about our health problems, both of us remarking that twenty years before, we’d have probably not said a word.
If this is the legacy of 2012, I’m all for it! Or is it just that finally we’ve developed a modern society?
The Anonymous Widower 