A Gluten-Free Guide to the London Olympics
For those like me, who must remain gluten-free, the Olympics in London shouldn’t be too difficult, although I do worry about the Olympic Park and some of the venues. The reason for this, is that I’ve been to Wembley a couple of times and the food is your usual burger and chips rubbish. The organisers say they will make it better at the venues, but I have my doubts. It’s sad really, as East London, where the Games are being staged, has a large variety of ethnic cooking, like Bangladeshi, that is very much gluten-free. Incidentally, if you like curries, all good curry houses, such as in the famous Brick Lane, use gram or chick-pea flour and are never offended if you ask. A lot of these restaurants, though don’t serve alcohol, but don’t mind if you bring it in and they will then give you glasses and a cork-screw, if one is needed. The best ones always have proper linen tablecloths and napkins.
The big Olympic Park at Stratford is at present very much an unknown as to gluten-free food, as it hasn’t opened yet. But the Westfield Shopping Centre (Eastfield to many) next door is bad, if you want a gluten-free restaurant. However, it does have two big food stores, that are always a good stand-by, if you want to buy a picnic; Waitrose and Marks and Spencer. Both have a wide selection of picnic food and gluten-free bread and rolls.
In fact, for some picnics will always be a safe way out, when on the move. The main Olympic Park, is next to one of London’s largest parks; Victoria Park and they are going to put a lot of fast-food stalls here with big screens. But even if nothing is gluten-free, there will be plenty of space to sit on the grass. In fact, there are large green spaces near to most of the venues.
If you want to eat out, there are quite a few mid-range chains with gluten-free offerings. I eat regularly in Carluccio’s and Cote, but others also have a gluten-free menu.
A lot of pubs, like my local, the Northgate Arms in de Beauvoir Town can do reliable gluten-free food. With the Northgate, the chef is coeliac from Sierra Leone, so you can be absolutely sure.
I shall add more to this as I travel round the Games.
C Wouldn’t Have Gone In These!
The cars are now up on the Emirates Air-Line
Although they weren’t running this morning.
C only went on a cable car once. It was in Singapore. And that was only after a lot of protests! I don’t think she’d heard about the tragedy that happened with that cable car.
Dave Pearson
Dave Pearson was not an artist I’d heard of, until his exhibition at the Bermondsey Project Space was previewed on BBC London News a few days ago. Someone on that preview, said he was better than Hockney. Judge for yourself.
I did ask before I took these pictures and afterwards feel it was the right decision. Especially for me, as he died just a few months after C, my late wife, did. He was still painting up until his death.
You’ll have to hurry if you want to catch this exhibition as it finishes on the 19th of May. You can find out more about Dave Pearson at the Dave Pearson Trust website.
Pictures From a Bus on Southwark Bridge
The tourists boats on the Thames, always used to claim that Southwark Bridge was the one over the river that had the least traffic. Today, because of diversions, I was on a 21 bus, that took a detour on its way to the Deep South. So I took some pictures, which are probably the some of few taken on a bus on that bridge. Only one route crosses the bridge in normal service, the 344.
I could of course be wrong, but as you can see they were taken from the lower deck, so there is more of a chance they’re the only ones taken from the lower deck of a bus on Southwark Bridge.
Anthony Caro At Canary Wharf
Jubilee Park in Canary Wharf is being used this summer for a series of sculpture exhibitions. The first is of Anthony Caro’s work.
I wonder how many sculpture exhibitions are held on the roof of a station.
Where The Great Eastern Was Built and Launched
Brunel’s most famous ship, the Great Eastern, wasn’t built in Liverpool, Belfast, Glasgow or on the Tyne or Tees, but on the Thames at Millwall. If you take the DLR to Island Gardens station and then walk along the Thames Path towards the City, you’ll see a sign pointing you to the Great Eastern Launch Site. It’s shown in these pictures of the Launch Site itself.
The Great Eastern was so large it was actually launched sideways, as the river wasn’t wide enough for a traditional launch. It was also pushed in by scores of hydraulic rams, as it was reluctant to move. It is said that these rams, built by Tangye, launched that company as well.
City of Lost Tourists
I’ve said before that tourists seem to get lost in London.
Today it was a Dutch couple, I encountered at Shadwell in the mezzanine level above the Overground, who were trying to get to the British Museum. I was pretty sure, they’d seen the tube map and thought they could get to Bank on the DLR to get a train nearer their destination. So I led them through the gates to the nearby DLR station and up in the lift to the platforms for Bank. Some of these interchanges to and from the DLR are tricky, to say the least. But that is more to the nature of the DLR, which has grown like the proverbial Topsy.
My nominations for bad interchanges to and from the DLR include.
- Canary Wharf, where the DLR and the Jubilee line are two separate stations.
- Canning Town, where there are two DLR lines and the Jubilee line on various levels.
- Poplar, which is a major DLR interchange and a good place to get lost.
- Shadwell, where the DLR and the Overground are two separate stations.
- West Ham, where the DLR and the Underground meet haphazardly, nowhere near West Ham United Football Club.
Note that three involve my least-favourite Underground line; the Jubilee line.
I suppose one of the DLR’s problems is that most of the stations are unmanned and most of the maps only show the DLR and its interfaces. So the system assumes a certain amount of knowledge amongst the passengers. On the other hand, every train has an excellent Train Captain, who can usually give you the information you require.
Perhaps what is needed is a Route Finder at each station, similar to those on the bus spider maps. It would give a list of major attractions and the route to take.
The Mayor Calls in the Supersewer
I know it’s election time and there are votes to be won, but I’m pleased that Boris has called in Thames Water proposal for a super sewer under the Thames. As I said in a previous post.
Although I should say, that as someone who has spent a lot of time around project management and managers, I will say that what gets built in the end, will be quite unlike what was originally proposed. That’s what good project management is about. It makes a project better, cheaper and less disruptive.
Let’s hope the engineers prove me right. Unfortunately, some of the alternatives, like stopping householders from creating hard-staandings in their front garden, are sometimes more unpopular than the super sewer.
Jo Brand Has Trouble in Streatham
According to this report in the Standard, Jo Brand is in trouble with some of the things she said in Streatham.
I don’t think I’ve ever knowingly been to Streatham, as I do know it is south of the river and people born in the north of the city rarely cross the river without either a good reason or adequate precautions and preferably both.
The Cutty Sark Opens Again on Thursday
The Cutty Sark reopens on Thursday after a very expensive rebuild. They certainly seem to have done a good job.
I have some doubts about the amount of money spent, but hopefully, the money will be repaid in extra visitors to London and also if it has helped create a new generation of craftsmen.
The Cutty Sark is one of the few sights of London, I can remember visiting as a child, probably after a trip upriver on a boat. What sticks in my memory is the figurehead collection.
It is one of those sites that is worth a visit, even if you have no time to visit the museums. There is a Marks & Spencer and a couple of coffee places, including a small Starbucks to get a quick lunch and quite a few places to sit, so for me as a coeliac, if I’m close, I know I can get a quick lunch, in quiet times like today.
I do feel very strongly, that big projects should leave a legacy. And so, I think it is important, that this restoration should be used to train the next generation of craftsmen. I know there aren’t many Cutty Sarks, but I suspect that a lot of the skills are also applicable to other historic marine craft from Victory and Belfast downwards to the MTBs of the Second World War.
We are getting better at this sort of legacy and for an example look at CrossRail. Part of the deal to build the enormous tunnels under London, was to create a Tunneling and Underground Construction Academy at Ilford. It will initially provide trained personnel for CrossRail, but it also has a wider brief to train people for soft-ground tunnelling projects, wherever they arise.
It is an idea that should be followed.
The Anonymous Widower 