The Anonymous Widower

The Tower of London

The Tower is partially under wraps at present.

The Tower of London

Strangely, I’ve only visited the Tower once.  And that was when I showed a fellow student from Liverpool around London.

April 19, 2010 Posted by | World | | Leave a comment

The New, the Venerable Rowing Club and the Curious

I took this picture of Poplar Rowing Club with Canary Wharf in the background.

Poplar Rowing Club

The rowing club is the third oldest in Britain and dates from 1845.

But what is the round building on the right?

It’s one of the entries to the Greenwich Foot Tunnel.

That incidentally is about sixty years younger than the rowing club.

April 19, 2010 Posted by | Sport, World | , , | Leave a comment

The O2 Arena

The O2 Arena dominates the River Thames.

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I’ve only been to the Dome once, whilst it still had the millennium exhibition.  It was a great building full of total crap.

April 19, 2010 Posted by | World | , | Leave a comment

Barrier Point

We nearly bought a buy-to-let in this impressive block by the Thames Barrier.

Barrier Point, London

I just wonder what would have happened, if we’d bought the flat.

Would I now be using it as a pied-a-terre?

April 19, 2010 Posted by | World | , , | Leave a comment

The Thames Barrier

The Thames Barrier protects London from flooding.

You can see it from around Pontoon Dock station on the DLR and also the Thames Clipper passed through it between Woolwich and the O2.

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The Thames Barrier is something worth visiting.  The easiest way is to go to Pontoon Dock station and then walk through the attractive Thames Barrier Park.  There is a very nice cafe in the park too!

For those who are sceptical about global warming and rising sea levels, just look at the statistics about the closing of the Thames Barrier.

April 19, 2010 Posted by | Transport/Travel, World | , , | Leave a comment

The Woolwich Ferry – 2

This is the Woolwich Ferry.

The Woolwich Ferry

There are more pictures of crossing the river by Woolwich Ferry here.

April 19, 2010 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , | Leave a comment

A Cruise to Central London

I had intended to take the DLR back to Bank, but I noticed that the river buses, Thames Clippers, also ran from the riverfront at the Arsenal to Embankment.  So I took one.

It cost £4.80 on my Oyster card to get as far as Embankment with a change at the Dome; or the O2 as it is now called.

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It was a very pleasant and comfortable trip in the sun.  There was even coffee on board.

April 19, 2010 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , | 2 Comments

The Royal Arsenal, Woolwich

As I said in the previous post, I went to Woolwich Arsenal station on the DLR.  The title of this post is the main thing to see at Woolwich. Once it produced armaments and now it is being turned over to museums, housing and leisure.

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I think when it is finished it will be an interesting place to live with good transport links to both East and Central London.

But not for me though as it’s south of the river.  It’s like asking an Edinburgh Scot to live in Glasgow or vice-versa!

April 18, 2010 Posted by | Transport/Travel, World | | Leave a comment

Docklands Light Railway to Woolwich Arsenal

I’ve always liked the DLR and today I took a trip to the furthest station of the railway in the South East of London; Woolwich Arsenal.

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I’d been to Pontoon Dock station before to visit the Thames Barrier and also to London City Airport.  But I hadn’t been as far as Woolwich.  In fact the nearest I’d ever got to Woolwich was on occasional trips on the Woolwich Ferry.

April 18, 2010 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , | Leave a comment

What a Trophy!

I saw this trophy in the Museum of London

The Chris Brasher Sporting Life Trophy

 

It was originally presented by the Sporting Life in 1909 to the winner of the Polytechnic Marathon.  In 2003 Chris Brasher‘s name was added to commemorate his founding of the London Marathon. 

But there is also controversy about the ownership of the trophy, according to this on Ian Ridpath’s web site. 

I have always had a soft spot for Brasher

I remember, as a nine-year-old, getting up in 1956 and hearing that he had won the gold medal in the 3,000 metres steeplechase in the Melbourne Olympics. I’ve also worn his walking boots for years, I’ve watched many of his London Marathons and admired his journalism on both the television and the printed media. 

He also was the interviewer when Barnes Wallis, the designer of the bouncing bomb, said one of my favourite quotations. 

There is no greater thrill in life than proving something is impossible and then showing how it can be done. 

Never give up in life!

April 12, 2010 Posted by | Sport | , , | 1 Comment