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Post by mossie on Mar 15, 2017 9:57:22 GMT
Escaping my four walls I took a trip up to the Smoke the other day. Can't call it the Smoke now, the Clean Air Act has replaced it with diesel fumes. Anyhow I was interested to see the impact of the strange building nicknamed the "Walkie Talkie", one of the recent monstrosities to be inflicted on the city. A symbol of the illgotten wealth, but I mustn't carp on. It is interesting to note that just visible on the left corner is the gold figure on top of The Monument, which was erected to mark the site of the Great Fire of London. Other examples of the results of feeding architects weird potions can be seen round about. What a contrast with William the Conquerers Tower of London But thinking of walkie talkies, here is this smart young lady deep in conversation with her back to the best river view in England Tower Bridge is just visible in the background. This incidentally was rumoured to have been bought by a gullible American to erect somewhere in the wilds of America. What turned up was the old London Bridge which was being replaced Nearby is the old cruiser HMS Belfast, laid up and used as a visitor attraction. looks as though it is in a tropical setting here. here is a tree which has escaped the artists studio Here is Drake's Golden Hinde. Anyone fancy sailing round the world without a map or GPS in that contraption? To be continued, there is not too much more you may be relieved to know
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Post by mickthecactus on Mar 15, 2017 11:15:30 GMT
That's a really good set of photos Mossie.
Thanks.
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Post by bjd on Mar 15, 2017 12:05:21 GMT
Drake's ship (it was Drake wasn't it?) looks so tiny!
I like quite a lot of modern architecture but must admit that London is a terrible mish-mash, with no thought of integrating buildings into their surroundings.
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Post by mossie on Mar 15, 2017 14:50:23 GMT
But to start at the beginning. My train from Ipswich takes me to Liverpool Street, on the edge of the City, in about 75 minutes. For this little stroll I caught a bus from the station to St Pauls, where the spring blossom is now showing up. immediately one gets off the bus one sees this sculpture, honouring the civil defence workers who worked so tirelessly in the London Blitz and later. This stands at the head of the pathway which leads down and over the Millenium Bridge to the South Bank of the Thames. Once on the bridge the eye is caught by the Shard (of glass). It always appears messily unfinished to me as though the builders ran out of glass, or fell out with the glazing contractor and he walked off in a huff. and a view down the Thames closed by Tower Bridge. with the temples of Mammon looming up from Canary Wharf in the about 4 miles away, if anybody fancies a decent walk following the north bank as closely as possible. It spans much history. The bridge leads directly to the Tate Modern gallery, housed in the old Bankside power station, if you need some strange art. But now wandering along the south bank one soon reaches Shakespeares Globe theatre, badly in need of rethatching. Seeing as how it has stood since the late 16th century it has done very well. (There's a bit for Mark to put into WikipediaAll the travelling etc had me gasping for my pie and pint Not bad for the touristy Anchor pub just further along But soon afterwards I almost finish in the clink. I had always known the slang for lockup was "clink", but didn't know for many years that it was a real prison. Note the remains of the gibbeted felon hanging beside the doorway. After execution criminals bodies would be tarred to preserve them and then hung in this gibbet to encourage the others, as the charming French phrase has it. That's it for now, I returned home full of good intentions to go back to London one day to revisit the places where I worked nearly 70 years ago. OK, the buildings have long since gone, to be replaced with more modern offices. I should hope so, the last firm I worked for had ONE telephone, the candlestick tpye with the earpiece suspended from the hook which acted as the switch. Good old days, I am not so sure.
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Post by onlyMark on Mar 15, 2017 15:14:39 GMT
I knew the Globe Theatre was not the original but I thought the new one had been built way before 1997.
With your pie (steak and kidney or just steak?), there is a little green tree thing on the left of the plate - I can go with the cauliflower but the green thing? Brobocoli bracolili brollicoli - nope, whatever it is, it shouldn't be there. can't be doin' with that healthy stuff.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 15, 2017 15:16:31 GMT
Oh, this is great, Mossie! As always, your photos are fun, informative, and an inspiration to me in my quest to take better pictures. You couldn't have posted this at a better time, as just yesterday I finally made the plane reservation for my much-anticipated return to London. I like quite a lot of modern architecture but must admit that London is a terrible mish-mash, with no thought of integrating buildings into their surroundings. My take on it, and one reason I liked London so much is that the different layers of history shine through in all the different architecture. I do note that the skyline looks better from the elevation of Tower Bridge as opposed to looking at it from ground level. Shakespeares Globe theatre, badly in need of rethatching. Seeing as how it has stood since the late 16th century Pedantic correction here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare%27s_GlobeI returned home full of good intentions to go back to London one day to revisit the places where I worked And that would be sometime between the end of May and beginning of July this year, right?
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 28, 2020 13:49:41 GMT
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Post by mossie on Mar 28, 2020 15:47:11 GMT
Where on earth did you dredge that up? I notice it was dated 1950, the year I left work at Heathrow and joined the RAF.
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Post by kerouac2 on Mar 28, 2020 16:49:49 GMT
But there's more!
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Post by lagatta on Mar 28, 2020 19:35:56 GMT
Sadly, the earlier photos were marred for me by a dark swath with the slogan host.store.share.photobucket. I agree that London, a city that deserves better, is marred by some ghastly modern buildings. There are modern buildings I love, thinking of the Arab World Institute in Paris, and on a far more modest scale, an excellent Montréal branch library very close to my house. I'm so sad that it is closed, as sometimes I'd go there to work just to get out of my own home office, and have books lined up in the library system.
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Post by mossie on Mar 28, 2020 19:38:04 GMT
Another antique, and more linked to it. I was amazed to see, just before the end, the dockside cranes close to Tower Bridge, as they were when I lived in Stepney in 1949-50.
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Post by lagatta on Mar 28, 2020 22:15:06 GMT
Here I don't get the link, a pity as I'm very interested in working cities.
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