Today – Frozen In Time procession – Blackfriars, London SE1

I do love a good procession or parade.
And this one promises a "gigantic metal animation".
I stupidly missed that big elephant in Trafalgar Square about eight years ago and I really miss the wonderful parades that used to happen at the end of the Thames festival every September, so let's hope this makes up for it.
See you there.
Parade: 4.30–7pm
Nearest tubes: Borough, Southwark
More info here

From six of my Blackfriars Road photos

Richmond Lock and Weir Draw-off – Low tide on the Thames – 29th October to 19th November 2017

Each year the tidal Thames is allowed to rise and fall naturally between Richmond and Teddington locks, so that the Port of London Authority can carry out essential maintenance on those locks and other infrastructure such as the weirs and sluices.
The extremely low tide this creates gives an opportunity to enjoy rare views of the Thames. This year the draw-off will happen in the three weeks between 29th October and 19th November.
In 2015 I went to see this with some friends, in fact we ended up walking from Richmond to Chiswick Strand via Isleworth and Brentford and it was a great day out*.

The low tide effect was especially good at Isleworth, as shown in the last eight pics, where we gained access to the river at the boat ramp (or whatever it's called) and saw one of those special foreign geese in amongst the regular ones (bottom left). It was really strange and special to be standing almost in the middle of a river.
It's also a good opportunity for a tidy up and local people and environmental groups gather to clear the river of harmful plastic and other litter.
PLA's notice to mariners regarding safety etc

*Except for trying to find Gunnersbury Station at the end – this must be the most well-hidden, hardest-to-access station in London... unless you can think of other contenders for that crown...?

Somewhere Over The Rainbow...

One early evening last September I was walking across the western Golden Jubilee Bridge and it started to rain.
A short sharp heavy downfall was followed by a burst of strong sunshine which created a fabulous double rainbow against a deep grey sky and a shadow of the London Eye on the Shell building.

I was so glad I had my camera with me that day.
Greeting card available here.

The Bridges of Waterloo Station

Here are some lovely colourful images of the railway bridges and viaducts at the front and side of Waterloo Station.

© Jane Amelia Parker, 13th May 2015

Dirty Millennium Bridge – here we go again

Just like the Golden Jubliee Bridges, the Millennium Bridge's handrails are the only clean bits to be found along the structure as people take in the views left and right.

View from Millennium Bridge looking east

Beneath the rail, once shiny areas are now really grubby, and dirt sits tight in the textured metal underfoot. Chewing gum has been trodden into the grooves onto which Ben Wilson paints his wonderful little designs. Indeed, he was busy creating a new one on the evening I took these photos.

And now they calculating the cost of a bloody garden bridge... what kind of state will that be left to get into?

Oh... re chewing gum, and the disposal thereof... #GUMDROPLTD have come up with this clever recycling solution which turns discarded gum into plastic receptacles for disposal. There are many pink recycle points across central London already.

The Golden Jubilee Bridges - utter filth

If you are planning to go to the Southbank or come to the market in Embankment Gardens this weekend (see my last post below) you may need to cross the Thames on foot. The obvious choice for the pedestrian is to use one of the Golden Jubilee bridges that run either side of Hungerford Railway Bridge.

Ooh, isn't it lovely!   But look closer....

These elegant foot bridges are reported to carry approx 8.4 million people every year so it disappoints me that they are not being maintained as well as they should be. I wonder if anyone is looking at or checking anything other than the fine views because whenever I begin to climb up any of the four flights of stairs that lead to one of the pair of elevated footpaths I am appalled at how dirty and unkempt everything is – layers of filth on the verticals of the steps, in the corners, near the lifts, and all the way along the edges. Everywhere, really except for the handrails which have been buffed clean by people's hands and clothing over the years.
And the glass side panels on all staircases are dull and/or dirty in large patches – surely these cannot have been designed to end up looking like this?
It sends a terrible message about how we, as Londoners, disrespect our environment.

The stairs outside the Royal Festival Hall and a close up of them.
The metal that runs all the way along is grubby and could/should just be wiped clean. Ditto the area by the lift.

The approach from Embankment tube station is just as bad, perhaps worse. On exiting the station one can easily see the ugly side of the foot bridge, and it's not a pretty sight. Again, lots of filth, scuffed paint and ingrained dirt. What do visitors to London make of this? 

I already wrote about this issue in March 2012 and made some other suggestions – read it here.

On the day I took these photos the eastern bridge (13 May 2015) I spotted a man in a Veolia Environmental Services hi-vis jacket scraping out the moss that had grown between the paving stones and the metal edging. Perhaps this was a precursor to some proper cleaning. I hope so.

The metal signs giving information about the views are also in a sorry state – a buff with a soft sander or a cloth shouldn't be that hard to do. Or better still, get a new sign made!! After all, this must need updating by now considering the amount of new build in the past 10 years. http://www.janeslondon.com/2015/05/cityshowcase-market-at-embankment.htmlhttp://www.janeslondon.com/2015/05/cityshowcase-market-at-embankment.html

Accentuate the positive – three more nice things along the No.19 bus route

 Faces in Clerkenwell Road

 George at St George's, Bloomsbury

Screens on Battersea Bridge

Three nice things – a series by Jane's London

Battersea Foreshore Forage

Yesterday, a day with the best weather since October, I met up with a few friends for another of my Amelia Parker foreshore forages and this time we walked the strip between Battersea Village and Battersea Bridge.
It was a lovely. As these pics show.

Inspired by a brick with an R on it, I also took photos of things that resembled letters of the alphabet. The M could also be an E, and the Q could be a B. Now all I need to do is create some words out of them... any ideas?

There were also a lot of stones with holes in them, many of which looked like face. Finally, bottom right, eagle-eyed Jenny spied the base of a stoneware pot sticking out of the silt with Battersea stamped into it. She took it home and cleaned it up and it turns out to be a crucible: Find out more here.

Pipes and books and interesting things

Whilst doing a stall at Old Spitalfields Market a couple of months back a man stopped to chat about my wares and we stood for ages chatting about all things Thames foreshore-y and mudlark-y.
Turns out that John is one of the 50 or so people with an official licence to use a metal detector and do more than pick at the surface (like me). He has found all sorts of interesting things over the years. In addition to this he also provides a service helping people find their lost property for just the price of the reward offered, i.e. no result, no fee. See here for more info.
John also makes and sells an interesting and useful product – he hollows out books to create secret compartments for hiding keys, money, jewellery and the like. Aptly named Hollow Books.
John and I will both be trading at Spitalfields on Saturday 22nd. More info here.

Below are some Thames foreshore images by yours truly:

We Make London's Christmas Fair at Chelsea Old Town Hall

The King's Road is so named because it was Charles II's private road between his palaces in London and Kew. Subsequently large expensive houses sprang up either side and the whole area around became a magnet for the wealthy and upper classes.
In the 1960s the road had a revival and was really the place to be seen. Rock stars, models, actors and actresses lived and socialised there. It became a hothouse for new design talent, with one-off boutiques selling all kinds of trendy and avant garde creations – Mary Quant and Dame Vivienne Westwood both opened their first shops there. River Island started out in King's Road as the Chelsea Girl brand.
In addition to this there were plenty of antique dealers, most of them renting space in the wonderful Art Nouveau Grade II Antiquarious building. It was the oldest antiques emporium in London. But two years ago the antique dealers were 'evicted' in favour of an American clothing chain.
So, sadly, these days the King's Road is just like any other homogenous high street or retail park selling over-priced mass-produced fashion. I have written about this kind of thing before. And it saddens me.
But all is not lost. One just has to look harder....
There are still plenty of designer-makers out there creating wonderfully individual and handmade things, and on this Sunday 4th November you will be able to find many of them at the first of We Make London's Christmas Fairs at Chelsea Old Town Hall from 11am until 5pm. £2 entrance fee, but well worth it, if only to be inspired into making something for yourself.
Also available on the day will be Inspired:London, WML's lovely book showcasing 162 London-based designer makers. The book will not be available on general sale until mid-November but pre-launch copies will be available on the day at a reduced price of £10.99. (Be sure to check out page 33!)
Hope to see you there.
Here are some images from in and around the Town Hall and Kings Road:

Never mind Liz...

I made a good decision before I went to bed last night. I looked at the weather forecast and decided that a day in at home would be a really good idea. A bit of rain doesn't bother me in the slightest.
But rain + crowds = no no no!
And anyone out for the day certainly wasn't going to find time to visit the market either, so I have been busy sorting photos whilst half-watching the Queen's flotilla doobrey on TV.
What a grey and wet day it turned out to be. By 5.30pm poor Liz and her immediates were the only ones left on the top deck watching the boats go by; all the others having scarpered to the warm and dry of the lower decks.
The aerial shots of the boats, especially the man-powered (rowed) boats looked great but I must admit I'd expected the flotilla to be more jam-packed and was a bit disappointed by how sparse it all looked. One thousand boats isn't really a lot when spread out over such a long stretch. Perhaps I was expecting so many boats that you could run across them from one side to the other... now that would have been worth seeing! And it could be a new Olympic sport!
Whilst watching the narrow boats I was reminded of a similar trip I took in the opposite direction. We had better weather for it too.
Here's an account by someone who was there.
And here are some pictures taken along the Thames on nicer days:

More of my Thames pics here

Walk The Lines by Mark Mason

There are lots of book about London. You'd think there couldn't be any more to write but every now and then someone comes up with a new idea; a new take on things...

Mark Mason has walked the entire London Underground overground, by which I mean he has followed the tube lines at street level. His book 'Walk The Lines' tells the stories of his journeys, covering hundreds of miles. It's a great read... full of wonderful London facts, amusing trivia and meetings some odd and interesting people. I like it a lot. Here's M@'s review.

I am now singing that Wombles' song, which reminds me of Steven Smith's wonderful Underground London. I keep saying I won't buy any more books and will instead just borrow from friends or the library, but every now and then another one comes along that I just have to have. I need to put up some more shelves. These are nice.

Top: Mason in Battersea, Victoria in Victoria, Baker[loo] in Tottenham, Central in Holloway

Middle: Hammersmith in Holloway, District at Gloucester Rd, Northern in Hornsey, Circle in Bloomsbury

Bottom: Piccadilly in Piccadilly (but no more; RIP), Waterloo in Waterloo, Jubilee at Hungerford Bridge, Metropolitan at Farringdon.

The Fabulous Mr Bridges

Ooh... I should have noticed this earlier... The British Film Institute is putting on a retrospective of one of my favourite film actors.

Not only is the man gorgeous and talented (yes please!), he has been in some brilliant movies... he acted Clint off the screen in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, was superbly understated in The Fabulous Baker Boys, survived in the wonderful Fearless, managed to make pony tails acceptable in The Fisher King and turned dressing gowns into daywear in The Big Lebowski.

I've only just discovered Jeff's website... it's fab... full of music and photos and clips... he just gets more appealing by the minute!

I could have easily put together a collection of bridges but I decided to have more fun with this one... see if you can get identify these 12 films he's been in...

Top: Edgware Rd, Billingsgate, Essex Rd, Millwall Docks.

Middle: Stroud Green, Leytonstone, Crouch End, Walthamstow Village.

Bottom: Kew Gardens, Camden, Westminster, Hackney.

Bulldoze Battersea Power Station?

Ooh this should rile a few people... but here goes...

The latest plans for the shell of what used to be this wonderful building is to convert it into shops and offices; er, haven't we been here been here before? A few times, even?

And is it really going to happen this time?

I have always hoped that BPS could be brought back to life in a good way, but after all the years of neglect I am starting to think that someone should have the balls to just knock the thing down now and start again from scratch – after all, the new developments that surround it, like the Howard and Warwick buildings, haven't exactly been built with any sympathy to it – it just looks silly surrounded by all those charmless glass boxes.

When BPS was originally built as part of the National Grid system it was an architectural showcase full of polished metal and waxed wood, to show the rest of the world what Britain was capable of. Workers there had to wear felt over-shoes so as not to mark the expensive parquet flooring. But all that is long gone and what is left has been ruined thanks to the removal of the roof decades ago. It's all so sad. What are we really trying to hold onto anymore? And do we really need yet another shopping centre?

The latest plans look to me to be extremely similar to the Kings Cross development. Everywhere is gonna end up looking the same; it's all so homogenous.

Below is a collection of architectural images mostly taken in the immediate Nine Elms vicinity. Also included are two shots featuring that hideous Albion Riverside Building, which is further upstream.

Cruising under the Thames bridges

A few days ago I was lucky enough to travel on a widebeam cruiser along the Thames from Limehouse to Kingston.

It's as near as I have ever got to standing on a river. What a fantastic experience.

All in all we went under 19 road bridges, plus another eight foot, rail and lock bridges too. Actually, make that 10, if Hungerford and the two Golden Jubilee bridges count as three separate things.

I wondered if there was a mnemonic for remembering the names of the bridges in order. I cannot find anything specific but there has been a forum at Londonist on this very subject. My personal favourite is this one which covers the 12 road bridges shown below from Tower to Wandsworth.

Only a couple of the above images of the 12 bridges in order, east to west, were actually taken on the day. I have just looked up some info on the figures on each side of Vauxhall Bridge – the east-facing ones represent local government, education, astronomy/science and the fine arts, and those on the west-facing side allude to architecture, pottery, engineering and agriculture (which I thought, with its scythe, looked like the grim reaper!). More here.

Luther; a wonderfully preposterous TV cop drama

I was a bit late finding Luther. I watched the first two episodes back-to-back on iPlayer and was hooked. Idris Elba, in the title role, is great. And Ruth Wilson, as Alice, is sublime. Paul McGann must be good too, because I despise him in it.

It's all so ridiculous that it's compelling. And I love recognising all the different places around London, like Blackfriars Bridge and Daniel Libeskind's building in Hollway Road, used as a place where Paul Rhys's creepy character held a press conference. Also interesting that his character's macabre art gallery was at 73 Leonard Street, an address that I am sure a company I used to work for moved to. The Shoreditch area, specifically Leonard Street, is used a lot in the programme and is in real life littered with art and art galleries, one place even has a suitable macabre name to tie in to this piece.

Top row: Cornhill, Old Broad Street, Leonard Street, Little Newport Street.

Middle row: Leonard Street, The Blackfriars pub, Holloway Road, Upper Street

Bottom row: Blackfriars Bridge above and below, Praed Street, Bow Street Police Station

Best London sunset suggestion – Win a 6 month Time Out subscription

There have been some beautiful sunsets of late; Monet skies, Turner clouds, mundane buildings looking all lovely, reflected in pink and gold. Here are few pics I have been lucky to get whilst on my walks, but being in the right time at the right place usually takes some forward planning.

So, apart from The Westway and any of the Thames Bridges, where would you say is the best place in London to view a good sunset?

Top row: Lupus Point, SE1; view from Tower Bridge; Isle of Dogs; Highgate from Holloway; St Katherine's Dock

2nd row: Turnham Green Station; weathervane SE1; Millennium Bridge; Blackfriars Bridge from Waterloo Bridge; The Strand.

Londonist post – Under The (Railway) Bridge

Happy birthday to Londonist – 5 years old!

I have just loaded up another post onto the site about railway bridges – please don't forget to click the 'Like' star underneath the article, if you do indeed like it.

I am now thinking that perhaps I should have made a more topical collection using images of things like cards, candles and cake... isn't hindsight great?!

Click here to see all my Urban Sightseeing posts

A beautiful day in Battersea

On a gloriously sunny Saturday a few weeks ago, I decided to go for a wander around Battersea.

As I walked across Chelsea Bridge I was confronted by a hideous carbuncle (thanks for that, Charles) masquerading as luxury living accommodation situated between the bridge and the power station. As you can see, in this snap of an illustration on the hoarding that runs around the site, the complex is ENORMOUS and really unsympathetic to everything around it. I went into the central area for a nose about and it felt like I was in a holiday complex on the Algarve, and there ought to be a golf course nearby. How does something as big and ugly as this get planning permission in London? It manages to make that QVC building look cute, and that's no mean feat.

Anyway, rant over. Thankfully I saw this at the beginning of my day and forgot about it until now.

Please enjoy the images below of the nicer things in Battersea...