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Loxit in London
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Loxit in London

A very different sort of trip, limited to London for the time being Read more
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    March 7, 2020
    BlogarithmsLoxit in LondonTraveler

    Lockdown or lockup?

    April 14, 2020 in England ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    Lockin or lockout? While many people through choice or health are not going out at all, for me it feels like lockout since when lockdown was announced, all but essential businesses are closed. For me, as bad a phase as any was the week preceding lockdown with the uncertainty of how to cope with the restrictions. Fear of the disease is a virus itself.

    The story begins on 7th March, the evening of my return from Mexico. Much has changed since I left these shores just over a month ago; several pages in the national press are devoted to the new emergency. In my absence the virus has taken hold in Britain and has gained a toehold in Latin America, starting with Brazil and continuing with Mexico. This is a journey like no other, largely fixed in one place and with an uncertain end.

    By the 23rd March when it fully takes effect, I've become somewhat reconciled to the position. Domestic tasks are no longer a chore; a spring clean is in order, and it's good exercise. During a clear-out I find a file of old negatives which had slipped behind the bookcase, and recover images from a long trip in Europe and beyond from 1976. Iran and Afghanistan were on the route; either they were safer to visit then or we were gloriously unaware of the hazards. It's still possible to travel virtually and the TV programmes have been uplifting. Around early April the "Race across the World" covers Latin America from Mexico City to Ushuaia. It's followed by a re-enactment of the Klondike gold rush, which makes lockdown look easy!

    I've attached images of my room with a view, front and back (I did clean the rear window afterwards, honest). But even at the beginning I've made a point of getting outside for at least half an hour per day. The streets have been so quiet that I've been anxious about venturing out with anything valuable but as the weather starts to improve, more people are out and by mid-April it feels safe to carry a camera. At first the park benches are taped off but it's nice to note the small details that would usually be overlooked: some guerrilla gardening outside my second home, the Camera Club (closed) and a tantalising view of some allotments. And in Doorstep Green, a local outdoor space, the plane trees are in leaf. We are in for a cloudless April and May.    Read more

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    Break for the border: Southwark

    May 2, 2020 in England ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Once April is out, the number of new corona cases in the UK has peaked for now and in London, a week or two earlier. Face to face contact is still limited to 2-minute doorstep conversations with neighbours but we now have a new friend---Zoom. One of the groups I am in is a Saturday quiz. When the picture round comes on---identify 20 brands of chocolate bars, would you believe---it's a bloodbath. Never mind; the Thornbridge Jaipur IPA is an effective tranquilliser to dispel any hard feelings. As a friend says, the good times are wonderful but the bad times help us build character.

    The beautiful weather continues and I tiptoe over the border into Southwark. The Shard is visible almost everywhere, showing all its glory near London Bridge station or poking out from spring foliage in Leathermarket Gardens. There's some industrial grit near Borough Market and street sculpture towards Bermondsey. Small gardens are too numerous to include here apart from the exquisite Red Cross Gardens, a mere 50 yards square and bordered by houses founded by the 19th century reformer Octavia Hill.    Read more

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    Bright light, big city

    May 25, 2020 in England ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Confinement of course mines a rich seam in films and literature. "The Birdman of Alcatraz" was on TV recently, also "The Martian" featuring Matt Damon's unscheduled solitude on the Red Planet. And in Ayn Rand's book "We the Living" set in Stalinist Russia, there's a tragic scene in which a pair of lovers say a final farewell before their train divides into two on the way to their respective labour camps.

    BUT.....by late May there are some green shoots of revival. The coffee stallholder in Kennington Cross has opened after over 2 months and because so many people are WFH (working from home) in this residential area, he's doing a roaring trade. Some pubs are starting to sell takeaway drinks and one of my locals, the Black Prince, is doing Portobello IPA to lubricate the Saturday Zoom quiz. Another bloodbath of course!

    The month of May continues to be cloudless and with two bank holidays, it's instructive to find out how central London is shaping up. So I cross another frontier, the Thames, to visit Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus. The answer is that because entertainment is shut down and tourism is almost zero, they are still like ghost towns. Many people have migrated to the South Coast beaches with pictures of lemming-like behaviour ignoring social distancing. Nice to have the West End pavements to myself but it's quite uncanny.

    Apart from the faithful bus services, the City is also deserted. Just away from it, there are more small gardens and the final image in Postman's Park is the work of the painter G.F. Watts' Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice.    Read more

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    Drink out to help out

    July 4, 2020 in England ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Today is a landmark in which restaurants and pubs are to re-open---for the moment; there are warnings of a possible trade-off later to allow the schools to open fully at the expense of hospitality. My regular barber's has a 10-man queue outside but I squeeze into a local shop to remove the 3-month thatch before they start taking telephone bookings. This "new normal" is complicated; the better pubs have someone at the door to escort people to a table and take orders there. And breweries are plainly struggling to restore supplies. But with pubs being less crowded than usual, this set-up has a good side.

    Other non-essential but therapeutic businesses are opening up so I make a pilgrimage to my favourite shop of all time, Stanford's in Covent Garden and buy "The Immeasurable World". It's based on trips to deserts around the world, including a former nuclear testing site in South Australia. The Nullarbor looks a very different desert to the Sonora in Mexico which I visited in February. Also on my retail therapy list is a CD of Cuban music. The singer Dayme Arocena featured on BBC4 recently with her attractive jazzy flavour.

    This picture of the Royal Festival Hall was taken in the depth of lockdown but by now, people are starting to return to "my" South Bank although the concert hall itself must remain closed. Not far away is the garden outside St. Thomas's Hospital and since many of those relaxing are staff members, it feels as safe a place as any. The Shard, featuring in the next two images, at 1,000 feet is the tallest building in the U.K. and casts its eye over almost everywhere in London. Street art is not as creative in Britain as in some other countries but here's a painting of the fine Greek Revival Trinity Church in the square of the same name. Finally, thanks to the NHS whose staff on the front line have been by all accounts exceptional (which is perhaps more can be said for how the crisis has been managed at the top).    Read more

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    The Deep South

    August 1, 2020 in England ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    For the first time since lockdown, a morning fry-up at the Portuguese cafe near Kennington Cross. Baked beans with tinned tomatoes are not everyone's thing but they are mine. And the hash browns of course! There's just enough space for a couple of tables on the pavement: eating out literally. My morning paper gives tantalising glimpses of daylight with more efficient Covid testing and progress in the development of a vaccine, only for the clouds to roll in again. This is not a sprint but a marathon.

    But walks this time away from the river, reveal some hidden glories. Another south London Greek Revival church, St. Peter's, lies just off the Walworth Road while a row of boarded-up houses comes with a vision of how the area may become one day. Going down the Brixton Road shows some parkland where for better or worse, change has already happened with a park laid out like a parade ground and new flats behind it.

    Meanwhile off the Clapham Road lies an exquisite little square or should one say, circle, Lansdowne Gardens. It's not big enough to do much and there are no seats but a hidden beauty all the same. Nearby is the better-known Albert Square which has nothing to do with East Enders and looks more Kensington than Stockwell, let alone Walford.    Read more

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    Eastern promise

    August 23, 2020 in England ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    It's the height of the holiday season and millions of people are hoping to get abroad. The rules on "air bridges" are specific to each country and while some places (Thailand for example) are doing significantly well in their fight against the pandemic, their authorities very understandably regard outsiders as "dirty", hence access to them is virtually impossible. Meanwhile within Europe, the lights come on briefly (France, Spain) and rapidly go out as they are deemed by our authorities to be "dirty". My plans are limited to possible staycations or taking the opportunity to appreciate what London has.

    A walk down river and over the magnificent Tower Bridge leads into St. Katharine's Dock and beyond that, Wapping. Away from the main roads, it's a secret place little troubled by traffic. But from the 17th century to the mid-20th it was a bustling commercial dock area. It also saw wave upon wave of immigrants starting with the Huguenots fleeing France in the 17th and 18th centuries, Irish escaping the potato famine of the 1840s and Jewish refugees from the Russian pogroms in the late 19th century. Wapping is associated with the profane (Judge Jeffries of Bloody Assizes notoriety) and the sacred (John Newton, who renounced the slave trade to become a writer of hymns). And further into Whitechapel, there are memories of Jack the Ripper (19th century mass murderer), Peter the Painter (activist at the Siege of Sydney Street in 1911) and General Booth (founder of the Salvation Army). And the Battle of Cable Street in 1936 when the largely Jewish community resisted a fascist rally with the cry "They shall not pass".

    The fading stock brick of the 19th century warehouses, now converted into upmarket apartments, could tell many a story but today all is quiet apart from the chatter of other sightseers. But not such good news for the Old Rose (4) which was once popular with journalists before their office moved away. Image 5 is a detail of the impressive St. George in the East church, designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, a pupil of Christopher Wren, while the final image shows quiet contemplation in an enclave walled in by former docks.    Read more

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    Downstream South Bank

    September 19, 2020 in England ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    South Bank refers to the lively area around the Royal Festival Hall in Waterloo but it could just as well apply to another vibrant area downstream on the Greenwich Peninsula. It used to be, and in some places still is, an industrial district until the redundant activities were swept away in the 1980s and gradually redeveloped. First to arrive by 2000 was an exhibition centre was the Millennium Dome (now called the O2 Arena) followed by an excrescence of flashy apartments with glorious views of the Thames. And what a mighty river it is! Quite apart from being the raison d'etre of London since Roman times, its snakelike trajectory offers unexpected geography and views. Hence various places south of the river lie actually north of those on the "wrong" side and why the original South Bank, rather than being banished to a B & T (bridges and tunnels) existence, forms a significant quarter of the central London map.

    Today it's a glorious Saturday September morning which feels like July. I'm with a small group (limited to 6 by the current Covid ruling) from my photographic society, simply called The Camera Club. Photographers being photographers, we never stay in one group throughout anyway until a final sandwich and coffee at the finish. We start near the O2 Arena, noting current sanitary precautions at every public space from cafe to 5-star hotel.

    A short walk down river takes us past some luxury flats where a couple of well-meaning security men warn us about photographing private places. What they're concerned about is respecting the privacy of the local residents---following the spirit of the law---although there's nothing in the letter of the law forbidding photography if you're standing in a public place. Turns out that our feet are standing in a private enclave. We part as friends and continue to the cable car service connecting both banks of the river, running nearly a mile. and opened in time for the London Olympics in 2012. It isn't a commercial success but the photo-opportunities are pretty.

    Continuing down river, the meandering of the Thames offers views of an earlier development, Canary Wharf, London's second financial centre. With the obligatory grit of "sarf" London in the foreground. The final shot shows a long-abandoned passenger ferry; thankfully the Woolwich free ferry slightly downstream of here hasn't met a similar fate. In the words of the late illustrator Geoffrey Fletcher, "wonderfully depressing" if you like!    Read more

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    Amy and David

    September 23, 2020 in England ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    The good weather is having a final fling as I head on a 59 bus to Euston and north to Camden Town. This was the home of Amy Winehouse---with her best looking-for-trouble face here---who died in 2011. To me she was the best singer of her time and although she cut only two studio albums, she lives on in memory as do those of others in the infamous 27 Club---Hendrix, Joplin and Morrison.

    Someone who has survived to the age of 90 is David Gentleman, whose book "My Town" was a present from one of my sisters and inspired me to visit the stately terraces dating from the 1840s. Gloucester Crescent. where he lives, featured in the film "The Lady in the Van" with Maggie Smith in the eccentric title role. Chalcot Crescent, pictured here, is a rare example of a double crescent. Oakley Square, a near-namesake of Oakley Gardens in Chelsea, could just as easily be sited there.

    Due to social distancing I give a wide berth to Camden Market, but the canal above Camden Lock has a dreamy appearance at odds with the bustle downstream. The final two images complete the theme of London greenery: St. Martin's Gardens with some dilapidated tombstones leaning this way and that.    Read more

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    My South Bank

    October 26, 2020 in England ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Living as I do, close to London's South Bank, I've become quite possessive about it. The arc between Westminster and Blackfriars Bridges is the most familiar, with the Royal Festival Hall and other centres for the arts (sadly closed for now). For countless years it has hosted a second-hand bookstall, ice cream vans, a skateboard park and numerous street entertainers and musicians. If Amy Winehouse had been a south London girl, she might have started out here. Since 2000 the South Bank has been the home of the London Eye and a varying cast of aquariums, Disney attractions and who knows what else.

    The stretch between Westminster and Lambeth Bridges (images 1 to 4) is scenic too. It's favoured by TV channels interviewing politicians in front of their workplace the other side of the river. Image 4 shows some graffiti aimed at our country's leader!

    Downstream is scenic too, with a golden-hour view of St. Paul's at low water while the final image, while not strictly on the South Bank, also catches the last rays of the autumn sun.    Read more

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    Autumn colours

    November 12, 2020 in England ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    Lockdown 2.0 is upon us, provisionally for 4 weeks until early December. With the rising infection rate over September and October, it's not exactly surprising. Restaurants, pubs and coffee shops are closed---a huge hardship to both businesses and customers---but it's somewhat looser than the spring lockdown at its depth, with schools and essential businesses still open.

    None of this can take away the beauty of the autumn colours. Doorstep Green, the irregular space on my own doorstep, is becoming Doorstep Yellow, while the pattern of fallen leaves, is psychedelic. Into Southwark, Red Cross Garden allows a view of the Shard poking through the diminishing foliage.

    Crossing the river, I find some deserted tennis courts at Lincoln's Inn Fields in the heart of London's legal quarter. And further east, I rediscover this magical enclosure near St. John's Wapping.    Read more

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    London: Christmas past

    December 24, 2020 in England ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    And now for something completely different. These oldies were taken in 1972 and 73 with a medium-format Rolleiflex---which I still have. The black and white film brings out the bleakness of the surroundings. They show a London which has changed in some ways while others have stayed the same. Thus the world-famous landmarks are intact but many of the surrounding scenes have gone.

    This was when I started to be fascinated by buildings ravaged by time, some of them so much so that they had to be destroyed. One can still find places like this in England but only in the north. Most of these were taken around what was then Docklands---Southwark (numbers 1 & 2) and Wapping (3, 4 & 5). Of course the sites have now been converted into shops, restaurants and bijou apartments. No. 5 shows a warehouse in St. Katherine's Dock where the fire might have been an insurance job. The final image is from Islington. The "LEB OFF" notice is not a command but advice that the electricity supply has been turned off.    Read more

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    2020 revisited: Mexico comes to London

    January 1, 2021 in England ⋅ ☁️ 1 °C

    2020 has finally been binned but the days of fledgling 2021 have been anxious too, with Covid cases rocketing and the hospitals under great pressure. Help is on the way with the Oxford vaccine joining the Pfizer jab into willing arms, if only it can come fast enough. The country is in a third lockdown with schools closed and all but essential shops open. It's going to be a hard grind to recover any normality.

    So a bit of nostalgia as I return to New Year 12 months ago with the annual parade in Westminster. Countries of the world proudly showcase their cultures: an Afro-Caribbean group here, a Chinese procession there. Latin America is prominent, with a Bolivian team giving a surreal but colourful air to the sober Houses of Parliament. And finally Mexico, a foretaste of the carnivals I am due to see only a few weeks ahead. Let's hope that next year they'll be able to perform again, both in their home country and in London.    Read more

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    January brings the snow

    January 24, 2021 in England ⋅ ❄️ 1 °C

    January is always a time for reflection on the past and planning for the future. Books are tremendous companions and I have used the hidden walks guide for many finds in forgotten corners of this city. "Leadville" is a quirky account of a road-widening scheme to Western Avenue, in which the author interviews the residents of houses along its route who were blighted by fears of a development which took years to happen. "Estuary" and "Mudlarking" reveal hidden treasures of our river---anywhere from Teddington Lock to Canvey Island. And the David Gentleman book has been an inspiration to explore the stucco terraces of Camden Town.

    The recent snowfall was a relatively mild one but shows a very different room with a view from my window, to that of last spring. Usually this weather brings on the fear of travel disruption but this time we're deeply in lockdown and there's nowhere to go outside one's immediate locality. But a five-minute walk takes me to the beautiful Cleaver Square, with residents and visitors making the most of it.    Read more

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    Green shoots, yellow blooms

    February 23, 2021 in England ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    We are almost in full circle and the seasons pass with proud unconcern for lockups and lockdowns. Earlier in the month we had what was dubbed (why do people only write "dubbed" but never say it?) the Baltic Beast. Now in late February the weather has become much milder---practically spring already.

    My local area is not shy to proclaim the approach of spring. Walcot Square (which is actually triangular) has a lovely collection of what would have been artisans' cottages. They are now much sought after, in estateagentese, even though they come down with a bump with the big high-rise at the Elephant at the end. Courtenay Square (no. 2) is another exquisite little garden that looks Georgian but is actually an Edwardian revival. No. 3 is a detail of Bonnington Square, an oasis of peace from the traffic horror of Vauxhall Cross. For 4 and 5, the camera is poked wistfully through the fencing to show an allotment for local gardeners.

    It comes to an end at this former churchyard, the wonderfully named Old Paradise Gardens, but even here there is life and the promise of spring.    Read more

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    The year round, round the Shard

    March 7, 2021 in England ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

    It's been a full year since my return from Mexico, and quite an extraordinary one. Lockups, lockdowns.....spring is arriving and with it, some hope that the plague that has impacted so many people and the restrictions that have affected all, may be receding.

    Going round in time as we have, I decided to go round in place, seeing the London Bridge Tower from all angles. Now known as the Shard, it was completed in 2012. The tallest building in the UK and rising to 1,012 feet (310 metres), its pencil-like profile punches the skyline from all points of the compass.

    It's nice to position it with other tall buildings, new and old. No. 1 is a view from Waterloo Bridge, including another nicknamed building, the Boomerang on the left, and the Art Deco Oxo Tower. In 2 it rises behind the Greek Revival tower of Trinity Church in Southwark. No. 3 is a view from the waterfront of the City, and 4 is from Tower Bridge, itself a monument of great appeal. No. 5 returns me to Leathermarket Gardens in Southwark, which I found last spring when the trees were in blossom, while 6 is downstream in Rotherhithe which used to be an important shipping quarter and now provides a pleasant amble along the Thames Path.

    Yes, 2020/21 has been a most peculiar year but not all bad: I've discovered a lot about myself, and others........and London.    Read more

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    Onwards and eastwards

    March 8, 2021 in England ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    Back to east London and forward into year 2 since the last stamp in my passport. But in this shrunken world, London continues to be fascinating, in fact delightful. The days lengthen as March advances and in gorgeous sunlight I cross the river and head east, enjoying the silhouettes of the Shard and Tower Bridge (although some other visitors seem more interested in what's happening on their phones---no change there). Since my visit last autumn, the churchyard at St. John's Wapping has shed its leaves but is magical as ever.

    With both the sun and the tide out, it's time to explore the foreshore. I climb down a wobbly ladder with the help of a kind person who's already down there and steadies it for me. Into my head swims a 1950s song "James, hold the ladder steady" by Sue Thompson (no, I hadn't heard of it until a friend told me but yes, it's on YouTube). As I write this, Thompson (b. 1925) is still alive. The things you find on Google!

    I've been reading the marvellous book "Mudlarking" by Lara Maiklem, who collects antique artefacts from the Thames foreshore, anything from Roman coins to Edwardian perfume bottles. At some sites she takes a portable ladder and waterproof clothing to get shoreside. While enjoying the book, I leave this to the experts but marvel at the other-worldliness 12 feet below street level. It's a fleeting world which can be appreciated only around low water, and preferably at spring tides. The architecture is fascinating too: most of Docklands has been flattened for post-1960s blocks but some of the ancient warehouses survive. The majority of these have been converted into upmarket apartments but a few pockets of 19th century grit remain.

    Wapping offers a view of the river's south side. I double back for an alternative sighting of Tower Bridge and the Shard but will leave the Rotherhithe foreshore for another time.    Read more

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    Lives remembered

    April 1, 2021 in England ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Something remarkable is happening on the South Bank. On the wall underneath St. Thomas's Hospital, scene of many Covid patients including the prime minister this time last year, thousands of hearts are appearing. To date there are an estimated 150,000. They form the National Covid Memorial which appropriately faces the Houses of Parliament. Most are anonymous but some commemorate the loss of a loved one and others are grouped into a pattern. An admirable way to reflect on the damage the virus has wrought over the past 13 months.

    Meanwhile Britain is still in lockdown but a road map provides a possible route out as vaccination proceeds. Much has been learnt since April 2020. Yes, it's been grim but there have been gains: keeping in touch on Zoom and for me, those little gems such as Red Cross and Tabard Gardens.    Read more

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    Secret gardens

    April 14, 2021 in England ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    A year since I began with some gardens around Lambeth and Southwark; now I'm over the river in Kensington. SW7 has royal connections with the Albert Hall and nearby Memorial, plus KP (Kensington Palace). It's packed with mid-19th century mansions and rising to five storeys, they throw up all sorts of interesting angles. This first picture is Emperor's Gate off Gloucester Road and the next two are nearby, with Queen's Gate Gardens (4) lurking behind the jungle-like foliage. Being in Kensington, entry is for key-holders only.

    A sliver of SW7 pushes into Westminster, where this beautiful garden (public this time) hides behind Holy Trinity Brompton. The blossom of early spring brings out its best.    Read more

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    Spring surprise

    April 23, 2021 in England ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    However indifferent or downright bad the news may be, spring never fails to return to us. March was a fairly chilly month but the daffodils were out early. This first image comes from Albert Square: not the soapy, fictional scrubland of East Enders but a noble garden in Vauxhall that could have been transplanted from Belgravia.

    By April the sun was out and with it, the cherry blossom of West Square on the edge of Southwark. And deeper into S.E.1, back to Tabard Gardens with a faintly spooky view reminiscent of Hitchcock's "The Birds" although here, the main threat is besmirching your coat or worse, hair!

    The other three shots come from north of the river, in W.C.1. Granville Square is a perfect oblong with a flight of steps (Arnold Bennett's Riceyman Steps) leading down to the King's Cross Road. The nearby Lloyd Square, a secret garden with no public access, harks back to the Greek Revival. The final picture, on the edge of Coram's Fields, revels in the pure lime-green shades of early spring.    Read more

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    Crawling the Bermondsey Mile

    May 30, 2021 in England ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    It's common for the weather to be awful for a long weekend---it was rubbish on the first May bank holiday---but at last the sun has chosen to do us a favour. Since mid-May it has been permitted for the pubs to open indoors although on this sunny Sunday, many people are enjoying the great outdoors anyway.

    Bermondsey, the eastern part of Southwark, found its way to 21st century fame after "Bridget Jones's Diary", much of which was filmed there. It's best known for its dockland connection as in Rotherhithe and Surrey Quays but now another transport link has put it on the map---the railway. The main line runs out from London Bridge towards Kent and in recent years the arches, long favoured by bicycle repair shops and hand car washes, have been taken over by microbreweries. By now there's a good dozen of them, seeming to have pulled through the long lockdown. Beer doesn't mix well with photography so I stay sober, but I know from a pub crawl before Covid how good some of them are.    Read more

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    First time on the canal

    June 1, 2021 in England ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    The Thames isn't the only waterway that adds presence and beauty to London; there's also the Regent's Canal which snakes a more northerly route. It links the Grand Union Canal with docklands downstream from Tower Bridge, and was opened in the early 19th century. Canals have been the venue for numerous holidays and much messing about in boats gave rise to the "first time" remark by some amused bystanders. (I deny all involvement in that particular trip but salt was added to the wound by said bystanders not being locals or even English).

    The eastern stretch of the Regent's Canal emerges from a tunnel at Islington and passes through a delightful stretch which has been called the Hanging Gardens of Islington. Continuing through the edge of Hackney, it swerves towards Old Ford and Bow, where traces of old industries remain. Regrettably the request to respect the residents isn't always observed.

    The home straight, running past some landscaped greenery, yields a panoramic view of the Canary Wharf towers before emptying into Limehouse Basin and finally the Thames. An excellent 6-mile workout in perfect weather with more canal walks to follow.    Read more

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    Regent's Canal: that was then

    June 1, 2021 in England ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    This is by far from being my first walk along the canal. I first got to know it in the 1970s, having found my first post-graduation job (which I hated) in London. Weekdays involved the daily trudge from Chelsea to Holborn, wearing a suit for 5 days a week and proof-reading international scientific patents.

    Weekends were a blissful escape to explore what was then a very run-down city but in a good way, or so I felt. My weapon of choice was a Rolleicord twin-lens reflex, using medium-format 6 x 6 cm. film. In black & white of course, to enhance the grittiness.

    While Little Venice in the first image was always upmarket, most points east of there didn't seem to have changed since 1945. Any damage from the Blitz was heightened by the running down of Britain's waterways. The docks became redundant and boating for recreation was unheard of then. Image 2 shows Camden Lock; 3 & 4 move east to Islington, and 5 is where the canal empties into the Thames. 6 is not strictly the canal but sums up the general dereliction of docklands in those days.    Read more

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    Regent's Canal: if this is Thursday.....

    June 3, 2021 in England ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    ......I must be in Little Venice, again. The beautiful early summer weather continues and it's time to sport a new weapon of choice, a mirrorless Canon camera. Besides having an increased resolution on my previous Canons, its electronic viewfinder provides an accurate exposure check before shooting---very useful.

    Little Venice is at a junction with an arm leading to Paddington Basin. It was always the poshest part of the canal but now most other stretches have become gentrified as well. Even the Trellick Tower (image 3), a prime example of brutalism from the time I first discovered this canal, has become a Grade II listed building. But Ian Fleming hated this style so much that he named one of James Bond's villains after the architect, Erno Goldfinger!

    Image 5 takes me to Camden Lock, once moribund but now a challenge to the social distancing which is supposed to continue for at least 6 more weeks. And finally to the King's Cross area, where acres of railway yards have been replaced by hipster apartments and sleek offices for multinational techie companies.    Read more

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    The Dog and Hedgehog

    August 4, 2021 in England ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    It could be the name of a pub! These pictures were all taken within 10 minutes of my flat and go to show that while I miss long-haul travelling hugely, it's still possible to spot curiosities on one's doorstep. The Black Dog sign in a window shows the reflection of a block of flats opposite. Not sure why it's so-called; surely nothing to do with Churchill's infamous "black dogs" of depression, let alone the superb Led Zeppelin opener to their fourth album! In contrast, the hedgehog mosaic sits near St. Mary's Church, standing in the shadow of Lambeth Palace and soon to open as an eco-church.

    The Oxymoron, a.k.a. the Royal Oak, stands on Doorstep Green. The vintage Younger's sign goes back to days when "good beer" often WAS an oxymoron. There seem to be people living upstairs but whether the pub will be able to reopen after the pandemic is an open question. The NHS picture gives a more hopeful message outside another local pub, the King's Arms.

    Charlie's Patch in Bowden Street is a reminder that Charlie Chaplin was brought up in poverty around here, his family moving house several times before he made it big across the Atlantic. And finally, just when I thought that all open spaces had a name---Doorstep Green, Old Paradise Gardens etc., here's a nameless one off Kennington Road. An oddly irregular layout which may have been created after wartime damage.    Read more

  • BlogarithmsLoxit in LondonTraveler

    In the long run..........

    October 3, 2021 in England ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    It's been a long time---30 months in fact---since the last London Marathon. It's also the 40th anniversary of the first such event. Starting in Greenwich, the route winds through south-east London, crosses the river at Tower Bridge, does a loop around the Isle of Dogs with the home straight taking the runners along the Thames Embankment to St. James's Park.

    Quite apart from the competition of the elite and wheelchair contestants, it's the chance for many thousands of ordinary people to have a good workout, raise money for charity and perhaps have some fun as well. About 40,000 altogether took part.

    These images show the closing stages, with the Houses of Parliament peering from beneath Waterloo Bridge. With the race for the mass start having started around 9.30, most of the runners look exhausted when I arrive at 4 p.m. It's a great free day out for spectators however and a huge achievement for all those who complete the course.    Read more

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