The River Thames at Richmond, London

Not only can you see deer in Richmond, but it's also a great place to spot the occasional heron, as in the picture below. Now, I have mixed views on feeding wildlife (pros: you get to see them closer, they don't get hungry. cons: they become used to human activity which may have further detrimental effects, but nonetheless you can always watch other people feed the geese, ducks, pigeons (I'm *not* a fan of pigeons) though.

Richmond Riverside is a great place to go for a stroll and there are a number of eateries/cafes in the area. Although there didn't seem to be much on the other side other than shops, Richmond Bridge is still quite a novelty to walk on. There are also boat trips (and boat hire too I think!) if you feel like something a little different.

In the picture below you can also see an island - which is the land with the willows on it that the boats are next to. There are quite a few islands dotted all along the Thames until a fair bit upstream (to name a few: Isleworth Ait, Chiswick Eyot, Eel Pie Island, Monkey Island etc). Quite a few of these and the banks have willows on them. These were grown for the basket trade for the London markets in the old days.


Get there: Richmond station, various buses from west/south-west London.

A ride home from Kent

My sister is awesome. She takes pictures of me whilst I'm on my motorbike, which I often can't take myself for obvious reasons.

Here's a few shots (nothing particularly interesting) of a ride home from Kent, where we went to pick up a typewriter she won off eBay - which is what the big lump in the topbox at the back is.


Kent - the Garden of England!:

A102 in Greenwich. Canary Wharf/Isle of Dogs is in the distance whilst the O2/Millenium Dome is on the right.:

A102, coming up to the original Blackwall Tunnel - built by the London County Council between 1892 and 1897. This arch is one of the original gatehouses for the entrance of the tunnel. It's northern counterpart in Poplar was demolished in 1958 to make way for the newer tunnel. In a way, it's amazing how modern traffic still passes under this (I mention this, as Temple Bar was dismantled for traffic reasons). A second tunnel was built in the 1950's-60's for the increased traffic. The reason the original tunnel is so bendy was so that horses do not get shocked when they see sunlight after coming out at the other end. The second tunnel is a lot smoother as there was no need to cater for horses.:
And here we are, inside the tunnel (A102).:

We're now out of the Blackwall Tunnel, and on Aspen Way (A1261). This road cuts across the northern part of the peninsula that is the Isle of Dogs, and passing it just before the Limehouse Link. This road is one of the quicker ways to get into central from the East/South-East London (the other options being the A2 at certain hours, A11 and A13). On the left is Billingsgate market, which is where one can buy fish in wholesale I believe, and the towers that dominate the skyline of the Canary Wharf area. The tall tower on the left is 1 Churchill Place, which is the Barclays Headquarters and was designed by HOK International. The taller building on the right is 8 Canada Square, which is the headquarters of HSBC and was designed by Foster and Partners:

After the Limehouse Link and past the Tower of London, this next tunnel is the Upper Thames Street Tunnel. Once a dark and dingy tunnel, it has since been enhanced with stupidly bright lights between the lanes, making this a pretty cool tunnel. Unfortunately, this picture does the tunnel no justice:

That's it for today!

See some deer in London!

London, as packed and crowded as some of you may think it is (I'm referring to those people who tell me they don't particularly like London because there's too many people) still has some nice spots to relax in. Aside from the obvious parks in central and the lesser known ones a little further from central, one of my favourites is definitely Richmond Park. Here you can find deer roaming freely, and just sitting there on the grass, not bothered by the traffic nearby.



By far, one of my favourite things to see in London - Deer!


Pictures courtesy of my sister.

Get there: Richmond (walk through the centre and up Richmond Hill), Mortlake (walk down Sheen Lane), Norbiton (Wolverton Avenue > Queens Road)

Tate Modern/Bankside Power Station, London

Tate Modern is an art gallery with many pieces of modern art in the Bankside area of Southwark. However, the building that currently houses it has not always been an art gallery. It was originally built as Bankside Power Station and designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, who also designed the red telephone boxes and Battersea Power Station further upstream. Much of the interior has obviously been done up, although some of the beams and girders which support the building are still visible in parts of the building. Another feature added since it's conversion to an art gallery is the glass addition to the top of the building which I believe houses 1-2 floors.

The gallery itself is home to a large collection of modern art, with some exhibitions running for a limited time only. Now admittedly, my knowledge of modern art is lacking in some departments, since my interest of this period lies in modern architecture, though the both are naturally intertwinned. If you're unfamiliar with modern art, you'd fare well reading up a little before you go along to appreciate it - I was a little lost with my relatively basic knowledge! However, what I did see and understand I did enjoy! There's no shying away from saying that modern art isn't for everyone, but if this is your cup-of-tea, then the Tate Modern is definitely worth a visit! ...the building aside!



More information on the building can be found on Wikipedia and about the gallery on the Tate Modern website.

Get there: Free entry - £3 recommended. Southwark (LU), or Mansion House (LU) via a walk across the Millenium Bridge. Why not start your visit at Southwark (LU), visit the Tate Modern, and walk across the Thames on the Millenium Bridge and up Peters Hill to St. Pauls Cathedral and Temple Bar. Or alternatively, stay on the South Bank and walk east past the Globe and towards HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge.

Three Mills, Bromley-by-Bow, London

Notice the new banner at the top? Many thanks-you's to my sister who worked on it! =)

In the East End of London, lies the picturesque "Three Mills". Formerly a tidal mill, the various buildings are used for education, business and as film studios. House Mill (the main building on the left) was built in 1776 whilst Clock Mill (the white clock-tower building) was completed in 1817. The waterwheels are no longer in operation but between the 7 wheels to power 14 pairs of millstones to grind barley and maize. The mills were also used to distill Gin at one point.


Get there: Bromley-by-Bow (LU) station.

Pitzhanger-Manor House & Gallery in Ealing, London

It's been a while since I wrote anything - I've been far, far too busy with work, and even busier with travelling and exploring the streets and roads of London recently. So for you today is some Travel-Log-Awesomeness for you today - this will be a joint entry with my sister's blog (she's working on her entry atm.). We visited Pitzmanor-Manor House in Ealing back in February, which is a long time ago, I know. The gallery section is used for art exhibitions (at the time of visiting, there was one on knitting/sewing) and the rest of the building is used for events such as weddings.


Pitzhanger-Manor House in Ealing is a building that has been altered a number of times since being built in the 17th century. It's most famous owner was Sir John Soane (1753-1837), an architect. He enrolled into the Royal Academy in 1771, and designed a triumphal bridge, which won him a gold medal and a travelling scholarship. He used this to travel to Italy, which impressed him greatly. Back in Britain, he bought Pitzhanger-Manor in 1800, and demolished and refuilt most of it (except the South Wing of the building). It was rebuilt into a country villa to entertain friends and clients.

The building today is made up of roughly 3 parts - the far left is the oldest surviving part of the house, designed by George Dance the Younger for Thomas Gurnell (who would become his father in law) in 1768. Soane was an apprentice of Dance, and he kept this part, the South Wing as he admired his work. The middle central bit was Soane's work, and the extension on the right is slightly newer and built in 1940 to replace an earlier extension designed by Ealing Council in 1901. Today, this room is now used as part of the gallery space.


After Soane, the grounds and house passed through a number of owners before being purchased by Sir Spencer Walpole. The grounds, as you see in the picture below, were converted into Walpole Park in 1901 when Ealing District Council acquired them. The house itself was converted into a library the following year. The library moved to the Ealing Broadway Shopping Centre not far away in 1984 and this house was restored and opened to the public.


The pretty staircase features a bust and other items of interest:



This is one of the most beautiful room I've seen around:




And it's very lush ceiling:


I didn't find the other rooms as pretty but were still interesting nonetheless. Worthy of noting is the ceiling feature in one of the rooms which I can only assume imitates what the Pantheon in Rome has - the hole in the top. The rooms also seem to have some kind of classical influence - i.e. the trellis and plant poking through it, and also the zig-zags in the room with the sky-view.






Get there: Ealing Broadway station, short 5-minute walk towards Walpole Park.

Staple Inn, High Holborn

Standing on High Holborn is this rather interesting old building - Staple Inn. It's a timber-framed building and built in 1585 and stands on High Holborn in the City of London. Although it survived the Great Fire of London (1666), it was damaged in WW2 but restored. Staple Inn is the last surviving Inn of Chancery. I am no law expert, but from what I understand, Chancery Inns were used by people who worked in the "field" of law.




Get there: Chancery Lane LU

Old London Underground map

Apologies for the suck-tastic picture (it was cold and I was miserable and my camera was feeling the same...) - Whilst walking along the Victoria Embankment, I came across this old LU map. Notice how it doesn't have some of the newer stuff on it (as well as the fact that it's in an older style, and more geographically correct), such as the fact that the Northern Line goes much further than in the map.


(Get there: Temple (LU))

Carey Street motorcycle bays

I always smile a bit when I see innovative solutions for bikers in cities or means of parking for motorbikes - such as the parking bay on the right in this picture =)


(Carey Street, WC2)

Faulkner's Alley

I love little alleys like this one with old buildings such as the one below which appears to be some kind of former warehouse and it's outdated light.

Greenwich Foot Tunnel

I hope you've all had a lovely Valentines and/or Chinese New Year! Mine was nothing interesting, doing a bit of cooking and a film but it was good! Dad's now out during the shop closure so it's all good, and today was spent at the library and learning the streets of the Capital on Duke.

I've got nothing better to post so this week's entry is on the Greenwich Foot Tunnel in London. Construction was started in 1899 and it was opened in 1902. It links the Isle of Dogs with Greenwich and replaced a previous ferry service. At the time the Isle of Dogs and surrounding area was occupied by shipyards and docks and it's purpose was for their workers to get across the Thames. (The old Chinatown was also in neighbouring Limehouse.)

So here we go - the Greenwich side is next to the Cutty Sark, a 19th century clipper (that's a ship, for you guys who have no idea what a 'clipper' is). It's currently all covered and fenced off as it was undergoing renovation work before an accidental fire burnt parts of it. Both sides have a building similar to the one pictured, with a spiral staircase and addition of a lift.



For safety reasons, there is no cycling.

And this is the other side - it sits in what is Island Gardens.


Looking back over the Thames to Greenwich, you can see the tunnel building as in the first of the pictures.


Getting there: Island Gardens (DLR)/Cutty Sark (DLR)

Thanks for reading, speak soon! =)

Natural History Museum sugar

Hooray for sugar that has something else on the packet besides the words "Sugar", "Sucre", "Azucar", "Fairtrade", etc.



I found this lying around in my room - from when I went to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year last year - the same exhibition carries on this year and is on at the museum at the moment if you're in, or happen to be in London. Well worth the moolah.

Deadlines... not mine though.

I really like this poem...! I'm never a fan of poems, and for that reason the "Poems on the Underground" thing never appealed to me - but this one caught my eye.


Well, here I am - I've been toiling over coursework along with El and her pal Sara's dissertations. A number off all-nighters and late nights later, they get their work done... only just..... Picture of the deadline day, about 2 hours before hand-in. The room is a mess lol.


I always forgive. Forgiveness is important in life and to me.

I am forever wondering whether I've done something really crap to deserve what I am getting in life these days. And for that reason I am in London at the moment - to have a bit of fun. It will be mega-depressing to leave on Sunday. I'll just have to come back here and there and make it a more-regular thing. I've met up with some pals and some nice people. Later today, I am going to meet some people in Chinatown... that'll be good. I need more stuff like this to take off my mind. I am going on total friend-zone friending. I remember this is how I got through the end of something like this last year.

On Thursday, I went to a fireworks show with Jann and her pals in Southwark Park - although I know better firework shows exist, it was still pretty good, everyone remarked that it lasted a lot longer than they thought it would - and I did too! The fireworks were impressive, a wide variety. Me and a pal of hers felt it was better than the NYE ones, since it was a lot less crowded, more relaxed atmosphere and there were food stalls - the car-and-trailer types that you often see around in funfairs.



It was a good night, and tonight I went out with a friend of El's and her brother to the Giraffe in Chiswick. Whilst I've never been that great a fan of Giraffe for their slightly-overpriced stuff, I was subtlely impressed by an over-enthusiastic (literally.) waiter and some rather delicious grub (BBQ chicken and cheese quaesidilla thingy). Asking for water did not come with a sense of guilt (thankfully) so it was a good meal. I suppose the guy's service makes up for it, not always, but it did this time. Service (and smiling) is important!

I hope next week I hope I'll have a few pictures of travel - it's difficult to ride a motorbike AND take pictures at the same time, y'know. I rode out here and have been riding through some hellish (but rather fun) central London traffic which is about 10x worse than Bristol. Some excessive-mad filtering skillz are required... which I'm honing.. lol. I've been thinking about how I can grab pictures whilst on the road, without buying special equipment which costs a fortune... I still don't know how.

And finally - some pictures of late night 3am shopping at Tesco Extra Southall:

Action shot!

Look how tidy the shelves are! (the floors on the other hand....)
Peppa pig!