The Bit the Germans Missed

Wapping.

what a wonderful part of London, eerily quiet, tucked away and cut off from the world yet a 20 minute walk from my door. An old docks area, with wonderful brick warehouses, coverted into designer flats in the 80's that somehow the Germans managed to miss in the war, piling their bombs down further north in Stepney, Whitechapel, Mile End and Bethnal Green - it does seem odd that this lot is still standing largely untouched. You can just picture it thronging with 19th century coming and goings.

Going a bit further back in time, here was the site of execution dock, where pirates were hanged, and left there until 3 tides washed over them....arrrrrrrrrrrrr. Captain Kidd was amongst them, now he has a jolly nice pub to commemorate him, where one can have a nice lunch overlooking the river.

Hidden steps lead down to bits of beach with old bricks sucked like lollies by the tides in a variety of hues and vibrant green algae climbs the timber joists supporting the buildings above.

Grand Designs - Modern

To complement my previous post, here is a small selection of London's modern architecture - principally Lloyds, designed by the chap that did the Pompidou centre - hence the inside out look, and the Gherkin, which I cant quite make my mind up on. Its an odd shaped beastie but at the same time I do think all those curved windows are quite a feat. The great court at the British museum is always stunning. I think we can rival the louvre's pyramid with that. And the millenium bridge, i'm a fan of too, esp being pedestrian only.

Pomp and circumstance

So this post might reveal a little about how slack I am at blogging, as it rather obviously dates the photos to a very well known day. The Royal Wedding. Whatever your Monarchist or Republican tendencies it was inescapable and well We do do it well, don't we? put on a show, roll out the royals (sometimes in minivans if you've slipped down the rankings with all the new additions). We watched on the telly, then popped on the tube and soaked up the aftermath atmosphere with the Westminster wedding chimes still ringing.

Grand Designs - Period

Ah...Period England, can you beat it. Oh miss Honeyhives I do declare...

Selections from Apsley House, Blenheim Palace, Kensal Green Cemetary (tucked away gem of Victorian funerary architecture), 2 Hampton Courts - the famous one and the other one in the Country, a splash of Leadenhall Market (or the place to buy a wand in Harry Potter), and a couple of other spots.

A Westminster Walk

I took these a few weeks ago on my usual walk from work to the tube, inspired by Spring in the air and the fact that I see this stuff every day of the week twice a day.. The Houses of Parliament, mostly a Victorian creation, although Westminster Hall is the largest Mediaeval Hammerbeamed Hall in England and was the scene of Anne Boyleyns trial. The back of Westminster Abbey shows its Gothic splendour and I rather like the statue of George V looking across the road towards Parliament. Westminster Tube, like the rest of the Jubliee line extension designed by Michael Hopkins and partners and v impressive.

Dark Doings amongst Tokyo housewives...

Out by Natsuo Kirino

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This was super-dark. Seedy underworld Japan. Creepy in the extreme and quite nauseating in parts. I did actually fly through the first half. It was so unusual and there was the element of whats going to happen next. How will everything become undone. It was really a portrayal of how people change through getting involved in some dark deeds, what it does to them, how they cope with it. How things that would have been unthinkable can become matter of fact. The last few chapters let it down for me, although I think I know where she was going with them.



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The Trial of Queen Caroline

Rebel Queen: The Trial of Queen Caroline by Jane Robins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Ah.. tis nice to slip back into some quality non - fictch. I love a bit of controversial history. This time - Regency England. Really had no idea of this drama. I knew that The Regent, later George IV (son of the mad one) wasnt too fond of his wife Caroline of Brunswick and was allready secretly married to a Catholic. I wasnt aware of the Queens story though. Shunned immediately - three people in the marriage scenario, he had countless mistresses, she was dismissed to her own court in Blackheath. This was only 20 years prior to Queen Victoria. She heads of round Europe being loud and vulgar but seemingly quite loveable, comes back to get charged with adultery so that the old sod can try and divorce her. Public outrage with Diana style peoples princess anti-monarch feeling. Brink of civil war as radicals support the Queen over the King. Poor luv cant get into the coronation to get crowned herself - goes hurtling round all the gates to the Abbey trying to get in and embarrassing herself. Real life Regency drama, cracking good read.



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