Monday, September 24, 2012
Series two episode three, failed
That is to say that yesterday was the third outing on the Bullingdons of the present, second series. Only managed two legs as it then started to rain in quite a big way at lunch time: first leg Vauxhall Cross to Finsbury Circus, second leg Wormwood Street to Jewry Street. The failure was in the first leg which took 38 minutes, a good 8 minutes clear of the 30 minute limit for a free ride, with the fact that the intended stand at Wormwood Street was full only accounting for perhaps half of that excess. As it happens, two full stands on this outing, I think the first time I have had one full stand, never mind two.
Asking a full stand where the nearest empty one was proved completely beyond me, despite finding a hopeful looking slot into which to shove my key. A wheeze which, as I understood it, would have extended my free period - provided of course that it had not already expired - by a generous 15 minutes.
By way of factoids, I offer the naming of Wormwood Street from the wormwood which used to grow on and around the more or less derelict city wall (Weinreb & Hibbert), and the usefulness of wormwood in killing fleas in hawks, this last being turned up by the compilers of the OED from 1486. Presumably a problem in the mews of the late Plantagenets and early Tudors.
The excuse for the outing was Open House London 2012, having been given a free copy of the smart booklet by Sutton Library. Started off for the Bevis Marks Synagogue to be put off by a prodigious queue. Then to a rather spectacular bar-restaurant called the Drift and spread over several levels in a large corner of the equally spectacular Heron Tower. Their rather snazzy website at http://thedriftbar.co.uk/ gives something of the flavour of the place. On this Sunday morning we were offered the brunch menu, and I settled for a posh version of bubble & squeak, which was handsomely presented and came with some good bacon and a nicely poached egg, but I could have done a much better job at the bubble & squeak part of the operation. But worth every penny for the ambience. Presumably mega crowded on, for example, Friday afternoon and evening but fairly quiet on a Sunday morning.
The plan then was to walk to Trafalgar Square but we diverted to Spitalfields Market and then chanced across the Sandy's Row Synagogue. A handsome building inside, which started life providing facilities for Huguenots in the mid 18th century and was then repurposed for Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe in the mid 19th century. I learned that, along with Catholic churches, a synagogue will always have a red light burning in front of the sanctuary, a practice derived from Exodus 27:20-21. Symbolism presumably differs in the two cases, but I dare say neither bother with the lighting grade olive oil specified in the good book, although the lamp in the synagogue may have been made of the specified brass. Maybe Wikipedia is not quite right about all this.
Spitalfields did not offer much of interest, so quickly back to the Broadgate Centre where we were able to inspect two art works. We did not realise that the first art work was an art work at the time, consisting of a lot of beams let into the roof of a long and dreary corridor, or perhaps cloister. But we now know that the beams are called 'Alchemy'. Peeping out of the corridor onto what we took to be Broadgate Plaza, we had a back view of a bit of large, shiny black figure sculpture, possibly a reclining baby Bhudda, large size. But we now know that it is the Broadgate Venus, offered to us by a Columbian. According to the leaflet she is reclining serenely. See http://www.broadgate.co.uk/Content/PDF/BroadgateArtLeaflet.pdf.
Then to Liverpool Street station to get out of the rain, a station which I used every day for several years but was hard put to recognise yesterday. Plus, I could understand why the indicator board might not show anything for Cambridge, most of those trains having moved to Kings Cross, but what about Colchester, Ipswich and Norwich which did not appear either. Have these places fallen off the rail network?
Number 11 bus back to the Aldwych where we had a look at King's College Chapel and St. Clement Danes, this last being primarily a war memorial to the RAF. Both very striking, but with St Clement Danes being a lot more holy than Kings College Chapel - in which I did not much care for the stained glass. Also a pity about the truncation of the roof for some anatomists - particularly since a student told us that all the medical and dental parts of the college had been moved to Guys. The dental cases were now full of sporting memorabilia. Near two years since we last visited - see December 8th 2010.
At this point the weather showed no signs of improving so hoofed it left to Waterloo, picking up a lady driven taxi on the way.
Asking a full stand where the nearest empty one was proved completely beyond me, despite finding a hopeful looking slot into which to shove my key. A wheeze which, as I understood it, would have extended my free period - provided of course that it had not already expired - by a generous 15 minutes.
By way of factoids, I offer the naming of Wormwood Street from the wormwood which used to grow on and around the more or less derelict city wall (Weinreb & Hibbert), and the usefulness of wormwood in killing fleas in hawks, this last being turned up by the compilers of the OED from 1486. Presumably a problem in the mews of the late Plantagenets and early Tudors.
The excuse for the outing was Open House London 2012, having been given a free copy of the smart booklet by Sutton Library. Started off for the Bevis Marks Synagogue to be put off by a prodigious queue. Then to a rather spectacular bar-restaurant called the Drift and spread over several levels in a large corner of the equally spectacular Heron Tower. Their rather snazzy website at http://thedriftbar.co.uk/ gives something of the flavour of the place. On this Sunday morning we were offered the brunch menu, and I settled for a posh version of bubble & squeak, which was handsomely presented and came with some good bacon and a nicely poached egg, but I could have done a much better job at the bubble & squeak part of the operation. But worth every penny for the ambience. Presumably mega crowded on, for example, Friday afternoon and evening but fairly quiet on a Sunday morning.
The plan then was to walk to Trafalgar Square but we diverted to Spitalfields Market and then chanced across the Sandy's Row Synagogue. A handsome building inside, which started life providing facilities for Huguenots in the mid 18th century and was then repurposed for Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe in the mid 19th century. I learned that, along with Catholic churches, a synagogue will always have a red light burning in front of the sanctuary, a practice derived from Exodus 27:20-21. Symbolism presumably differs in the two cases, but I dare say neither bother with the lighting grade olive oil specified in the good book, although the lamp in the synagogue may have been made of the specified brass. Maybe Wikipedia is not quite right about all this.
Spitalfields did not offer much of interest, so quickly back to the Broadgate Centre where we were able to inspect two art works. We did not realise that the first art work was an art work at the time, consisting of a lot of beams let into the roof of a long and dreary corridor, or perhaps cloister. But we now know that the beams are called 'Alchemy'. Peeping out of the corridor onto what we took to be Broadgate Plaza, we had a back view of a bit of large, shiny black figure sculpture, possibly a reclining baby Bhudda, large size. But we now know that it is the Broadgate Venus, offered to us by a Columbian. According to the leaflet she is reclining serenely. See http://www.broadgate.co.uk/Content/PDF/BroadgateArtLeaflet.pdf.
Then to Liverpool Street station to get out of the rain, a station which I used every day for several years but was hard put to recognise yesterday. Plus, I could understand why the indicator board might not show anything for Cambridge, most of those trains having moved to Kings Cross, but what about Colchester, Ipswich and Norwich which did not appear either. Have these places fallen off the rail network?
Number 11 bus back to the Aldwych where we had a look at King's College Chapel and St. Clement Danes, this last being primarily a war memorial to the RAF. Both very striking, but with St Clement Danes being a lot more holy than Kings College Chapel - in which I did not much care for the stained glass. Also a pity about the truncation of the roof for some anatomists - particularly since a student told us that all the medical and dental parts of the college had been moved to Guys. The dental cases were now full of sporting memorabilia. Near two years since we last visited - see December 8th 2010.
At this point the weather showed no signs of improving so hoofed it left to Waterloo, picking up a lady driven taxi on the way.
# posted by Jim @ 11:19 AM 
