Piquant Photos

Dec 2011: Occupy London

2012-01-31T07:55:00.001Z

While perambulating around London, I got a chance to spend some time in the Occupy London lot who are occupying the courtyard of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Its just so much foreign to my way of thinking that I was wandering around looking at all this in amazement.

An information tent

Banks control our government. We have to take it back. Take what back? The government or banks? or both? And do what after you have taken your government back? How? Curious.

Rain soaked tents.

A protestor having a quick bite to eat.

A plywood coffin which talks about 25,700 excess winter deaths. Hmmm. As opposed to? Not very sure what this means. That we could have done something and we did not so these people died? Or are they saying that we can cheat death?

Ah!, PETA, my favourite organisation. I dont suppose they would appreciate me chewing on biltong in front of them?

RBS profit, presumably they want it to be a loss making bank?

Quite a lot of tents scattered around. I think about a 100 of them?

Ah! freedom for Abdullah Ocalan. A convicted terrorist to be freed, eh? btw, his organisation is listed as a terrorist organisation by a significant number of states including the EU and USA. Not only that, this organisation actually has killed so many Kurds as well. And it has had a history of significant drug trafficking. Quite.

The revolution will not be branded. So say Occupy London Brand, eh?

Hmmm, topple capitalist regimes, topple cuts, war, poverty, then something in arabic? then UK, USA, France and all states, then some more arabic writing and then also topple revolution everywhere? All this toppling, no bottoming? lol.

Support for WikiLeaks. Yeah!

Well, now here’s a sustainable effort, compost capitalism and then do what?

A chap wearing the V for Vendetta mask.

Another view of the PETA tent.

The tents are on pallets, presumably to avoid the rain and slush on the ground.

A shrine kind of thing?

ah! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year?

Awwww, how sweet.

Peace, sounds good to me.

heh, no religious fundamentalism and saying this in the forecourt of St. Paul’s. Nice one.

Grow the real economy with time, energy, skills, knowledge, experience, wisdom, etc. etc. No questions at all, sounds like a plan.

Economic democracy? What is that chimera? Essential requirements guaranteed, minimum and maximum wage, cooperatives, etc. etc. That sounds like communism to me, lol.

This is a fascinating story, but check this site out for more. It made my hair hurt.

Some interesting quotes. Very interestingly, most of these quotes are also used by small government conservatives, lol.

More quotes and signs.

fair point, very polite.

Now I will agree and sign up to this.

A poster stating that real democracy was reborn here, on a church while relying on capitalism..

Yes, i agree with this, prostitution should be made legal.

Interesting posters.

Interesting, if a bit trite.

Loo’s….

A small library in town.

A home without books is like a body without a soul. Cicero was a good egg all right.

Nice one. I come out of there.

Look up in the sky, its getting dark, so I head towards the tube station.

The meditation tent. With prayer flags.

A rather tatty looking christmas tree

The peace tent.

Free Gaza? I thought the Israeli’s freed it no?

The Zeitgeist Movement.

A RAF helicopter flew overhead, racket!!!!

The first aid tent.

Looking back at the occupy London. I went back to my rather humdrum life, a capitalist taxpaying tool, the idiot who has to work so that these people can demonstrate. Good one.

Dec 2011: St. Paul’s Cathedral

2012-01-30T06:42:00.001Z

I push on up Ludgate Hill and the beauty of St. Paul’s Cathedral opens up in front of me. Now, I have to admit that I am not very enamoured of this place for a variety of reasons. First of all, I think charging £12.50 for an individual entry is pretty steep. Second, it doesn't allow photography. The reasons given for both these decisions are very specious. This is a national monument and I don't see why as a taxpayer I have to pay for this. Second, talking about photography that it disturbs worshipers is a load of bull, I have taken photographs in so many churches in so many countries and that doesn't disturb the worshippers. Ask for a donation, I am happy to pay for it.

So the only thing I can think of is that they want to sell their books. The fact that those books contain photographs and they didn't disturb worshipers is a bit of a logical fallacy that passed them by. Finally, they now have the stupid occupy London crap outside and their extraordinarily stupid and idiotic way of responding to this entire episode was embarrassing to say the least. BAH!. So as a matter of principle, I haven't gone inside this place, even though it has quite a lot of history.

The clock tower. Very complex design, but curiously we dont see all the holes being occupied, makes it look very weird. Ran out of money I guess.

The imposing front of the cathedral. Can you see the christmas tree on the 1st floor?

The top of the central section is patterned as a Greek temple.

I think this is St. Paul’s, but what’s he doing with a whacking big sword?

Grecian scenes..but this is actually a representation of the conversion of St. Paul'. Pretty impressive, eh?

A huge cross on top of the dome.

The dome is indeed very impressive, perhaps one of Wren’s most impressive work.

The East tower, which doesn't even have a single clock. Bit of a waste of that round space, eh? Specially when you compare to the West Tower. One has a clock the other doesn't. Looks disbalanced.

In the front of the cathedral is this statue of Queen Anne which was erected in 1886

This is a replica of the original one in Carrera Marble made by Francis Bird way back in 1712. But due to pollution and and and, it deteriorated badly. And thus was replaced by this replica made up of Portland stone.

The St. Paul’s Cathedral was completed in 1710 during Queen Anne’s reign after the great fire of 1666.

So the replacement was made in time for the Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee Thanksgiving Service. (incidentally, did you know that that service was held out in the courtyard as Queen Victoria refused to get out of her carriage).

The statues below her main statue refer to England, France, Ireland and North America, all of whom Anne considered herself to be queen of.

Looks imposing, eh?

But the West Tower looks like a blind man, bit weird.

Massive columns, and need to be massive, to bear the weight of the awesome dome on top.

Beautiful lamps

A giant door with some exquisite carvings on the lintel with some dozing pigeons on top.

Some more lovely carvings covered with anti pigeon mesh.

Pillars…

I move to the left down towards St. Paul’s Tube Station.

This is the entrance to the London Stock Exchange, where the protestors were originally heading for but then were stopped from entering. And so they decided to camp out on the St. Paul’s courtyard. And then the mess happened.

The entrance to Paternoster Square has these lovely interesting looking busts on pillars. I couldnt see anything which could tell me more about the provenance of these busts.

Looking up at the dome. Massive structure.

The West Side has more statues by Francis Bird.

Looks impressive no? reminds me of the Vatican…I used to come here often when I was working at Goldman Sachs nearby.

Some rather moth eaten statues on top.

The West Doorway into the nave.

The railings are really lovely, if a bit dangerous, I wouldnt recommend sitting on them.

The gilded statue of St. Paul’s on the pillar on the left and the south side of the cathedral.

Such a lovely place but too bad it doesnt speak to me despite so much happening in this place.

Dec 2011: Walking up Ludgate Hill

2012-01-29T06:18:00.001Z

After my walk up Fleet Street, I reach Ludgate Hill. This is one of the three ancient hills in London, the others being Cornill and Tower Hill. This street runs from St. Paul’s Churchyard to Fleet Street.

This is also the site of Ludgate, which was the westernmost gate in the old Roman Gate.

The view over the east of Ludgate Hill

That marks the spot of the Central Criminal Court, with a golden statue of Justice.

Looking up Ludgate Hill with the dome of St. Paul’s in the background.

On the right, this strange looking building, one layer is stone and then top layer is brick.

The chimneys looks really strange.

Very strange structure.

Wet and shining roads and pavements.

St. Paul’s starting to emerge out of the gloom

I cross the road to the east side of the street.

Earl of Sandwich.

Did he make them here?

Hmmm, guitars…

Dec 2011: St. Bride’s Church–the church for Journalists

2012-01-28T06:41:00.001Z

The history of this church is lost in the mists of time, it could well be one of the most ancient of them all, dating back to the 7th century AD.

The current church is the seventh or eighth building to stand on this site. The patron saint is St. Bridget of Ireland.

Ancient ancient stones. A parliament session was held here in 1210…

Fascinating spire, has some Italian looks about the structure, no? One of the tallest spires in the country, 226 feet in

Did you know, the parents of the first English child born in USA, Virginia Dare in 1587, were married here?

The church is just off Fleet Street, down a tiny road not longer than 10 meters.

This is a board outside the church, with fascinating snippets of the history of this church. The crypts were actually discovered as a result of a bomb being dropped on the church in 1940!

A narrow passageway separates the buildings on Fleet Street from the Church.

I start to walk in.

An ancient grating with a carved stone lintel on top. It was too worn away for me to make sense of it.

This doorway originally went into the crypt but for some reason has been bricked up.

The courtyard. The stones are gleaming from the recent rain…

Looking up at the spire and the damp walls.

The courtyard is paved with gravestones and bricks.

As a matter of fact, one of the benches rests on a gravestone, you can sit there and do your stuff. Actually, somebody did their stuff and puked all over the gravestone.

I know London doesnt have sufficient space but I feel sad about the gravestones being used and ignored, there was a living breathing human being there, s/he has gone from this earth and this is the only memory left of that person. Sad.

Walking towards the East side of the church. Lovely pattern of the corner stones of the nave.

The windows are plain glass, not stained glass. I guess this is because this church building is fairly new? And does not have benefactors? And the publishers and newspaper and journalists and photographers and and and have long since gone from here? Mind you, the previous church buildings did have stained glass and this building itself was raised by private subscriptions from the publishers…

A tree on the side of the courtyard had this lovely little plaque. Be well, Stanley Meagher, you are in my thoughts and in your family’s thoughts.

Heading back to the door…This church was once rebuilt by Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of 1666. He was an amazing man…

Entering the church, that’s the Royal emblem of the United Kingdom.

Gilded roses frame the top of the arch as you enter. The contrast between the green stone and the shining bright and gold interior is quite interesting.

I walk into the main church and see this very interesting structure with two huge giant statues on a sort of open doorway.

Standing at the west end of the church and gazing up.

The two sides of the church have this rather strange structure, with tall wooden railings. The worshippers wont sit facing the altar, they would sit in parallel rows.

The seats inside the railings had these little plaques stating various people and organisations. For example, the one on the left in the front says, The Society of Women Writers and Journalists. Is this a way to celebrate these organisations? or are these seats reserved for this organisation? Not clear.

Some basic lamps were aligned on the pews. Looking at the shape, looks like they were previously candle sticks. You can see the wax catcher at the bottom.

A black and white highly polished marble/black stone floor.

The altar has a very interesting setup. Bottom you have a nativity scene, then a painting, then a stained glass window, surrounded with this Grecian / roman temple which hides a rather sumptuous painting on the roof.

Hmmm, bit of a modern representation of Jesus? That too in an eye?

A painting…

And the diorama.

Both sides of the altar are rather bare…

The dome above the altar. It actually looks like a giant smiley face…

But zooming in, its actually a dove..

Looking back at the west end of the church. Amazing structure, with two huge statues at the end.

On the left is St. Bride. This lady died about 1500 years back. Amazing history of this lovely lady. She is also associated with a cross which you can make following directions here. It will protect you from evil and deprivation. Hmmm, good. On the right is St. Paul. Who is also a fascinating character, one of the most influential Christian leaders in all of Christian History.

That is the medieval gospel lectern, with the bird shape, framed by this wooden doorway, it survived the bombing by the Luftwaffe and other great tribulations.

One of the side aisles. Most of the parishioners will sit here. Not sure if the view of the altar is good, that’s why I find this layout bit puzzling.

All this was totally destroyed in the great fire of 1666. I came to know that the church had its own fire engine but did not keep it “scoured, oyled and trimmed” and consequently was completely destroyed when the fire jumped the Fleet River and burnt this down.

The roof structure is very attractive and interesting, beautiful curves…

View from one of the side aisles, the view is all blocked by the pillars…

Some of the great and good associated with the church.

A plaque on the wall celebrating Wynkum de Worde, the first printer in Fleet street who died in 1535..

The fascinating font with two wooden statues in the back..

The little door which leads up to the steeple.

Looking back at the altar. Unfortunately, the crypt was locked up and I wasnt able to go inside, by all accounts, it would be a fascinating place, here is a bit of a description of the crypt.

I stood for a moment at the church and wanted to listen to the stones. It was strange, the surroundings were very modern but you could hear ancient voices from the crypt. Strange…

Dec 2011: St. Dunstans in the West Church

2012-01-27T07:06:00.001Z

St Dunstan’s in the West is one of the oldest churches in London, with a history going back to 988AD. This particular church building is of much more recent provenance as the previous church was demolished to allow the widening of the Fleet Street in 1829AD.

I noticed the church from the other side of the street.

There is a fountain, now sadly defunct, in front of the church, dating back to 1860. That face on the top right hand side corner is apparently of King Lud.

Lovely curves of the entrance, no?

Two heraldic crests in the front on top of the door. Presumably this will be for the kings?

A fascinating clock on a very long beam hangs out on the right.

This clock was the first clock in London to have a minute hand. On the quarter of the hour, these two figures, perhaps of Gog and Magog, strike the bells. Despite their rather negative connotations, did you know that figures of these two chaps are carried in the Lord Mayor’s Parade in London?

A statue of Lord Northcliffe, the founder of the Daily Mail.

Another plaque commemorates another journalist.

This statue of Queen Elizabeth I dates back to 1586, this was removed from the old Ludgate and is the oldest outdoor statue in London. Now she was an amazing character, its so interesting that England has thrown up such strong monarchs most of the time.

A stained glass window from the outside, the stone work is very nice.

I head back inside the church.

Two massive boards state the rectors and the benefactors of the church since it was consecrated. The rope hanging down is the church bell rope.

Goes up through the foot up to the steeple.

It is an octagonal sized building, very interesting, and most of the sides have these little niches.

That is the exit/entrance to the church and has the organ pipes loaded up above it. I think the Romanian service had just finished. This church also serves the Romanians in London as the head of the Romanian Orthodox Church.

The groined roof is beautiful, looks like the sky, with the octagonal shape more clearly shown.

This massive carved wooden structure is typical of orthodox churches, where each panel has Christian scenes painted on them, but mind you, I have never seen a more intricately carved structure before and I have been to some churches in Turkey, Greece, Eastern Europe and Russia. Beautiful polished wood, delicate tracery, just lovely.

I hate these lamps, these are the new energy efficient lamps, they shine a bilious light on the altars and make them look jaundiced and ill. Disgusting. How can one be with God when the light that is thrown on the artefacts makes them look like they are ill? bah.

The altar and the pulpit. Note that the pulpit has an octagonal roof as well.

This altar is apparently dedicated to Lutheran Church in Berlin.

This altar is dedicated to the Oriental Churches (Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Syrian, Syro-Indian) and a shrine of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches is shown below. Bloody hell, this is a United Nations of Churches right here.

A display unit requesting funding for additional restoration of the church.

Massive font and this time its covered by this wooden structure. Interesting. Also interesting is the statue in the background, its just half, couldn't go inside but interesting, looks like a sleeping lady.

Looking back at the wooden structure.

Heading out of the church with a last look back.

Outside looking up at the steeple. Hmmm, I am afraid I wasnt that impressed by the church. It was too dark, too squashed and then the really horrible thing was the bloody lamps, they made the entire church look horrible. And if they had all the lamps like that, it wouldnt look that bad. But some were the flood lights, some were normal old style lights and some of these bilious lights. It really made the church look very dingy and sad. Not good, didnt like it, sorry, mate.

Here is the wiki entry and here is the church’s website.

Dec 2011: An amble down Fleet Street, the street of newspapers

2012-01-26T07:31:00.001Z

After exiting the Temple Area, I moved into the Fleet Street.

I didn't know that this street was named after the Fleet River, the largest underground river in London. Be that as it may, from 1500 AD, printing and publications is what this street is famous for.

This is the corner of Fleet Street and Chancery Lane. A beautiful building is on the corner. With some amazing detail.

A dancing page boy in the corner.

Two griffins rampant on the two sides of this iron structure. What is this?

Lovely ironmongery on the top level room and railings on the roof.

The building next door is the old bank of England building.

Massive clock in the front, it looks like of the Mad Ludwig’s castles no?

Looking back, you see the High Court with its pointy turrets.

Green light to pass..with the Dragon of the City of London on a pedestal. I turn right.

A bit of history for motoring buffs…

Barclays bank…what’s so interesting about this bank?

Hmmm, what’s Goslings? It was a bank

In the dim and distant past, Goslings Bank was based out of a Goldsmith’s and this was his sign, 3 squirrels. Now its hundreds of years past and we still see the signs…Here is the amazing story of Goslings Bank.

An extraordinary building, I think this is the Prince Henry’s Room. I wasnt able to pop in here, its a museum now, but was once owned by the Templars and is one of the very few buildings in this area which survived the Great Fire of 1666.

An old newspaper building which used to house the London offices of these Scottish Newspapers way back 2 centuries back.

Couple of additional brick buildings which are very narrow next to the Dundee Telegraph building.

This chap nearly bowled me over and handed me this notice, saying that if you want to take photographs, pop over to the London Occupy camp, but that’s for a later photo essay.

I look up to see the Ye Olde Cock Tavern, which dates back to the 17th century.

An exceedingly narrow building, this had Samuel Pepys, Alfred Tennyson and Charles Dickens who frequented this pub. Now there’s a whole bunch of history right there for you.

I have heard of pink elephants but green elephants?

I pop inside to see this strange statue of a green elephant chained to the railings. What on earth? no idea, nobody knew what this was for.

A wedding cake confection of a building with a green verdigrises' infested building next to it.

And a giant building next to it, with massive pillars. I couldnt note any signs to tell me what it was all about I am afraid. But looks very imposing, eh?

Moving towards the top of Fleet Street.

You can see the beginning of the street at the corner.

The Daily Express Building.

ITSU!, one of my favourite Japanese places.

Shiny wet streets of London.

Coming to the St. Bride’s Avenue and Fleet Street Junction. A Goldsmith’s shop was next to it, here are some of the photographs of the shop window. Pretty Self explanatory.

Expensive stuff, eh?

A dead cat brooch? what?

Lovely waterford crystal, eh?

The last building on the left, must have been another newspaper building but I couldnt find anything online to tell me what this was.

The Punch Tavern.

Peeking down Bride Lane, that’s the back end of the church.

Crossing Ludgate

Looking back at the start of Fleet Street.

I want that outfit!, one good way to stand out, eh?

I looked back at Fleet Street. Its amazing, for almost 300 years, it produced what we now know as the newspaper industry globally, it has come up with most of the innovations as we know of, this was the centre of the information highway. Fascinating.

Dec 2011: The Legal Offices around Temple Church

2012-01-25T07:35:00.001Z

After the amazing visit to the Temple Church, I decided to walk around and check the neighbourhood.

A tiny road leads where?

It opened up to this fascinating nook / courtyard with tall brick buildings of different colours.

With heraldic shields of various legal beagles.

The courtyard is strange. It has these paved paths but it has these areas which are filled with pebbles and these weeds. Very strange, please clean this place up guys, looks very run down and weird.

Walking back out, the glimpse of the Round Church.

Farrar’s Building. With the Heraldic Crests on top.

Another building with another crest.

Another building with the lamb and flag of the Middle Temple.

Another building, this time with the list of Barristers on the door.

Another tiny alley way.

The sign of the Middle Temple, Pegasus.

And Pegasus says that you shouldn't smoke in here.

Heading out to the Fleet Street. Looks like a house perched on top of this arched doorway.

An old old archway.

The Pegasus carved into the stone.

Amazing, old old building, this is now more than 100 years old. I exit this area, this area which is so steeped in memory and history. Wonderful indeed, they have maintained everything very nicely and properly.

Dec 2011: The Round Temple Church

2012-01-24T07:16:00.001Z

Arguably this side of the Temple Church, the round church, is more famous than the Chancel Church. There are only four round churches in England, this is one of them.

I started the walkabout in a clockwise direction. Curious, no? how people instinctively move around things in a clockwise direction. The Round Church has a diameter of about 50 feet or so, its really not that big but its much taller than its wide, so it feels very light and airy, but strangely enough, the sheer amount of amazing things at the bottom means that very few people look up. Here is a part of the wall with arched top.

This level just below the lintel is full of these faces, ranging right across the church.

A very ornate tomb.

Made of marble and delicately carved, the top arc says that it was repaired and beautified in 1687.

Then I move on, you can see the arched pillared decorations surrounding the church, with those extraordinary faces carved into the rock between the pointed archs.

There are photographs of various illustrations, lithographs, drawings of what the church was before etc. etc. I am not sure if this is a good idea, it seems to draw the attention away from the actual stone work but then I suppose I am a purist..But that’s how the Chancel Church looked way back then.

this is how it looks now. Big big difference, eh?

These plaques are named for the members of the Inner and Middle Temple who died in the service of the Queen in the Great Wars.

This window was made in 1827.

Biblical scenes, you can recognise Noah with the giant fish on the top, Jesus in various scenes.

The floor is covered with these effigies. Most of them are in the centre of the church but this one is on the side.

Obviously in a knightly outfit, with chain mailed hands in prayer, but the legs are in a very strange position. Can you see how his right leg is over the left leg? Fascinating, what was the story behind this? Usually the effigies are placed straight. The knight has a long sword and triangular shield, with his faithful hound sitting at his feet.

The rather stubbed font but very beautifully and intricately carved.

The photographs keep on going, but notice the expressions on the faces on top, so many different faces, so many expressions, laughing, sad, excited, inquisitive, amazing.

Another stained glass window. I think this relates to Christ’s birth, you can see the adoration of the Magi on the bottom left, the shepherds on the top right with baby Jesus.

More faces. Apparently these faces were made by the stone masons who were apparently very irreverent, made strange and weird faces, but in other churches, they were placed very high up on the church where nobody would see them. Interesting that they have been placed here. And what’s with this animal with long hair on the right? Looks like a panther or a lion with a severe haircut.

The exit door. Its huge and hinged on the right. The hinges would have to be very strong to take the weight I guess. You can look at the ironmongery to see how this massive door was constructed. Also look at the huge locks.

The circular window on top of the door has these people reading scrolls with Jesus in the middle. Hmmm

The photographs continue.

This is the scene of the church when the Germans bombed London, the church was heavily damaged but was repaired. It escaped the Great Fire of 1666 but Christopher Wren still poked around this Church. Amazing set of people that this church has been associated with.

Another stained glass window. The bottom two panels show the scenes of Adam and Eve and then both of them being expelled. Eve has a nice booty, eh?

The fluted ceiling with the ceiling ribs. Extraordinary construction.

The photographs continue.

Another beautiful stained glass window. With a sheep.

A grave this time without an effigy.

We are nearing the end of the Circumambulation of the round church. At the last panel, we see a basic piano.

Looking back at the Chancel Church.

Another extraordinarily detailed tomb.

A detail of one of the marble columns.

The chap on the right seems to be bellowing at the chap on the left who is very sad, lol. Amazing work, this is almost 900 years old. Can you imagine the mason and stone carvers having a giggle while carving this? Or the face of the priest who would have seen this for the first time? If nothing else, they had a great sense of humour, no?

Now in the middle are these effigies. These are not tombs, but just representations.

Again with the feet crossed. I wonder what’s the reason for this?

This chap, Gilbert Marshal, seems to be ready to draw his sword. Also with his feet in the non standard position.

William Marshall. What surprised me was how small these people were, assuming these are life sized, their heights are around the 5 feet 5-6 inches. I would have expected them to be bigger and taller specially if they had to swing those massive long swords?

Secondly, swordsmen usually have massively over developed arms and shoulders, these effigies are far too delicate..

Geoffrey de Mandeville.

Heavily worn away.

These poor effigies had a ton of debris land on them when the Germans bombed the church and burning material fell on them. Still this has quite a good history…

All of them are wearing mail shirts.

Hey, the chap has a moustache! My Man!

Hands clasped around the sword which is partially withdrawn from the scabbard.

Another effigy with his hands around the hilt. Notice the wire which attaches the sword pieces together? I guess this was repaired somehow.

Another moustache. I like these Templars, they have the right view towards facial hair

And another moustache.

A candle stand with a leaning candle. Pretty impressive candle…

If you look up, you can see the dome and top level windows above a row of entwined arches. I wish I could have been allowed to pop up there.

I cannot get away from the roof, its so beautiful.

The gradual gradation of light from bottom to the top is also beautiful.

Looking down from the top of the Round Church to the central aisle of the Chancel Church.

The chancel church

Looking back at the Chancel Church.

At the middle of the Round Church, we see this plaque..

This church was made to resemble the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Consecrated in 1185AD by Heraclius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem. This man faced off to Saladin. I felt a shiver as I stood there, connected in London to events way past into the dim mists of time, Jesus, the Romans, the Persians, the Arabs, Saladin, Richard Lionheart, Constantine and the kings of England, knights Templar and and and.

Fascinating place, I strongly recommend anybody with an interest in history to visit this place and sit quietly at the pews, just soak in the history. Brilliant

Dec 2011: The Chancel Temple Church

2012-01-23T07:39:00.001Z

I moved into the church proper, the Chancel side of the Temple Church. And was immediately struck by two feelings, first was how new it looked and second, how soaring it was.

You walk into the Chancel Church and feel like you are inside a lily garden, staring up at flowers, these lovely marble columns with high arched roof supports, beautiful.

Strangely enough, the layout of the church is slightly different, the pews do not face the altar, they are facing the organ which is on the north side while the altar is on the east side.

A plaque on the wall inscribed in Latin to Baron Iohannis Withham

Tall Glass windows on the right as I move to the right.

There’s the organ on the north side of the Chancel Church.

This stained glass window or the Quatercentenary Window was commissioned on 2008 to celebrate the Letters Patent of 1608 which gave the land formerly belonging to the Templars to the Inner and Middle Temple. The left hand side shows Pegasus of Inner Temple and the Lamb + Flag of Middle Temple, and in the middle, you have the Coat of Arms of King James who gave the land. This is extraordinarily beautiful, the work is amazing, I have never seen a stained glass window like this before.

The pews have these lovely brass racks to place your hymn book on. Beautiful, with candle sticks / holders. It would look magical in the evening when the candles would be lit.

Three plaques for some of the Morton Family. Way back around the 1672AD time.

I have now reached the south east corner of the church. It has this grave with an effigy on top. Without any label or plaque to say what this is about or who this belongs to. Bit of a shame as the work is extraordinarily beautiful.

Another beautiful stained glass window on the East Wall. This, interestingly enough, was made by the father of the lady who made the quartercentenary window on the South Side.

The stairs up to the pulpit.

The Altar

Looking back down west to the round church in the far corner.

The Altar

The stained glass windows tell a story of the church with loads of biblical aspects as well. And the inner temple Pegasus. Beautiful work.

Hmmm, pink and purple and white and green and and and.

Books on the pews.

The third stained glass window on the East side.

Now I am on the North East corner of the church and looking due west, there’s the organ on the right.

And in front of it is the actual organ.

Looking back at the pews.

A window but its not open, it contains the organ pipes.

Now I am on the north west corner of the chancel church which has this beautiful tomb on the corner.

The entrance to the Round Church.

The Round Church. But I havent finished with the Chancel Church, the Round Church is for the next photo essay. I turn back.

Some more views of the soaring columns and absolutely brilliant roof. I love the tall soaring lines. Isnt this beautiful?

A podium, in the memory of Cecil Heyes dating back almost a century.

I sat down on the corner seat.

The books, the top book is the Hymns of the Temple Church. Some interesting pages.

An act for the uniformity of common prayer, and service in the church, and administration of the sacraments.

Of ceremonies, why some be abolished and some retained. Fascinating.

What are the proper lessons on sundays.

Calendar of Lessons

Tables and rules for the moveable and immoveable feasts, together with the dates of fasting and abstinence, through the whole year.

The golden numbers. Fascinating.

Forms of Prayer to be used at Sea.

This has a prayer to be said before a fight at sea against any enemy. Brilliant.

Articles agreen upon by the arch bishops and bishops of both provinces, and the whole clergy, in the convocation holden at London in the Year 1562, for the avoiding of diversities of opinions, and for the establishing of consent touching true religion. heh. nice one.

His Majesty’s Declaration.

On the right, this table talks about kindred and affinity. On the right hand side, it says, A Woman may not marry her:

Father

Son

Father’s Father

Mother’s Father

Son’s Son

Daughter’s Son and and on and so forth, some in the middle, Daughter’s daughter’s husband (wtf?)

The Holy Bible on the right.

Genesis.

The seat where I sat. That’s the lamb with the flag, for the Middle Temple.

I walked to the exit, that’s the round church on the right

The tiny cute little exit door. Now for the Round Church.

Dec 2011: The outside of Temple Church

2012-01-22T15:25:00.001Z

Turning the corner, I see this map of The Temple. It shows all the major inn’s, legal offices and roads in this legal heartland.

And then the Temple Church comes into view as I step out of the little alley way. This is the church which the Templars used for their headquarters and where Dan Brown situated his Da Vinci Code in. Unfortunately, I was a bit early. The church opens for visiting at 2pm, I was about 30 minutes early so I decided to do a walk around the church.

Plaque dating back to 1827 AD says, To John Gurney, bearer of Arms, Treasurer, He restored and conserved the south part, which is his own, of the Inn of the Inner Temple. 1827

This is the entrance to the Nave of the church, but its closed. This is the entrance to the Round Church. The shape of the church is actually like the small “i”, in two parts. the top round dot part is the Round Church, and the rectangular part at the bottom is the Chancel, which was actually constructed 1/2 a century after the Round Church.

A very well architected entrance, looks beautiful. Check out the door. This is the door by which the new templar novices would enter and then take vows of chastity, piety, poverty and obedience. And there would be other ceremonies which would be kept very secret.

The arched ceiling is beautiful. The church goes back to late 12th century. You might see that quite a lot of the exterior and interior is new, as it was quite heavily damaged during the WW2 due to bombing.

The Church courtyard is sealed off, one could have seen old Templars practising their sword play here…

The round structure of the Round Church is supposed to be based on the Church of Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The stained glass windows look a bit narrow to me, but I dont think that construction methods were so advanced at that time to provide wide windows. You can see the supporting buttresses.

There are few graves scattered around, almost at random. I found this very sad. They are abandoned, no signs on the top to indicate who they belonged to, nothing to show who was buried under that slap. Warrior monks/priests…

The courtyard ends with this passageway with arched entrances, its full of construction materials.

A sign to a law firm.

I now am turning the corner and walking around the other (north) side of the round church.

Looking back at the entrance to the round church.

Between the Chancel and the Round Church stands the steeple.

A sign on the iron railings.

The rear of the Chancel Church. You can see that its a warrior priest church from the arrow slits.

The iron gate leads to the Master’s House. This used to be the house of the Head of the Templars. Now, of course, its the Anglican Priest who is the master.

Its a classical brick building.

The east end of the chancel. I turn back, I cannot go any further.

A rather sad looking tree has this round bench surrounding it.

Another view of one of the old sad grave. I had to stand there and gaze at the grave. Nobody knows who is buried there. The sides show that the grave is very very old, with no markings. Was this a pauper? Or was this a knight? What dreams did he have? Where did he go and fight? Was he a crusader? Or did he die of more prosaic causes such as the black death? Or was it a servant girl? May your soul rest in peace.

The sign on the entrance railing of the round church.

One of the corners of the church, the corner stones are starting to decay.

I come back to the courtyard in front of the Chancel church entrance. Still about 15 minutes to go before the church opens.

The courtyard is paved with stone and surrounded by these brick buildings. The brick building in the centre is the Inner Temple Hall.

Decorations on the Inner Temple Hall.

Scanning left, a monument in the middle and then the Treasurer’s office, Inner Inn and then the Inner Temple Library.

Scanning left, you can see the library in the far corner and then the church.

Back to the church.

Stone benches are placed for worshippers and pilgrims to take their ease.

Tall stained glass windows.

On the other side, the Inner Temple Hall shows this plaque. Pegasus is the motif for the Inner Temple.

The sculpture on top of the monument. Two knights on a charger. Hmmm, this is dated to 2000 AD. Not new at all. This is the Templar’s seal and the moth eaten flag and poor quality armour was supposed to signify the poverty of the templars. Ironic that it was their great wealth which was the cause of their downfall. Another interesting factoid, this marks the spot where the great fire of 1666 was stopped thereby saving the church from burning down. So why two templars to one horse? Well, they were so poor that they had to share one horse. The full name of the order was…The Order of Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon.

The entrance to the treasurer office.

Ok, Sir. No dogs.

The entrance to the Master’s house

The gate was open but I didn't have the courage to pop in, lol. Some rose plants are scattered around the garden and guess this? In Part I of the 16th century play Henry VI, by William Shakespeare, the Temple Church is the scene of the start of the 15th century Wars of the Roses. In the play, the war was sparked by the plucking of two roses in the Temple garden. Curious, eh?

The church from the east side.

Walking back from the passage way

The top of the Chancel Church

Some of the stones have been repaired recently, although the church got hit by a German Air raid and severe damage was done to the church.

The full glory of the church.

The entrance to the courtyard from the Middle Temple.

Top of the Round Church.

Middle Temple, 1952…

Couple of views of the stark chestnut tree in the middle of the courtyard.

I am now queuing up to go into the church, getting quite excited by it all when I notice this carved flower on the side. Pretty interesting, eh?

the entire areas is drenched with history over the past hundreds of years, if you sit quietly, you can listen to the susurration of noises, voices and yells. You can smell horses, you can smell the armour and can hear the clink of swords. You can hear rustling of paper and the voices of penitents down the centuries. Wonderful place. Loved it.

Dec 2011: Temple Station to Temple Church

2012-01-21T07:37:00.001Z

I decided to do a London walkabout, go check out Temple Church. But the trip to the church itself was full of interesting sights, so this is a photo diary of the walk from Temple Underground Station to Temple Church.

Temple station has seen quite a lot of custom from me, the KCL Department of War Studies is next door, so have popped in there for many moons to attend classes and meet the professors. To get there, you have to usually change from Westminster Tube Station. And you have to stand on the end of the platform.

And you look up to see great big dirty beams

Why don't they clean up the roof eh?

The beams are absolutely rubbish.

And the lights are dirty.

Even the bloody rail lines are filthy.

Then I jumped into the tube, District Line. The next station is Temple.

Coming out of Temple Station into Temple Place.

Walking a few meters up Temple Place. This is the British American Tobacco HQ Building and it has these two huge statues in front. These Grecian statues are quite impressive, eh?

Walking on from the BAT Building

This is Two Temple Place, Previously known as Astor House. And yes, this is connected to the Waldorf Astoria. It was built in 1895 by William Waldorf Astor.

See this little patch of green? It was originally a dock, the Thames came up to the house before the Victoria Embankment was constructed. There were houses on both sides of the dock with warehouses and inn’s around it. The Victoria Embankment was constructed in 1870.

The building is constructed out of Portland Stone. Its a lovely colour, has weathered very nicely indeed. When they were digging the foundations of the house, they found the lower jawbone of a whale, which the previous house owner used as a gateway to his house. It was left buried inside the foundations..

The architect of the house was John Loughborough Pearson, one of the most celebrated architects of his time, he worked on the Westminster Abbey and Westminster Hall.

It has a exhibition on…

Hmm, what’s with the bull dog?

The board in front of the house.

The work which has gone into making the house brilliant is shown by the intricate carvings on the outside. Lovely pieces. Check out the faces.

The Victoria Embankment.

I turn the corner and this vista opens up.

That is not the Temple Church, but the Middle Temple Hall, more on this later on.

A small passage way opens up, with this extraordinary gap between the brick buildings. That’s a Law office on the left and Blackstone house on the right.

On the left, the Astor House continues its lovely facade

The lion looks like its very dissipated and simpering down at you.

The rounded shape reminds one of a castle. Perhaps a staircase inside? The inside of the house is considered to be a jewel in architectural and historical terms.

The back end of the building is a bit more severe but still good.

Looking back at the Astor House. Amazing structure. I regretfully turn away.

Hmm, these are the true corner stones. Interestingly enough, the second from top has these iron rods embedded inside it. I wonder what was the purpose of this?

Two views of the staircase leading up to Essex Street. Very highly corroded, it has iron corners to avoid more erosion. I wonder how old this is? But I turn right.

I am now deep in Lawyer territory. What you can see on the right is Middle Temple. Its one of the 4 Inns of Court, whose members are called as Barristers.

On the left, bottom of Blackstone House, is this lovely looking entrance, on the left is a plaque which presumably lists all the barristers. This is something that is common across all the offices I saw.

Looking back at Astor House. Imposing pile eh?

A plaque showing how old this little structure is. This dates back to 1861, which is before Victoria Embankment was constructed.

So its pretty logical that this would be some kind of a dock structure. Looks like it.

The corner post has a shield on it but its so worn away that I cannot make out what it is for or who it relates to.

The Middle Temple Library.

The Middle Temple Hall. Beautiful Structure, eh?

The ancient gatepost and gate for the Middle Temple Hall.

Beautiful Lamps lining the road..

The Middle Temple Hall. This has links back to the Templars.

The majestic top of the building.

A crenelated tower.

The Heraldic Crests of what presumably would be the Lords who made this hall?

The entrance to the Middle Temple Hall.

There is this rather angry looking ram carrying the English Flag. Why it is upset?

Looking up at the hall. A ton of history is associated with this hall going back several hundred years. It has a huge hall. See here for the history.

The square in front of the hall.

I move towards the exit

And find another little courtyard surrounded by tall brick buildings encrusted with lawyers.

4 Pump Court.

2 Pump Court with rubbish..

And finally I reach the entrance to Temple Church courtyard.

Dec 2011: St. Martin’s Church of Ludgate

2012-01-20T06:32:00.001Z

This is St. Martins Church of Ludgate. Did you know about the history behind all these names, Aldgate, Ludgate, Bishopsgate etc? These were the gates which were in the Roman Wall which encircled Roman London and Medieval London. Fascinating.

And this was rebuilt by the great Sir Christopher Wren, one of the greatest of British Architects, way back after the Great Fire of 1666. Including the St. Paul' Cathedral’s update, he made a total of 51 churches to replace the burnt and damaged churches.

But the actual history of the church goes back many many moons. Some say that this has a history going back to 677AD. The steeple is quite spiky, the top has so many layers. Quite interesting as a matter of fact.

Its squashed between two buildings so isnt really as wide as one would normally find in a church. It also doesnt have the usual space that you would expect around a church like a churchyard. Its book ended by shops. Did you know the famous London Coffee shop was next door? Ben Franklin and James Boswell used to frequent the coffee shop and would frequent the church.

St. Martin is a patron saint of Travellers. Did you know that? I didn't. I should get a medal with all the travelling that I do, lol. I opened the door and walked in. Looks like the church is undergoing serious amounts of repair as there was plaster, plastic sheeting, scaffolding all around the place.

The church is in the shape of a greek cross, squarish. And the 1848 AD organ is right up there, accessed by this lovely heavy dark wood carved staircase.

There’s the altar. The white painted walls make the church look a bit severe, despite its age.

A giant chandelier hangs down from the ceiling in the middle of the church. Apparently this was brought over from the St. Vincent’s Cathedral in West Indies and is dated back to 1777. Old old stuff. But nobody seems to know why and how this arrived here.

Each corner of the church, on the points of the cross, are these tall Corinthian pillars holding up the lovely swooping roof. Makes you feel a bit like you are inside a giant iridescent sea shell.

See? they are repairing the place, the fire extinguishers are placed on the floor in front of this lovely carved door and the air itself was very dusty. Can you see the plaque on the 1st floor? That was the list of benefactors to the church.

Looking back up at the upper stories. It was unfortunately blocked so wasnt able to pop upstairs.

A triptych of Mary Magdalene, St. Martin and St. Gregory. So why these 3 paintings? well, there were three parishes, St. Martin’s, St. Mary Magdalene Old Fish Street and St. Gregory by St Paul were united. Ergo, to show the merger, 3 paintings.

To the east side, this passageway contains some gravestones, very old, at least 4-5 centuries old.

The 17th century font. The base isnt stone actually, its wood painted to look like stone. Did you know there is a Greek palindrome carved into the font? Nipson anomemata me monan opsin (Cleanse my sin and not my face only). Fascinating stuff, palindromes. I know of one, Madam, Im Adam and here are some more for your delectation from this site.

Don't nod
Dogma: I am God
Never odd or even
Too bad – I hid a boot
Rats live on no evil star
No trace; not one carton
Was it Eliot's toilet I saw?
Murder for a jar of red rum
May a moody baby doom a yam?
Go hang a salami; I'm a lasagna hog!
Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas!
A Toyota! Race fast... safe car: a Toyota
Straw? No, too stupid a fad; I put soot on warts
Are we not drawn onward, we few, drawn onward to new era?
Doc Note: I dissent. A fast never prevents a fatness. I diet on cod
No, it never propagates if I set a gap or prevention
Anne, I vote more cars race Rome to Vienna
Sums are not set as a test on Erasmus
Kay, a red nude, peeped under a yak
Some men interpret nine memos
Campus Motto: Bottoms up, Mac
Go deliver a dare, vile dog!
Madam, in Eden I'm Adam
Oozy rat in a sanitary zoo
Ah, Satan sees Natasha
Lisa Bonet ate no basil
Do geese see God?
God saw I was dog
Dennis sinned

Looking back at the altar with the lovely chandelier hanging low. This church also, very interestingly, holds a mandarin Chinese service. Regularly. Very nice and interesting.

The pulpit which dates back to 1680AD. I was looking at it dubiously. I don't think it would take my weight. Blasphemous. btw, did you know that Ludgate was famous for a place for publishing, Fleet Street is just down the road. and I quote:

In 1631, the entire print run of a new Bible had to be destroyed, and the publisher fined £300, simply because of a one word mistake. They missed out the word NOT, from Thou shalt NOT commit adultery.

lol.

Three incredibly detailed and beautiful stained glass windows. The various patrons of the church are represented in the circular window.

Did you know, Admiral William Penn, whose son founded Pennsylvania, USA, was married in this church in 1643?

A closer view of the altar. Pocahantas used to worship here as well.

Moving on to the North Wall, these shelves come from the Mary Magdalene Church which burnt down in the great fire of 1666. Bread loaves would be kept there after services for the poor parishioners to take away. The benefactors of the church would donate the bread to the poor.

This is a massive painting and turns out that this is modelled after a Raphael painting, dating back to 1720 AD, and comes from St. Mary Magdelene Church.

Looking back at the entrance of the church.

Heading back. Its a construction site all right, temporary stairs and warning taped glass door.

A tiny entrance with tiny steps with a circular staircase winding upstairs to the first floor. I wish I had time to pop upstairs…

The door is ancient with modern bits added.

The iron door stop.

Lovely church, it spoke to me, it had a serene atmosphere, I could have worshipped here and strangely enough, it was the palindrome, the bread and the fascinating chandelier which made it very lovely to me.

Nov 2011: Leaves on the water

2012-01-19T07:15:00.001Z

We went to have a bite to eat in South Quays and while walking back, I peeked over to see some leaves on the water. Besides leaves, you can see some junk as well.

Highlighted Twigs

2012-01-18T07:54:00.001Z

When I was heading back home in December, I looked up to see how these twigs were highlighted by the lamp, it was like it had highlighting made up of the twigs. Curiously, if I move to other locations, I couldn't see this effect. Very interesting.

Sept 2011: The most perfectly designed medieval castle in the world

2012-01-17T07:34:00.001Z

I had to pop into Swansea to deliver a lecture. I usually end up doing these trips once or twice an year and go meet up with the MBA students as part of my professorial duties. But before this, I have usually taken the train and then reached there few hours before, seen the sights and taken some pictures while walking around. But I think I have now done Swansea to death. (See here for the previous photo essays). So this time I decided that I will drive down, have couple of hours in hand and see Wales.

This time, I decided to pop into Caerphilly. Which is on the way to Swansea.

Parked in this tiny car park

And you turn around to see this massive brooding but at the same time menacing castle glowering at you.

Did you know this castle was used for the filming of the TV Series Merlin?

Its big, the biggest in Wales and the second biggest in the United Kingdom (after Windsor Castle).

I didnt have that much time, only an hour or so, so the best I could hope for was a quick circumnavigation of the site.

The fort was made by Gilbert de Clare Lord of Glamorgan, follower of Henry III, the English King, in the late 13th century. It was designed to protect the surrounding countryside from the then Welsh King. This castle has never fallen. The above is one of the fort which dams up the southern lake

This is a sluice gate. This is actually a giant dam, you can see the 8 giant buttresses along this wall in the top photo. There is another dam on the right hand side, but that’s for later.

The lake/moat is full of water and ducks of various kinds.

Here’s another view of the southern dam.

A bronze model is shown. You can see the southern dam on the left and the northern dam on the right hand side. Then there are a series of concentric walls and defences. This can tell you how bloody impregnable this has been.

I start walking towards the entrance.

The chap on the right is cleaning up the moat gutters.

On the right of the bund is the market town. A very pretty place.

There is a medieval market sign on the entrance bridge.

Sign on the bridge, slippery when wet. I am not surprised.

Looking back at the southern dam wall.

The gatehouse is very imposing. Looks like something out of a computer game dealing with fantasy demons. Well, that’s the idea, to strike fear into the attackers.

On the right is the wall which held back the northern lake.

But the buttresses are now starting to sag away from the actual wall.

Walking into the gatehouse.

The arrow slits are severe and few in number. This would be really scary.

The inner moat ground is flattened and has these mounds. With embedded lights.

The gatehouse walls have these supporting buttresses. First time I have seen a triangular one actually, they are usually square.

The imposing wall of the gatehouse.

The gatehouse proper

With arrow slits and the carved runners for the portcullis.

You wouldnt want this to pop down on your head.

These gaps were made for a reason, to have multiple doors or to allow people to throw molten lead or boiling water/oil down on the attackers.

See? the slots were open.

The inner door, iron studded huge monstrosity. Not the original I am afraid.

Some kids playing in the inside garden of the outer ward.

A path leads up to the inner castle and then to the inner keep.

The ticket office and shop.

The inner ward has this southwestern tower which is leaning way off the vertical. Gosh, looks like a good shove will make it all come down.

The inner ward is entered between these two towers. But I didnt have the time to go check out the inner ward. So decided to check out the outside.

The gatehouse is huge. Its not just a gatehouse, it has a full and proper structure.

That’s the gatehouse.

A photo of what the castle looks like hangs on the wall.

Another exit just to the right of the inner gatehouse leads to the nothern side of the castle.

This is a fortified gate.

Exiting into the open.

A channel runs through the side of the outer ward wall.

This is the dam wall.

And yes, its tilted outside, its sagging.

Walking out…

Looking back at the gatehouse. Massive structure.

The wall is definitely leaning out. The entire thing. It wont be easy or cheap to fix this one.

Peering below the bridge, you can see an arched tunnel which presumably connected the moat with the northern lake.

This exit would presumably be to the latrine.

The walls are covered with ivy.

A sewer lid, with various icons.

Started walking around the inner ward. This is the first time I have seen two moats and two draw bridges. No wonder the damn thing is impregnable.

The inner ward walls.

I am now walking on a spit of land which separates this northern lake and the inner moat.

The inner ward walls.

The far side of the northern lake.

The walls continue on for the inner ward.

The place was full of swan poo.

The inner keep

The moat curves around.

Looking back at the gatehouse in the distance and the entrance to the inner ward in the middle.

The eastern end of the castle with the main keep tower.

The top of the castle with another entrance.

The entrance lead to a man made island which had its own moat. Good heavens.

You can see the remains of the main keep walls.

Looking back at the spit of land that I walked. I head back

The curve of the moat.

A couple were cuddling in the shelter of this low wall. Actually this is another defence wall here which protected the moat as well. Bloody hell, this has multiple layers of defence. Its about 8 feet wide. So not decorative, its big.

You can see the entrance into the inner ward now. Walking back into the gatehouse.

This set of stairs takes you to the room above the gatehouse where there is an exhibition.

I walk outside

Behind the huge doors is this tiny gate. Fascinating.

Walking out.

Looking back at the castle

I walk on the raised embankment back to the car park.

This castle spoke to me, too bad I didnt get a chance to peek inside but one day I will be back. I could feel the soldiers tramping around, the architect and the builders, the long decline of the castle but yes, lovely castle.

BTW, here, here, here, here, here and here are some good links for the history of the castle

November 2011: Autumn in Russell Square

2012-01-16T07:50:00.001Z

I was in Russell Square to hear a lecture and I was a bit early so decided to sit at the square and have a sandwich. Took some photographs as well.

The entire park was full of dried leaves.

Everywhere you look

There were some green spots of course.

Quite a lot of people doing various stuff.

Hmmm, a film crew

Some interesting clothes and hair cuts.

A memorial bunch of flowers?

More dried leaves

People in a sea of leaves

People having their lunches while sitting on a bench surrounded by leaves.

The film crew is enjoying a quick chat.

Giant trunks.

Sitting quietly and checking messages.

The trees are starting to shed the leaves.

A hidden sculpture.

A squirrel popped by and I threw some nuts at him. He took it and decided to bury it rather than eat it.

Below the leaves

And then another squirrel came across to see what the first squirrel was doing.

While the first one decided to take off to pastures new.

I love Russell Square, lots of memories in this place.

Sept 2011: Bewildered at the Saatchi Gallery

2012-01-15T08:15:00.001Z

I was asked to pop into the Saatchi Gallery to see an exhibition where a whole bunch of lovely work that a group of my friends have done. This visit was definitely a tale of two halfs. The first half was brilliant. The second half was just out of this world.

The sign on the top.

Photographs that some have taken. Beautiful stuff.

Beautiful work, some excellent photographs and very thought provoking indeed. Women of India. To be precise Mumbai. I loved the photographs. I wish I could have spent some more time on the photographs and if possible speak to the photographers. I tell you, the light and people out in the emerging markets have so much more character…

Anyway, we are done with this gallery and decided to pop around to see the other stuff in the contemporary art gallery scene. And my hair started to hurt.

First stop, at a gallery showing, what the hell is that?

Two cars wrapped around poles. What the hell?

Statues of something. What is this?

A statue of a man (I think) with a mirrored staircase.

Somebody has dribbled wax???

More dribbling wax?

Some green chaps standing on top of trunks which are coloured? Erm, ok.

Black guys with pink planks…

Stuff covered with dust.

More stuff covered with more stuff.

Two models of a cathedral. With crystals, looks interesting…

Some giant legs, boobs and butts. What the hell?

Another erm bits of a bedroom.

This is a new exhibit. Smells of oil. Strongly.

This entire room is full of oil.

the black base is clear oil. Black oil. Reflecting the ceiling.

And there is a kind of passageway in the middle.

I dont understand this contemporary art business I am afraid. Nothing.

And I had to go out to get a cuppa tea to recover. And saw this cute little puppy playing with a fountain.

And frankly, I had more fun with observing the puppy than those strange works of art. Well, call me a stupid illiterate moron in the world of art. Sighs.

Sept 2011: Pigeons and Statues in Sloan Square

2012-01-14T08:53:00.001Z

I had to pop into the Saatchi Gallery to see a photography exhibition and took the opportunity to take some photographs of Sloan Square. Its a very posh place, surrounded with some very expensive neighbourhoods.

Small flying saucers in an office.

Royal Court.

Neon Lighting.

Complex architecture.

A theater…

Another view of the neon lights.

Lovely decorative mouldings.

With a cafe sign in neon.

A war memorial.

Autumn leaves scattered…

In the memory of the soldiers, men and women of Chelsea who gave their lives in the Great War.

With a big giant sword embedded in the monument.

A note on a wreath.

An Airforce wreath.

On the other side of the central island is a statue of Venus.

A giant base. Looks like a cup. The carvings on the base relate to King Charles II and his mistress Nell Gwynn by the Thames. She used to live nearby. Amazing stuff.

A pigeon waiting for something. Damn flying rats.

She doesnt really look that Venusy like does she?

And a shop called as Dodo.

Nov 2011: Oxford Street at night

2012-01-13T07:07:00.001Z

I had to go meet some people at Oxford Street and while waiting for them, i took these photographs.

The Christmas Lights are on.

Mmmm, I wish I could have had some time to sample this food.

A lovely building with big wide windows.

Bright lights….

Stars in the sky…

Kingdom of Sweets. I definitely DONT want to go in there.

I DO want to go in there.

Hmmm, construction going on…

Long street…

Boxes of lights.

Hmm, green dome…

If you have checked out the telephone booths in London (and elsewhere in the UK as well), you can, if you are very unlucky, see these little pieces of paper advertising ahem some nice services. But this was very interesting. Even prostitutes are hitting the recession…Amusing.

Sept 11: Growing tomatoes

2012-01-12T07:36:00.001Z

We have a little tomato patch in the back garden and we grow enough to supply for 10-15 meals per season. They obviously look massively different from the store brought ones. Here are some views of 3 tomatoes.

They tasted as delicious as they looked. Lovely fruit, bursting out of their skins, tight as a drum and delicious to eat. Yummy.

Sept 2011: Teaching my man to fish

2012-01-11T05:32:00.001Z

Kannu has never fished, poor chap. My fault altogether. Specially being a bong kid. What a shame. But there is a reason, he wasnt very keen on slimy stuff. But he is now a man and should know fishing at least. So I decided to take him fishing and hope to get him to learn about it. He was a bit squeamish about it before but he was fine. Here are some of the photographs of the trip. We actually didn't manage to catch anything but had several bites. He also caught one but lost it at the last moment. Poor chap. But still, something to learn about.

I grew up fishing in Bhopal, with nets, with mud dams and of course with fishing rods. Caught small fish, large fish, crabs, you name it. I love fishing, i think its one of the most relaxing activities that you can do, as long as you don't get excited. It teaches you patience. And now that people frown on hunting, fishing is the best activity. I don't understand how people can get excited about hunting say foxes but are ok with me hunting trout. Anyway, that’s for another day and another blog.

One of my colleagues has a brother who runs these courses, we had about 10 of us, each who ponied up about £30 quid, this included everything including training, rods and equipment, breakfast and lunch and a full day of individual coaching help and fun.

We parked the car and popped out of the car to see this giant sculpture of a fish.

No vehicles beyond this point. Ok.

We started walking to the main house.

oh! hello, lovely red berries and a great dew laden spiders web.

A small stream.

This is the storage and weighing shed. You weigh at the scale and then use the roll of plastic bags to wrap it up.

there are two lakes, this is the first one.

And the main house where we have the meals. I decided to walk around the place

Couple of small ponds with fish.

The Derwent River

Its really a lovely little river although calling it a river sort of made me chuckle.

The path winds up next to the river.

It was quite wet and damp

Looking up the road.

Its a shallow river, hardly 1 feet in depth.

The upper lake

Another pond, with the teenagers.

A top pond with the adult fish.

Zillions of them.

Walking back next to the Derwent River.

One of the aerating machines. This helps to oxygenate the water.

Looking over the lake.

Our guide had arrived and he is now setting up the equipment. So we decided to to have another walk.

Heading down the road.

There were people out there already

Another father and son couple.

This is the lower lake.

Coming down to the end of the road

Two tiny lovely looking horses.

This lake isnt as clear.

Dever Springs, the entrance. Lovely place.

A weeping willow

A small side channel.

On the right is the Derwent River.

And this channel pushes the water into the two lakes.

A life preserver.

Wet ivy climbing up a tree.

The channel is lined with nets.

The final entrance of the little channel into central pool

A little loader

Which presumably removes crud like this…..the maintenance on the lakes must be quite a bit

Couple of aerating machines in the central pool.

Heading back to the main house.

The flies are being hooked into the rods.

Rack of Rods.

Then one of the chaps from the fishery said that he is going to go restock the lake. They pick up adult fish from the tiny ponds and them move them into the main lakes. Something to check, eh?

Here’s the pond.

So he unhooked a net and then dragged it out to the corner.

See?

The fish were thrashing away. And then he would pick up a whole bunch of them and walk over to the main pool and dump them.

Can you see the fish below the crystal clear water? Its alive, but gasping for breath. or what passes for breathing inside water.

The rest of the gang were ready

He is fixing the net which he used to take out the fish from the birthing pools.

He has caught a fish and the other chap is using the net to reel the fish in.

The fish is frothing up a storm.

Now this should be brilliant in the summer when its not cloudy…

Somebody had a bit of an accident in the trees.

some of the younger fish thrashing up the pool.

And one of the fish which has given up the ghost. Do fish turn into ghosts?

Some of the fry

A fishing pond

Then a bit of training on how to cast and reel.

Ready to rock.

Casting

Reeling it in.

He is blending into the green.

The sun came out.

Looks brilliant, no?

Sadly, the weather didnt last, and it started chucking it down. Got very miserable actually. But it was a fun time.

Nov 2011: I am a big girl now and I love M&M’s, Diya’s Birthday

2012-01-10T07:41:00.001Z

We celebrated Diya’s Birthday last month.

Diya asked for an M&M Cake. So here it is.

She is happy with it.

And started to eat it even before we cut the cake.

Mamma is lighting the candles.

Blowing out the candles now.

Yeahhhh, then we call sang to her.

Little Miss Magic is telling her daughter how to cut the cake and use the knife.

She is! her new birthday present.

And now she had to help her.

Getting the first slice

And a kiss.

Dada also gets a piece

I will have another piece, thank you.

Sneaking some M&M’s..

Looking at the presents.

I got a DS game.

Dada is helping me open another present.

And another Nintendo DSi game.

This is a big present.

I wonder what it could be?

Yeeeeehhhh

Its a loo, for my doll’s house.

See?

Mamma gave me a pillow. it says, Daughters are angels without wings.

Another present, a garden set of Sylvania Families.

And a set of books.

And chocolates. I am very happy

Sept 2011: Views of the sun and cables at Finchley Road

2012-01-09T05:17:00.001Z

While waiting for the Metropolitan Line train at Finchley Road, I saw this.

This pair of steel beams was highlighted by a solitary ray of sunlight.

Very interesting.

And then going down, you can see the cables running up and down.

Finally the cables, the railway tracks and more cables run into the tunnel.

Oct 2011: dying and drooping autumn leaves

2012-01-08T09:05:00.001Z

This has been a strange autumn and winter. Still hasn't really gone cold, but it feels like an extended autumn season. Here are some of the photographs I took of the Autumn in October.

The lengthening shadows on the green.

You can see the leaves turning brown.

But a cobweb still survives.

Shadows inside the leaves

A single brown leaf in a blaze of green, but not for long.

Tattered leaves.

Looking up at the tree at the sunlit leaves.

Some of the leaves on the branches are starting to turn yellow and spotty

The dried brown leaves have started to collect on the ground.

Another tree with a different kind of leaf, looks like a big claw from a lizard or something no?

The last legs of this leaf.

What are these?

Looks like bulbs of some kind.

The trunk is full of these bulbs.

The twigs and branches are definitely thinning out.

In a land of upturned leaves, a downturned leaf stands out.

Sunlight dappled trunks.

Leaves in water.

Poking one head out of the water.

Damp curling leaves

I like the colours of autumn, they are so brilliant.

Aug 2011: A trip to the National Gallery and Trafalgar Square

2012-01-07T09:56:00.001Z

Diya and I decided to go to the National Gallery to see the paintings. While we arent allowed to take photographs inside the gallery, this series of photos is of our trip to the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square.

Came out of Green Park station and this futuristic building is there in the corner.

Hmmm, that’s a colourful car. We are walking down St. James’s Street now.

That St. James’s Palace. I wonder if we will see the Prince of Wales?

Lovely buildings in this street.

Wine Merchants

Selling brilliant elixirs

Turning into Pall Mall and you can see St. James’s Palace.

A small passage off Pall Mall.

Quadrant House with Lions fronting the balcony supports.

Interesting columns. I dont think I have ever seen Corinthinian columns with square shapes like this before.

A recycling truck.

Very amusing pillars. If I was standing holding up the damn balcony for centuries, I will be wondering what the hell I am doing as well. lol.

Nell Gwynn, the mistress of King Charles II lived here. An amazing woman indeed. Go read the wiki entry on her life. Fascinating.

Some exquisite lamp bases.

A statue of a Greek soldier, I think this is an antiques shop…

The Royal Automobile Club.

And a hula dancer. Ahem.

A giant lamp?

A door man.

This is the Reform Club Building.

And the imposing doorway. Lovely place, this and has a fantastic library as well.

The lonely bust. In a window in the Reform Club

Bikes and Scooters.

The Crimean War Memorial at the Waterloo Place

That’s the Prince Edward Monument.

The Travellers Club

The club has a lovely frieze running around it, here are some examples of the lovely work.

See what I mean? Lovely indeed.

Keeping on walking. I notice an interesting set of chimneys.

An old shop, it shows the Turkish Airlines Board.

Big bust ours? oooooo Big bus tours, dammit.

A ship weather wane

A statue of King George III

Here’s the Texas Embassy

No really, its the texas embassy.

Ship in a bottle on the 4th plinth…

The vertical wall garden. Amazing, no?

Then we went inside and spent couple of hours seeing the paintings. Diya thinks she can do better than those anyway, so we came away pleased. I have to admit, I am not that much of a fan of paintings, its too two dimensional for me..

Nelson’s Column.

The Olympic count down clock.

Playing around with the settings of the fountain.

Then I took some photographs of people sitting around in the fountain.

Hmmm, there’s the queen.

And Margaret Thatcher. She is the Empress.

Halfway to Heaven, lol. With help from the police.

A pigeon on a royal’s statue. No respect whatsoever.

Then me and Diya went to sit on the stairs and have our lunch. I looked across the road and took some photos of people across the road.

On the phone.

Where am I?

Behind the van

Ye High

Erm, what is that you are wearing young lady?

Is that an overgrown brow or the hair came down?

Hmmmm

A tandem bicycle getting ready

And then we are off on the bike.

And we are off to home as well.