We’ve been in London for a few days. We stayed near to “The Gherkin”, more prosaically known as 30 St Mary Axe, between Fenchurch Street railway station (where I used to alight from Leigh-on-Sea), and Liverpool Street railway station (which I used when the Fenchurch Street line was inoperable, which was often as it was one of the oldest, dirtiest and most unreliable lines – and was one of the last to be converted from steam power).
We visit London a few times a year, mostly for exhibitions and galleries. Also, a couple of years ago we walked the Thames Path (mainly, through London, on the South Bank) and a few months ago we spent a while exploring the canals in East London (when further research revealed that S. and I had grandparents who lived only a few streets apart near what is now the 2012 Olympic Park, in the 1920s). However, it’s a long time since I wandered around the area where I used to work, rather than drive hurriedly through. The building I worked in, at the junction of Fenchurch Street and Gracechurch Street, EC3, was, in the ‘sixties, an imposing 14-storey affair with an expensive statue outside, marbled halls, mezzanine and cool, ceramic-tiled lavatories, where I retired regularly to smoke my Stuyvesant cigarettes and contemplate the stupidity of mankind.
Well, that building is now long-gone. Its replacement houses a Boots The Chemist on the ground floor. There is a Marks and Spencers over the road and a Peacocks-type cheap clothes shop on the opposite corner.
When I worked there, men still wore bowler hats. Non-ironically!
We had pre-booked to visit the Manet Exhibition at The Royal Acadamy. As usual with “big name” exhibitions, it was very busy. More enjoyable, really, were the many more-or-less spontaneous, mostly free, visits we made. These included:
The Garden Museum.
Tate Modern (the Turbine Hall being made ready for a Kraftwerk concert).
Tate Britain (much more relaxed and varied than TM, I think).
The Barbican (to visit a “Rain Room” exhibition which we had to miss due to a minimum two-hour queuing time – nice just to wander around, though).
A particularly unexpected gem was The Old Operating Theatre, just south of London Bridge, along the road from the very new Shard building. The Operating Theatre is now a museum but was a surgical theatre in the very early days of medical surgery. We managed to stand at the back during a student lecture which was fascinating.
We had some nice food while we were in London: Turkish, Japanese and seafood. Also breakfast in a butchers in Leadenhall Market which was a first, particularly for a non-meat eater like me.
Leadenhall Market.
Speaking of eateries, there are an unbelievable number of Pret À Porters in London. You can stand on some junctions and see three at once! They must be doing something right.
The Ship, Talbot Court, EC3.
The Ship, a few yards from where I worked and where I used to have lunch and play darts and, in 1969, watch the Apollo Moon landings on a television in the upstairs room. Talbot Court is close to Pudding Lane, where the Great Fire started, destroying the previous pub, The Talbot. Apparently.
St Dunstan’s Church garden.
The Tower of London.
The “Shard”, from Tower Bridge.
The Old Operating Theatre, formerly part of St Thomas’ Hospital.
The Old Operating Theatre herb garret.
Fantastic cafe in Borough Market (despite initial gross over-charging).
Cafe sun shades near Borough Market, South Bank.
Wall decoration in restaurant at Gabriel’s Wharf.
South Bank Grafitti
Stairs in Tate Britain.
Middlesex Street (Petticoat Lane).
Liverpool Street railway station.
Collage at The Photographers’ Gallery
Sculpture outside Old Smithfield Market.
The Garden Museum, by Lambeth Palace, and Bridge.
The Garden Museum
China town, six days before New Year.
Busking tuba player on South Bank. The ignited gas comes out the top with each note. But is it art?
“The Palace of Varieties.”
Martin's Mag. 
You must be logged in to post a comment.