On the 29th March the ‘stay at home’ restriction is due to be lifted. We are still advised to stay local, but local to me covers London/Surrey borders. It may be a little longer before I can visit Winchester in Hampshire, but it’s not far off.
Here I thought I would post some photos of places I wish to visit when the country opens up again. The photos are a selection from last year.
Tate Britain – galleries in general open on 17th May, all being well.
I am planning gallery visits. The first one I have my eye on is the new David Hockney exhibition at the Royal Academy.
London Eye
Possibly my first visit to London will be along the Southbank where this iconic tourist attraction can be seen. I have been on it twice!
View from Richmond Park (October 2020)Richmond Park – January 2021Kennington Gardens – July 2020Millennium Bridge, London- July 2020Thames Path – Kingston to Hampton Court stretch – June 2020 (first outing after first lockdown!)I do like to be beside the seaside – Eastbourne – July 2020Riverside, Southwark – September 2020Watermeadows, Winchester – September 2020
The day my friend and I visited the Sky Garden we encountered every kind of weather – from sunshine to snow. While looking out from the top of the tower we watched the sky change as clouds drifted in and snow hurtled down. We couldn’t believe it as earlier on the sun had been shining and the sky was blue.
It was April 2016 and the Sky Garden had been open since January 2015. It is the highest public garden with 360 degree views across London. The venue is free to visit, but you do need to book in advance.
The garden terraces are planted with South African and Mediterrenean species that are drought resistant. If you wish, you can book a table at the restuarant, or there is a small cafe for the casual refreshment.
The garden is situated at number 20 Fenchurch Street in London and is surrounded by other tall buildings, making it rather photogenic!
Sky Garden
We thoroughly enjoyed our visit with its surprising array of plants and flowers on the terraces, as well as the fantastic view you get across London. When London opens up again, I’d recommend a visit. It’s not often you get to see such a wonderful place like this for free. Enjoy the lift ride too!
The TerracesView from the terracesBuildings known as The Cheese Grater (left) and The Gerkin (right)
The Shard
The Thames – looking across to City HallThe TerracesPacked in!
And so we reach the last day of the write a blog post every day in the month of November. Phew! I’ve made it.
Switch House – viewing platform at the top
It is also only two days until lockdown in England ends. However, on the 2nd December we will move into different tier systems depending on the rate of infections. For London this means Tier Two. All shops will open, as will cafes and restaurants, but you can only go with your own household, or on your own. Some non elite sports will be able to begin again, but the badminton group I play with still cannot meet unless you play singles (mixed group). No one wants to do that! Sports venues will be able to allow some supporters back into stadiums. For football that is 2,000, I think. That’s a first. No fans have been in stadiums since the beginning of March.
The Millennium Bridge from Switch House
With talks of vaccines (doubt I would get offered one until sometime in the spring) have put hopes in hearts, but it is still a long journey. The whole of the UK has been given a five day no restrictions Christmas where up to three households are allowed to mix. However, I fear that come January we will all be back into lockdown! Some will abide by the rules. Others will not, and I fear rates will soar again. For my household none of this is a real problem as we are already in one household. However, the girlfriend of one son may well stay with us, as she lives alone, and has formed a bubble with us.
Reflections – Switch House
I am still going to miss carol concerts and singing at Christmas, so I shall attend some ‘virtual’ concerts.
This is the 133 year old bridge that has been closed to traffic and pedestrians since August this year as it has become too dangerous to cross due to micro-fractures in the cast iron pedestals. The bridge was designed by Joseph Bazelgette, a famous English civil engineer. This is not the first time the bridge has been closed. A few years ago only pedestrians were allowed over. It was considered too dangerous for heavy traffic.
The closure of the bridge has caused a lot frustration for local people living either side of the river as they have to drive so much further. It is particularly bad for school children who would normally cross to reach their schools. There have been talks about having a ferry crossing, but it all seems to be taking an age. This time round boats cannot even pass under it, so it causing havoc with Thames cruisers who have already lost money due to Covid pendamic.
I don’t know why they can’t just send in the army. They’d build a temporary bridge in a few hours. It’s what they do! I realise there is a huge expense involved in carrying out the reparis to the bridge, but everything takes so long.
I know this stretch of the Thames quite well, especially as I used to go there weekly to meet with my my writing group. One of the cafe’s we use overlooks the bridge. William Morris (Arts & Craft movement) lived further along the tow path, and his friend Emery Walker lived at 7 Hammersmith Terrace. Of course all both places are closed to visitors at the moment, much like the bridge!
Should you wish to read the latest about the bridge you can read it here.
I think you could say that I’m a little obsessed with books about London and books about rivers. I buy them new and second hand. I also have a box I call my tourist box which contains leaflets and bo0klets, maps and postcards from other places I’ve visited in the UK, or would like to visit.
There is nothing I like better than to spend time on the internet planning or researching places to visit. Right now travelling isn’t something any of us can do much of, but it doesn’t stop me making lists!
This year I have found places in my locality I didn’t know were there. I’ve also walked and taken more photos this year than I would normally do. I’m a bit of an itinary freak. I like to have an idea of what I am doing and when on holiday. Just taking things as they come isn’t really me, but I do try and take time out. When I stayed in Winchester I spent part of most afternoons reading in the garden. But it’s not long before I’m planning again.
Of course some of these books overlap, but that’s okay, because there is always that bit of information in one that might not be in another, or a better map to follow. I have sometimes taken two books out with me, or a book and a map I’ve downloaded from the internet. And yes, I do use both. I switch between them depending on what I want to know. I also love just flicking through them. I don’t think I realised just how many London books I had until I got them out to photograph them for this blog. Maybe that’s my cue to stop buying books about London. Let’s see how that works out!
I haven’t been here since my grown up children were small, but this is an amazing park.
I’d arranged to meet a friend. There is a cafe here with an outside terrace. Ideal for social distancing outside (which is what we are allowed to do right now with one person not from our own household). We arrived at exactly the same time, though we came from different parts of London. Firstly we stopped for a hot chocolate in the cafe before we walked the perimeter of the park. As you can see from the photo above there are lots of tennis courts, but there is also a lake, running track, playground, gardens, beach volleyball, crazy golf (great to see that’s still here), toilets and the cafe.
The park has always been busy. With schools back it is mainly mums with pre-schoolers, or nursery schools with a class of tiny children wearing high-vis tabbards. Across the lake you can clearly see the All England Tennis Club which hosts Wimbledion fortnight in June/July every year (except this one, of course).
Across the lake you can see All England Lawn Tennis ClubA stream passes through the park
Steps up ti the lake
The cafe offers hot and cold food, kids meals and a range of hot and cold drinks. The Vegetable Lasagne was delicious. My friend had a jacket potato with tuna. It only offers takeway right now, so everyhting is delivered in polystyrene with throwaway cutlery. I hate this, I really do, and I am torn between my hatred of throwaway cups etc., and supporting local businesses, which are suffering right now due to Covid restrictions. It’s a hard one. I have my own reusable mug, but no one will take them right now.
The lake
The park used to house Wimbledon Manor House and you can read about it’s history here. The nearest train station is Wimbledon and it is around a twenty minute walk from there. The underground (District Line) station of Wimbledon Park is right by the park.
Alexander Road. Across the supermarket car park is the Disrict Line going in and out of WimbledonA small public space in Home Park Road
I love it when I find somewhere new and this was rather a lovely find. I had to go and pick up a book I ordered and decided to make more of the journey than just there and back, especially as I had to use the bus. So I looked at the map and found this park close to the main road.
This is a place to return to midweek when the children are in school! It was very busy with families making the most of a rare warm sunny day in November, and who could blame them? The park has a cafe (takeaway for the moment) and the all important toilets.
I wasn’t here long, just long enough to drink my takeaway hot chocolate and wander around taking photos, but I shall certain return.
Hogsmill River (from the bridge on the A3 between New Malden and Tolworth)
The Hogsmill flows from Ewell in Surrey to the River Thames at Kingston. I have in the past walked the length of it, splitting it into two walks, but yesterday I revisited just a small portion of it. This section runs from the A3 in New Malden to Green Lane Park (New Malden). One of my son’s suggested it, so we walked together on a cold but bright day. The sky offered us interesting cloud formations and in the lower parts fog was still lifting.
I do love an interesting sky
There are various bridges and paths, some take you out to nearby residential roads.
If you look there is still some colour to be foundI must learn my trees! They are beautiful in all seasonsThe mist still hung a little hereIt’s easy to think that everything is brown and dying at this time of year. But look closer and you see the beautyWe encountered Robins, Parakeets and this lone Heron
A day for the hat!
On the left is the river, to the right of the trees is Green Lane ParkTrains from London going westGreen Lane Park
The last day before lockdown I went into London to meet my writing buddy. London looked brilliant in the sunshine, but it was very cold.
Next door to The Globe Theatre is one of oldest houses (with the red door) in the shadow of Tate Modern
Not a great image, I’m afraid, but the house with the red door is where Sir Christopher Wren once lived, as well as Anne Bolyn
We met at Embankment tube station intending to go into Embankment Gardens and have an outdoor lunch together at the cafe, but the cafe was closed. We set off over Hungerford Bridge to the south bank side of the River Thames and walked up to Southwark where we bought a take-out lunch and then looked for somewhere to stop and eat. Eventually we ended up at Hay’s Galleria near London Bridge. This is an indoor mini shopping centre overlooking the river. Here we found seats. It was the ideal place to sit away from the wind to eat, chat and then write. We do what is called free writing, timed sessions with prompts. We start with a minute writing about one word. We did three of those with prompts inspired by our surroundings – machine, star, shackles. We moved onto a two five minutes sessions and an eight minute one. After that we were getting cold, so we called it day with the writing.
Hay’s Galleria
To get warm we walked all the way to Lambeth Bridge and over onto the north side, and back along the river bank to Embankment tube station. Here we went our separate ways trying to keep positive about the four week lockdown, and looking forward to a meet-up in December.
Westminster Bridge
As I walked back over Hungerford Bridge to the station I began to feel sad. This was the last day anyone would be able to eat out, go for a drink or mix with anyone outside their own household (apart from one other, but it has to be outside). Some places like Pret are staying open for take-aways, but all non essential shops were due to close. Apparently, Oxford Street was very busy with last minute shoppers, but generally London felt quiet where I was. It was like saying goodbye to an old friend – the strangest feeling.
Hungerford Bridge with Charing Cross station in the background
My London+ 