I haven't been to London for a while and I was wondering if I should bring gifts for the people there. In the end I decided against it.
Once you start giving gifts to some of them, they might all want one. With a population of 8 million that could become prohibitively expensive. Even if the gifts only cost 25 pence each, that's still two million quid.
Quite frankly, I just haven't got that sort of money. Even if I had, I don't think I'd spend it on giving cheap geegaws to the entire population of a large city.
And there'd be problems with distribution; it would take me ages to give out all those gifts on my own and you'd have to factor in transport costs too.
Plus, a lot of people in London are quite rich and probably wouldn't appreciate me giving them cheap gifts - that could produce the sort of embarrassing situations that I'd prefer to avoid.
Sooo ... after careful consideration, I thought I'd give it a miss.
If you are from London, I hope you will understand my reasons and find it in your heart to forgive me.
Anyway, on with the show -
On the way up, we passed Didcot Power station. Built by the Druids over 4,000 years ago, it is still in use today and supplies top quality electricity to homes and gardens throughout Britain.
Paddington station.
Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni, is reputed to be buried under one of the platforms. But - be warned - the station authorities won't react kindly if you try digging there.
There are a lot of buses in London, most of them red. The old Routemaster buses have nearly all gone, though I did see a couple of them chugging about.
I think this is Aldgate, a very old bit of London. Is the statue a Griffin?
St. Paul's Cathedral. Designed by Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of London (1666). You can climb right up to the top of the Dome, but it costs seven pounds to get in.
Notice that the lower part of the building is just a drawing. What a swiz!
The famous Tower Bridge down the river. It was a misty, murky day.
The strangely shaped building is "The Gherkin", designed by Norman Foster. It's quite new. Maybe in a hundred years time there'll be lots of buildings like that.
The Tate Modern is a former power station, now turned into a free art gallery. You can get there from St. Paul's via the Millennium Bridge.
As befits an art gallery, the Tate Modern is full of art.
To be honest, I reckon I could do better than most of it, even with my good hand tied behind my back. Some of it's OK though. I liked these floating things.
This was a room full of letters, etc. all with the writing crossed out.
Along the South Bank to Waterloo Bridge. This is the London Eye with Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament behind.
The London Eye isn't an eye at all, but a big wheel with capsules for people to go in and see over London.
This is Neal's Yard, near Covent Garden.
In this yard in 1962, a man called Neal discovered that people would pay up to twenty quid for a small jar of marigold ointment.
And so the famous Neal's Yard Remedies were born.
There was a bead shop in Neal's Yard. Here are some of their beads.
That's all, folks!
No comments:
Post a Comment