Clockwork treasures from the Forbidden City

In November 2012 I was lucky enough to be able to visit the Forbidden City in Beijing at the end of a tour to see some of the last surviving real steam operations in China. I’m not sure how much homework I had done, but my reaction to discovering the zimingzhong in the Hall of Worshiping Ancestors was unequivocal:

The absolute highlight of my day was, rather unexpectedly, a visit to the exhibition of clocks in the Hall of Worshiping Ancestors. I was completely blown away by the utterly amazing timepieces on display – the most elaborate, inventive and beautiful clocks I have ever seen – and all utterly amazing in their own right. I had timed my visit for the day’s second display of working clocks (at 2pm) with about five clocks wound up for people to watch their extraordinary movements (towers rising, pieces twirling etc).

I had enthused endlessly on my return to the UK, but the trouble with such things is that you really need to see them for yourself to appreciate just how elaborate and utterly bonkers these are. I was therefore absolutely delighted to discover that 23 of these marvels would be going on display at the Science Museum in the exhibition Zimingzhong: Clockwork Treasures from China’s Forbidden City and that I could share my delight with friends and family.

Clockwork treasures on display at the Science Museum

The label of ‘clock’ hardly seems to do these justice, so I thought the exhibition title of ‘clockwork treasures’ particularly apt. These extraordinary creations, made in Britain and China during the 18th century for the emperors of China, have never been exhibited in the UK before.

Forget what you know about clocks on entering the exhibition and marvel at zimingzhong in the form of birds, rams, elephants, towers, temples and even a pond with three lotus flowers.

I thought it a particularly nice touch that various mechanical demonstrators had been set up around the exhibition to demonstrate how they worked, such as opening domes and waterflow mimicking features, which you could wind up and let go. Some of the zimingzhong had useful cutaways to show the mechanical marvels that lay inside, while others were demonstrated in videos provided by the Palace museum.

It is a real privilege to see these up close once again and marvel at the intricate details, crafted and assembled at extraordinary expense by highly skilled workers. It is mind-blowing to think that 1,500 of these zimingzhong exist in the care of the Palace museum and are lovingly looked after by the staff of the The Palace Museum Conservation Hospital.

I thought it was one of the most enjoyable exhibitions in a long time, so was rather surprised at how quiet it was when we visited, though to be fair it was Easter Monday. It is such a pity – these amazing creations deserve to be seen and appreciated. However, a quiet visit does allow you to get up close and marvel at the intricacy of the design.

Zimingzhong: Clockwork Treasures from China’s Forbidden City is at the Science Museum until Sunday 2 June 2024.

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Camels, donkeys and trumpet blowing rodents

In the 1990s one of the highlights of my television year was the sitcom Drop the Dead Donkey, created by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin. The sitcom was set in the back offices of GlobeLink News, a TV news station that has just been taken over by a media mogul. Unusually, each episode was scripted and filmed in the week before broadcast, giving it a topical bite that was quite delicious.

Over six seasons we got to explore the dysfunctional personal lives of the team before the TV studio was shut down in the final episode, broadcast on 9th December 1998. All of the characters were wonderful in their deeply flawed ways, but it was impossible not to love Damien Day (played by Stephen Tompkinson) with his deeply unethical methods, usually involving some degree of fakery that routinely unravelled.

The programme for Drop the Dead Donkey at Richmond Theatre

The news that the surviving cast were re-uniting for a stage show 26 years on was quite impossible to resist and we had tickets booked from the day they went on sale. However, as with any revival you always wonder if it can possibly live up to your memories. Thankfully, those doubts were dispelled the moment the play started, bringing those wonderful characters back to life. The love of the audience was apparent from the applause given to each cast member as they appeared on stage, revealing what had happened to their characters in the intervening years.

The writers were back too, delivering a wonderful script that matched the quality of the original series and felt like an extended episode. The premise of the revival being that the characters have mysteriously been brought back as a team to staff a new operation called Truth TV, where an AI powered algorithm determines which news stories to cover.

Over the course of 2 hours and 10 minutes (including interval) at the Richmond Theatre we were in stitches with the unfolding story, rich vein of topical jokes and ultimate reveal(s). The show is just at the start of its national tour, but will be returning to Richmond in June.

The British Museum

Moving on from dead donkeys, we made a visit to the British Museum for their new exhibition Legion: life in the Roman army which explores the lives and careers of soldiers across the empire. Some of it was quite familiar, but there were plenty of surprises.

Among the exhibits that revealed unexpected aspects of Roman history were a lead toy of a camel from Egypt, accompanied by text that reveals that Roman cavalry units in the region rode camels as well as horses; a fearsome sounding Draco, dragon standard, adopted from the Sarmatian foes of the Romans; and a little rodent trumpeter made from copper alloy.

It was also more than a little surprising to discover that for something as voluminous as the Roman legionary’s long shield only one complete example exists, displayed here on loan from Yale University.

My favourite exhibit would have to be a Roman anti-cheating device for gaming. This device took the form of a tower, allowing gamers to drop dice in at the top, where it would then fall through various levels before emerging down some steps at the bottom. Conversely, we then got to see a Roman grain measurement vessel from Northumberland which held more than the measurements marked on its exterior suggested, cheating suppliers.

The exhibition (1st February 2024 to 23rd June 2024) was one of the best that we have seen at the British Museum and is well worth a look in.

All in the detail

One of the things I have long heard from the supporting artists (extras) that I know is that the film and tv sets they work on go to incredible depths with the detail. It’s something they get to really appreciate up close, while for most of us it is simply background detail that we may barely glimpse or pay any attention too. So, it was great to get an opportunity to look at some of the sets, costumes and props from The Crown at a special exhibition today.

The exhibition, at Bonhams in New Bond Street, has already been to New York, Los Angeles and Paris. London is the final stop, ahead of an auction in early February. The proceeds from the auction will go to setting up a scholarship at the National Film and Television School (NFTS). Tickets can be obtained free online.

Full size replica of the Gold State Coach

Once you enter Bonhams the exhibition is spread over four floors, starting with some of the largest and showiest items, including a full size replica of the Gold State Coach (estimate £30,000-50,000). However, for me it was the incredible attention to detail that went into the set of paintings of the Royal Family featuring the cast that really stunned me (estimates ranging from £800 to £3,000).

The level of detail that went into the costumes and replicas for the coronation is truly astonishing – the reproduction of the Imperial mantle and stole, supertunica, anointing gown and robe of state looked simply stunning (estimate £20,000-30,000) alongside a replica of the Coronation chair (estimate £10,000-20,000). It was interesting to read the logic behind this – essentially, to gain the trust of the audience so that they could have greater freedom with other costumes.

The absolute highlight though was the astonishing model of the Queen’s funeral procession from the final episode of The Crown (‘Sleep Dearie Sleep’) in the basement level. The model took 6-8 weeks to complete, featuring some 800 figures (around 500 Britains models, supplemented by 300 3D printed models) that took two weeks to paint up. Above the model a video gave a wonderful insight into this extraordinary set piece and it was great to hear that it will be sold as one lot rather than be broken up (estimate £8,000-12,000).

The exhibition runs from 11th January to 5th February 2024, ahead of a live auction on 7th February 2024. An online auction is already underway and closes on 8th February 2024. Free tickets are available through Eventbrite.

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Stunning in Gunnersbury Park

Our year of local culture began in Ealing with Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery, so it seemed appropriate to finish it with a visit to neighbouring Acton and the Gunnersbury Park Museum.

The museum occupies Gunnersbury Park House, built in 1802 and re-modelled by the Rothschilds when they purchased the estate in 1830. The family sold the estate to Ealing and Acton councils in 1925 and it was opened as a public park the following year (with Neville Chamberlain, then Minister of Health, doing the honours).

Gunnersbury Park House

The mansion was repurposed as a museum in 1929 but had deteriorated by 2009 when the buildings were listed on the Heritage At Risk Register. Since then a £50 million restoration plan for the estate has seen the museum buildings revived. Today, they present the story of the local area and life at the mansion under the Rothschilds.

Our reason for visiting was a new free exhibition, Set to Stun, which opened on 20th October 2023 and runs to 2nd June 2024. The exhibition celebrates the workshops and design studios of west London that created the look for some of the most iconic shows in British science fiction from the 1960s to the present. Exhibits are spread throughout the museum with a handy map available to help you find them.

Those exhibits are pretty splendid, including: a white and gold dalek from Remembrance of the Daleks (1988) that Ace and the Doctor battled in Coal Hill School (shot in Hammersmith); the Robot of Death costume made for Doctor Who by a local costume maker at Ealing studios (1977) in a setting freshly imagined for this exhibition by a designer from the show; the mask of Davros from ‘Resurrection of the Daleks’ (1984); a device used by the Master in ‘Castrovalva’ (1982); and a re-creation of the Dalek conveyor belt from ‘Power of the Daleks’ (1966).

A Federation trooper’s gun from Blake’s 7

An upstairs room contained models from Red Dwarf, Star Cops (1987) and The Tripods (1984-5). However, it was one of the exhibits in the pull-out drawers that delighted me the most, a Federation trooper’s gun from Blake’s 7, a TV programme that I absolutely adored back in the day. That certainly dredged up a few memories.

There is much to fascinate and delight in the exhibition, with fascinating insights, such as the innovative video techniques used in The Tripods; storyboarding in Doctor Who; and the marvellous story of how one bit of set design made its way from Alien to Blake 7 and then onto The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy! It’s well worth taking a look if you are in the area – and the park is quite lovely too.

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Looking down on Borough Market Junction

A family birthday led us up the Shard for a delicious afternoon tea at Ting and reacquainted me with the splendid views from the lobby before you get into the restaurant. I think I prefer the panorama from this point to the views on offer higher up the Shard as it somehow feels a little more human.

View from the Shard

It’s hard not to be impressed by the view down on to the triangle of railway lines at Borough Market Junction. The old signal box that once stood guard at the junction has long gone (re-installed at the National Railway Museum in York) but the base it sat on can still be seen if you know what you are looking for.

RFA Proteus on the Thames

Every now and again we get some unusual on the Thames. The latest addition to this list is the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Proteus, which cut an unusual sight next to HMS Belfast.

RFA Proteus was formerly a supply vessel used to service offshore oil and gas platforms (going by the name of MV Topaz Tangaroa in her previous guise). The vessel was purchased by HM Government for the Royal Navy to help provide undersea surveillance and protect seabed telecommunications cables and oil/gas pipelines in the light of recent events in Baltic waters.

RFA Proteus on the Thames

RFA Proteus moored next to HMS Belfast for her visit

The visit by RFA Proteus follows her military refit and repaint into grey at Cammel Laird Shipyard, in Birkenhead (January-September 2023). During her time on the Thames she was formally dedicated in the presence of Prince Edward, The Duke of Edinburgh, the RFA Commodore-in Chief.

Horizon 22

A month and a bit on from my visit to The Lookout I have been able to pop into Horizon 22, the newest free public gallery in a skyscraper in the City of London. Admission is free with tickets pre-bookable through the Horizon 22 website.

The view from Horizon 22

The viewpoint here is a bit higher (as I understand it The Lookout is 204m above ground level, whereas Horizon 22 is 254m) making it the tallest free viewing point in London.

The extra height gives an interesting difference in perspective on the surrounding buildings from the view you get at The Lookout. Rather than looking across to the top of Tower 42 (ex NatWest Tower) you look down onto its rooftop. My workplace is still obscured by a tall building, just as it was from The Lookout, but it is just about possible to make out the top of the concrete lift shaft that pops out onto the rooftop of our building.

Buenos Aires to London

After a very successful trip to Argentina it was time to go home. The international airport at Ezeiza is really rather impressive. All the queues I encountered were short and quickly sped through. I reached the airside at 14:41, giving me time enough to sample a Andes Origen IPA Andina before boarded my flight at 16:10.

I’ve had the experience of travelling on a handful of 747s (with Qantas in 1998, KLM in 2011 and Lufthansa in 2013) but never sampled business class so this leg was very much a tick on my bucket list. It was quite marvellous wandering through the lower deck of a 747-8 and then taking the stairs to the upper deck. I don’t imagine that I will get the chance to do it again.

Our ride home – Lufthansa Boeing 747-830 D-ABYR operated LH511 EZE-FRA

I can’t say that I am a huge fan of the outdated Lufthansa business class seat or how surprisingly noisy these old 747s are but this was an opportunity that had to be taken (especially at a price bizarrely cheaper than the economy ticket I had originally planned to buy). Overall, comparing long haul flights I probably wouldn’t pick Lufthansa as a first choice, but would happily fly Swiss anytime.

After a short spell on the ground at Frankfurt I made the transfer to my flight for London. Our captain told us that the crew had been assigned this flight at short notice and were trying to get up to speed as quickly as possible, which ultimately resulted in a small delay of 36 minutes. At the worst points of our snowy transfer to Bariloche I doubted I would make it back on my scheduled flights, so that really didn’t seem too bad!

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How not to fly internationally

My ever so slightly mad schedule this year has trip after trip stacked up with relatively short gaps in-between. If it seemed a bit much on paper, it has certainly proved to be OTT in reality. Anyway, once again it is time for me to head overseas. This time I am joining a tour group in Argentina to experience and photograph the incredible 750mm narrow gauge railway in Patagonia known as La Trochita.

Flight prices were a little crazy, bouncing all over the place when I booked last month, approximately six weeks ahead of travel. It was hard to make sense of what was going on, but when I saw business class seats on sale for less than economy I didn’t need any further encouragement to book – even if that meant a somewhat indirect route with Swiss.

Our plane (HB-JNK) from Zurich to Buenos Aires via Sao Paulo. Seen here on the ground at Sao Paulo.

Starting my journey, I was somewhat relieved that things were seemingly back to normal at Heathrow after the chaos of the collapse of the national airspace systems across the UK the day before.

My first flight got caught up in some delays, landing in Zurich around 45 minutes late. The next step should have been to follow the signs for transit from the D gates to the E gates but I must have gotten lost at some point, then passed through border control. I thought it was odd that they stamped my passport during transit, then it dawned on me that I had entered Switzerland. Cue panic. What a muppet…

I navigated my way from arrivals to departure security and passport control to get airside again, then jumped on the shuttle to the E gates. Another passport stamp – only minutes after the last. Talk about ways to ramp up the stress on your travels!

It was with a sense of relief that I boarded our Swissair Boeing 777-300ER for flight LX92 to Buenos Aires, via Sao Paulo. Timings were inevitably a bit odd. After taking off at 23:24 food came out relatively quickly, with service finishing up at 00:45 (Swiss time). The crew started serving breakfast just before 3:00 (Brazilian time) with our flight landing at 5:29. The breakfast was excellent (you get to make your choices on a tick-box questionnaire the night before, so it is perfectly tailored to your wishes).

Swiss breakfast on LX92

The stop at Sao Paulo lasted around two and half hours. Everyone has to disembark and clear transit security to return to the departure gates, then wait for re-boarding. I thought this was too easy, so somehow managed to lose my boarding pass along the way. I retraced my steps and used the Translate app on my phone to seek help from the gate staff, but eventually spotted my boarding pass lying on the floor after a stressful hour. Phew!!! What a scare though… I am not making this trip easy on myself.

We re-boarded our Swiss Boeing 777-300 ER (Luzern) at about 7:20 and took off at 8:18 with a nice view of the immenseness of São Paulo through a break in the clouds, followed by a second breakfast on the short leg to Buenos Aires. The business class cabin had been full out to Sao Paulo (62 seats) but for this leg there were no more than 10 of us.

After all the stresses of the build-up and during the journey I was incredibly relieved when we landed in Buenos Aires at 10:59. Thankfully I had arranged to be picked up from the airport, so had no scope to add any extra stresses to my day! My home for the next four nights would be the MGallery Palladio Hotel Buenos Aires, which quickly revealed itself to be one of the best hotels I have stayed at anywhere.

Looking down from the Lookout

On my daily commute I have been watching a trio of skyscrapers steadily climbing higher at the crossroads next to Leadenhall market. A public viewing gallery called ‘The Lookout‘ has just opened atop the first of these, 8 Bishopsgate.

A splendid view of Bank junction from The Lookout.

I took the chance to get a closer look today, managing to reserve a slot before word got out. The view is pretty splendid from all sides – from the Tower of London on one side to the Barbican and Finsbury Circus on the other. There are particularly splendid views of Bank junction with Mansion House, the Royal Exchange, Bank of England and No 1 Poultry. My workplace is obscured by a tall building, but it still gave me an unusual view of the streets I have trodden for many a year.

The skyscraper is far from alone – you can look down on the ongoing works at One Leadenhall, then over to the Walkie Talkie and the Shard beyond. There is also a striking view across to the top of Tower 42 (formerly the NatWest Tower). A viewing point at the skyscraper next door, Horizon 22, is scheduled to open at the end of September 2023.

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Art in August

It may have been an unusually wet summer in London, but we have still managed to get out and about, dodging the showers and industrial action on the railways, to see some art and a little history around the capital.

One of the highlights this month was Sarah Sze’s The Waiting Room at Peckham Rye Station (19th May to 17th September 2023) which uses the interior of the wonderfully restored Victorian waiting room as the canvas for an astonishing projection of moving images, with an amazing globe at its heart presenting a myriad of images.

A modern day magic lantern

The guide to the sculpture describes it as a vast magic lantern which captures it just perfectly. As you move around the structure you can only marvel at the machinery whirring into action to bring to life visual spectacles that range from a flock of birds flying around the walls to something that seems somewhat more apocalyptic. The message of fragility and its evocation of the threshold we stand at has never seemed more relevant.

The fragility of our ecosystems was also a theme at Web(s) of Life by Tomás Saraceno at the Serpentine South (1st June to 10th September 2023) which opened the Serpentine South gallery to the living organisms of Hyde Park and switched it to be utterly dependent on solar panels to power the displays. As Saraceno says, “this exhibition is alive, it sleeps and breathes, overheats and quiets down”.

I was fascinated by the breadth of the displays, learning about the ŋgam dù spider diviners of Cameroon (who you can consult for advice at nggamdu.org); admired the most beautiful spiderwebs displayed in another gallery; and loved the cloud cities, sculptures inside and outside the gallery which provide habitats for a range of species. The towering cloud city sculpture in the nearby parkland has spaces for 24 species from hedgehogs to kestrels.

We also caught up with an incredibly diverse display of artworks in WAVE: Currents in Japanese Graphic Arts at Japan House (6th July to 22nd October 2023). I particularly loved the way that Yoshizane Megumi captures a moment of time in ‘Bitchū Castle – Matsuyama‘, a painting of two visitors exploring the ruins of a castle; enjoyed Kuruhara Kimi’s interesting depiction of a ninja swimming underwater in a castle moat at night in ‘Shinobi‘, moving so stealthily that ducks on the surface remained undisturbed; and loved the surreal road leading to a jelly mountain in Itō Keiji’s ‘Five Tones‘. A lovely free exhibition.

Street art by Phlegm on the Bussey Building in Peckham

Finally, our little excursion to Peckham Rye gave us the perfect opportunity to visit some long standing pieces of street art from Roa and Phlegm (on the exterior walls of the Bussey Building accessed via Bussey Alley, off Rye Lane, and the Victoria Inn in Bellenden Road). I was pleased to see that these pieces were still around as they were painted over ten years ago.

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Subterranean shelters at Clapham South

I’ve been on a few Hidden London Tours and been absolutely fascinated by the complex and surprising histories that have unfolded. Today, I joined a tour of the tunnels at Clapham South, one of eight deep-level shelters constructed below the streets of London during the Second World War. I think this may have been my favourite of the five sites I have seen.

The deep level shelter at Clapham South was constructed in response to the devastating effects of the Blitz (7th September 1940 to 11th May 1941) but only completed and made ready for use on 21st October 1942. Over the course of an hour and a half our wonderful tour guides took us through the remarkable complex of 16 split level sub-shelters, each named after famous naval commanders, built in two parallel deep tunnels.

One of two steel reinforced pillboxes (drums) that provided access to the Clapham South deep-level shelter

I have been vaguely aware of the shelters for a long while, often passing the shelter at Goodge Street on my way to lectures at University College London and at some point getting some sense of their interiors in Stephen Poliakoff’s film Hidden City (1988) when this was broadcast on TV. However, I had never really appreciated that they only came into use after the Blitz or there many varied uses in wartime and beyond. The tour really brought the complex to life and helped me understand what a remarkable history they hold.

Our guides explained how they were used to house those made homeless by the bombing campaign; as initial accommodation for passengers on the HMT Empire Windrush coming from the Caribbean to help rebuild the country; to house troops during the funeral of funeral of George VI and coronation of Elizabeth II; and as cheap accommodation during the Festival of Britain. A fire at Goodge Street in May 1956 put an end to the use of the deep shelters for accommodation, but they later found new uses ranging from archive storage to hydroponic farming.

The Hidden London tours are great at telling the story of each site and this was no exception, with our guides pointing out surviving features along the way that ranged from triple-deck bunk beds to the frames for the canteen. Plenty of original signage can be seen around the site, still pointing the way to the alphabetically arranged sub-shelters. There are even examples of names and addresses scrawled into some of the shelter walls.

One of the most photographed staircases on the Hidden London circuit

One of the final treats of the tour was a view of what our guides reckon must be the most photographed staircase on the Hidden London circuit, a now blocked up staircase that once provided those less mobile with easier access from the station to the shelter than the spiral staircases used by most shelter dwellers.

Our visit to the shelters at Clapham South was a delight. Thanks to the London Transport Museum for making these tours possible and to our wonderful guides for breathing life into the story.

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Southward bound

My travels have only taken me to Africa twice, to Egypt and Eritrea, but I have never ventured any further beyond. As is often the case, it was the promise of some exceptional steam action that lured me south.

Arriving at Heathrow, I was relieved to see that my flight to Johannesburg (BA55) was showing as being on time. The same could not be said of the later flight (BA57) which was going to be an astonishing 23 hours late. Eek! I felt sorry for the passengers arriving to discover that.

With that knowledge I had an overriding sense of relief on boarding our A380 (G-XLEB) despite the chaotic scenes leading up to this. It was hard to fathom what logic determined that a narrow corridor leading up to a small gate entry would be suitable for 500 passengers, especially with overlapping queues from neighbouring gates. Added to this, no announcements were made over the PA system so utter confusion reigned. Still – we were going to fly and for that I was immensely grateful.

Our British Airways A380 (G-XLEB)

Our captain had been optimistic of getting away on time once everyone was on board but he reckoned without the passenger airbridge breaking down. It couldn’t be moved for some time, but eventually engineers arrived and got that fixed. We finally took off over one and a half hours late. By some miracle I got 5-6 hours of sleep, waking up to an orange glow over Zambia on the horizon. Soon enough we were making the descent into Africa’s busiest airport – OR Tambo International.

After the usual formalities I wandered out into arrivals and soon enough spotted some familiar faces. Our large tour group headed out from the airport by coach around midday, passing the nine metre tall statue of Oliver Tambo, anti-apartheid activist and ANC President (1967-91), that was installed in 2020. By this point, the plan was already unravelling and we were heading north instead of south.

Hidden London: Aldwych

It has been a while, but we finally got around to joining a Hidden London tour of Aldwych station, the rather odd branch line which somehow survived from 1907 until 1994 before being closed to passengers. I have a notion that I used the station once in my university days, but have no memories of the place and certainly had no idea of its unusual history. Back in those days I just passed through, oblivious to the layers of history.

Over the course of an hour or so our enthusiastic tour guides took us on a guided tour of the station, carefully pointing out bits of original station, small remnants of its use over the years and later heritage style additions from the 1980s. It was helpful to have our guides on hands to distinguish true features from props installed during the stations new life as a film set. For a small station it certainly has some complex history and needed that expert guidance to help unravel the story.

Aldwych Station

The terminus at Aldwych Station was opened in 1907 as Strand Station, but renamed in 1915 to avoid confusion with another Strand station on the Northern line. It was never particularly busy and by the end of its first decade they were already looking at ways of reducing the scale and cost of operations (such as moving ticket sales to a booth in the lifts). For most of its operating life only one of the two tunnels was used for train services, meaning that the eastern tunnel has a rare section of track without the suicide pits seen on most of the network.

The disused platform came in handy during wartime, converted as a deep underground store for paintings from the National Gallery (World War 1) and for the British Museum and V&A (World War 2) with precious artifacts like the Elgin Marbles making their way down here (with the rope and pulley system to get the sculptures down to storage still visible today). As the Blitz got underway the other platform was hurriedly converted to use as a shelter for the public. Wandering around in our small tour group felt like the height of luxury when our tour guides talked us through the uncomfortable conditions faced by the 1,500 people living down here.

Our tour guides steered us around the station complex highlighting the traces of the post war use of the station as a test bed for new station components from tiles to light-up signage. I loved the posters advertising a motor race at Crystal Palace in 1971.

Finally, we ended up back at the wooden lifts (no longer operational). Only one set had been installed at the outset, though the shafts for the others remained, but the extreme cost of renovating the lifts to bring them up to scratch finally signalled the death knell for the station.

Once again this was a superb Hidden London tour and thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish. Thank you to everyone involved for a superb visit.

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Coronation memories and souvenirs

Talk of yesterday’s coronation prompted a few memories of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation on 2nd June 1953.

My mum was 10 and living in Shorncliffe Crescent, Folkestone, at the time of the last coronation. Along with her older sister she was given special permission to miss school and stay with family in Dulwich to watch the ceremony on their television. One of my mum’s memories is of all the coverage of the Queen of Tonga (Sālote Tupou III), who travelled in the procession in an open top carriage and was immensely popular with the crowds.

On one of the nights just before the coronation they were taken by bus up to Trafalgar Square and walked up the Mall to Buckingham Palace from there, where – much as we saw this week – folk were wandering around and soaking up the atmosphere.

Front

Reverse

The only disappointment of the day was missing out on the school tea party held at Harcourt Primary School, Folkestone, but Mum did later get the Coronation mug that had been handed out (illustrated above). My aunt also received a mug with a different design from her school (Folkestone Girl’s Grammar School).

My father was 15 at the time of the coronation and living in Edward Terrace in Folly Road, Folkestone. The neighbouring families there gathered together on the waste ground at the back of the upper end of Edward Terrace and held a coronation party (as pictured below). The photo includes the Bushell, Cook and Orr families among others.

Coronation Party at the back of Edward Terrace

My grandfather, Pete, who had been an army cook, made a big cake for the event in the victory colours. There was apparently a bit about this in the local papers – I’ll have to see if I can hunt that out someday!

My father also got a coronation gift from his school (Dover Road school, Folkestone) – a coronation spoon.

Travels with Qantas

A long overdue trip to see family in New Zealand brought me back to London Heathrow for my first longhaul flights since the pandemic on Wednesday.

In our past travels to NZ we included a stopover to break up the long journey, but when we arranged this trip a stopover still seemed risky with Covid-19 restrictions still in force – so we booked to go all the way through in one go. The gruelling three day trek ahead of us seemed incredibly daunting, having fallen well out of practice with this lark. I always marvel at anyone who can sleep their way through long haul trips as I definitely can’t!

Baggage tag for our three day trek to the southern hemisphere

Our travels NZ-wards were booked in the cheapest economy fares on offer from Qantas, but the price was still double what I would have expected to pay pre-pandemic. There are fewer airlines flying to NZ at the moment, all using planes with lower capacities, so prices are sky high. Our routing would also be less direct, taking us to Auckland via Singapore and Sydney.

The first leg of our travels took us on an A380, which has long been a favourite among economy fliers for its increased comfort levels. That said, the seat pitch in economy is an inch shorter on a Qantas A380 than on other airlines I have flown, such as Emirates and Singapore, which made a surprising difference to the comfort levels.

Boarding for QF2 started bang on time and for a moment I was hopeful of an on time departure. Those hopes faded when we settled into our seats. The cabin crew told us that while all the passengers were aboard, the pilots were not – they were stuck in traffic coming from central London (the effect of a tube strike). They casually rocked up just after 9pm and got their pre-flight checks underway. In the end we took off at 10:12, just over an hour and a half late, and landed in Singapore an hour and twelve minutes late.

Operations at Terminal 1 in Singapore seemed to be really efficient, with an air bridge attached very quickly. We disembarked and made our way over to the gate for our next flight, just ten minutes before the scheduled start of boarding for QF82 to Sydney. We could have stuck with QF2 which continues on to Sydney after a shortish stop in Singapore, but preferred to switch to the A330-300 which has a 2-4-2 seating layout in economy. Travelling as a couple those side pairs of seats with aisle access and window views are perfect. The in-flight entertainment system was surprisingly much better too!

Stunning views of the Parramatta at sunrise greeted us as Qantas Airbus A330-303 VH-QPI landed in Sydney

The A330 landed in Sydney around ten minutes early in the glorious first moments of sunrise after a wonderful view up the Parramatta River on our approach. In contrast, QF2 landed an hour and a half late. It felt good to be so close to our final destination, with just a short-ish hop across the Tasman. Oh, if only things were quite so simple…

Our final leg, on QF143, a very full Qantas 737-800, pushed back at a quarter to ten. Twenty five minutes later our pilots came onto the PA system and told us that we needed three sources of power to cross the Tasman, but unfortunately we had a problem with one of these, the auxiliary power. They would need to taxi back to the gate and get an engineer to come out and look at it. A nervous hour long wait followed, until an update from the flight deck reassured us that the engineers had almost fixed the problem. A bit more fuel was added and the crew requested a new flight plan.

We pushed back from gate for a second attempt and took off at 11:56, just over two hours late, but very relieved to be going at all. Although there had been a hope that they could make up a bit of time on the way over there was quite a bit of traffic on the way into Auckland and our pilot said they had been slowed down. Our plane had been given a slot to land at 16:55, so we were treated to a frustratingly slow approach and once on the ground we had a long wait for an airbridge to be connected.

Storm clouds greeted us in Auckland

The arrival procedure in Auckland had a final treat for weary passengers with a long winding queue to clear biosecurity screening. It’s an important protection against threats to the environment, but still your heart sinks when you see a multiple-lined chaotic queue like that. It took us almost an hour to clear.

A journey like this, crossing multiple timezones, always leaves me completely disoriented. A quick calculation shows that the total journey time from bag drop at Heathrow to walking out of the airport in Auckland worked out as 37 hours and 40 minutes. I was glad it was finally over and we could relax – at least, until we need to repeat the journey in reverse in just over a fortnight!

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Pitzhanger Manor and a few robots

I have been meaning to visit Pitzhanger Manor, the country home designed by one of our greatest architects, Sir John Soane, since it re-opened in 2019 after a three year project to restore the building to Soane’s original design. After a little interruption to that plan, due to the pandemic, we made it out to Ealing Broadway on the Elizabeth Line to take a closer look.

Pitzhanger Manor

Pitzhanger Manor was a property familiar to Sir John Soane, as he had worked on the two-storey south wing as an apprentice in the late 1760s. After making his mark as the chief architect of the Bank of England (a masterpiece sadly lost to us following the devastating demolition and rebuilding by Herbert Baker in the 1920s) Sir John Soane purchased the manor in 1800 and set about extensively remodelling the house.

The manor house was re-designed as a family home, as an advert for Soane’s architectural talents and with the hope of establishing an enduring architectural legacy that would be carried on by his sons. Sadly, Soane’s hopes of the latter were dashed and he sold the property in 1810 as his wife’s health was failing. A succession of owners steadily erased Soane’s designs under layers of white paint, plaster and brickwork.

In 1900 Ealing Council purchased the property and made further modifications, including the addition of new extensions and the demolition of Soane’s conservatory. Two year’s later, the council opened a free public library in the manor house. The library quickly outgrew the building and in 1939 a new lending library was built on the site of Soane’s kitchen block.

The library moved out in 1985, followed by a limited programme of conservation. Finally, in 2012 plans were hatched for a major project to restore Soane’s original design using his plans and meticulous record of the interior decorations, with Julian Harrap Architects engaged as conservation architect. The manor house re-opened in March 2019, with a re-built conservatory and a new gallery space in the 1939 library block. The result is simply stunning.

As you wander round the manor house it is once again possible to see how dramatic the Tribune, Soane’s entrance hall, would have been to guests with a striking transition from darkness to light in a space that looks like it would be more at home in an Italian villa than in Ealing. A super exhibition on the upper floor, Soane restored (running to March 2023) takes you through the restoration, highlighting the complications and remarkable discoveries along the way.

‘A Sense of Wonder’

Our visit coincided with ‘A Sense of Wonder’: The Curious Robot World of Matt Dixon a thoroughly charming exhibition (on until 12 February 2023) which offers many reflections on the human experience. It’s hard to explain how these rusty metallic creations, which you think should be completely expressionless, somehow capture the whole spectrum of human emotions.

The exhibition offers up a mixture of prints, installations and augmented reality in a garden like setting that had us completely enthralled. I get the impression that it was delighting the kids in the gallery too from the way they were racing around to check everything out. It’s well worth seeing before it closes.

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Steam Tug Challenge back on the Thames

It was lovely to see the Steam Tug Challenge (Aberdeen, 1931) back on the Thames today, once her regular stomping ground. Challenge was the last steam tug to serve on the Thames, as well as one of the ships involved in Operation Dynamo, the evacuation from Dunkirk in May/June 1940.

Steam Tug Challenge passes the Tower of London after passing through Tower Bridge at 1pm

On a personal level I have much to be thankful to the Dunkirk Little Ships for, as both my grandfathers were rescued during Operation Dynamo. Sadly, no-one on either side of my family knows which ships they came back on, but nevertheless I am always delighted to see the lovingly restored survivors back in action.

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Battersea at dusk

I took a little wander along the Thames at dusk yesterday, practicing with a new camera, and caught the beginnings of ‘Reflections’ near Battersea Power Station.

Reflections was a rather marvellous parade of around one hundred and fifty vessels in an illuminated flotilla along the river, one of many events in the ‘Totally Thames’ programme running through September. Originally conceived as another event in celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, it was now billed as a tribute, marking the passing of Her Majesty the Queen and the accession of King Charles III.

The illuminated flotilla passes Battersea Power Station

The flotilla passed Battersea just after sunset, with dramatic skies and an illuminated Battersea as a backdrop. It looked spectacular with a mix of Port of London authority vessels, canal barges, RIBs, pleasure cruisers, and many more – all decked out in lights. Some carried special illuminated tributes to our late Queen.

At the heart of the flotilla was Gloriana, the Queen’s Rowbarge, made for Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee, in a blaze of light – with lights festooned across the barge and oars that looked like lightsabres. My efforts at capturing the barge were hopeless, but I’m sure the professional photographers on the accompanying photoships got some stunning shots.

End of the second Elizabethan age

The end of the Second Elizabethan age has been drawing closer for so long, but still the announcement of the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday took so many of us by surprise.

It was soon apparent that many of the newsreaders were similarly affected, emotion sneaking up on them as they made the announcement. The Queen was quite simply woven into the fabric of our life in the UK: not just in those occasions where we got to see her in person, but in our rituals (standing in a hall in deepest South London as a Cub Scout swearing to “do my duty to the Queen” strangely comes to mind); on our screens during moments of national celebration; and on a mundane level, never far out of sight on coins and stamps.

The Queen has been a reassuring presence over the years, particularly in our moments of most acute division. Always drawing us back together with the right words. Meaning more to us than we perhaps realised.

The gun salute at the Tower of London, where the union jack is at half mast

Heading into work on the next morning, in the City of London, the air of change was inescapable. Every bus stop I came across was illuminated with a picture of the Queen and the long lines of digital advertisements on the tube escalators had been replaced in their entirety by portraits of the Queen. Once you surfaced, the flags all around were at half mast. Meanwhile, over all this, the NatWest tower displayed a Union Jack.

On my lunchtime wanders I watched the impressive gun salute at the Tower of London, observed by a six-deep crowd on Tower Bridge. Heading back into work, it was impressive to see the long established plans swing into place nearby with set-up work well underway for the proclamation of our new King at the Royal Exchange in 24 hours – speakers installed, barriers steadily being put in place and Mansion House already suitably decorated.

In the evening I headed over to the British Museum, which was open as usual but with a queuing system already set up inside for anyone wanting to sign their book of condolence – and a steady flow of signees. In the days ahead many other places, including the company I work for, will be opening up their own physical books of condolence for staff, visitors and members to sign. I can’t think of anything else remotely like this in my lifetime.

If I hadn’t guessed already, these are going to be a strange 12 days in London. In the meantime, I am sure that I join millions across the nation and in the Commonwealth in mourning the death of Her Majesty the Queen.

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A few photos from around London on the day after the death of Her Majesty the Queen was announced; from the first night of queueing for the lying in state at Westminster Hall; and the opening of condolence books across London in the days that followed.

Behind closed doors at Moorgate

A few years ago the Hidden London team added a new destination to their roster of fascinating underground tours with Moorgate: Metropolitan Maze. This tour takes in the complex history of one of the oldest stations on the tube network and I eagerly booked up. Unfortunately, the pandemic thwarted my first two attempts to get down into the tunnels but I struck lucky on my third attempt.

Replica sign at Moorgate Station

Unlike the previous Hidden London tours I have been on, I am very familiar with this station as it is just around the corner from my work and I have taken trains from just about every platform over the past 23 years. You might think this would make it less interesting, but the opposite was true. It was really mind-boggling to see the tour take us through doorways I have barely noticed as I passed by.

Moorgate Station opened in 1865, just a couple of years after the opening of the Metropolitan Railway, the world’s first underground railway. It was an important extension of the existing line, providing a much needed gateway to the city, the financial heart of London.

Over time further lines were added – the city widened lines brought the mainline railway to Moorgate from King’s Cross; the City & South London Railway brought a deep tube line up from Borough; and the Great Northern &
City Railway opened a line from Finsbury Park to Moorgate. The most recent addition has been the Elizabeth Line, connecting Moorgate with Heathrow, Reading and Abbey Wood.

It’s a tough ask to run through all that history in 75 minutes, but the Hidden London team do a brilliant job of condensing that down, while throwing in enough interesting detail to keep you interested throughout. After a walk through the earliest phases of the station’s history, it was time to start exploring beyond the everyday sights of Moorgate station.

One of the abandoned corridors

First up, we headed down the staircase to the deep-level Northern City Line platforms, through a doorway, and into a corridor that used to connect up with the lift shaft until it was closed in the 1930s (with a switch to escalators as passenger numbers grew). This proved to be a fascinating time capsule with signage from its time in passenger use, evidence of its reuse as a dormitory during WW2 and some amusing modern graffiti.

Our next stop took us into the pedestrian tunnel between platforms for the Metropolitan Line, then through an unexceptional doorway into another dirty but wondrous abandoned tunnel. This one still had the remains of 1930s posters plastered on the walls, so it feels even more of a time capsule. It’s not entirely redundant though, as it’s used for ventilation pipes. From here we were led out to a viewpoint at the end of the deep railway lines where a Greathead tunnelling shield can be seen, left in situ when work to extend the line further south to Lothbury was abandoned in 1904. It’s fascinating to see such a long lasting industrial relic and reminder of just how our underground system was built.

Finally, we headed over to the city widened lines for a look down the tracks, before resurfacing in the shiny new concourse built as part of the Elizabeth Line works. I’ve had a chance to try the new line on a few occasions now and am still marvelling over what a difference it makes. It doesn’t seem all that long ago that I was peering down at the works around the massive hole when you could still take in the view from the Barbican walkways.

Moorgate station on 4 May 2015 during the Crossrail works

Time was up all too soon. It was fun stepping from the gleaming white tiles of the revamped station into the extremely dirty abandoned passenger tunnels and taking a peek into history. Moorgate is a fascinating station to explore and the Hidden London tours do a fabulous job of bringing all that history to life. Thank you to everyone involved in making this tour possible.

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Götheborg visits London

I’ve seen a fair number of ships sail up the Thames and pass under Tower Bridge, but few have attracted quite the crowds that lined the riverside on either side of the Thames this morning. The draw was Götheborg of Sweden, an impressive and precise replica of an 18th century Swedish East India Company ship, as well as the world’s largest ocean-going wooden sailing vessel.

Götheborg of Sweden

The Götheborg certainly made a spectacular sight passing under Tower Bridge at 8.30am before turning with the assistance of tug Christine, and passing back through at 9am, on her way to a mooring at South Dock. The Götheborg is in London until 12 August and is open for visits. After her stay in London the Götheborg will be heading to the Bremerhaven Maritime Days, before continuing on her expedition towards China.

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Track cycling at Birmingham-on-the-Lea

A little luck in the lottery gave me a chance to see a bit of the track cycling for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, albeit at the Lee Valley VeloPark in London! Just pretend you are in Birmingham said one volunteer as we approached…

Birmingham 2022’s far flung outpost at the Lee Valley Velodrome

The action over the four days was excellent, even if the home crowd did get to hear Advance Australia Fair and God defend New Zealand a little more frequently than they would have liked! It has been a brilliant Commonwealth Games for New Zealand for sure, with the team topping the table in track cycling medals ahead of Australia and Scotland.

It certainly felt like New Zealand’s moment to shine on the second day of track cycling, when the team walked away with three of the four gold medals on offer. It also seemed fitting that the last gold on offer in the velodrome went to New Zealand with Aaron Gate’s victory in the 40km points race. Overall, I think this makes it the team’s best set of results in track cycling since the Commonwealth Games of Auckland in 1990.

There were some definite low points with the terrible crashes, but the highlights were quite superb – such as Bryony Botha’s dominant win for New Zealand in the Women’s 3000m individual pursuit, setting a new Games Record in the process; Laura Kenny’s wonderful victory in the Women’s 10km scratch, accompanied by a deafening roar from the crowd; and Nicholas Paul’s superb win for Trinidad and Tobago in the Men’s Keirin, their first Commonwealth Games cycling gold since 1966, which he then followed up with silver and bronze in subsequent track events. My favourite event is the team pursuit and that was as exciting as ever.

I am not normally noted for being particularly loud, so screaming support at the top of my lungs was an interesting way to spend a few afternoons. Now, after watching 15 hours of live track cycling from different positions around the velodrome I’m ready for a few quieter evenings. A big thank you to the volunteers who sorted a replacement ticket on the night when I discovered that the seat I was allocated didn’t exist!

Thank you to all the volunteers, track officials and teams that made it such a superb event to attend. Ten years on from the Olympic Games it was wonderful to recapture a little of that wonderful atmosphere and join in with a crowd enthusiastically supporting everyone competing, whether from the home nations or not.

Woe, woe and thrice woe at Heathrow

The launch of direct flights with British Airways from London to Nürnberg presented a perfect opportunity to make a second visit to the city, some 17 years since my first visit, to fulfill a long abandoned plan to mop up the sights I missed last time. Within a day or two of the announcement I had booked myself a ticket to fly and another for the Norisring Nürnberg 200 Speedweekend.

It seemed like a foolproof plan for a short weekend but it didn’t take long to unravel. My original outbound flight was cancelled and then rescheduled for a day later, leaving me with race tickets I couldn’t use. As the big day approached I nervously noted the routinely poor timekeeping of the flights and the absolute chaos unfolding at London Heathrow. What had I let myself in for?

Travelling light probably spared me some of the pain, but there were plenty of signs of the lingering chaos at Heathrow. A long and slow queue awaited at security, then once I got airside the departure time for our flight kept getting pushed back. It didn’t stop there – once our gate was announced everyone trooped off to find the doors locked. Now I understood why there were long queues blocking the corridors wherever you went in the terminal!

Once we eventually made it on board the Captain explained the reason for our lengthy delay. Our plane, an Airbus A320, had come out of the maintenance hangar much later than expected and then that delay was compounded by a long wait for someone to tow it onto the stand. In the end we took off at 8pm, almost four hours late, but thankfully we made up a bit of time on the way over.

Late arrival

We finally reached our gate at Nürnberg at 10.10pm, 3 hours and 10 minutes later than scheduled. My evening plans were trashed, but I was just relieved to have arrived. Luckily, the journey at the other end was mercifully short – a 15 minute journey on the U-Bahn to the main railway station followed by a short walk across the road to my hotel. It was good to be back in the city, ready to reacquaint myself with the delights of the Norisring in the morning.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m delighted to be able to travel again but the price we are now paying for the ruthless discarding of staff by the airport and airlines is now painfully apparent. I felt most sorry for the passengers flying back from Nürnberg who would inevitably still be making their way through Heathrow at midnight.

Kashima on the Thames

It’s not often that you see the Japanese navy on the Thames, so I made an effort to get up to Rotherhithe today to watch the departure of the Kashima (TV-3508) after her three day stay in the capital.

The Kashima, a cadet training ship, was commissioned into the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force in 1995 and is currently taking part in the 66th edition of the Overseas Training Cruise. Most recently the Kashima has been engaged in training with the destroyer Shimakaze and the Royal Navy off the Dorset coast.

Tug SD Dolphin helps turn the Kashima (TV-3508) at Rotherhithe

The departure of the Kashima from her berth alongside HMS Belfast was assisted by the tugs SD Dolphin and RT Ambition. The Kashima passed under Tower Bridge aft-first around 11.15am this morning, with the tugs helping to turn the warship between Rotherhithe and Shadwell before she headed downstream on her own.

I chose a spot near the Salt Quay pub to get a good view of the manouevre, albeit with the sun abandoning us moments before. It was a spectacular sight, as always, drawing plenty of folk to the riverside to grab a picture or two. The last time the Kashima was in London, in 2016, I caught up with her at the Thames Barrier.

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Inside Kingsway Tram Tunnel

In the early 1990s I came across the film ‘Hidden City‘ (1987) which the director, Stephen Poliakoff, reckoned would “show a London few people have ever seen before” and he was not wrong. I was quite astonished to see locations like the Goodge Street Deep Level Shelter and the tram-tunnel under Holborn unfold before me, the incredible backdrop to a conspiracy-thriller.

Ever since I watched the film, I have wanted to see inside Kingsway Tram Tunnel for myself, but opportunities have been been pretty scarce. I managed to book my folks onto a visit to see a contemporary art display inside the tunnels in 2009 (Chord by Conrad Shawcross) but couldn’t make it myself. So, I was thrilled to see the team at Hidden London open up tours this year and wasted no time to book up a place.

Tram tracks on the 1-in-10 gradient up from the Kingsway Tram Tunnel

Our tour started on the ramp down to the tram tunnel at the crossroads of Theobalds Road and Southampton Row. It all looked quite a bit smarter than the wild-ish looking site from the film, especially since two ornate replacement lanterns were added at the entrance around ten years ago to mimic the one surviving original lantern.

Inside, the tunnels still have an incredibly atmospheric wow factor amongst the gloom. The extent of the surviving track is amazing to see, along with the slot that held the electrified rails under the track surface (an ingenious solution to avoid unsightly wires spoiling a smart neighbourhood).

The tunnel had a relatively short life, seeing operation from 1906 until 1952, with the southern half eventually used for the Strand underpass. Today, our tour would take us down to the one surviving underground tram stop, at Holborn, with its travertine marble platform, and a little further beyond. There was a surprising amount to see, from pointwork to film props, and the story was utterly fascinating from start to finish.

The tours do a great job of conjuring up the history of the tunnel, but it still seems astonishing to think that for nearly 50 years trams would dive underground at Holborn and then run underground all the way to Waterloo Bridge, where they would emerge on to the embankment. Today, the portal that the last trams emerged from is now a cabaret club, which is about as far removed from its original use as you can imagine.

It is great to see that this section of London’s tram network still survives to help illustrate an almost forgotten chapter in London’s transport history and I am immensely grateful to the London Transport Museum for running tours that allow us to get a closer look.

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Jubilee weekend

It has been lovely to see the outpouring of joy around town over the extended platinum jubilee bank holiday weekend with street parties, displays and bunting galore – all welcome after a rather bleak beginning to this year. An unexpected bonus over the weekend was the re-opening of our local community pub, The Albert Tavern, which had been closed since March 2020 and had been slated for permanent closure a few years ago.

Three Hercules (C-130J) military transports lined up for the flypast, as seen from Waterloo Bridge

I posted my memories of the Silver Jubilee in 1977 a while back and I covered the sights on the Thames for the diamond jubilee in 2012. This time round I made a short trip in to London to enjoy the sight of over 70 aircraft in the flypast for the platinum jubilee – which was as spectacular as it promised. I joined many others lining Waterloo Bridge on Thursday for a view of the final approach to Buckingham Palace with a terrific atmosphere. A round of applause rippled across the bridge after the Red Arrows closed the proceedings.

It was especially lovely to be out and about today after ten days at home self-isolating with Covid-19. I had seen plenty of folk at work knocked out for just a day, so wasn’t entirely prepared for the clobbering I took. I dread to think what it would have been like without the effect of the vaccines in reducing its severity. I’m still catching up with a backlog of blog updates and work, but will hopefully get back on top of everything before too long…

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Seeking Sekhmet

As a postscript to my recent trip to Egypt I headed over to the British Museum this weekend to see what was on display in the galleries that tied in to my visit to Luxor, particularly hoping to see some of the many Sekhmet statues that were once to be found at the Temple of Mut.

There were five particularly fine statues of Sekhmet on display in the Egyptian galleries, proving quite a draw for the many families. Someone commented that she looked rather cute, which doesn’t quite square with the explanation nearby telling how she nearly obliterated mankind for conspiring against her father’s rule! This group of statues of the lion goddess came from the Temple of Mut at Karnak (dated to 1390-1352 BC).

Besides the Sekhmet statues there were a few surprises in store. First up, the head and arm of a statue of Amenhotep III from the Temple of Mut (dated to about 1390-1352 BC). I had seen the body of the statue lying down at the Temple of Mut but just assumed that the head had been lost, rather than in London!

The head of a statue of Amenhotep III that once flanked a doorway in the Temple of Mut – now in the British Museum

The body of a statue of Amenhotep III that once flanked a doorway in the Temple of Mut – now presented lying down in Mut Precinct, Karnak

The second surprise was the upper part of a colossal seated statue of Ramesses II (dated to around 1279-1213 BC) which stands at the entrance to the hypostyle hall at the Ramesseum on the West Bank. I had seen the lower part of the statue on my visit to the site and once again had assumed that the remainder of the statue had been lost or destroyed. It’s good that it survives, even if it is a long way from home. A helpful digital reconstruction on the display board nearby shows how the upper part fits together with the part of the statue that remains in Luxor.

It was fascinating to see how the collection at the British Museum fits into the picture. I thought that the field of blocks at many of the sites felt like a three dimensional jigsaw puzzle, but now I understand that the truth is even more complex with some of those jigsaw pieces scattered across the world.

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A visitor to West India Dock

There have been only a modest number of naval visitors on the Thames since the beginnings of the pandemic, so it’s always nice to see signs of that changing. The Dutch frigate HNLMS Tromp arrived at West India Dock a day or two back for a short stay. It has been a while since I have been in the area, so it was quite a surprise to see how much the dock is overlooked by tall buildings now (as you can see from a comparison with the same spot in 2013).

HNLMS Tromp in West India Dock

I only happened to be in the area because I was staying at the Novotel in Canary Wharf for my tenth wedding anniversary. At one time we had more glamorous plans for the weekend but the ongoing effects of the pandemic and this weekend’s stormy weather put paid to that. Still, it proved a great vantage point to watch storms over London and a golden sunset over the city, followed by a splendid tasting menu at Bōkan, on the 37th floor of the hotel.

Up the Shard

It is so often the case that we overlook the stuff around us, no matter how much of a lure it might be for visitors from afar. It took me fifteen years to make it up the London Eye. Now, I’ve finally made it half-way up the Shard almost nine years after it opened (for a rather lovely alpine afternoon tea at Ting on level 35).

The astonishing view over the approach to London Bridge from Ting restaurant on level 35 of the Shard

After watching the Shard go up day-by-day on my commute into work it’s fascinating to see the terrific views from halfway up, particularly looking down on the approach to London Bridge. I didn’t have my camera with me, so just a phone snap to record this occasion. I only hope that I can keep making that commute with all the talk of a fresh lockdown to combat the Omicron variant (oh for the days when we didn’t have lessons in the Greek alphabet…).