One Park Drive

Recently I paid a visit to Docklands. The Big Things there add up to a quite impressive cluster, but are, on the whole, individually, unlike quite a few of those in The City, rather characterless and bland.

There is, however, an exception. This:

It’s One Park Drive, now nearing completion.

Here are a few more photos of it that I photoed:

Circular in plan. Its surface changes from one effect to another as you move up or down. Next to a stretch of water. I’m guessing they were thinking of these two towers in Chicago.

Originally posted at Brian Micklethwait’s Old Blog

Guy’s Hospital with tree

Yes, more on the towers and trees theme, this time with a photo taken in December 2007.

One of London’s most significant recent buildings, I believe.

Photo photoed from the vicinity of another more antique tower, the Tower of London. The Tower, because for several centuries, there was just the one.

Originally posted at Brian Micklethwait’s Old Blog

Towers and trees in the Docklands sunshine

On the sunniest day of the year so far, I went, as earlier noted, east, to Docklands.

I photoed the blue sky, the leafless trees, and the many towers of Docklands:

Nice. Lots of pollarding.

Almost anything looks nice in weather like that.

I felt the cold so you don’t have to.

Originally posted at Brian Micklethwait’s Old Blog

Time to go east again

It’s been a while since I visited the Isle of Dogs. Here are some photos I photoed of a building site there, next to the river, in January 2014:

I wonder how all this looks now. I’m pretty sure I know where this is. Google Maps is good enough for that. But not for the up-to-date story.

In decades to come, if will presumably be possible to go pretty much anywhere that’s public, virtually, without leaving your dwelling pod.. But for now, the only way to be sure about a place like this is to go there and see.

Originally posted at Brian Micklethwait’s Old Blog

Some new London horizontality

Indeed:

It’s the roof of this, looking upstream into the sunset, last August.

Originally posted at Brian Micklethwait’s Old Blog

Crane – scaffolding – roof clutter

And all in the one photo:

Also, trees without leaves. Taken in January 2009. On my way home, looking out towards Vauxhall Bridge Road and beyond, in the general direction of Battersea.

At present, sofas are more important to me than blogging, as the above blatant quota photo well illustrates.

This morning, the new sofa finally arrived. It is my hope, and the promise of Westminster City Council, that the old sofa will depart tomorrow.

Originally posted at Brian Micklethwait’s Old Blog

Stanford-le-Hope but not cranes

So I was looking, as I do from time to time, through one of my Stanford-le-Hope directories (the one memorialising September 24th 2013), expecting to be amazed by photos of the giant cranes of London Gateway. Instead I noticed how much else there was in the Stanford-le-Hope vicinity besides giant cranes:

There was decaying industrialisation. There was vegetation. There were pylons. There was roof clutter. Even ground clutter.

So I went all the way to Stanford-le-Hope, so far away from London that I had to pay to get there, and some of my favourite things were things that we have lots of in London. But, it was great. Out there in Beyond London, everything is all spread out, and it is easier to photo things. But, you need to check beforehand that there are things. And there were lots of things at or near London Gateway, even back in 2013

Time I checked out London Gateway again. Some time next summer, I think.

Originally posted at Brian Micklethwait’s Old Blog

Why I oppose leaves

Indeed:

Photoed last March, which I suppose is not yet Spring. If that’s right, then that makes Winter the longest season.

Wouldn’t it be great, for me I mean, if leaves happened in Winter, but if all the other seasons were too hot for them?

Originally posted at Brian Micklethwait’s Old Blog

Chimney pots and blue sky

October 21st of this year was a good photoday for me. There was this, and then this. Now let me show you nine chimney pot photos, taken on that same day:

The first four were photoed in the vicinity of South Kensington tube station. Then I tubed myself to the West End, which is where the rest of these photos were photoed.

I think my favourite is the fifth, or perhaps 3.2, depending on how you prefer your numbering to be done. But I like them all, or I’d not have shown them to you.

The final one, 9 or 3.3, was taken from the inside of the top of Foyles.

I’ve called this “chimney pots” because all these photos have that in common. But there are many other kinds of roof clutter also on show. I rejected including “roof clutter” in the title, because although most chimney pot arrays do indeed become very cluttered, as in randomly varied and chaotic, that cannot be said of photo 4, aka 2.1.

The satellite dish in 1.3, aka 3, looks, to a casual observer, aka me when I first encountered it in the directory (not when I actually photoed I), the moon.

Which I like. And I also like it when there are chimney shadows, as in 1.1 (1), and 5 (2.2). And there are other sorts of shadows in 6 (2.3).

Plus there’s a crane (7 (3.1)). and a pigeon (9 (3.3)). But, not any scaffolding that I can see.

Originally posted at Brian Micklethwait’s Old Blog

Two views of a crane

Very busy today. Knackered. Doing what? Too knackered to explain.

Quota crane, from two different directions:

Photoed by me in Lower Marsh, just over a week ago. That’s if for today.

No, that’s not it for today. Here is yet another view of the same crane:

Shame the view behind couldn’t be more interesting. Go a few yards further along Lower Marsh, and you get to stuff like this:

More cranes there.

Now I’m even more knackered.

Originally posted at Brian Micklethwait’s Old Blog