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Diary – 2019 March
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All my diary pages going back to 2009
DRAWING & PAINTING:
1 March
Today we went to the Bank of England Museum to see some of their gold.
These are the golden handrails at the exit of Bank Station. The Bank
building has no doors or windows at street level for most of it.
Here is a million pound cheque. These are the earliest cheques from
about 1660.
This is a real gold bar in a perspex box. You put your hand through the
hole in order to lift the bar up. It is very heavy, 28 lbs, and it is
worth £397,000. Here is the selfie room, with a big print on the wall
showing the gold vault with all the bars, about 200 billion pounds
worth!
This is a geometric lathe that is used to engrave the wavy patterns for
bank notes.
A sheet of notes before it is cut up. This case contains blanks for
making pound coins.
These are pound coins. At this point we were wishing for chocolate ones,
as it was getting near lunch time! This is the mosaic in the entrance
foyer, showing a cornucopia spewing different coins out.
Afterwards we sat by the river to eat our sandwiches. We watched the
cormorant drying out.
2 March
We don't often have a magpie land in the garden, but he has taken a
liking to the bird bath as it is quite roomy and deep.
4 March
Another visit to the National Gallery. I like to look for the details of
animals in the paintings.
These are painted on wood and look very real, because of the shadows
behind each item.
I don't think I would like snails and spider pictures on my wall,
however well they were painted. The bird nest is my favourite, warm and
fluffy.
These sheep look as if they are wondering how to get down to the water
without falling in. Back outside in Trafalgar Square, a pair of ducks
had decided to land in the fountain pool.
We went on to St Katharine's Dock for our snack. It was sunny but quite
chilly. We were right by Tower Bridge, which all the tourists like to
see and take photos of.
As we went over Tower Bridge, the rain clouds came over, which showed up
all the different colours of the glass buildings. We just got into
London Bridge station before we got too wet.
5 March
This is a pigeon scrum in Purley. Someone had thrown down a load of very
tiny crumbs and the pigeons were eating every single speck. They all fit
together like a jigsaw puzzle!
8 March
We went to Greenwich Park. I like following interesting little paths. We
saw a deer in the enclosure, but off in the distance, as they are shy.
Some tree maintenance going on, which can only be done in winter. They
must be busy all winter as there are hundreds of big trees which have to
be kept safe. This yew tree has spread into a little grove from the
central trunk.
More crumbs for the wandering pigeons. I like to look out for speckled
and unusual birds.
We watched the Obervatory time ball go up, and then go down at 1 pm, as
it does every day. Then we went down to the main road part to check out
the daffodil displays.
9 March
Today we went to the British Museum. First we ate our lunch sitting in Russell Square.
This is the Fishpool Hoard of gold coins. This is a lot of "hacksilver"
from a Viking hoard, which the would have broken up and used to make
other items.
We saw some very old clocks, and it was interesting to see the workings
displayed separately from the cases.
This is part of the inlaid decoration on a tall pendulum clock case.
More birds on tiles and a very small brooch.
I like all the tiles, especially the ones with different blues.
13 March
Today we went to Woolwich to see the ferry. It was grey, cold and very
windy. The only cheerful thing was the yellow lichen on top of the
riverside wall.
The ferry was not in operation at that time, so we decided to cross the
river through the foot tunnel. It is a long way down and very echoey.
There were not many people there. Brown Teddy was glad to see the lift
at the far end.
We sat in the park and the pigeons cleared up the crumbs. It was more
pleasant as we were out of the wind.
At the end of the park is this part of a steam hammer from 1888. We got
a bus and passed the Tate & Lyle sugar factory.
We passed London City Airport. This is the elevated track for the
Docklands Light Railway.
We got off at Pontoon Dock. This is the Thames Barrier Park, with my
favourite wavy hedges in it. It is designed to be a reminder of the
water that was in this dock area.
We saw the Thames Barrier, and we spent some time watching the incoming
tide covering the pebbly islands and making the seagulls fly off.
15 March
I like it when we pass through Elmstead Woods Station, they love their
plants and flowers, and they have this Bug-N-Bee installation of logs
that the insects can live in. We went to Putney on the River Thames.
They are building a new section of riverside wall here.
We went through Fulham Palace gardens. As we sat to eat, these ducks
came waddling up to us. After all that effort, they deserved a few bits
of bread, although they must not have much, as plants are better for
them.
We continued walking along the Thames in the cold wind. All the rowing
clubs were out in force. They were in just in their vests and shorts in
the cold wind, but we assumed they get quite warm with all the rowing.
We went past Fulham Football Club ground. These are the entrance doors, very narrow so that only one person at a time can pass, in order to maintain crowd control.
More industrial archaeology fragments concreted into the ground, and I
think it must be something to do with sluice gates for a tributary,
going by this lower level part by the riverside.
17 March
These are the remains of the old Blackfriars Bridge, next to the modern
station bridge. We finally worked out what these rafts are for in the
Thames. It is two pontoons with a grille at the downriver end, to catch
rubbish as it floats downstream. At last we know, we just had to look
more closely at it!
We saw some pieces of the 2,000 year old London Wall that the Romans
built.
We had our sandwiches in Postman's Park. The covered part at the far end
is a wall full of plaques commemorating ordinary Londoners who lost
their lives rescuing others, such as from burning buildings or falling
into rivers.
The sun came out just as we got to St Paul's Cathedral. The Cathedral is
always magnificent when it is in full sun.
18 March
We went to Greenwich Park and climbed up to One Tree Hill, which nowadays has lots of trees on it. You can see all over the city of London from here.
Then we went down to the river to see a Polish sailing ship moored near Deptford Creek.
20 March
Today we went to the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow, which was
his home for several years. The garden is now Lloyd Park, named after
the original owner of the house. There is a big island with a moat.
These are William Morris as a young man, and a bust of him older.
He started a company that mad beautiful textiles, wallpapers and
furniture, because he thought that Victorian mass production was
producing lots of low quality ugly goods.
The textiles and wallpapers are really beautiful, full of plants and
flowers, but they were expensive at the time.
I like this chair, it is roomy and beautiful. Then we went up the big
staircase which has a carpet in one of his patterns.
This stained glass is of God with Adam naming the animals. There were
lots of Morris's printed books in the cabinets.
22 March
We went to Hampton Court Palace Million Daffodils meadow. There were not so
many as last year, probably because of last year's hot dry summer, but still good thick displays in several areas.
Brown Teddy likes all the yellow, as it is a spring colour. The little
blue patches of grape hyacinth are a good contrast to the sea of yellow.
This is the photo on the Maze notice board - essential to take a picture
of it on your phone, before you go in!
The vegetable plot is always immaculate. The espalier fruit trees are
all in flower, this is a plum tree.
This frame for some pea plants has been made like a spider's web, and
there is the string and wire spider in the corner!
Time for a biscuit whilst waiting in the train at Hampton Station.
24 March
Today we went to a park near Watford. There is a long pond in the high
street with a duck or two and a heron standing there. I can't see how
there can be much for him to eat though and I think he will soon fly off
to the park river. This is Watford's coat of arms which means "bolder"
or you could say "be bold".
This is Cassiobury Park which is a long shape full of huge trees and
grassy areas.
This dead tree trunk has been carved with plant shapes. At the base is a
"bear behind" and on the other side is the "bear front", asleep, and
someone has put some decorated friendship stones on his paws.
The bandstand was looking good, and they do have music going on in it.
The trees were huge and spreading, and just beginning to go green.
Walked walked the entire length of the path and came to the river and
canal, with bridge and lock dates.
The stone steps are well worn but too close to the edge for us though!
These deep groove marks have been cut into the stone by years of ropes
pulling past them, when boats were pulled by horses.
The miniature railway was in full swing and very popular, especially as
it is right next to the big playground, with lots of children asking to
go on it! We walked back along the river towards the nearby railway
station.
27 March
We went to Regents Park in central London. I just love this big
waterfall, it is quite noisy. The duck likes it too, but there is a lake
just opposite for when he wants quieter water.
We walked up the mound to see the waterfall from the top, but you can't
see the water much! We had our sandwiches and this wood pigeon very
politely walked around us to get any crumbs falling.
This was the best bit of bedding, with evergreen stripes between the
flowers. I like these double frilly daffodils.
This bed and large urn is held up by four winged lions looking very
fierce. The park gates are very decorative with lots of gold paint.
29 March
We went back to Hampton Court Palace, to get some sunnier photos than
last week or the Million Daffodils meadow.
I just love little paths that go round corners. This is a nice colourful
quiet area with seats hidden in several places.
The bedding is very thickly planted and lots of colour. My favourite
flower is the primrose, found in the more wild grassy parts.
This robin flew down right to where we were standing and got some spare
crumbs, which he fed to his mate.
Then we left the Palace gardens and walked down the river to Molesey
Lock. The swans kept a close eye on us but we did not have any food
left.
There are lots of large houseboats moored further along, built on large
rafts. Lovely in summer but I reckon a cold place in winter. I hope the
floors are insulated underneath!
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