Clapham Workers of all lands unite!

Some pictures of Clapham - the Bread and Roses and the RMT

Sydenham - respectable suburb.

Compelled to roam over the surface of the world by Die Blogenleser the wanderer Rechthardt came to the roof trees of Sydenham.  These houses are certainly made of the roof trees and look as though they have been there since just after the war, although they might be 1960s hippyish but not I suspect 1990s ecohomes.  

Entering the Sydenham Wells Park the wanderer learned from the Rheintöchter that when the London County Council laid out the park in 1900 they had laid out a watercourse in the shape of the Rhine as a tribute to the local German community.

Wandering down the Rhine with the maidens and and dwarves sporting in the summery meadows and basketball courts and no doubt getting into some power dramas over gold the wanderer came to a fountain - a large boulder but it was switched off.  Oh for a Moses or the action of Psalm 105 41

By now the wanderer's feet were aching due to new boots and the staff wasn't holding up so well either so this called for a new direction.  

In this place there were strange beasts, possibly one of them was Fafner and it looked as though a smith had been active with the railings.  And so the wanderer awaits a Siegfried to slay the terrible beasts lurking in the undergrowth and pools.

Driven by hunger from the open country the wanderer  came to the town of WestwaldHügel but the inhabitants did not look kindly on the wanderers request for a smoked salmon sandwich and they did not have it.  And so the wanderer returned to the wanderer's dwelling but did not go into the tavern because a football match was in progress.

Milton Keynes

Arguably the last new town, Milton Keynes is as old as I am.

Certainly not as old as the rocks on which she sits MK (as maybe we should call it) is also very different aesthetically from other new towns as you can get. The church of Christ the Cornerstone is a joint venture between all the mainstream churches in England not just protestant but also including the RCs something that certainly didn't happen at Harlow or any other new town I've been to. The Cornerstone cafe was closed when I called.

The MK art gallery was presided over by quite a handsome young man who thrust a leaflet into my hand giving details of their exhibition. 

And quite an exhibition it was. Not too many real treasures although my dad would have gone for the Aston Martin DB4 sports car but the items were not junk either. Artists included Tom Chadwick Derek Jarman, Thomas Gainsborough, Picasso and Maggie Hambling. To be fair there were a lot of schools represented too. So when you've seen the church and the gallery what else is left - and the reply to that has got to be 'not much'. There is a lot of public art in the town centre, not a patch on Harlow's, but it's not that good and no post about MK would be complete without a shot of concrete cows! There is a pleasant park which has some sculptures but central MK is all about the shops. There are pleasant places to live in round about but couldn't spare the time to visit them today.