Perhaps I wouldn't make a very good tourist in Switzerland. There was also a shop where you could buy Swiss team things but they had no badges so I made do with a little Swiss flag pin. 
First off running the gamut of security who direct you to a pay station inside Block B. Secondly sorted into paying by cash or card, then do you want a guided tour (no thanks - but it would have been better to have one). The first display in Block B related to Alan Turing and breaking the codes sent by German forces via Enigma machines. Enigma machines had been in use by European banks for many years for telegraphic transfers and the codes were thought to be unbreakable unless you had the key. Work on breaking this code was carried out by Alan Turing, whose statue is installed in the area. 
He developed, in conjunction with others a code breaking machine called a 'Bombe' after an ice creame bombe served in the canteen (I understood that much). The rest I couldn't understand. Bombe was electromechanical and built in Letchworth by the British Tabulating Machine Company. As far as I could see it was a bit like a strowger telephone exchange and relied on the fact that Germans used set formats of their messages such as Wettervorhersage (weather forecast) and these could be picked up and tested against other parts of the secret messages sent. Hmm if I were a military strategist I think I would send things like weather forecasts unencrypted and save the encryption for something really vital.
This is a bombe. 
Apparently Churchill ordered them to be broken up after the war and the designs destroyed and I think this is what happened. There are rumours that some of them were walled up at Eastcote but I think that is unlikely. Technology was moving forward and transistorisation would make such things obsolete quickly. There is probably more computing power in my telephone than in the bombe. The bombes on display in the museum are reconstructions made from memories of operators. However valves are much more resistant to nuclear attack than transistors...
Turing went on to Manchester University. However he was persecuted (after the war) by a grateful Government during the clampdown on homosexual behaviour of the 1950s and he eventually committed suicide by eating a poisoned apple. I have heard it said that that is where the apple trademark comes from. Other displays include a German signal station, occupation of the Channel Islands, military vehicles and model boats, diplomatic radio and some fine examples of British WWII military architecture 
. There is a memorial (something of an Enigma) 
and a cinema showing newsreels from wartime.
A kindly old gent welcomed me to his Winston Churchill collection - and what a collection it was. A room like a small school hall packed to the rafters with Winston Churchill memorabilia. Overwhelming.
Bletchley town had some points of interest. An old cottage near the church, but really just a suburb of Greater Milton Keynes.
And the old people live out their days in a row of almshouses just as near.
The heart of the new town is Marlowes, which is the main shopping street and has replaced the old high street. There is a market place which had a flea market when I called with the Salvation Army meeting hall and the bus station adjacent.
Like most new towns Hemel Hempstead has lots of artworks to enhance to urban environment. This one shows the four stages of humanity from hunter to machine age and leisure at home.
Another shows Hemel Hempstead's place in Hertfordshire. This appears on the side of a car park.
The old village contains some well preserved old houses. The charter tower is in the back garden of the registry office and tradition has it that Henry VIII handed the charter to the townspeople from the upper window here. 
Alas this cannot be true as the charter was granted long before the tower was built.
There are some old houses in the high street,
and an old galleried inn. 
Ormskirk is a bustling market town and I visited in the company of BestMate and Brian who sometimes contributes to the other blog. Ormskirk has a little theatre and this curious church with tower and spire.
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| From Travels around London |
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| From Travels around London |
This is London's last trolley bus. We were allowed to go inside to admire the moquette and read the notices etc. We were allowed to sit on the seats of the this bus and perhaps pretend we were going somewhere.
This next bus dated from the early fifties and we were not allowed to sit on the seats of that one. 
That reminds me although I looked out for two bus enthusiasts that I know, they weren't there. Perhaps they came later on.
Both busses seemed comfortable but photography was difficult with the crowds. We were not allowed onto the first trolley bus but it had a lovely half timbered or perhaps panneled staircase. The crowds were pressing so I decided to walk into Teddington for a wander round the shops. Back there again two weeks in a row! Teddington was fine. This time I crossed the bridge and went onto the river bank at Teddington Lock. 320m below the lock is the lower linit of the Thames Conservancy Commission who marked the end of their territory with an obelisk.
I walked down the thames and came to Richmond via Petersham. The parson was plying his marriage trade at Petersham Church so couldn't go in to have a look but instead walked on and up through Richmond's terrace gardens. These were very pleasant although a little steep and approached via an underground passage that begins in a shell grotto. The shell motif is repeated in a small well, the remnants of Richmond's days as a spa. The notice said that the barrel shapes were cast from the barrels on board the Cutty Sark but I think this is doubtful. The Cutty sark was a tea clipper and tea comes in chests.
After a short interlude in the Richmond Museum - now free (the last time I called it was £5 to get in!) I went to the Richmond May Fair. I suppose having mayfair on their doorstep helps RICHmond's residents feel at home. I had a scout hot dog and wandered round the stalls and roundabouts. I think it was a sort of breeders gay pride.
Went home tired but happy and the only down side was the extortionate cost of transport.
Now don't forget your 99 tea- it's the best you can get!
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After the high street and Carnegie library, 
There are some bits of heritage, for example there is on one building the ghostly lettering 'Working Lad's Institute' with separate doors leading to the Gymnasium and the Lecture Hall but one building has been going since 1570 - it's the Whitechapel Bell foundry that casts bells for the world (except the one for the Olympics that is being cast in the Netherlands). The firm even had responsibility for recasting the bell for Big Ben when it got cracked after testing. The bell was first cast in Norton-on-Tees.
It always seems closed when I go past, and I don't think they have a lot of work on, but I suppose what they do is very profitable and with the number of bells around the world there must be some demand for new ones most of the time.
This is where the walk began and I then walked through a rough piece of ground called 'The Dell' or 'Mill Field' where the Stepney born boxer Daniel Mendoza fought John Jackson in front of 3000 spectators in a fight that lasted 10 minutes. Unfortunately Mr Mendoza who had been the odds-on favourite lost, no doubt to the relief of the bookies. One of Daniel Mendoza's descendants is Peter Sellers. The walk then led me up the High Street (I've blogged about Hornchurch before) with the usual plethora of shops and eateries all a bit identikit and through some thoroughly suburban housing to reach Langtons House and Gardens. Both Parson and registrar were plying their marriage trade so I couldn't go in the church or the registry office which is Langtons House but the gardens were pleasant enough with a lake and an orangery and other things I didn't see.
And that was it. I was hungry after my walk so I decided to have my first attempt at that east end favourite - Pie and Mash, as I had noticed a pie and mash shop on the high street. Expecting a waitress to come out I sat down. Then I realised you go to the counter, ask for what you want (as long as it is a combination of pie and mash) pay and eat. I declined both liquour (not sure about that) and gravy and had 1 pie and one mash although 1 pie and 2 mash would have been better and only 80p more. I have to say this was a remarkably cheap meal and fine to eat although don't come anywhere near my pie with the liquour.
