London Open House weekend

Almost missed this in the excitement that surrounds summer and such a wet day on Sunday. However I still managed some places on Saturday and today. First up - Caroline Gardens Chapel which was the chapel of the former Licensed Victuallers Benevolent Association almshouses in Camberwell.   The Licensed VIctuallers moved out in 1959 and the estate was sold to the Camberwell Metropolitan Borough Council for use as social housing. The chapel fell into decay and is not much more than a hollow shell although some good stained glass and monuments remain. Next up was St Giles Camberwell, a church built to replace an earlier one destroyed by fire by George Gilbert Scott in a very pure gothic style. The beautiful Victorian window positively gleams in the morning sunlight. After the war work was carried out by Sir Ninian Comper (satirised by Osbert Lancaster as Sir Septimus Ogive who died of apoplexy after his design for an Early Gothic airport was rejected by the council). The Fire Brigade Museum was worth visiting - once - and the rooms lived in by Captain Shaw (of Iolanthe fame) were on display although they are not usually open.   The museum is housed in two late Georgian terraced houses. The Cinema Museum in the old Lambeth Workhouse where pictures were permitted but filming was forbidden was also a point of call.  The Museum was in the administrative block of the former workhouse.  I actually used to work in Lambeth Hospital (which the workhouse became but this has now been demolished and luxury flats built on the site.   I also called at The Siobahn Davies Dance Studio. No pics sorry but quite a nice space with a wiggly roof.  And that's all you can say about it really - it has a big room and a bigger room.
Morley College has murals from the 1960s in the canteen based on the Canterbury tales.  This picture shows the mural based on the Miller's tale On a very wet Sunday I visited the East London Central Synagogue in Nelson Street Whitechapel where the President gave us a wide ranging talk on the history of the synagogue and judaism in general. I was glad to be wearing a hat. The Synagogue had been built in an archaic style in 1923 and we even got to see the inside of the ark. Limehouse Town Hall has seen better days with ivy growing over the windows and into the gents toilet.  I also went to the Limehouse accumulator tower and had a long lecture on the use of hydraulics and the power of water, somewhat ironically in the pouring rain. Both me and my companion were losing the will to live by this point. When we went up the tower it was good to get a new perspective on Limehouse. All in all not the best open house weekend I've had but a good one in a summer that has been rather overshadowed by other events.

Dazzlebridge

I don't normally big up other people's content but the people at Urbanvox have posted a great video of the river cruise and bridge illuminations. It's all here.  I may even appear in it as head shadow...

Chester - Ghoulies and Ghosties

More from Chester, this time taking a midnight (OK eight o'clock) ghost walk. The tourist information centre sold us the leaflet, which advises you not to do the walk at night. We are hardier souls. And it seems the Tourist Information Centre also has a ghost! The store room beneath the external processional staircase houses something nasty - allegedly. Could be anyone as the town hall was built on the site of the legionary fortress of Romman times. Also Myra Hindley and Ian Brady were held in the cells awaiting trial at the Chester Asizes - oh right only Ms Hindley is dead. Next up on the tour the Coach and Horses where a ghost allegedly walked in ordered a pint and told the barmaid his life story, particularly that his wife had just died. The barmaid checked the story when the man, who had engaged a room, failed to return that night and found his wife had died 8 years earlier and the husband had joined her a week later. But how did he drink his pint? The First pic shows the Blue Bell Inn, first licensed in 1494. I couldn't see a ghostly serving wench in the upper window but I wonder if any of you, dear readers, can? The camera never lies... The tour carries on past the Cathedral Churchyard and onto the city walls. This next picture shows Eastgate Street where three old women foretold the death of Princess Diana ten hours before the newsflash. Now I've heard and have experience that the pensioner grapevine is fast and accurate (my gran told me that 5p pieces were going to be the size of silver 3d bits and she died in 1987) but ten hours before the news? Goodness! This next picture is just a gratuitous night shot of the Eastgate. The walk takes us up to St John's church. Thi church has ruins attached that had a light show playing when we called. Chester Council can put it better than I can: "Multimedia artist Nayan Kulkarni has been commissioned by Cheshire West and Chester Council's Arts and Festivals and Museum Service, and Chester Renaissance to transform the eastern ruins of St John the Baptist church using light. The new artwork will illuminate the ruins with a set of computer controlled architectural scale monochrome projections. Using a specially designed light system the final artwork will be a composition that changes over time constantly remodelling the appearance of the ruins." And very nice too. It was on the ghost walk because of this extraordinary coffin built into the roof space. It's said because a nun wanted to be closer to heaven The walk took us down to the river and back up through some medieval streets including one so steep that there were steps to get up it, and then up to the town cross where the walk finished. A very pleasant, interesting perambulation. Did we see anything unusual or spooky? What do you think, gentle reader?

Chester: Meadieval Town

Chester Cathedral is a cathedral of the new foundation which means that Henry VIII closed down the Benedictine monastery in the church at Chester and instituted a new cathedral there with a new bishop to head the diocese.  The Cathedral does charge for admission but this includes a rather temperamental audio guide which works when you approach green pillars in the building. One memorial is to the crew of HMS Chester, which included a ships boy, John Cornwell, killed at the battle of Jutland. There are memorial cottages to John Cornwell at Hornchurch. In the cloisters stands a sculpture by Stephen Broadbent. The Water of Life is set in a fish pond and is shown in the picture below. The medieval town walls stand on Roman foundations, and the old Roman moat was turned into a canal at the beginning of the nineteenth century. These are some of the oldest surviving town walls. The picture shows the deep gorge the canal runs through. The canal makes a pleasant walk back to my hotel, which was on the canalside.

Chester walls and rows

Chester is a fine Cathedral city at the end of the Wirral Peninsular.  One of the many attractions of the city is the old city wall, some of it dating back to Roman times.  The walls were maintained originally by Murrengers, although I don't suppose they actually did the bricklaying and stone work.  We met a murrenger before in Newport, although there are few walls left there.
Chester's walls were converted into a dignified promenade in the eighteenth century and it is possible to walk round the walls today.  For the last Diamond Jubilee, Queen Victoria's, the townspeople erected a clock above the Eastgate, and it stands there to this day.  The walk round the walls takes a couple of hours, if you take it slowly, and takes in the best sights in the town including the Cathedral and the racecourse beside the River Dee.     Chester is also famous for the meadieval layout of its shopping centre with some shops in cellars and a public walkway above so you can walk in shelter during rainstorms.  I have never seen an equivalent anywhere else as old.  Most of the shops are 19th century but the model had been there since the meadieval times, and are estimated to have been completed by 1350.  They are very pretty with a lot of half timbered buildings and some in stone and concrete from the mid part of the twentieth century, but I would not like to be the lawyer dealing with the tenure of these buildings.

Preston Guild

They say that in the North West of England the phrase 'once in a Preston guild' is the same as saying 'once in a blue moon for the rest of us.  I don't know if that is true as I come from a more easterly part of the country.  However I can say that Preston guild comes round every twenty years and the extraordinary summer of 2012 is a Preston Guild year. 

Me and my beloved enjoyed the vintage weekend and the food festival. We also enjoyed seeing the Human League and Blancmange in concert.  I watched the parade of guildspeople as they processed into the charter theatre on the Monday morning together with a civic procession involving mace bearers or halberdiers, and I think a silver oar made an appearance in the procession.  I didn't have a programme but there may have been pensioners from the almshouses in green robes.  There was certainly a brass band.

Medals time!

So who won the medals for hospitality during the Olympics?

Well Bronze has to go to Brazil for a good art exhibition and showing how the country has changed.

Silver goes to Switzerland for some great food games and entertainment, with a special mention for making it interactive.

Gold must go to Qatar for being a beacon of hospitality and a real showcase for the country.

But as everyone involved in the Olympics tells us, it's not the winning but the taking part, and I have appreciated all visits to the houses.

Bayt Qatar - One of the London 2012 Olympic Houses

The Qatari House is done out like a desert palace in very good style.  In fact I didn't realise it was open to the public such was the opulent style of the place.

One of the unashamed luxuries of the games with waiters to serve you with drinks (non-alcoholic) and snacks.

Apart from that the house shows how Qatar is building new and sustainable cities whilst retaining its heritage.  There are also heritage objects to hold with a story on the screen.  Although I think people have been putting them back in the wrong drawers.

The lounge was pleasant and the cinema area showed films with a sporting theme, such as 'Bend it like Beckham'.


Would I go back - I went there on the last public day
Five stuffed dates.

Deutsches Haus - One of the London 2012 Olympic houses

It's £5 to get in after 5PM but free before hand although you have to be searched.  Team Germany had a shop and they were selling things 2 for 1 so my badge was £5 for two!  You could also have your picture taken in a beach chair from Mecklenberg/Vorpommern which I think means Pommerania.  And besides the food and beer in a German Bier Keller that was it.



The verdict
Would I go Back? I think I've done all it has to offer.
Five pretzels

Bow floating market

Very arty and food orientated although a floating bookshop, hat shop and dress shop stretched their owners imaginations on the names.  Chapeau bateau was good.

From Travels around London

Lights of London - Illuminations of London's bridges and landmarks.

My first blogmeet, and what a meet.  The General Electric Co, EDF Energy and the Greater London Authority have teamed up to illuminate some the Bridge House Trust bridges and Waterloo and Milennium footbridges.  There is also a son et lumiere projected onto Parliament.  It's called Dazzle bridge

The meetup consisted of a boat trip to see these lights, although a bit past my bedtime.  Tower Bridge begins its routine at 2200 and is a beautiful light display that really shows off the building at it's very best.  The picture does not begin to capture it (and no tripod so lots of wobble).   Tower Bridge and Waterloo Bridges are the only bridges that have a routine.  The other bridges are simply lit up but they look very pretty.

Next up was London Bridge with an orange illumination.  Southwark bridge made good use of its cast iron work and was lit with a purpley light 
Waterloo Bridge had a laser light show with straight and swirly things.  Just by chance the musical accompaniment on our boat was 'Over there' (the GoCompare song) and going by the Festival site with this year's festival of the world gave a bit of 1950s atmosphere.

The grand finale was the son et lumiere projected onto the river side of the Palace of Westminster.  This celebrated the Olympics and Britain's sporting achievements in the games.  The show lasted for 15 minutes and was a great show of all the London Olympics from 1908, 1948 and 2012.

All in all a fantastic display. And a really great blogmeet.

The Victoria Park live site for watching the olympics.

A BT sponsored site for watching the Olympics with other attractions, the live site was not exactly jam packed, more like the park on a summer day.  Which made it better.  I was irked by the security checks - no firearms allowed, since when have they been allowed anyway? - but the place was OK with a zip wire ride (minus dangling mayor) and big screens a plenty.

Most of the attractions were more for children than adults but the queues were not too long.

One of the BT hot air baloons was also in attendance.

Ekhaya South Africa's London Home - One of the London 2012 Olympic Houses

South Africa's Home from home in London had a performance space and crafts exhibition.  That was about it really.




The verdict
Would I be back - not much time left I'm afraid
Five African dancers

Diamond geezer has also been to the houses

Club France - One of the London 2012 Olympic Houses

The French Olympic House is situated in Old Billingsgate Market and after a queue of 50 minutes I was told I couldn't come in unless I had photo ID

Verdict
Would I be back? NON
five gallic shrugs

The Slovak Meeting point - One of the London 2012 Olympic Houses

It's just a pub really.  A few nods to Slovakia.


Verdict
Will I be back? It's just a pub so probably not
Five foaming tankards.

Monaco House - One of the London 2012 Olympic Houses

The Monaco house showed off a collection of Olympic Torches from the first to the latest and so was very interesting.  No hospitality just torches.  Here is Sydney's


Verdict
Will I go back When you've seen it you've seen it.
Five Olympic Torches

The Czech House - One of the London 2012 Olympic Houses

The Czech Olympic House has this very striking sculpture outside.

And you can even buy a model of it in the Olympic shop for £99 which is quite good value I thought.  The Czech House has some good artworks in it and photographs from young Czechs.  you can also watch the games and play some xbox games, I played bowling and it was very good once you got the hang of it although not specifically Czech.  You could drink Czech beer but food was rather more English Corporate than reflecting the ethnic make up.  I did try a Bohemian wafer which was very nice but they didn't offer me any of the liqueur.  Oh dear.  There were good displays about Czech design - some lovely items and some not so good.  One of the better ones was from a propeller factory

Speaking of not so good the Czech tourist board took my photo and insisted I wear a lions head!  Hmm.  Oh well, can't win them all.

The Ipads were all in Czech so not so good there.

Verdict
Will I be back?  It's a long way for not very much.
Five Press up busses

Casa Brazil - One of the London 2012 Olympic Houses

The Brazil Olympic House is inside Somerset House and has the courtyard as well. There is an excellent display featuring artworks and technology from Brazil inviting you to think again about Brazil.   The Courtyard has a stage and they have live music nightly. . Of course Brazil is home to the Rio De Janeiro Olympics in 2016 and they have the logo on display. I don't want to make comparisons but the logo is supposed to be three dimensional so it can be handled and have a human touch. Judge for yourself.

The Verdict
Would I go again? Yes
Five Rio 2016 logos

South Pacific - One of the London 2012 Olympic Houses

Take me to a tropical island - in the middle of St Katherine's dock.  The information board said you would get a friendly welcome in the South Pacific but not at St Katherine's dock I'm afraid.  This islaand is only for the elite.  The gate keeper told me it was never open to the public.


The Verdict
Would I go again? You ain't been invited sunshine.
Five snarling door guardians

Casa Italia - One of the London 2012 Olympic Houses

The Italian house is in the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre and takes up most of the space.

There are lots of things in Italian to look at including a stand for Gazetto Della Sport and Samsung.  There is also a rather good exhibition of art inspired by the olympics, including ceramics inspired by the 1960 Rome Games, Rings and Rectangles by Stefano Nicolini and Prolessi by Antonio Tamburro.  The Collezione Farnesina Design were exhibiting their innovations in heating and refrigeration - a radiator like a shower hose (nice) and a revolving ice cream display (nicer) as well as other beautifully designed items, including a table top made from road sweepings.  Would that Britain could innovate like that!

Every Italian boy likes to see his Mama now and then and the Italian team are no different.  In one part of the hall was an exhibition of pictures of Team Italia's Mamas - a lovely reminder of home.

Outside were many fiats looking stylish...


The verdict
Would I go again? You Betcha!
Five team Italia Mamas

House of Denmark - One of the London 2012 Olympic Houses

The House of Denmark is at St Katherine's Dock and shows off Danish Design in a little pavillion, Danish meat products (free - but long queues) and some historic exhibits of Denmark like a viking longship.  The place was buzzing and lively with some displays of typical Danish products and some that you wouldn't have thought of, like jewellery, and the team's uniforms.



The Verdict
Would I go back  Yes for the longship
Five (hundred) Lego Bricks

House of Belgium - one of the London 2012 Olympic Houses

The Belgian House is in the Middle Temple hall and is a rare chance to get inside this Meadieval survival for 6.25.  There is also the Cyclists Paradise outside which is free and you can take several courses through different regions of Belgium.

What is nice about the Belgian house is you can use the Middle Temple Garden (although paying customers only) which is not something you get to do every day.  I watched the olympics on a big screen in Dutch while enjoying a Hoegarden (4 tokens, £5), and bought a pin badge of the Belgium team (bargain at £1.50)

The verdict:
Would I come back - not much reason to alas
5 Belgian beers (hic)

House of Austria - one of the London 2012 Olympic Houses

The Austrian House is located in the wonderful Trinity House on Tower Hill.  There was a lot of tourism stuff and a bread exhibition with different breads to taste, including a sports active bread that the person on duty assured me had lots of grains to ensure a good output.  "It won't make you better at sport" she said, but I know that nothing will anyway.



The food was nice - saurkraut and a big sausage served with bread by pleasant catering staff in lederhosen and red gingham shirts. V nice.  Also beer by the pint, half pint and 1l stein (£5 deposit)

The verdict:
Would I come back? Yes (and I did for a beer in the evening - although alas not out of a stein)
 5 Sports Active Loaves

The House of Switzerland - one of the London 2012 Olympic Houses

The London 2012 Olympic Games is finally here.  I have been known to be somewhat curmudgeonly about them but now they are here I am excited.  One source of excitement is the national cultural house that are springing up around London to showcase the nation to London and the world.  I am visiting a different cultural house on different days of the week and sampling the best they have to offer.  I'm not going to rate them because they all should be (and will be) five star, but I'm going to offer an assessment of the atmosphere and what's on there.  If they have a weblink I'll provide it.

So the House of Switzerland is located in The Glazier's Hall and Southwark Cathedral precincts.  the Glazier's hall has an exhibition of posters, a restaurant which looks really nice (there's also another restaurant underneath London Bridge) and a room showcasing Swiss computer games.  Now that's an industry that I didn't know that Switzerland had.  I had a go at Magnetics but I don't think I understood it.  Very state of the art facilities though.  And then I thought that was it, but outside there was more.  There was a climbing wall and I had a go but didn't get very far.   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.

After my abortive climb I had a look at the Victorinox stand, the people who make the famous Swiss Army Knife.  Each knife apparently uses the same energy as making a piece of toast!  I was very impressed by the efficiency of the place - truly a model for industry.

Time to sample some Swiss food and beer.  Although not cheap the bratwurst (veal sausage) and pint I had were delicious and all consumed in the atmosphere of a biergarten 
amongst german speaking Swiss people which made the experience all the better.  I watched some of the games in German on Swiss Television and the evening entertainment was Swiss short films and cartoons, although alas no subtitles.

The verdict:
Would I come back? Definitely
Five Swiss chocolates!

Gloriana!

A wander to the Riverside to see the Olympic torch procession on board the Royal barge Gloriana.  And a fantastic sight it was too, on not the most pleasant day.


Watch the Olympica film here

Ordnance at Greenwich - old and new

I wonder which is being used to protect the Olympic (TM) park?

Bletchley Park: a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.

A rather impulsive visit to Bletchley Park, home of military codebreakers during world war II. I set out a bit late really for a successful day at Bletchley Park, as really I should have arrived early in the morning. Never mind the ticket lasts a year so a revisit is on the cards. Hopefully small doses are better than large ones as the whole place was rather overwhelming. 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.

Birmingham Ancient and Modern

From Travels around London

From Travels around London

Birmingham: the National Exhibition Centre

A visit to the NEC. This series of exhibition halls inaugaurated by Ted Heath is often eerily empty.

Watford

Another rather disappointing day in Watford. It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive but this time I did at least visit the church which has some good monuments and stained glass. In the shadow of the church is the former free school of 1704. And the old people live out their days in a row of almshouses just as near.