A Full-time Life

THAMES BARRIER — and WOOLICH

July 25, 2007

Here are a couple of other visits to the borough of Greenwich.

This picture is taken from one of the Greenwich short-hop boats as we are we approaching the famous Thames Barrier.

The Barrier: http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/regions/thames/323150/335688/341764/

Woolich is the district where we went to see the bike race early in July. It’s about 10 miles from Greenwich and on the river across from the Docklands area. The Royal Arsenal, where all of the cannons and arms for the British Army were made over the years, was located here.

The Arsenal Buildings, which once housed smithies and armourers shops are now opened as a museum. The sundial on the gate to Dial Square dates from 1764.

Most of the workers were women. Thousands of them were employed here right up to the 1970’s.

Woolich was also home to one of England’s major Pro Football Clubs, the Arsenal, which started here in 1889. The name is still the same, but the team is no longer in Woolich.
PONTEFRACT, YORKSHIRE

July 23, 2007

Last week, we went to Pontefract to visit friends for a few days. We have kept in touch with John and Rose Place since we met them years ago. They are fellow RVers (or caravaners, as they are called in the UK). We first met at Granite Lake Park in Clarkston and they came to see us in Springfield on a subsequent trip to the States.

We took the National Express from Victoria Station to Wakefield, about 8 miles from their home. When John picked us up at the station, it was the first time we’d been in a private car since the end of April.

John and Rose treated us like royalty! They were excellent hosts and tour guides and we got to see a little bit of Yorkshire. The best thing was visiting with these lovely people.

This is their home (note the caravan on the side yard) and the beautiful view from their kitchen and dining room windows. Yorkshire has had terrible rains this summer, but you can see that we lucked out with weather.

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We went to visit the Pontefract Castle ruins. The Castle is gone, but the grounds remain property of the Queen, with a Conservation Committee caring for it, and working on archaeological excavation.

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The painting on the right, which is in the adjoining museum, was made in the early 17th Century. The castle was first started at the end of the 1080s, following the Norman Conquest. Among other uses, it was a temporary home for Kings, a cell for important prisoners, and the site of a few executions. During the (British) Civil War, it was held for the King and, in fact, was the last Royalist stronghold . It was under at least three full attacks before it was surrendered in 1649. Whenever the castle was under siege, the town and townspeople suffered peripheral damage and it is said they were very happy to have the castle demolished, as it was following its surrender.

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We toured this grand mansion called Nostell Priory. The land was a 12th Century Augustinian Priory. On the same site now is a "stately home" built in 1733 for a Sir Richard Winn. It has been owned by the same family ever since. A few years ago, to escape death taxes, the family gave it to the public and can use only a part of it privately. (They live somewhere else now and use their private rooms for special occasions only.) The rooms are as they were when in use, and the furnishings still actually belong to the family. They include valuable paintings and about 300 or so pieces of Chippendale furniture.

In the pictures you can see a large red spot around the windows between the two colums on the left. This was caused by a massive fire in those rooms. John ran the Pontefract fire department, and was called out the night this happened. He said when he arrived, the servants were carrying out the paintings and Chippendales, stacking them on the lawn. John put 10 engines on the fire, and saved the building with only three rooms destroyed (they have been restored).

There are over 300 acres of parkland (once the family lawn). The present Lord uses the former stable buildings as his offices (for charities he runs, and to manage the 2000 acres of surrounding farmland that the family still owns). There is also a tearoom and a small restaurant with tables in the former horse stalls.

—————————————————————————————————————————-Those are just a couple of the things we did during our visit. We got to tour the historic market town of Pontefract. They have a very nice public market going on Wednesdays, one of the days we were there. We visited the Anglican Church, which is old and beautiful, ate lots of wonderful meals and good conversation, and in general had a lovely time. This is us in the Place’s backyard. We truly enjoyed ourselves.
Harry Potter

July 22, 2007

Here we are taking turns trying to get our luggage-rack through the hidden door to Hogwart’s Academy.

(You have to pretend this is a steam train. But it is taken at the right station.)

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The pictures above are taken at the King’s Cross train station, which was used in the Harry Potter Movies. (And is featured in the final book, at least in the British version.) Of course, the door is a photo-op, which probably the Transit Authority put in because of all the goofy American tourists asking where it was. Still, when we heard of it, we could not resist.

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The next two pictures are also inside the station (near Platform 9 3/4).

It would have been nice to photograph the outside of King’s Cross, which was also used in the HP movies. But it is currently undergoing a major renovation/remodeling and the picture would pretty much have been of scaffolding. The station is one of the older ones in London.

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I reserved a copy of "Harry and the Deathly Hollows" the first time I visited our local bookshop here in Sydenham. Didn’t want to wait until we were back home, because that would have made me the only reader of the series in the world not to have read it before the reviews told all.

When we have visited the shop before (to stock up on paperbacks) it’s a pretty quiet little place. But on Saturday night there was a line of people all the way up to the corner and beyond. It was kind of funny because the bookstore is directly across the street from one of the local pubs — a noisy place on Saturday night, with people milling around inside and out. Britain has very recently instituted a no-indoor-smoking policy, so there are always people outside of the pubs. Most of the bar patrons couldn’t seem to figure out what was going on across the street (and maybe vice versa).

Here’s Dobby the Elf distributing the book to a customer.

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The last picture looks kind of like I’m pouring my wine into the book bag. It’s a trick of the camera — the book is fine. We both thought it was nice of the store to provide wine and goodies. The kids (what, this was a kid’s occasion?) got punch and cookies.

Saturday was gray and showery all day and we had decided to stay in anyway, because we’ve just returned from a trip to Yorkshire and needed some recovery time. It was a perfect day to read this London-based book.
GOING TO BATH

July 21, 2007

Last week we traveled by fast train to Bath, a journey of about an hour and a half from downtown London. The town, which is a World Heritage Site, lies on the Avon River — this is a view of town and river and the beautiful Pulteney Bridge.

This is the Abbey, taken from the Roman baths. Over 2,000 years ago, the Romans channeled these hot sulfurous waters and built the pool buildings. A millenium earlier, Celtic tribes used the site — archeologists have excavated m any of their remains.

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The springs were used by prehistoric people as long as 7500 years ago. (It’s interesting to think that prehistoric sandals dating from around that same time were discovered by UO archaeologists in a cave in eastern Oregon.)

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These pictures are from our tour of the Roman Baths:

Picture Roman ladies and gentlemen lounging about the hot pools. (Picture their slaves keeping the pools clean and in working order.)

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This is the water source to the Baths.

A remnant of the Roman mosaic tile floor in one of the soaking pools.

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These are parts of the Roman Temple of the goddess Sulis Minerva. The Temple was near the site of the Abbey and the Baths. The museum is a part of the Roman Baths tour. Copies of this image of the goddess are used as the symbol of the City of Bath.

The sacrificial altar and a pediment from the Temple.

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Bath today is still an enchanting place. Most of its buildings are of the famous cream-colored Bath Stone. It’s an easily carvable limestone that dates from the Jurassic erea.

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These pictures are of the Royal Crescent, around Circus Park. The buildings were designed as elegant town homes by the architects John Wood Sr and Jr. They were built from 1754 to 1769 and are still used as townhouses. And they still seem elegant. The units are built in a semi-circle around a pretty park. They are listed, which means no additions or changes are allowed.



(Windows were sometimes boarded up because property tax laws were changed in the 1700’s to be based upon the number of windows in a residence)



Sally Lunn’s Restaurant, named after a famous Bath resident. (A recipe for Sally Lunn bread is in most basic cookbooks.) We had a lovely dinner here. It is the oldest house in Bath, and was built upon Roman foundations.

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We had such a good time in Bath. Walked a lot around the beautiful Avon River and the charming town, took a scenic bus tour to get an historical overview, and spent a long time touring the baths and museum.

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Even the Bath rail station is charming. It was getting dark as we walked there to get on our return train. And it was very late by the time we got home to Sydenham. (We had to take a city bus from Paddington Station because it was too late for the local trains.) We were really tired — but it was really worth it!
Regent’s Park (from ashore) and The National Gallery

July 16, 2007

Our kind of gardening — these pictures are from lovely Regent’s Park. We strolled around it’s flower beds and ponds, then walked on the canal path past the London Zoo and to Camden Town. We saw some of the same landmarks from the water a week or so later when we went on the canal boat.

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The Park, in the Hampstead borough of central London, is surrounded by some beautiful estates and Georgian homes.    Camden Town, though, on the other end of the park, is a market town that reminded us of a very large ongoing Eugene Saturday Market (same kind of crafts, same kinds of people). So no pictures — pretty much anyone reading this will already know what it looks like.

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                        This is the National Gallery near Trafalgar Square. It houses one of the largest and best collections of western European paintings. This was my favorite of the three art galleries we visited. You could spend days and not see everything. We spent a whole day and would go back often if we had time.

The pigeons of Trafalgar Square are famous. They are one thing about London we personally could do without though.

Here are pictures of two favorites from the Gallery — Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and Monet’s Water Lily Gardens.

And a link to see more: www.nationalgallery.org.uk
THE LOCKS OF REGENT’S CANAL

July 15, 2007

We are approaching one of the Grand Canal locks. The locks on this canal are 14 feet wide, allowing some good sized boats to enter. This lock raises/lowers the boat about 8 feet. The canal depth is 3-4 feet. Most of the locks on the canals, other than the Grand or Regents, are only 7 feet wide. The famous narrow-boats are all 6 foot 8 inches wide, and up to 65 feet long. I’m not sure I would want to put a 65 foot boat in a lock with only 2 inches clearance on each side!

Entering the lock, we tie the boat loosely to the side.

Bill is closing the lower gate, with instruction from Jenny. These counter-balanced lower arms are the same as the upstream arms you can see on the picture just above. On these double wide locks, you close one gate, then walk to the other end of the lock, and cross on the gate arms, then close the other arm. Next step is to take your winch handle (you get one with the permit to use the canals) and crank up the underwater valve on the upstream gate.

The lock fills, you open the top gate, and motor away! Whole thing takes about 20-30 minutes. I’ve seen pictures of a hillside series of over 10 locks up north. Must take most of a day to traverse that hill.

This lock, which we just traversed is one of the most famous ones. It is in the center of Camden market, which is listed as the third most visited place in London–lots of folks watching to see If I was going to fall in.

We had noticed narrow sets of stairs going down from the tow path into the water of the canal. We thought they might be to leave the boats if the water level was down, but found out that they were for horse recovery!! When the canals were first built, the boats and barges were pulled by a single horse walking along the narrow tow path. Occasionally something would startle the horse, and it would fall into the canal. The boatman could walk his semi-submerged horse to the next stairway, and lead him out.
CRUISING REGENT’S CANAL

July 13, 2007

This is the canal boat Helix — we chartered it for a day-trip exploring London’s Regent’s Canal. Britain’s canal navigation system has been in place since Roman times. The major canals were opened during the reign of George III (1760-1820). The canals were used for commercial transportation until the age of the train. Many of the railroad lines overlie where the canals used to be, but happily some have been left for pleasure use.

It was a beautiful cruise. There wasn’t very much river traffic and for most of the trip the canal is hidden from view of everyone up on the streets and bridges above. It is something special to be cruising along at a slow pace, enjoying the views and the quiet, while actually being right in the middle of this huge city.

Some people live aboard their boats. Sometimes in a canal boat facility and sometimes just along the canal-side. The boats range from small and perfectly made and maintained to actually quite decrepit.





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Here are a few more views as we traveled along the canal:

Coming out of the thousand yard long tunnel shortly after we started.

Traveling under a bridge

The Pirate’s Castle is a youth club that provides boating opportunities for underprivileged kids. In several places along the canal we could see (up above us) some of the not-so-nice parts of the City — blocks of Council Flats and run-down areas.

Passing the London Zoo in Regent’s Park. On the right is the Zoo’s aviary.



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In this picture, we are passing under a gourmet restaurant on the canal. We didn’t need it, because our hosts provided us with our own wonderful three-course dinner aboard the Helix. This after, earlier in the day, a welcome aboard champagne toast, mid-morning coffee and croissants and a few other snacks here and there — water travel makes you so hungry!



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Alex and Jenny Nunes own the Helix. Marcus was their hired pilot for the trip. Alex and Jenny have owned the boat for many years (he is a licensed pilot and a canal historian, she’s a gourmet cook). When they retired, they decided to have a second career with their boat. They run a maximum of three chartered cruises a week.

This is inside of the Helix:

The plate (inside the Helix’ cabin) commemerates their trip clear around the London Canal system — a 27 hour non-stop trip.

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We had a great time spending the day on the canal.
THE TOUR deFRANCE – London

July 10, 2007

We went to see the Tour de France, which started here in London this year. It was the first time ever for the race to go through London and the first time it had been in England since 1994. Opening ceremonies and preliminaries were at Trafalgar Square. The actual Tour started at Greenwich on Sunday. This first leg of the race went from Greenwich to the Coast.

To get there, we just walked a couple of blocks and hopped on a local bus to Woolich Village (in the borough of Greenwich). So we avoided the starting crowds and had a great view, without having to get up at daybreak.

About an hour before the riders were due, there was a parade to entertain the crowds. The sponsors threw out favors (bottled water, pens, sticky pads) and broadcast advertising messages, mostly in French, but some British and some Australian. We didn’t notice any USA presence at all in the "caravan" (parade).

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The El Diablo float is a tribute to the Race’s #1 fan — a German guy who follows the race everywhere it goes dressed as a devil. He is famous in his own right, as the number one sports fan anywhere.

There was lots of security, but no problems. We had a nice visit with three British policemen, who were a little bored as the crowd was gathering. They had fairly easy duty over here in Woolich. There were thousands and thousands of people at Trafalgar and in Greenwich at the start of the race.

France even brought some of their own gendarmes with them.

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We could not believe how quickly the racers sped by. They were still pretty much in a pack at this early stage of the day. The mass of riders is called a peloton; they ride like that to cut down on wind resistance.

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The Australian rider, Robbie McEwen, who won this leg of the race fell later on this same day — but still got back on and won the day. After the racers went by, a whole line of cars with extra bikes followed — apparently, the riders can switch bikes when they need to.

We hadn’t expected to see this famous race while we were in Britain. It was a good day, with absolutely perfect weather. We also enjoyed walking around Woolwich, which has a very interesting history itself.
RAINVILLE ROAD, LONDON

July 8, 2007

(Click on thumb nail photos for larger views.)

Geoff wrote that he had come across a reference to Rainville Road, London. As he said, what are the odds? Our name’s unusual enough that we were intrigued. (Maybe if it was Smith or Jones, we wouldn’t have immediately started to plan the trip.)

It turned out that Rainville Road is located in a very pretty part of West London in the borough of Hammersmith/Fulham. We had another place we wanted to visit in the area of King’s Cross, which was the nearest tube stop, so it made a great day.

And, wow! "Our" street runs parallel to, and just a building’s width away from, The River Thames — it’s east, across the river, from the new Chelsea Stadium.

It’s a mixed use street, starting with some stores, a couple of good restaurants and a pub, and a nicely located architectural office. There’s a block of flats — Rainville Court — that have views of the river on the back side. We walked through a little alley pointing to Dorset Wharf to get to the River Side of the street. In the alley, we saw this little sign. We’re not usually fans of graffiti, but since it was Rainville Road, we thought it was really interesting to see our 9 year old grandson’s name right there.

This one’s for you, Ryan:

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Below are some views of the street and river side of Rainville Road. These flats, according to a fellow we met who lives there, are worth 5-7 hundred thousand pounds. Nice name, nice neighborhood!

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Sure wish we had more information on the history of the road’s name — we haven’t yet been able to find out anything more about it. Maybe if we have time, we’ll go back to the Borough and see what we can learn.
GREENWICH OBSERVATORY

July 6, 2007

In Greenwich we visited the Royal Observatory, home of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). You can see the telescope dome to the left, and the red time ball that drops at 1:00 PM each day. Major studies by the astromomers and the development of accurate clocks enabled the establishment of the longitudinal navigational lines around earth. The lines start here, at the Prime Meridian, where Sallie is standing with one foot in each hemisphere.

By an international agreement of 1864, this is the official starting point for every new day, month and year.

The Observatory was founded by King Charles II in 1675, and the building designed by Christopher Wren. The main purpose was to improve navigation. In 1714, the British Government offered a prize of 20,000 pounds (a fortune for those days) to anyone who could come up with a solution to provide longitude to ships at sea. Because there was no way for ships to figure out where they were at sea, the nation had experienced many shipwrecks with devastating losses.

The eventual winner of the prize was John Harrison, who designed a marine chronometer that worked. We visited the Time Galleries, which feature the winning one and other tries by him and others. There are other historic timepieces and interactive explorations of time in our lives.

This is part of the reconstruction of the home of the first Royal Astronomer, John Flamstead, which was a part of the Royal Observatory. Although made a member of "The Royal Household", Mr Flamstead received only 100 pounds a year for his work and that of his wife, who served as his assistant. When he died, his wife — not so surprisingly — sold most of his belongings.

Here is a good website for more information about the Observatory and its museums: http://www.rog.nmm.ac.uk