The Gentrification of Elephant and Castle, 14 November 2026

 "It's changed a bit," said the Swan Whisperer.

"That," said I, "is an understatement."

We  had gone up to visit the newly-opened "Elephant Quarter" which has replaced the much-mourned Elephant and Castle shopping centre - when we first moved here it was blue, then it was painted red for a Red Nose Day, and this was considered such an improvement that it was kept.  There used to be some lovely shops in there - the small, independent traders that sold all sorts, from cheap kitchen equipment to even cheaper woolly hats and gloves, that sort of place.  There were various caffs, a Boots, a W H Smiths, a Clarks outlet store, and various other places, you could walk through it to the railway station if you wanted, and, of course, there are the two Underground stations (one station, really, but the two lines are quite far apart).  And there were a load of market stalls in the pedestrian area outside the lower floor.

Anyway, all that was pulled down a few years ago, and it has been a giant building site ever since.  But this week it reopened for business, and today they were having some kind of festival in advance of switching on their Christmas Lights.  So we decided to go up there, although we were fairly sure we wouldn't stay for the switch-on.  We just caught a 35 by the skin of our teeth, although the Swan Whisperer grumbled that it was much slower than the 133 would have been - I agree, but I do like the route the 35 takes.

It is very different now!  There are posh flats, and the retail area has a few posh-ish shops - I think Starbucks is as downmarket as it gets.  There are plenty more shops coming - not everywhere is open yet, by any manner of means.  There's a big M&S Food (not a knicker in sight, as usual, although there was a giant inflatable Percy Pig outside it),

an Oliver Bonas, a shop called called Sostrene Grene, which I'd never heard of, but which looked like another Flying Tiger or Hema - that sort of shop.  And so it goes.  There is a gallery, which had a range of stalls selling South American food, but I think that was just for the festival.  We went up and walked along it, and I took a photo of the Christmas tree which was due to be switched on later, and then we came away and got a 415 back to Brixton.  Other photos on Facebook.

West Norwood Cemetery, 1 November 2026

 The trouble with visiting cemeteries in November is that they are apt to close early!  And there was a great deal of confusion about what time this one closed at, with even the entrance signs saying two different things!

The Swan Whisperer had wanted a walk this afternoon, and so did I, so we agreed to go to the cemetery, as it was one we hadn't visited - we have been to Nunhead and to Brompton, of the "Magnificent Seven", and this one is nearest to us and probably the easiest to get to.  We got a 37 bus, and then a 2 to Norwood, which stops practically at the cemetery gates.  

The famous people who have been buried there includ Sir Hiram Maxim, of machine-gun fame, James Greathead, of the eponymous shield, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the evangelist, and Isabella Beeton, the cookery book writer.  Sadly, we didn't see any of their graves - we missed the Maxim and Greathead ones (the cemetery does have a very great many graves in it), and just before we got to the Spurgeon one, they came round saying that they were closing and we needed to leave.  

It was really confusing, though - Google maps said it closed at 6, as did one of the signs on the entrance gate, but another sign said it closed at 4!  In fact, it was about 4:15 or thereabouts when the van came round.  We were fairly near the back exit, so went out that way and found ourselves by a 322 stop - and, miraculously, one was coming in a couple of minutes!  Then we were able to change at Herne Hill on to a 37, and so home.  

I think I should like to go back there - it is, as all cemeteries are, very peaceful.  But maybe a bit earlier in the year - and certainly earlier in the day!

Pedestrianisation, 29 October 2026

 

It is half-term week, and this means a visit from The Boys.  They are both taller than I am now, which is rather disconcerting!  I felt short....

So they came over around 11:15 or thereabouts, and we sat and chatted until their Granda came in - he'd been doing something down at church - and discussed fairly fruitlessly where we should go to lunch.  Boy Too was the only one who really expressed an opinion, and he suggested we go to the café across the road, which we duly did.  He had a smoked salmon bagel and a smoothie; the Swan Whisperer had a Full English breakfast, and the Lanky Teenager (actually, they are both lanky teenagers these days) and I had what is called Garden Bliss, which is a vegan plate, and absolutely delicious.  He ate all of his, and quite a lot of what I couldn't eat of mine!

In fact, it was just as well that we did go there, as it meant we came home for coffee, and then fire safety person, who was supposed to come tomorrow, was doing our neighbour's flat door as he was ahead of schedule and neighbour was in.  So he came and did ours, too, so that's done!  Apparently we don't need a new actual door, just some work done on it.  Not sure who they will recommend to do such work. 

Anyway, once that had happened, we went out and took the Victoria Line as far as Victoria and then a no 2 bus to Marble Arch (actually the next stop along), enjoying the autumn colours on Park Lane, 

which was a compromise between bussing all the way and being at the wrong end of Oxford Street!  

The object of the exercise, of course, was to walk along the newly-pedestrianised Oxford Street.  It's been closed to cars for many years, of course, but buses, taxis and bikes have always gone down it, mob-handed!  It was really nice not to have diesel fumes (not that many buses or taxis are still diesel these days) and traffic noise - in fact, it was really rather quiet, just a hum of conversation.  And I liked the bike holders they have put at every intersection, so that cyclists can, I assume, leave their bikes there while they shop (and probably find them stolen when they have finished!).

At least Selfridges is still there one end, and John Lewis at the other; most of the other big department stores have closed, though, and the street is very down-market these days.  I think most of the illegal American sweet shops have gone, but there were many tourist tat places.  Where Top Shop used to be is now Ikea, and there have been other changes of tenant, too.  

When we reached Oxford Circus, we said goodbye to the boys, who headed home, and we would have done the same except that the Swan Whisperer wanted to go and visit All Souls Langham Place. 

Sadly, it was not open, although people did seem to be inside, so we walked back again after a quick look at the BBC's shiny offices

and took the Tube home.

I actually was sensible today and realised that I could download my current book on to my phone and read it on the Tube, to save carting my Kindle around with me!  I wonder why that had never occurred to me before!

Anyway, the journey home was uneventful, although I was gasping for a cup of tea by the time we got there!

Nice Day for It exhibition, 21 August 2026

 Yesterday I read on IanVisits about this exhibition at Photofusion in Brixton, and, as I hadn't had enough exercise today, I decided to visit it this afternoon.  

Well, I got my step count in, and that's about all you can say for it!  Read Ian's article (linked above) and you won't need to visit the exhibition, since almost all the photos are shown!  It is in a very small room, with photos on the walls all round and a display case of postcards, mostly from Butlin's.  As these are under glass, they are quite difficult to see.  There was an explanatory panel just outside the door:

and then this was basically the exhibition:

It was never touted as being anything large, but I honestly didn't find it that interesting!  Oh well, it was free and in walking distance, and got me out of the flat!  And I did like this gentleman:

Day Trippers! 6 August 2026

 Didn't we have a lovely time, the day we went to Bangor....  Well, Bangor is a bit far away for a day trip, but C2C are offering £15 returns to Southend-on-Sea during August, so we decided to take advantage of this, as neither of us had ever been to Southend.

Neither of us had ever caught a train at Fenchurch Street Station before, nor do I think either of us had been on a C2C train.  Not that they are any different from any other commuter-type train in this country these days, although slightly more comfortable than most.

We had to collect our tickets from the station - they do do e-tickets, but I think you had to buy them on the app, which I ended up downloading anyway to get accurate timetables.  I had bought them via their website, so was issued a code.  We arrived at a side entrance to the station (Northern Line to Bank, then Monument to Tower Hill and a short walk - I thought Bank and Monument were linked underground, but it appears not to be the case.), and the one and only ticket machine was being used by a couple of people who were having trouble with it.  I went to the kiosk, which was staffed, and was issued our tickets no problem - I gather the machine was misbehaving.

The next train was leaving in a couple of minutes, so we got on it and about an hour later arrived at Southend Central, from where it was only a short walk down to the pier.  We decided to buy tickets for the pier railway, and were lucky enough that they held the train for us, or we'd have had to have waited half an hour for the next one.  The little train - a narrow-gauge railway - crawls along to the end of the pier.  The carriages are enclosed, with sideways bench seats.  Many years ago, there used to be a similar railway along the pier at Walton-on-the-Naze, which we took many times when we holidayed there in the 1960s, but that, I think, had open carriages and has long since demised.  I gather this one did close for awhile, but reopened.  

At the end of the pier, we had a lovely walk round.  The pier pokes out into the Thames Estuary, and we could see the Maunsell Sea Forts on the horizon, as well as watching a container ship come downriver (from Tilbury, we assumed) and head out to sea.  We also visited the lifeboats, and I bought a packet of rhubarb crumble biscuits for the Swan Whisperer, as it's all in a good cause. Lots of photos on Facebook, of course.

Then it was time to catch the train back to the town, which we did with rather less haste and more decorum than we had the outbound one!  And it was lunchtime.

There is really only one thing you can eat when on a day trip to the seaside and that is, of course, fish and chips.  The main road was lined with chippies, and we patronised one where a waitress was standing outside offering the menu.  We could, we discovered later, have found cheaper elsewhere, but it didn't really matter, as the cod and chips were excellent!  I couldn't eat all my chips, but had a jolly good try!  I drank fizzy water, and the Swan Whisperer had a 7-Up!  

After lunch, we made ourselves comfortable and then went for a short walk towards a building that we could see some distance away, which turned out to be the old Kursaal.  I gather this may reopen - it certainly looked far from abandoned and derelict, but we decided that was probably far enough to walk, so turned back and walked along the prom (prom-prom, but there wasn't a brass band going tiddley-om-pom-pom) back to where we could get an ice-cream - a 99 for the SW, and a scoop of rum and raisin for me, and then we walked back to the station.  We had discovered, on the way out, that there was a slightly different route we could go back, which went past Tilbury, so we got that, although we couldn't see very much of the port as the hedges were too high.  Then we walked to a 35 bus stop, and had to wait rather a long time for a 35, but one came in the end and we sat on that all the way home, a quick dash into Lidl to get some necessary staples, and then home and flaking out!  

Oh I do like to be beside the sea side...

A walk in London, 27 April 2026

 The Swan Whisperer left the charging cable for his computer in Sussex on Friday.  Fortunately our niece was able to bring it back to London, and today we went to her office to pick it up - sadly, she was too busy to come out to lunch with us.  I decided to go too, and then we could have a walk afterwards.  I forgot to set my watch recording when we came out of Temple Underground station, but this was our walk from Cs office onwards:

I'm surprised it was so long - we went fairly slowly through the Middle and Inner Temples and along Fleet Street towards St Paul's .  I spotted a Cote, and remembered that they are offering a daily special for just £10 at the moment, and that Monday's is steak and chips.  The SW didn't really believe me, but I was proved right, and very good it was, too.  And not too much!

After that, we walked across the Millennium Bridge, and along the South Bank to Borough Market, stopping at a random ice-cream van to buy a 99 each, and so to Borough High Street, where we had to wait an unconscionable time for a 35.  But one came at last, and we came home - and I fell fast asleep in my chair for a couple of hours and am only just rousing up now!  A thoroughly enjoyable walk.  Photos on Facebook.

Guildhall Art Gallery, 9 April 2026

 The Boys have been spending most of the Easter holidays with their other grandparents, but they are back in Town now, and came to visit us today.  We took them to lunch at Fish, Wings and Tings in Brixton; they have since pointed out that I had the fish, the Swan Whisperer had the wings, and they had the tings (to wit, chicken curry and curry mutton).  The Boy and I drank sorrel; the other two played it safe with diet Coke and Brixton beer!

After lunch, the Swan Whisperer, Boy Two and I - the Boy had to leave us to go and hit the books, as his GCSEs are imminent - went up to the Guildhall Art Gallery for the prime purpose of visiting the Heritage Gallery's exhibition on Epping Forest.  I had booked us tickets, but the receptionist said that was all she needed to know - she didn't need to actually see the tickets!  They were free, anyway, and granted access to the whole art gallery.

The exhibition was, as the receptionist warned us, very small, but nevertheless interesting.  It included a really old map of the City of London, and a Victorian map of Epping Forest together with some rather difficult to read info about how the City saved the Forest for London, and prevented it being "developed".  And some public notices about not littering and so on.  

We then visited the Roman Amphitheatre which was next door to that gallery - this was discovered when they were excavating the foundations for the building.  Very interestingly done - more photos on Facebook.

  We also looked at some of the pictures in the gallery - a very eclectic mix, although mostly about London.  One we loved showed the swearing-in of a Mayor, but none of the other aldermen present were listening, but were chatting among themselves!  

After that, we went to look at the church of St Lawrence Jewry, which was just across the courtyard.  This is a very old church, but the present building is Wren, although substantially rebuilt in the 1950s as it had been damaged in the War.  It was rather lovely, and I took a lot of photos, the best of which will be on Facebook.  

Then I had to go, as I had a much-needed hair appointment.  I left Boy Two and the SW to their own devices, and headed down the Tube at Moorgate.  But there were some lovely buildings from every era!  I do enjoy exploring the City.

Along the river, 6 April 2026

 A fine Easter Monday, for once, so we decided to walk along the river.  We've been along the South Bank umpteen times before, but we had never walked westwards - and there are some new bits to explore, thanks to the Thames Tideway Tunnel, which has created several new areas of reclaimed land along the Thames where they had works.  

We started by walking into Brixton, where we caught a no 2 bus to Vauxhall, and then a short walk brought us to the first of these, which is is Effra Quay, where the River Effra used to flow into the Thames but now flows directly into the Tunnel.  

It  has superb views over London to the east:

and definitely surreal ideas about seating areas:

Yes, those are what they look like!

I think these pipes are ventilators, but I could be wrong:

We moved on a bit, stopping to admire this very splendid lion on the edge of the quay proper (not, I think, yet in use)

past the Spies'R'Us building (otherwise known as MI6 HQ), to the Isle of Effra, which we thought was less exciting.  But they are building a garden below it (not accessible to the public), and there was an access hatch to the Effra itself!

Then we moved on towards Battersea Power Station, via the posh new developments:

Past lots of river transport

Including sailing dinghies

and barges, moored up.

Above is a good view of the former Power Station (known in certain circles as the Time Police HQ!)

This, below, was the second new bit of reclaimed land, known as the Heathwall Pumping Station, which we thought was a bit underwhelming.  There are plenty of other quays and islands, but on the other side of the river from where we were.

I don't know what the "Tideway Village" was, but there were a few privately-owned barges moored up in it.

and then, where we think was once where the coal barges came to service the power station, there was this rather splendid statue:

with these barges down below, between us and the horse

After which, the photogenic part of our walk came to an end, as we could go no further along the Thames.  So we cut down to the main road, and walked to the start of the P5 route, which took us home again!

Afternoon Tea at the Museum, 26 March 2026

 For some years now, it has been the delightful custom of my sister and/or my mother to give Robert and me a voucher for afternoon tea somewhere.  This year, at our request, it was at the Science Museum.

We booked our tea for 15:00, and were told we needed to be at the museum by 14:30, but we wanted a bit of a look round while we were at it, so we left home about 13:15 (as I need to eat regularly, I had had a small lunch at about noon; the Swan Whisperer, who had been out all morning, didn't bother), going on the Tube from Brixton, and changing at Victoria.  We walked through the tunnel at South Kensington, to save faffing about with crossing the road, and were quite surprised how long it was!  The other museums were nearer....

Anyway, we got there at last and got into the museum very easily.  It is so different from what it was in my childhood, although the horrible mine is still there at the entrance!  It's even changed since we took the Boy there when he was a toddler!  We pottered round "The Making of Modern Life", and had planned to visit the Space exhibition, but this was rendered hideous by school groups racing up and down and screaming.  There is much to be said for the old-fashioned "crocodiles"!  So we decided to go up to the first floor - the café where the tea was is on the 2nd - as somehow one hardly ever goes above the ground floor.  In my childhood, there was a large children's area in the basement, which was our go-to on wet days when we stayed with my grandmother, who lived nearby.  That's long since gone, of course.  Anyway, we looked round the Wellcome exhibition, and then went upstairs.  I left the Swan Whisperer looking round the mathematical exhibition, which meant less than nothing to me, and spent a very happy 20 minutes wandering round the Clock Museum, which was totally new to me. 

The SW had to pay a quick visit to the Difference Engine, of course.  And then it was time for tea.

The service was good and attentive, and the meal was delicious.  But I'm only giving it four stars, as they had no lemon to put in my tea.  I don't bother with it at home, but on a special occasion - and they ought to have had it.  What they did provide, though, was a doggy-bag, as I couldn't eat all my share, so I've bought it home and will enjoy some of it later.  I watched the end of the men's free on my phone while we were waiting to be served!  

We decided to go home on the bus, which was a bit of a mistake as it was very slow, due to road works, but we got there in the end.  And home in time for most of the pairs free!

The Caravan, Camping and Motorhome show, 17 February 2026

In hindsight, of course, we should have gone by train to the NEC, but when your tickets include free parking, you don't really think of it!  However, the NEC is about 3 hours each way from London, and it made for a very long day in the car.

We set off at about 10:15 am, stopping for petrol and buying sandwiches when we were at it, and arrived at about 13:30.  We were able to catch a shuttle-bus up to the NEC itself, our car park being about 15 minutes' walk away.  Once there, we made ourselves comfortable, and then spent a very happy 3 hours or so wandering around the five halls devoted to the exhibition.

We are not in the market for a new motorhome, but it was nice to look round the new Pilotes, deciding what was nicer than our one, and what was less so ("But where do they put their clothes?" we asked, of one model!).   However, the joy of these occasions is the huge variety of stalls scattered along the sides of the halls, selling everything from accessories for a motor home or caravan (but we couldn't find a reversing camera, which is what we really wanted, and the only thing that might have been a stove-top oven, which I quite want (like this one, for instance) was eye-wateringly expensive.  In the end, we didn't buy very much - a new power-bank which came with a free screen protector for the Swan Whisperer's phone, and some glasses-cleaner (what, has that got to do with camping, I wonder - something we wondered about many of the offerings!).  We did, however, pick up quite a lot of brochures about France (which, one of the stall-holders told us, is pretty much completely under water right now - I hope we don't get too wet when we set off next week), and about television aerials/wi-fi boosters, as ours doesn't seem to work.

After a much-needed cup of tea, with a slice of cake (for the Swan Whisperer) and a flapjack for me, it was time to head home.  There was no sign of a shuttle-bus to our car park, so we walked back, and then it was a long, slow drive home.  I did sleep some of the way, but found this morning that it takes more than one night's sleep to recover from this level of exhaustion.  But it was great fun, and I'm glad we went.  Next year, if we go again, it will be by train!

An afternoon with Bartholomew. 26 January 2026

The boys had an INSET day today.  The Lanky Teenager planned to spend the day with his friends, playing badminton and maybe revising (February mocks are coming up), but Boy 2, at a loose end, said he'd like to come to us.

He came by himself for the first time, having stayed on the Tube after his mother got off.  We met him at Brixton, although I'm sure he would have been perfectly capable of travelling the rest of the way on his own.  

We didn't do anything in the morning; the Swan Whisperer had a meeting, and then he had some paperwork to catch up on, so it was lunchtime before we headed off, to eat at Mama Lan (link) at Boy2's request - we've eaten there before and enjoyed it.  I chose chicken wings and vegetable dumplings, he had chicken noodle broth and the Swan Whisperer had chicken fried rice.  All delicious, although I did give the SW one of my chicken wings and probably shouldn't have eaten the last one, either.  

Then we went out. I wanted to see the Great Hall and the Hogarth Staircase at St Bartholomew's Hospital, which is on a direct 59 bus from Brixton, so we went there.  

First of all you come across the church of St Bartholomew the Less, which we looked into briefly, having come through the Tudor Arch with its statue of Henry VIII (didn't manage to get a photo of the statue, which is apparently the only one of him).  

It was well worth going - the staircase, portraying the Pool of Bethesda (link) and the Good Samaritan.  And the Great Hall is truly spectacular - three fireplaces, which reminded me of a mediaeval hall, and it's about that size! 

It is part of the North Wing of the hospital, which had three wings built round a large square (the East wing was delayed as their treasurer absconded with the funds but was eventually built),

designed by James Gibbs and built in the 18th century (I think - I am finding it a bit vague).  The site has been beautifully restored, and has not been open to the general public before.

When we had finished, we went into the hospital museum, which was quite interesting, and included a short film about the life of the first founder, Rahere.  Henry VIII had to refound it after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, as one of the Laws of Unintended Consequences was a vast influx of sick and indigent people that had previously been cared for by the religious communities and now had nowhere to go.  

After the Museum, we visited St Bartholomew the Great church (link), just outside the hospital, which is apparently London's oldest parish church.  It works closely with St Bartholomew the Less, within the hospital grounds.  It was rather lovely, although it honked of incense (which isn't really a bad smell, but doesn't actually enable me to worship.  Still, each to their own.), with Rahere's tomb

and modern paintings and an appalling Damien Hirst statue (link) showing St Bartholomew holding his skin. I did not take a photo of it!

When we had finished, there was about half an hour before the Daughter was due to finish work, so we decided to walk over to Tavistock Place.  This was through a part of London I really don't know very well, through a couple of old graveyards and past the Postal Museum.  I'd shared our location with the Daughter, so she came to meet us.  Then the SW and I jumped on the nearest bus, and changed at Holborn on to a 133 to Brixton - I fell asleep! - and then there was a 35 just behind, so home.  

Photos on Facebook, as per usual.