Fare dodger

Yes Mr GBT and I dodged the tube fare last week when we went up to The Big Smoke ...well I say "dodged" with my tongue firmly in the side of my cheek. Rather than fork out nearly a tenner just to travel a couple of stops we decided to enjoy the sunshine and use those things attached to our hips. That way I wasn't going to have to play sardines on the underground [I'm not quite brave enough for that again yet] plus we got to have some free exercise. Just as well really as I was fully intending to consume my body weight in cake before the day was out. I have to say that I did admirably on that front and achieved my aim effortlessly🎂 The other small bonus you get when opting for Shank's Pony is that you get to see some of the stuff that London is stuffed with......the latest selection of randomness for your delectation!

I expected this statue to mark some major historical event. Rather surprisingly it's the 3D version of the logo for a Belgravia drycleaners called Jeeves!

Around this area and into South Ken there are masses of very imposing red brick houses. This rather large eared figure is to be on the former home of Lillie Langtry. I know because her blue plaque told me so....shame it got her date of birth wrong😈

How about this one then for an impressive facade? I thought it was Art Deco and was a bit puzzled when I couldn't find any mention of it. To solve this little mystery I went back to the route of our journey and was able to identify it as the Ismaili Centre. I was rather surprised to find it was only built in the 1980s [by the Casson Conder Partnership]. It has had a fair amount of criticism levelled at it, but I find it quite pleasing, particularly the windows.

This is the "Twelve Responses to Tragedy" by Angela Conner. It's a thought provoking piece put up in memory of all the people who were imprisoned or killed by the communist governments after they were repatriated at the end of the WWII. It has 12 faces from children to old people peering out on all sides.

This one captures the colours of the season for me. It's part of the Belgravia in Bloom and this one depicts the return of the funfair to the wild. Despite London being so built up it always amazes me that 50% of it remains as green space.

So the decision to fare dodge paid dividends it seems.

Arilx

Booking in

So with another birthday safely under my belt I now have new additions for the bookshelf. These are the latest tomes that people kindly bought me.....it should keep me out of trouble for a while!

I follow the author, H.E.Bulstrode, over on the Book of the Face as he always puts up such interesting material in his posts.

Arilx

Slothful

 If you were to rebrand the race between the hare and the tortoise to one between Aril and the sloth I am pretty sure I would lose today. Weekend away working with a 4am start on Saturday morning means I'm not firing on all cylinders. The good news is that the show was another good one for us and even the M25, which is usually a bit of a game, behaved itself and ran smoothly. I don't think we have ever got past Chertsey before without sitting in a traffic jam. It was a delight to catch up with our fellow traders and particularly with one lady with whom I always enjoy a good jaw. I finally managed to find her name out this time...it's only taken me 5 years! Wisely I have juggled my clients round so that I'm here at GBT today so I can gradually catch up. For reasons unknown part of the M40 was closed off on our way up which meant us going through some new villages. I have to say I did like the one that said "Drive slowly, see more". 

Speaking of sloths we were up at the Natural History Museum last week and I had no idea just how huge the Giant Sloth was...I know Mr GBT is a hobbit, but it is impressive I have to say. I suppose all those massive sabre toothed cats [latest research has decided that now that they're not part of the tiger family apparently] needed a decent sized prey to snack on to keep up their fine figures🐅🐯

Arilx

Cornered

 You can never have enough art work on the outside of commercial buildings as far as I'm concerned. They brighten up the urban environment and add an unexpected little something to enjoy whilst you go about your daily business. This one was London this week and has a rather pleasing Picasso feel to it.. Have a great weekend everyone!

Arilx

PS Have now found out this is called "Face to Face" and it is by Andre Mendes

Spot of silliness

 

Belgravia always seems like a place that takes itself rather seriously. At least one soul apparently doesn't thank goodness👀😁

Thank you for all my birthday wishes....lovely day. Short of time again....after this weekend is done and dusted things should settle. I always knew this past three weeks was going to be manic and so it has proved to be.

Arilx

Sweet surprise.

 I went to a belated Mabon celebration with my friends S & A last Friday...what I didn't anticipate was being presented with a massive birthday cake A had made me the day before🎂😊

I'm usually the one doing the surprising so this is rather new territory for me, but in a good way you understand. Here I am today another year older and no doubt not another year wiser!

Arilx

Milling about.

Much as I loved my old job the one thing that always irked me was the shortage of time. Every weekend was a mad dash just to try and keep all the plates spinning [even worse if I was working on a Saturday morning]. When I was made redundant I went part time and promised myself that I would ensure that we would try to do something non work related at some point over every weekend even if it was something very small. During the past ten years I have pretty much achieved that.

This weekend was a short jaunt up the road to visit the mill at Ifield which opens for a few hours once a month over the summer months and is free to see, so we decided to nip in for its last one this year. This one is a water mill and that pond was completely dug by hand!

Shamelessly parroting from the info provided the records of a mill on this site go back to 1274, but between 1500-1700 the mill that stood here [an earlier incarnation] was actually a finery forge and part of the iron industry. I was getting a bit confused by this point, but apparently "mill" means a machine with gears and wheels and the miller is the one who operates it. The water power would have been used for the bellows and to move the hammers. By 1660 it had become a corn mill and was again rebuilt in 1683 by the then resident miller family Thomas and Mary Middleton [plaque below]. By the 1920s it had become financially unviable and closed until a group of dedicated volunteers took on its restoration some years ago.

Not being one who is all that interested in the physical workings of the machinery side of it, I was however, surprised to find that a millstone has named parts and there was me thinking that all those ruts on it would just be called grooves. Naturally I am delighted to have found that I was provided with an accompanying sign to photograph so that I can always check back. It's included in case there are any other fellow geeks like me reading who might enjoy this type of detail [or perhaps not😂]

This last one is just here because it was a pretty🎕

It doesn't need to be anything grandiose for me to enjoy it. A short local outing pleases me just as well. Fuel situation pertaining we are due to be working away [and staying away] this coming weekend so there won't be any opportunity for any wanderings. There is a mid week day out to look forward to instead coming up thankfully!

Arilx