Cheers !
It’s our first not sunny day. Forecast is for some rain during the day and some not rain during the day. Good day to catch up on boat work which now consists of returning to living mode from passage mode. And start to create a box for “charity shop” donations. Our intrepid pal John is off to Buckingham Palace and other parts. But after a really full day yesterday, Randal and I are ready for a rest day. And I have some over-ripe bananas that are ready to become banana bread.
Things we have to do:
Buy a rail pass
Buy a museums pass
Buy a National Trust pass
Buy a library card… as a non-resident
We have certainly lived cheaper places. Will definitely have to check out the “free days at the museums” if they have that here. Good thing we’re over 60 so we get the Concessionary Fares which can be used at off-peak times.
This email is more from the Museum of London. You can definitely tell that my interests are in the lives of the not-famous more than the rich and famous. Social history rather than political history.
It jumps around a bit as I wandered around among time periods. Bits and bobs as they say here.
Funny story from yesterday. After the Foundling Home Museum I went with John to Handel’s Home but only to read and wait for him. I asked the docent if there was a place to wait and she pointed behind her. But the big trunk there said, not for sitting. So I asked again. Apparently she had thought I’d asked if there was a place to wee and had been pointing to the Loo. So that’s when I had my first solo tube trip taking myself home by myself. John toured the home and then did more touring. He has a time limit; Randal and I have until March so we’re taking it more slowly.
Ru
Museum of London part 2
‘It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of London.’
– Sherlock Holmes
My knowledge might not be exact : just interesting to me!
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The City of London offers on one square mile history, feudal governance and global finance By Andrew Stevens 24 June 2013: The landmarks of the area covered by the historic City of London Corporation are known to many – St Paul’s Cathedral, the Old Bailey, the ‘Gherkin’ and soon the ‘Walkie-Talkie’ and the ‘Cheesegrater’, to name but few – but less is known about the Corporation itself. The City of London is often confused with Greater London (the area covered by the Greater London Authority), but the two concepts are indeed very distinct and separate. The City of London relates to the historic ‘square mile’ at the geographic centre of the region of Greater London. It is only one of 33 local authorities in Greater London, the other 32 being known as London Boroughs. For this, and several other reasons, local government structures in London (both the city and region – often referred to as “the capital”, though this term is technically meaningless) are very anomalous. http://www.citymayors.com/government/london_corp.html
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http://www.iwm.org.uk/ is the site for the Imperial War Museum also on our list to visit. |
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Our Street by Gilda O’Neill “This book focuses on the lives of Londoners in the East End during the Second World War. Showing the concerns, hopes and fears of these so-called ‘ordinary people’ it illustrates these times by looking at the every day rituals which marked the patterns of daily life during WWII. It is an important book and also an affectionate record of an often fondly remembered, more communal, way of life that has all but disappeared.” recommended by the Imperial War Museum is one I’ll add to my list. |
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Depression London |
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Newspaper article explaining the Chinese custom of visiting the dead. Jewish history is more associated with the East End and the Museum of London Docklands which we’ll visit one day. |
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Victorian Mudlarks The mudlarks generally consist of boys and girls, varying in age from eight to fourteen or fifteen. For the most part they are ragged, and in a very filthy state, and are a peculiar class, confined to the river. As soon as the tide is out they make their appearance, and remain till it comes in. These mudlarks are generally strong and healthy, though their clothes are in rags. Their fathers are robust men. By going too often to the public house they keep their families in destitution, and the mothers of the poor children are glad to get a few pence in whatever way they can. http://spitalfieldslife.com/2010/09/29/the-life-of-a-mudlark-1861/ |
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By noon we were ready to move on for lunch and then a visit to Dr. Johnson’s Home….. |
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London Wall “Built c. AD 200, the Roman wall not only provided defence and security to the citizens of London, but also represented the status of the city itself. Once around 4km long and enclosing an area of about 134 hectares, over time it was modified, adapted and added to, before finally being obscured and partially destroyed as new buildings were constructed around it. Today however, many of the buildings which had formerly hidden it have been cleared away, and visitors to the site can enjoy a clear view of the monument that defined both the size and shape of the city for over a millennium.” http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/london-wall/ |
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Randal and John looking at the map finding the way to Dr. Johnson’s House |
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Everyday Londoner at work |
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Police Phone The wooden police call boxes familiar from Doctor Who have disappeared from our streets but there are still a few examples of the sturdier phones on posts. Made of cast iron, painted blue, they were for the use of both the police and the public in the days before police radios or mobile phones. Their most common use was for members of the public to call for help with pregnancy or ‘sudden illness. The first UK boxes appeared in 1891 and went out of use after the introduction of the 999 system in the late 1930s. http://www.secret-london.co.uk/Phone_boxes.html Images of the Lost Metropolitan Police Boxes PoliceBoxes.co.uk is a project to collate photographs of Metropolitan Police Boxes in their original location. The ‘Doctor Who’ type design by Gilbert MacKenzie Trench featured mainly in London from 1929. By 1953 there were 685 police boxes on the streets of London. If you have a photograph of a real TARDIS-type Police Box before it was removed, please let us know. Click on a map icon to see information. |
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Sculpture in front of Starbucks reminds me of Av |
