My last post made so bold as to claim that spring had sprung. This prediction fortunately seems to be well founded – to the extent that I am creating this post at my outside table.
Tomorrow work will start on my outside space since in its other function as a roof it is leaking and therefore needs replacing.
Continuing the theme I opened up two blogs ago of the 150th anniversary of London Underground and the series of books published to honour this event, although the book connected to the Bakerloo line was actually a proper book unlike Parreno’s travesty, it was a very disappointing one, being devoted almost exclusively to the Sony Walkman. Although not so rich in options as the Hammersmtih & City line, the Bakerloo is by no means starved of interesting possibilites any or all of which would have resulted in a much better book than Morley’s contribution. In order from South to North some of the possibilites are:
Elephant of Castle and the urban legend concerning the origins of that name.
Waterloo: The South Bank Centre, the National Theatre, the National Film Theatre, The Museum of the Moving Image, the Neon Sculpture, the walk along the Thames (concentrate on the local stretch as far as Blackfriars), the London Eye, the Millennium footbridge, London’s biggest railway station (and Britain’s first international rail terminus) and much more.
Charing Cross: Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery, ‘The Knowledge’ and London Black Taxis etc.
Piccadilly Circus – many possibilities
Oxford Circus – London’s best known shopping street etc.
Baker Street – In addition to yesterday’s post this is the point at which the Jubilee line took over what used to be the Stanmore branch of the Bakerloo.
This little lot, by no means a complete listing, provides plenty of possibilities for a book that is a) genuinely connected the line it commemorates and b) would be the proverbial country mile better than the actual one.
the VFR part of the title is an abbreviation for View from the Rooftop, which was a regular feature of this blog until I discontinued it a while back. It returns because this morning I noticed a view I had not previosuly captured on camera:
aspiblog 