Fawley on Southampton Water

Evening begins and the light begins to disappear in the bright sunlight.  Here we are standing on Western Shore and looking across Southampton Water towards the Esso oil refinery.
Is this the New forest's very own source of pollution………

Love nature at the Eco show

2010 is the international year of biodiversity. So it is time to celebrate nature.  What better place to be on a Sunday afternoon at the end of May than Southampton Common for a great BBC Springwatch wild day out! There were woodland discovery trails, beekeeping to watch, sheep, goats and ducks to look at and of course loads of creepy crawlies to touch and feel!

Richard making the odd chair

It was a very very wet day at Crick.
As well as boats and all the bits you could imagine there were some exhibits out on the field.
One of the best of these was The Odd Chair featuring Richard Cook.  He was a wonderful country person who believed in ensuring that the old crafts of specialist weaving for chair seats and baskets survived.  So there was plenty of rush, cane and sea grass arround Richard was brilliant at talking and explaining what he was doing and why to children and adults alike.  Want to contact Richard go to his website at www.lodgefarmplants.com/theoddchair

Great tradition boats at Crick

Fellows, Morton and Clayton boats used to be all over the canal system carrying cargo everywhere.
There were two handsome and well looked after boats at Crick for the show along with some other vintage boats. Above are a couple of boats with their boatman. 
However much range there is it is never going to spoil a sight light this

Lupins

By all accounts there are over 600 different varieties of lupin.
Here are some wonderful yellow one from my garden. There are some red one too but no blue! 
They are such bold and upright plants. 
The flowers are always so large. 
They are usually produced in dense whorls on an erect spike. Each flower can be up to 1cm long.with a typical pea flower shape.  The lupin also has a very distinctive leaf well shown in this photo.

Silver moon in a deep blue sky

Big, deep, blue sky.
Small silver moon
Large expanse of water.
Island Barn on a Wednesday night when the sailing has ended.
Peace, still and so wonderful.

Derserted city centre

A deserted Southampton city centre at 7.15pm on a Tuesday evening.
This is what is know as 'above Bar Gate' and come Friday, Saturday or Sunday it would be throbbing with people. Tonight it is empty of people and the view from the modern showing areas down to the medival city walls is clear.
The Bargate was actually built in 1180 although the two additional archways were added in the 1770s.

Monday morning and there is crowd at Bitterne station

Off to Portsmouth and surprisingly Bitterne Station is crowded.
Normally there is only one train an hour on this line but between 7.00 and 8.30am the number of trains increase and so do the passengers.  On this sunny Monday they are crowding round the ticket machine!

Fancy a coffee

Looks a great place for a coffee. 
Fancy a hot steaming latte on a cool cool Vespa.
I’ll go for the pink scooter.
It has a real good feel to it!

Croydon and its trams

Trams are wonderful.
Why did we let them disappear from our city streets?
In Croydon they have brought them back and they run right in the heart of the town centre and three lines radiate from here to Wimbledon, Addington and Beckenham Junction. The Croydon Tramlink is extensive being some 18½-miles in length. Here is the tram that connect Croydon town centre to Wimbledon centre.

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Westminster wash house

Great place for a meeting!  Right near ro the Department for Education (note the name change) is the old Westminster Slipper and Swimming baths.  Know locally as the Wash House after the very good cafe on the ground floor.
A sort of building re-cycling really!

Great connections

How many stations are there is Acton?
One of the most important is Acton Central.
It has great links to central and  north London.  Change at Willesden Junction at straight into Euston. It will be brilliant for Stratford and the Olympics   Via Gospel Oaks you can get to Barking.
For years it was British Rail and the North London line but now on the Overground..
The station dates back to around 1875.  Back in those days it was connected to St Pancras.  In the 1970s it was connected to Broad Street (next door to Liverpool)
Amazingly, the station and the North London line survived closure from Beeching.

Acton Park or Car Park

Something is happening in Acton Park.
Why are trucks, pick-up and tractors parked all over the main drive way between the Uxbridge Road and Churchfield Road.  The photo taken at 14.24 today shows just some of the parking related to the council parks work site.  I made it nine in total!
It certainly made me think is this now a Car Park

Hamble Point with boats cruising by

Down at Hamble Point looking down Southampton Water on a cold and misty Sunday afternoon.
But what a location........... standing near the mouth of the River Hamble with plenty of boats cruising by. Looking across Southampton Water is Calshot  and its power station.

What a terrible crash

An amazing crash ..........but no one was hurt.  A trailer from the Moscow State circus came off the back of its lorry and crashed into a block of flats in Bittern last week.  It left a great hole in the site of a block of flats near to Bittern railway station.  As the police always say ....... investigations are being carried out.

Wonderful night sky ends the week

It is Friday............. another week comes to an end and here is the most wonderful blue/pink night fall at Southampton.
The River Itchen stretches to the south and lights twinkle in the distance.
What a relaxing view whatever the time of day!

Haunting trumpet sound in Quite City.

Friday night in Southampton.  Got away from the office early.
There is a concert at St Michael's in heart of the city centre.
What a great place for a concert with the late evening sun streaming in!
the concert had lots of great short pieces.
So no time to get bored or drift into sleep............
My favourite composer to start with.
Arron Copland and his haunting trumpet sound in Quite City.
Written in 1940 but fresh as ever today.

Just ducks: but devil and angels ones!

This blog has been serious for far too long.
Maybe this week it can go down a new avenue.
I know a couple of people who will really find this funny.
I speaking of you Pamela!
Just ducks but devil and angels ones!

Greening Acton

Parks are so important. The lungs of the city!
So much has been done to Southfield Park in recent years.
A large wild and wooded area has been created which is trying to turn park back from being a sports ground.  Here above is a majestic tree.

This says it all

Today this was the notice to take the prize.
Tube updates with a difference.
The place to announce the new Prime Minister!
It says it all.
Are we.........................

Spread Eagle

Dodging the trams in the centre of Croydon today on my way to a meeting lead me to pass a bar which must have been a Barclays Bank.  Well I thought so by its name.  
It was the Spread Eagle.  What a wonderful gold/gilt eagle there was above the entrance. 
 It was not the traditional Barclays sign so maybe it was unrelated........

A bit of research once home showed that the branch of the Union Bank of London and was built in built in 1893.

Cobden Bridge at St Denys and Bittern Triangle

Here is Cobden Bridge looking towards St Denys.
Plenty of boats along the north bank of the river where the water is deeper.
This bridge was built in the 1928s replacing an earlier bridge from 1882 when the land around Bittern Triangle was beginning to be developed for residential purposes. The bridge was named after Richard Cobden, a prominent Liberal politican who was a notable campainger for free trade and it was Cobden who formed the Anti-Corn Law League.

Bridge over the Itchen

Crossing the river at Woolston in Southampton has always been important.
There was once a floating bridge here but it the 1970s a new high-level hollow box girder bridge was constructed and opened in 1977.

The Itchen Bridge is located approximately 1km from the river mouth where it joins the Test on Southampton Water.  The picture below is as evening starts and it is looking towards St Mary's Church in Northam.

Woolston Millennium Garden is stunning

Down in Woolston near Southampton with time to spare for a photo or two.  I have always thought the Woolston Millennium Garden was stunning.  It was created in collaboration with the local ship builder, Vosper Thornycroft.  The garden makes links to the town’s extraordinary aviation and maritime heritage.  The theme is flight and float.   The main feature is a huge feather which can be seen as you are walking into centre via the Itchen Bridge.

The garden comprises three landscaped areas that represent the elements of land, sea and sky; constructed in grassed earthwork, granite blocks, and resin bounded stone and blue glass. A brick path in the form of an aeroplane propeller runs across the site, unifying the space and drawing people to the focal point, a 10 metre high stainless steel and glass ‘feather’ sculpture.

Decision day?

It is decision day in Britain today. Election day……………….. 6 May 2010 and the electorate will decide whether Labour go on for an historic fourth term or whether their 13 years of power come to an end.
I don’t think it will not be that straightforward.
The Tories seem to have failed to hold on to their great lead of last year and it does not look like they will get a majority of seats. If only the majority would recognise what Labour have achieved.

A British Bank holiday

Well the weather forecast did make it clear that the early May Bank holiday would have unsettled weather. Hail stones on Bank Holiday Monday afternoon in London were a bit of a shock.......
Anyway down at Channel Four they have been prepared for months with their umbrella display.

Roaring river

A small river gushes into the River Thames just below Staines Bridge.
It makes a real flow as it pours in,
Is it the River Colne?
Here is a photo looking up the river.

How many times do motorways cross

Now here is a simple question for you. How many times do motorways speed above boats on the Thames. So do you know your River Thames crossings?
The answer is four. 
The M3 crosses at Chertsey. The M4 near Maidenhead and the M25 crosses the river twice.  Once at Runnymede and again at the QE2 Bridge well out in the east of London.
On Saturday and Sunday Hallmark went under the M25 at Runnymede.  The crossing here is actually two bridges. Both carry the M25 and the A30.
The M25 Runnymede Bridge was constructed when the motorway was built. It sits alongside and complements an earlier bridge built in 1951 by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

Swans and Staines: statues

Continuing the swan theme in Staines I was wandering round the side of the old Town Hall and I came accross an outstanding memorial garden that features some outstanding stainless steel sculpture. You enter in via a hugh stainless steel arch esigned by Anthony and Simon Robinson.  The other key sculture is a swan and a signet made out of folded stainless steel.  It is remarkable.

Swans and Staines: eating and drinking

Staines is an important place for swans especially at the time of the annual swan upping.  As you would expect there would be a Swan public house, inn or hotel.  There is in fact an excellent Swan hotel.  It is just accross the main road bridge.  It has a river frontage and a large mooring area and it is great for real ale and breakfast.(I tired both at different times this weekend.)
 

Cruising over the May bank holiday

7 miles: 2 locks: 3.5 hours
Although the work on Hallmark was not complete arrangements were made to slip away from the Harris Boatyard at Laleham for a short bank holiday weekend cruise.
Hallmark headed off for old Windsor with an overnight stop planned at the Bells of  Ouzeley.
The Saturday weather was initially better than forecast by the time we set off.   Showers later and sun first!
Before too long we passed Laleham Boatyard which specialises in wood classic cruisers and then on to Penton Hook lock .
















We ended up in a lock full of large motor cruisers who seemed determined to use their bow thrusters rather than steer properly in the limited confines of the lock.
After a bit of cruising pasted banks lined with houses we arrived in Staines with its rail and road bridges.



















Soon after Staines Bridge you come to Church Island and moored there is Merganser V, a narrow boat that moored just down from Hallmark at East Molesey. What a great new home she has. Its a good straight cruise to Bell Weir lock and the M25 crossing at Runnymede. (Photos of that on the way back).



















Then the river begins a sharp bend in its approach to the memorials on Runnymede hill and Magna Carta island.  It is still a stunning sight despite the A308 running alongside the Thames. 


















Here is Hallmark as she turns round Magna Carta island. 
Rain begins to threaten on the last but short leg to the Bells of Ouzeley now a Harvester (a good one at that).  I’ll go for a drink after my chicken curry supper!

And so the first day’s designation is reached and below Hallmark is tied up before a real downpour of bank holiday rain.