Shouting from the Hop

Bank Holidays in the UK are a little strange, I think. If the weather is poor, we all complain, and no doubt end up indoors cleaning or doing those jobs that we supposedly should have done at other times; if the weather is good, we often go out for the day, but complain because everyone else is doing exactly the same thing and getting in our way!

So this August Bank Holiday Monday, my girlfriend and I decided not to head for the coast on the lovely day that dawned. Nor would we head for the Notting Hill Carnival - a magnet for nutters in my opinion! We would head for an area of London that is normally very busy on a Monday, but hopefully would be a lot quieter today - the City!

We walked from London Bridge along the river to the Tate Modern, and took in the Frida Kahlo exhibition (on till 9 October if you are interested). This Mexican-German had a tough life. She was involved in a bad bus/tram accident when only 18 years old, and took up painting as a way of recuperation. Many of the 200 or so images she painted show her at various stages of her life, usually pained, rarely happy. She was obviously fiercely patriotic toward Mexico, and hated America, though she did spend some time living there. Some paintings are hard - showing births or miscarriages in graphic detail for instance. She died aged 47, and was happy to go by the sound of it, bidding farewell to doctors with the words "I hope the exit is joyful - and I hope never to come back". The gallery took about an hour to get round, as it wasn't too busy thankfully. I enjoyed looking at her work, though she will never be a favourite artist of mine (not that I have one...).

From the Tate, we crossed the Millennium Bridge (see left - which didn't wobble) and went into St Pauls Cathedral as the girlfriend had never been inside. We walked up to the Whispering Gallery (where we sat and listened to the organ for a while), then upwards again to the Stone and Golden Galleries, 530 steps and 85 metres high! You get some great views of London from up there (see top pic) and no glass to photograph through like the Eye; I took great delight in pointing out various buildings - the Wembley arch, Buck House (just visible), Kings Cross station, Shooters Hill tower, Earls Court, etc, but I couldn't spot Ashburton Grove - the new Arsenal stadium - for some reason...

Down again, we had a drink in the crypt, and then set off into the quiet area behind the cathedral, making our way across Cheapside toward London Wall. We found a really nice small park with a monument to the actors who made Shakespeares work come alive (without whom he wouldn't have been anybody if you think about it...). We found a road called Love Lane - aaahhh. We found an ex-church, bombed in 1940 and now a small park. We crossed over to Moorgate, past a new glass building that is curved on two sides (hard to explain...) and an Arab bank that is classic art nouveau style according to her who knows!

Then we walked through to the NatWest Tower, now Tower 42 (see right), once the tallest building in London, and on to 30 St Mary Axe, known as the Humbug building (see below). We sat here for a while looking at the structure. Apparently a window fell out some time back early one morning but was hushed up; you can see a couple of window places apparently covered by chipboard so it may be more than one window went walkies?

As we came by Fenchurch Street station, we had to stop as filming was taking place outside a hotel; we recognised Adrian Lester, and lots of (obviously) police-uniformed actors were there too wearing SWAT hats and the like, so it looked like a scene from one of our fave TV programmes - Hustle - was being filmed - the one with Robert Wagner where they sting other baddies.

We missed the last boat down to Greenwich so had to make do with a busy DLR ride through Docklands back to Lewisham and a bus home from there.

It was fun coming up to town in a non-work context, where we could wander around and check out all those places that you see all the time but don't have time to stop at during a normal working day. You all should do it given the chance!