A late start today for Phyllis the Bike and I. It's the 10.56 to Paddington and I have no complaints about this journey. Hot, hot in London but I enjoy my walk from Bank to Millenium Bridge.
Every street in the City has a name that shouts out 'History'.
Here is the very Pudding Lane where the Great Fire started 350 years ago to the month in the bakery of Thomas Farriner. We know not how but fires were very frequent in those times.
Below is the monument to the Fire, named Monument, how imaginative!
Why have I never been here before? Better late than never! I resolved to come after seeing the current exhibition Fire! Fire! at the Museum of London. See my blog post, 12 August
'How long does it take to climb?' 'Three to four minutes' says the Guide. I part with my £3 (old lady rates) and I am off. Nice steps. Cool tower. Nice climb. Note the contrast between modernity and early modernity in my arty photo! Ha ha!
I have a certificate to prove it! Sorry no name yet!
And the views are worth the effort.
Here you see Tower Bridge from the Monument (above) and from the ground (below) on the Riverside Walk.
I walk past the very interesting area of Queenhithe and it's mosaic. Old Anglo Saxon dock.
Office workers are out for lunch.
I walk up from our wonderful river via St Pauls' Cathedral. Again, why have I never been so close to this national treasure? I love the surrounding area too. I make a note to visit the inside of the cathedral soon. It was rebuilt after the Fire by Christopher Wren.
After cooling off in Pret I take the Barbican High Walk from the underground.
On the way I pass the tower of St Alban's which is all that was left standing of this church after the blitz.
So much history of destruction in one small area. Now I am on the cool high walk
What a great place to read a book. (Spot the reader below) This area would be a wonderful place to live. A quiet oasis and out of our price range. And most pther peoples'. A disgrace.
On the way to Moorgate Station, I encounter two of T of N's favourite things, a bike stand and a Leon.
I take the H&C line from Moorgate to Euston Square.
I love visiting The Wellcome Collection and want to see the latest exhibition, Beyond Bedlam. Of course, during my working lifetime I witnessed the loss of the old asylums and the rise and fall of care in the community. I would also like to visit the Beaufort Hospital in Bristol where Stanley Spencer worked as a medical orderly and which is now part of Bristol University.
The exhibition catalogues the managememt of emotional distress from the Middle Ages. There is a brilliant film about the recent history of The Bethlem Hospital.
The Art Therapy of the Australian, Cunning Dax
and the unbelievable effect of Henry Cotton, make me think about the power of the medical profession. Perhaps we still make these sort of errors. But now we have more insight and involve patients in the desicion making process. Perhaps we are at this moment acting in good faith and doing all sorts of things that will seem incredible in a century. Ritalin?
I love Morphineomane by Eugene Grasset 1897. This illustrates to me that addiction has been with us a long time and is not going to go away. Not in a hurry.
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