Fairy Tale London

Ah, the beautiful buildings of fairy tale London. Aren’t they terrific?

This photo shows the spires of the renovated St. Pancras Station peeping out from behind the forecourt of the recently renovated British Library in London.

St. Pancras Station was famously saved from demolition by the poet John Betjaman, who mounted a campaign to save the station.

His statue stands on the upper floor of the station, where he is gazing up at the roof – although of course what was really intended to be conveyed was of him gazing up at the outside of the station.

John Betjaman had strong views on architecture – particularly what he saw as the bad architecture that was intent on destroying English towns.

Shortly before the Second World War, he wrote a poem about the English town of Slough:

Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough!
It isn’t fit for humans now,
There isn’t grass to graze a cow.
Swarm over, Death!

Come, bombs and blow to smithereens
Those air -conditioned, bright canteens,
Tinned fruit, tinned meat, tinned milk, tinned beans,
Tinned minds, tinned breath.

Mess up the mess they call a town-
A house for ninety-seven down
And once a week a half a crown
For twenty years.

And get that man with double chin
Who’ll always cheat and always win,
Who washes his repulsive skin
In women’s tears:

And smash his desk of polished oak
And smash his hands so used to stroke
And stop his boring dirty joke
And make him yell.

But spare the bald young clerks who add
The profits of the stinking cad;
It’s not their fault that they are mad,
They’ve tasted Hell.

It’s not their fault they do not know
The birdsong from the radio,
It’s not their fault they often go
To Maidenhead

And talk of sport and makes of cars
In various bogus-Tudor bars
And daren’t look up and see the stars
But belch instead.

In labour-saving homes, with care
Their wives frizz out peroxide hair
And dry it in synthetic air
And paint their nails.

Come, friendly bombs and fall on Slough
To get it ready for the plough.
The cabbages are coming now;
The earth exhales.

To explain:’Ninety seven down’ refers to £97.00 deposit to buy a property with a mortgage and, ‘half a crown’ was a coin whose value was one eighth of a pound.

Betjaman was criticised heavily at the time for even talking about the possibility of bombs falling on an English town (something that became all too true just a couple of years later).

He was also criticised for what was seen as his upper-class attitude that wanted to preserve England as some pleasant idyll that in reality meant hardship for the ordinary man in the street.

I think he just knew terrible architecture when he saw it.

The History Of Mr. Polly

The mention in the poem of the poor young men who “daren’t look up and see the stars” reminds me of the theme of the novel ‘The History of Mr. Polly’ written by H.G. Wells in 1910.

In it, the hero – a poor downtrodden wisp of a man – escapes a life of drudgery and finds his own tune to which to dance through life.

In some ways it all seems so long ago. In modern England, everyone is free, free to buy what they want and to behave as they want. All the strictures of class divisions seem laughable – but they should are still there.

The Man Who Could Work Miracles

For another look at H.G. Wells’ views on the way the world works, there is the story of what happens when the gods grant a draper’s assistant unlimited power.

Rather, they grant George McWhirter Fotheringay unlimited power except power over the human heart.

He starts out bemused by his powers and is given advice from every quarter. In the end he decides for himself what to do with his powers.

Here’s a full-length film version of his The Man Who Could Work Miracles – unfortunately missing the last half minute or so when the gods talk about what has happened…

Look Out, We’re Surrounded

Two and a half miles (4km) from St. Pancras station, lies Bishopsgate – a street close to the heart of the financial district of the city.

I sipped my coffee on a terrace cafe and looked out at the old buildings.

For a while I was blind to what was behind them.

Then I saw, from under the lip of the large umbrella over my table – like something from the War Of The Worlds – a ring of glass and steel skyscrapers surrounding the old buildings.

On the left is the ‘Gherkin’ building, where council workers work. But for the most part the buildings house businesses, like the Heron Tower that you can also see in the photo and again in the photo below.

Do you feel dwarfed and rebuffed by these sleek modern buildings?

Tamara and I do. It’s not that we dislike modern glass and steel buildings per se, but the way the new buildings dwarf the old is unappealing.

We like buildings on a human scale.

Just because people can build huge buildings, doesn’t mean people have to build huge buildings, does it?

We modern humans may be taller than our ancestors, but we are not that much taller or bigger, are we?

Tamara and I feel the same way about large, empty city squares surrounded by monolithic buildings.

When they are filled with people, they can be lovely. But take away the crowds and large empty squares seem to be products of an idea that has forgotten its human roots.

Of Course, There Are Fine Buildings Too

There are fine buildings and other fine structures in London, of course, and some fine views. And some of them are large structures – but the detail seems to make them more accessible, less like glass mountains.

Here are views of the Thames that I shot for the article Six Angles To Shoot London.

For more images of urban appeal, take a look at these ecards featuring city buildings and urban landscapes that we have photographed on our travels around the world.
From England’s Stonehenge in Wiltshire and the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford to France’s bookseller’s stall on the banks of the Seine in Paris, to Israel and a walkway to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem; they are all here – captured as images for our ecards.

The Joke Goes Like This

The joke goes something like: Name five famous Belgians – and of course no one can. It’s supposed to prove that Belgium is boring.

It’s not true – at least as far as Brussels is concerned. After spending a week there, we suspect that Belgium has just had bad PR – and that the Belgians don’t mind that at all. In fact we heard that they kind of like being overlooked so they can get on with the business of living.

Getting There

Brussels: the capital of Belgium. It’s on the same latitude as Brighton on the south coast of England, just a hop, skip, and a jump across the channel – or under the Channel via Eurostar, with a route that terminates at Gare du Midi in the middle of the city.

Of course from Edinburgh where we live, it was cheaper to fly – and we had lots of Avios airmiles to our credit, which made it even cheaper.

Brussels – Isn’t That Where The European Parliament Is?

Yes, the seat or permanent home of the European Union Parliament is in Brussels, but it wasn’t fixed until quite recently in the history of the European Union.

For years there was a provisional arrangement under which the Parliament was located in Strasbourg, while the European Commission (the executive body of the EU) and the Council (the heads of state of the member countries) had their seats in Brussels.

Then in 1985 the Parliament had a second chamber built in Brussels so it would be near the Commission and the Council.

1997 Treaty Of Amsterdam

That ‘temporary’ situation was regularised by the 1997 Treaty Of Amsterdam under which Brussels became the workaday home of the Parliament under an arrangement whereby the Parliament also kept its seat in Strasbourg and would hold twelve sessions a year there.

Apparently, there is still some ill feeling between certain of the member states about the location of the Parliament in Belgium.

For Brussels it means that there is an EU quarter with new glass, steel, and concrete buildings – stretching onwards and upwards for block after block.

The Grande Place

Lined all around with such fine buildings, the Grand Place or main square in Brussels doesn’t disappoint. It is crammed to the corners with gold-leaf covered buildings. Take away the tourists and the odd sign here and there, and we could be back in the heyday of Flemish ascendance.

Belgian Independence

Belgium has only been independent since 1830, when it seceded from the Netherlands. There’s a painting in the Royal Art Museum of the moment of revolution in July 1830.

The painting shows a skirmish in the park opposite the museum when crowd in the street, protesting unfair representation in the Netherlands parliament, met with the well-to-do who were leaving the opera.

The theme of the opera performance was the overthrow of a regime, so everyone was in similar mood.

The Netherlands took the kind course of granting the Belgians’ wish to secede and the secession passed peacefully enough with a guiding hand from the French.

Historically, it was out of this mix that Belgium gained its status as a neutral country, the invasion of which by Germany was the match that lit the fuse that brought Britain into the First World War.

Musee Royaux Des Beaux-Arts

The rooms of the Musee Royaux Des Beaux-Arts (Royal Art Museum) that house modern art are closed for renovations (due to reopen next year).

The earlier art that is on show is wonderful, with several Breugels, Bosch, and at least one Rembrandt.

The outside of the building has seen better days, and the fact that it isn’t in tip-top condition may say something about how much money there is (or isn’t) floating around in the public coffers.

We did hear that a lot of money comes into Brussels because of the European Union having its institutions here. But for a capital city the state of its pavements (sidewalks) is pretty bad, with small up-tipped paving stones everywhere. (Not that we’re grumbling or grouchy or anything…)

The Comic Strip Center

The photo below is of the foyer of the Comic Strip Center, which is located in the former Waucquez Warehouse, an Art Nouveau building designed by the architect Victor Horta (1906).

Typical of Horta’s style, the structural elements are left on show rather than being hidden behind decoration. In fact, the decoration is purposely made to seem like decoration.

You can see this in the closeup in the second photo below, with the comparison between the stubby square sections of raw steel above the ‘classical Greek’ decoration that sits in ‘mid air’ partway up the columns.

Boule & Bill

A red Citroen 2CV features in the comic strip Boule & Bill. It’s the invention of the artist Jean Roba, who died in 2006 and who has a small room in the Comic Strip Center dedicated to his work.

The car in the foyer of the museum was given to Roba when he published his 1000th Boule & Bill cartoon, and it has been signed and dedicated with sketches by many popular and pioneer artists who were friends with Roba.

The staff at the museum explained all this when they kindly emailed this page from the cartoon strip to us.

A Load Of Waffles

And now to the most important part of Belgian culture, outranking even Belgian chocolate (which is world famous): Namely waffles.

You will find waffles in any small food shop, in little kiosks, and you will definitely find them in the screaming yellow vans strategically located in busy squares around the city.

Doused in chocolate, covered in cream, or just plain – take your pick.

Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm, delicious.

Trams

We took a tram ride to a meeting one evening – on #92 out to the terminus stop at Fort Jaco. When we finished our meeting, we got back on the tram and waited.

The driver came on board and before settling into his seat to begin the journey, he started to pour sand into little metal boxes at strategic points along the inside of the tram.

We asked him what he was doing and he said it was for the brakes. How interesting. How seemingly old fashioned. We guess the dribble of sand helps to make contact between the metal wheels and the metal tramlines.

Trams are a big feature in Brussels. They glide along while people dodge across the tramlines in front of them.

People have also made a speciality of deciding at the last moment that a different tram is the one for them – and they sprint to another stop to catch an approaching tram.

It was quite disconcerting the first time we saw it, with people suddenly running away from the tram stop at which we were standing.

One a more decorative note, even when the trams are nowhere is sight there is a tracery of overhead tram wires to set off the scene.

A Final Word On The Grand Place

The Grand Place is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and here is a photo of one of the buildings that flank it. It is the town hall, started in 1402 and completed in 1410.

It was here that the provisional government met in 1830 to set the seal on the secession from the Netherlands and the founding of the country of Belgium.

Look out for Part II of this look at Brussels, when we will give the lowdown on the Horta House – the wonderfully intact and renovated Art Nouveau house that Victor Horta designed.

Living In Edinburgh

We came to live in Edinburgh about eighteen months ago, and like anyone newly arrived in a place, we notice things that are different to where we have lived before.

Here are a few of the things Tamara and I have noticed.

The Long, Long Streets In The Centre Of The City

Edinburgh is split in two by the valley that separates the Old Town from the New Town.

Here is a view looking from Princes Street in the New Town, across the valley to Edinburgh Castle that sits high on the hill at the top end of the Royal Mile in the Old Town.

The castle is the destination for thousands of tourists and it is where the annual Edinburgh Tattoo takes place each summer.

The castle looks attractive seen from across the valley, but what it means is that the main shopping area on this side of the valley runs in a very long strip along the north bank of this gouge in the landscape.

And when I am standing at one end of Princes Street (named after George III’s sons), I keep noticing just how long the street is.

I will be standing at one end of and realise that the shop I want to go to is way, way, down the other end of the street.

Do it once and it’s OK. Do it for the fiftieth time and it starts to wear. Thankfully, there are buses that run along Princes Street.

I kept my thoughts on the subject to myself until quite recently when it came out in conversation with a native-born Edinburgher.

That’s when I learned that this sinking of the spirits at the thought of yet again walking the length of the street is not one that only newly-arrived people feel. 😉

Independent Shops Means Variety

Once you get away from the centre of the city, there are lots of independently run shops.

It’s very noticeable compared to the cities and towns of England, where national chains have taken over every spot. Seeing the same names in every high street in every small town is depressing – like being caught in an episode of The Prisoner.

So seeing variety in Edinburgh is a real treat.

Off the top of my head I can think of several independent coffee shops, a shop selling specialist teas, independent pharmacists, bookshops, craft shops, art shops, card shops, boutiques, ironmongers…

[For our American readers – an ironmonger sells household goods.]

And the coffee shops have made a proud art of coffee making. Here in Edinburgh, I have drunk the best coffee I have ever drunk. Artisan Coffee in Bruntsfield stands out, as does Blackwood Coffee in Morningside.

When I enthusiastically tell local people how wonderful it is to see so many independent shops, they look at me sadly and shake their heads. They explain that I am seeing the death of independent shops and that the city centre itself used to be full of independent shops not that long ago.

Oh! I hadn’t realised that it is such a time of transition for Edinburgh.

And when I look in the windows of so many shops, I can see shopkeepers sitting or standing in shops empty of people. The recession has hit Edinburgh just like it has hit everywhere else.

The man in the art shop told me that they will be able to ride out the recession, but he knows of many other small businesses that are going to the wall.

I like independent shops – I like to see things that surprise me. I like to see an independent-thinking buyer’s hand at work – seeing things that he or she has sourced that are not just like one can see everywhere else.

A Word About Books

Waterstones is now the only major book retailer on the high streets of any town in the UK. There are two Waterstones branches in the centre of Edinburgh, but oh it would be good if another bookseller could enter the market.

Maybe local Amazon bookshops? (Wash my mouth out with soap and water.)

There is The Edinburgh Bookshop an independent bookshop in Brunstfield in the south of Edinburgh – one that the writer Alexander McCall Smith called the best independent bookshop in Edinburgh.

And there is a veritable treasure house of second-hand bookshops on Westport, a street close to the centre of Edinburgh.

Acres Of White Hair

I keep noticing acres of white hair. I notice it on the bus and in cafes – anywhere there is a minor concentration of middle-aged people. I have never seen so many grey and white-haired men and women anywhere.

Is there a genetic predisposition to white hair among the people of Scotland?

If it were just the women, I would say that perhaps they simply don’t dye their hair here. But it’s the men too, and surely men south of the border in England don’t dye their hair, do they?

I wonder why middle-aged women here don’t dye their hair like women do elsewhere?

The women often wear their hair cut quite short. Not stylishly so like in Paris – just short in a no-nonsense style.

Scottish DNA – Faces And Bodies

There is a preponderance of people with little turned-up Scandinavian noses and squarish faces. And there are some very tall women with big frames. Not fat, just big. I’m over six feet tall, and I am sure some of the women are near my height.

Perhaps there is a race of Nordic Amazons in the population.

People Talk

It is easy to strike up a conversation with people. And they listen – and they are interested. And they are not in a mad rush to get on with too-busy lives.

Take a look in any restaurant or cafe and you will see people eating together as a group – perhaps 10 or so people at one table – and all talking together.

It great to see.

And there is often a busy chatter on the buses – except when the weather is miserable.

When the weather is bad, everyone looks ahead, just putting up with things. But that’s OK too.

Dogs And Cats

There are people with dogs everywhere and there are lots of different breeds of dogs – many quite exotic. Of course, there are lots of Westies (West Highland terriers).

Very few cats.

Beggars

There are a lot of beggars on the street. Or is it that the police do not move them on as they do in the towns and cities of England?

There has been something in the newspapers recently about beggars in the city centre, but until yesterday, I hadn’t the heart to read about it.

It turns out the Essential Edinburgh, a company that promotes tourism for the city of Edinburgh, has asked the Council to pass a bylaw prohibiting beggars from begging in the city centre.

I asked a beggar about the situation and he told me that there is a King’s charter entitling beggars to beg in Edinburgh and that is why they are there and cannot be moved on.

He said that Essential Edinburgh estimated that there are 30 beggars in the city centre, but that he thought there were perhaps more than that.

He also said that Essential Edinburgh wanted the Council to offer jobs to the beggars in an attempt to get them off the streets – but in the current economic climate that is a political hot potato.

What council wants to be accused of offering jobs to beggars when the unemployment figures are so high?

We talked about the attitude of people in Edinburgh and he said that people were mostly fine. He said he had been in London for a while, and it was the loneliest place he had ever been.

He said he loved London for its buzz, but he would much rather be in Edinburgh. I asked, ‘Even with the winter weather?’ – and he said yes, even with the weather.

Winter in Edinburgh must be tough for anyone sleeping rough. It gets very, very cold.

Wee, Zeros, And Double Letters

People do say ‘wee’ when they mean ‘small’ or ‘short’ – as in ‘Stay a wee while’ and ‘The doctor will be a wee minute.’

Unlike in England, people use ‘zero’ rather than ‘oh’ when saying telephone numbers.

And also, unlike in England people say letters singly. They say, for example, n, n, rather than double n

I Have A Problem With ‘No Problem’

When I make a mistake, I say sorry.

When someone else makes a mistake and I point it out to them, I don’t think it is appropriate for them to say ‘No problem.’

It happens all the time. Maybe someone hands me the wrong item, or the soup is stone cold, or whatever it is… and they say ‘No problem.’ Huh?

‘No Problem’ is reserved for helping someone out, for assisting with someone else’s predicament. It is not for acknowledging that one needs to correct one’s own mistake.

I don’t think people are being rude when they say it. Rather, I think they simply are not conscious of what it implies.

But still… Grr!

Birds In The City

There are lots of birds in the city. I have seen countless dunnocks (hedge sparrows) and I’ve even seen a tree creeper climbing a wall in the city.

Five Pence Pieces

There are lots of five-pence pieces in circulation – quite unlike England. Considering that England is just down the road, so to speak, I wonder why there are so many here?

The Spoken Word

About words, here is one tidbit that I heard – people from Glasgow speak the fastest and use the greatest number of words per minute of all the dialects and regions in the UK.

The Edinburgh accent is attractive – but occasionally I hear an accent that I think comes from the islands of the coast of Scotland. It has the most delightful lilt and tone – it immediately makes me think of days gone by.

Bagpipes And Kilts

Yes, there are quite a lot of men wearing kilts and yes, there are bagpipe players on the streets. It is also common to see bagpipe players accompanying the wedding party at weddings in Edinburgh.

A few weeks ago, I saw groups of men wearing thick wool kilts. I asked one whether there was something going on. Yes, he said – Scotland were playing Ireland at Murrayfield.

I instantly had an image of rows of Scottish supporters at the match, turning their backs on the Irish supporters and ‘doing a Braveheart.’

Ediburgh Zoo

Did I mention that Edinburgh has a zoo? It’s a first-rate zoo as well.

We recently wrote about Giant Pandas At Edinburgh Zoo.

And it’s in the city itself; not miles away outside the city. In fact, it’s just a short bus ride from the city centre.

If you are interested in animals, then Edinburgh Zoo should definitely be on your list of places to visit.

Did I Mention The Weather

When it is overcast, it is miserable – and the bad weather goes on and on and on and on and on.

So it is a relief to be able to write that since the early days of April the sun has been shining and spring has arrived.

Actually, it has come and gone and come again like a phantom – one day of sun followed by days of overcast gloom, followed by…. Sun!!!

Because we are so far north, one thing that is very noticeable is the dramatic increase in the hours of daylight as spring draws on. From the short days of winter, the early evening stretches on and on now, and it’s a great treat for the soul.

[The famous/infamous Edinburgh Haar that sits on the face like a mist of fresh dew is worth reading about.]

Can’t Wrap Things Up Without A final Shot Of A Bagpiper