I came across this squirrel one day in Kensington Gardens. The poor thing appeared to be suffering from a cold and as I had a packet of 'Lockets' those honey throat sweets as I had recently had similar I offered one to the greedy creature. he took it happily and sat chomping away, and breathing better, on this branch. I left another at the foot of the tree for him as I suspected he would require more. I was surprised that he accepted the sweet as they are not in fact very sweet and are very strong, I thought too strong for him. I was wrong. The beast appeared happier and so was I.
'Ally Pally' a city set on a hill and seen for miles around. A white elephant writ large. I don't think this has ever been of much use to the world. Alexandra Palace was opened in 1873 (rebuilt after a fire in 1875) as a counterpoint to the 'Crystal Palace' now resident in south London. The main aim was an entertainment centre but I am not sure it was a success. In 1936 the BBC TV made use of it as a TV studio, awfully well spoken announcers in evening dress and limited programming and even limited audiences. It was possible for the TV folks to walk round the town and shake hands with all the viewers if they wished.
The war, this occurred in 1939 look it up, put an end to TV transmissions but the Ally Pally was used by the BBC for a while after the war for both Radio & TV, the aerial towering above is still in use, but when the BBC found other studios the Palace was handed over to a multitude of wide ranging organisations and is still in use for pleasure purposes today. I would go but I canny be nothered climbing the hill.
I took this poor snap from a friends top floor flat which looked over the wide expanse of London. The sights at night must be terrific and the fireworks displays are best seen from up here. It is a shame the flat was expensive to run and a bit pokey and she moved to a more sensible rented accommodation. How the rich live!
One night in the London Favela I got bored and attempted to burn the place down by making use of candles to save electricity, it did not work. The place did not burn, no insurance was handed out and I saved no money.
Sometimes I wish I had kept hold of that old Leica. However it was a bit awkward to use and 1938 cameras do not do digital. Just think how recently we made use of those wee canisters of film. It appears like another world where the old fashioned process of developing and printing took so much time and effort while now we can in minutes rather than wait a week or so we can decide we have taken rubbish pictures! One great step for mankind.
Time to hit the road, something I often did when cycling...
6 comments:
A great boon not to have to pay to have pictures of my thumb developed...
Squirrels are rats with hands.
If you think they are cute, you just don't know them.
Fly, Yes I found one or two of those...
Kay, Wonderful things squirrels. You realise these gray ones are American!
You should have kept the Leica even if it was just for nostalgia. They were the business and so well made. I had a Russian copy of it "the Zorki" or something like that and whilst the lens was ok the mechanisms were very poor.
Dave, Yes I made a mistake there with the camera. I also had a Zorki around 1976 but it had a problem. I gave it to my brother to mend, he was a camera technician, and I have not yet had it returned!
Times they are a-changing...and particularly when it comes to cameras and picture-taking!
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