In a moment of madness yesterday I glanced at the clock, decided I could make the 11 O'clock train, raced off slowly towards the station, was 'sighed at' by the lass at the desk in the way you treat old people who cannot get the card out of the wallet, and jumped aboard one of the new trains that awaited passengers - sorry - customers. Panting gratefulness I slowly recovered, fit? Not yet.
The layout of the new train was different, the seats harder, the coach empty, and remained so until we reached the larger stations where London bound thrill seekers boarded en masse. Two lassies even had the audacity to sit next to me and blether. Tsk! A decent journey in just about one hour as usual.
London termini have different faces to offer the traveller and none of them are very pretty. Either of Liverpool Street station exits offer crowded streets, high buildings and masses of people. The sky is rarely visible in this part of the world. When you think of it the sky has not been seen much around here for probably two hundred years or so as this has been built up for many years.
Naturally, knowing my way around, I took a short cut I had not used before through this dark alley. The pub on the corner contained many rather too smartly suited men for my taste, could they be estate agents or Bookies runners I wondered? Their outlook spoke of money the honesty of which I was unsure. At the end of this short lane, which I avoided and continued through the more modern road in front of me, I noticed this:-
This was the one time entrance to what was 'Cooper's Wool Warehouse.' Opened in 1863 with the 'Merino Sheep,' which you correctly identified, on top of the gate now being a preserved monument, one of many such in London. The building, like so many others here, was converted into offices in 1981 and recently upgraded. Among the tenants are the City of London Police who helpfully block the end of the street with their vehicles.
However I resisted the temptation to investigate and did not go that way wandering into this four sided ex-warehouse that I never knew existed. On the other hand the warehouse and its employees never asked after me either did they? Today a few eating paces, rather half heartedly operated, it may be they were just opening as it was just after noon or possibly preparing for an event, I did not wait to ask. This does however reveal how much money is being spent around here, the Crossrail project apparently bringing many companies to swarm around Liverpool Street Station in the hope of living off the traffic this provides in some manner.
I however, still convinced in the rightness of my decision to take a short cut continued on my way expecting at any moment to arrive at the road awaiting me and turn left as I planned.
I did not.
Instead I blundered on past those three storey London houses built in the late 18th and 19th centuries, all with shops at the bottom, almost all occupied thus revealing the vast amount of Bangladeshi's who now reside in this area.
This part of London has always attracted immigrants but do not tell the UKIP people as this upsets them, especially those descended from Jews, Russians, Latvian's, Poles, Germans, Italians, and so on and so forth, they do get upset about Johnny Foreigner. So many gathered about the TV last night to sing 'Britons (read Englishmen) never will be slaves, Rule Britannia!' I consider it difficult for Britannia to rule the waves when she only has seven ships and four are in dock.
The Jewish immigrants were famous in the 19th century, their furry hats and inward lifestyles upset many 'English' at the time. You will recall how many Jews were bad men in Charles Dickens stories, think of 'Fagan' for instance. These streets were also the 1930's hotbed of political action as the 'Blackshirts,' Oswald Moseley's imitation fascist army, clashed with left leaning folks who disliked his approach to the Jews and indeed everyone else.
It was quiet enough on Saturday.
I continued to goof and went further away from my destination.
Many shop signs revealed the ownership and heritage of the owner, just as they have always done here. Many were selling clothes of one sort or another, shoes, local stores plus café's and restaurants. I continued in the wrong direction hovering on the shady side of the somewhat downtrodden, let's be honest, dingy streets to avoid the sun. Lots of buildings required a good wash and brush up here while next door stood a plush restaurant or shoe shop. I almost bought a bottle of water from a local store but moved on as the staff were on hands and knees sorting things out. I obtained water for 59p at a plush local shop which was doing very well thank you, the butchers side helping his profits I suspect with Halal meat.
Many object to Halal as they say cutting an animals throat is cruel. Funny how no-one objected to the Jews doing this for Kosher meat until recently? However, a man I knew worked in an abattoir and was perplexed by the amount of animals that were not stunned properly before death. Handling a half ton cow which is desperate to escape does not lead to decent behaviour! A properly cut throat they say is quicker, less frightening for the animal and offers better meat.
Discuss.
Having left home on the basis that I was feeling as healthy as I have been for a very long time I was now beginning to find my knees thought differently. Wearing the wrong shoes and walking on ragged pavements did not help either. Luckily in the distance, and in the wrong place, I saw the tower of Christ Church, Spitalfields rising in the distance so there I headed across the very busy road. Once glance at the front of the building reveals that this Nicholas Hawksmoor building was not built to the 'Glory of God' but to the glory of the builders. It was one of Fifty Churches being built by the Church of England in the new outlying areas, only 12 were actually built, this one was chosen as the area was dominated by those Huguenots and their descendants who had arrived from Flanders and preferred their own more biblical chapels in the area. An outstanding creation but not in my view what a church ought to be, the locals agreed with me also. Those chapels now are often turned into Mosques by the latest incomers.
As I recall the church was in the 70's a place housing derelicts in the crypt. People forget the homeless, on Dossers as they were then called, existed in the past also. London has contained many since the Romans built their landing place here.
I recall a TV programme from the 1980's where the crypt was emptied, the homeless moved into the main building and an archaeological team removed the hundreds of coffins placed therein in days gone by. A disgusting sight as I remember it but offering valuable insights into the lives of those considered worthy of being deposited within. Rather them than me.
I was somewhat peeved as the church was closed on Saturday, possibly to allow the bell ringers to hammer passers-by ears. Next Saturday, as part of 'Heritage Weekend' it will be open! I will not be there! The link shows it may be worth a visit for some, especially as the old Market will also be full of feeding troughs for the rich and hungry.
This is what dragged me ought yesterday morning. I came across a picture I took many years ago of this door and wondered if it still existed. Desperate for a day out somewhere I decided, without proper thought, to go for it.
This was my inspiration! Taken on the old Minolta it shows little has changed in 30 or so years. The obvious change is the new owners, note the name has gone, do not enjoy tourists peeking in the wndows and make use of the shutters today. A great many homes in this area have similar shutters enabling the weavers within to continue their work while as much light gets in and cold weather is kept out.
A clearer view of the large windows while on the roof proper weavers windows on number eleven and a half. Fournier Street has a place for sale if you fancy it, bigger than these being on the corner, this is a 'snip' at £2.3 million. I must say the insides of that one are mostly original and well worth a look!
Braintree obtained its wealth from such people Courtauld's being the most successful Many weavers had arrived in Bocking and many places in Essex many years before and for hundreds of years they were popular and successful businessmen.
I was glad to have wandered about here, even if my body lacked desire for walking. The change of area, the sights, the memories and the blessed tourists all getting in the locals way made my day, unless I was the one getting in the locals way.
It is clear some weavers made more money than others, this chap has done well. Of course he may have retailed cloth, or even better become a lawyer and dealt with officialdom on the locals behalf, that would enable an economic growth for him!
The comparison between the plush residences and the poorer ones round the corner spoke of London as it has always been. These streets, not far from 'Jack the Rippers' area, have always been egalitarian. Rich and poor side by side, a very London existence. Stupidly I did not take more pictures of the rougher streets, Brick Lane in part being a bit rough, as there were so many parties of tourists around getting in the way, and I did not think! Many parties were led by guides offering tales from the past, others might just have read the book 'Brick Lane' and come to see if it was real. No darling, story books are not real!
I mused over the different building styles each century brought. These may be late Victorian or Edwardian. It was the tops of the building that attracted. I have seen this elsewhere, is it meant to be Gothic? Or is it just fancy brickwork to contain a room for the servant girl? Note also all the shops are in business, no charity shop to be seen around these parts.
It struck me as interesting that many clothes shops exist here today, many selling cloth of some sort, long years after the first weavers the area still has that connection. Today, Sunday, just down the road Middlesex Street and the local area turns into 'Petticoat Lane' and attracts more than just tourists to its many stalls.
That market, and London has a great many of these, goes back to the late 16th century and a clothes market was there in the 1600's. Spanish, Huguenots and Jews all spent time in the area and the market opens today on Sundays only, though nearby markets open six days a week. Bring plenty of money and argue the price for stuff.
Graffiti 'artists' I find usually leave only a mess however there are those in London that leave better images behind. The quiet back streets offer opportunity for such around here.
Created in 1894 this building, Bedford House, once offered 'good works' to the locals, education, alleviating poverty and the rise of Quaker social action. This lasted until 1947 when bottling plant moved in. Since they left the place has slowly fallen apart. Now squatted by 'artists' and 'students' who have repaired many parts of the building the owner, whoever that is, appears keen to let it fall apart, possibly to then sell it as the land would bring him millions! Such a shame, nice building.
Before reaching Bedford House I was much tempted by the street stall selling curry and the like. I failed to notice the prices but was sorely tempted to pay over the odds, something I do not delight in. On my way back I accidentally ended up here once again and entered the opening opposite the curry stalls here I found Spitalfield's Market, once home of fruit and veg now home of trendy London.
Many stalls, the food ones operating at full speed, the overpriced ones selling garments, handbags and er, objects, less so while people stuffed their faces. A very large market, full of the middle classes who have been told by their publication's this is where it is all at. They might be right, if this is what you wish.
Tourists abounded as I wondered what was the better part of the area, this tourist trendy place that I was become accustomed to in Notting Hill on a Saturday, or the real small shops and grubby streets I had passed through. The area where people actually live and work had something more honest about it. Life there being lived as it had been in this area since the 1600's, give or take a plague or two. Immigrants, new food styles, new languages yet by the third generation they all cheer England on at cricket!
I don't!
I have a feeling this was an undertakers display, I chose not to enquire.
In the distance on the last picture three men are standing chatting. Before them, hidden by the telephone box, lay a stall full of hats. Trilby abounding I would have called it, they did not. Guess who is the boss...
I noticed a stall calling itself 'The Naked Grinder' but like so much else around here that was not to be taken seriously...I found.
This is 'I Goat' a sculpture that is supposed to represent the waves of immigrants to this area. Quite how I know not. Standing on packing cases it looms high about the square. Why? No idea.
Artillery Passage once formed the boundary of the old St Mary Spital Priory closed down in the days of Henry VIII. 'Spital' is short for 'Hospital' and for around three hundred years after the end of the Priory the Archers and Crossbow men took over this space, hence 'artillery.' The alley as such came with redevelopment in later days and offers a look into ancient London, many such lanes can be found in the 'City.'
The symbol of ironmongers was a Frying Pan. These would be hung outside their door and the guess is that this now modernised wide open lane was once a grubby narrow passage which was home to many of those who worked that trade.
On the way to the station I hobbled by this shut coffee house. Rather a mistake I thought, surely business would be good at the weekend with tourists about.
I did rather like this however.
Back to stand staring at the board awaiting the platform number appearing. On the way in I noticed Chelmsford Station now had a coffee stall on my platform, previously it was only available on the London bound side. Therefore I decided to take the Norwich train and speed myself to Chelmsford, sip coffee and await my train which did not leave for a further 18 minutes after the Norwich service.
The Norwich speedy train trundled along.
It did not mention it stopped at Stratford to ensure someone insisted on sitting next to me.
We trundled on, I considered getting off and walking, eventually he returned to speed. Some slow train in front hindering the express. Tsk!
I left the train, allowed the crowd to depart, sought the coffee stall and found it shut! Typical, 2pm and he had hopped it! Do they not realise trains run on a Saturday? There was nothing for it but to wait 20 minutes for the new glossy train.
I amused myself by attempting to capture this aircraft high in the sky, this was not easy. Higher above, Stansted and Luton bound planes passed across the sky, all leaving long vapour trails to upset the environment lobby making use of such aircraft for their holidays.
I never noticed this before, it must be new. I had heard the story somewhere. Marconi the Radio people along with a major Ball Bearing plant existed in Chelmsford during the war, important targets for the Luftwaffe. Often Heinkel's would pass over on bombing raids. One night a large formation of enemy bombers attacked and Moulsham across the river from the main town, suffered badly with some 50 people killed and a great deal of damage done. As a troop train approached the town this signalman remained at his post, halted the train at a distance to avoid several hundred men suffering, all the while in a signal box that was seriously damaged and in danger of collapse.
It is nice to know he is remembered this way.
As I awaited my saloon car I managed to catch 66514 as he sped through at high speed heading I think for Felixstowe. He offered a friendly three tone blast as he passed 'God bless you sir' and hurled himself on his way. He pulled many empty flatbeds behind him, only four or five were in use and I wondered if Brexit was hindering exports? No similar train passed in the other direction, that way I could gauge the import side, it may just have been to gather empties for the docks of course.
Typical! The good train was put elsewhere and I was returned on the aged 321 which I must say has softer seats, though that may come from 20 years use of course! So it was home, sore knees and that coffee.
Today I remained at home, too stiff to cycle down the road! Once again enjoying the memory of the good things in London having avoided the bad. £800 a week rent for a studio flat, £2700 a month for one of the better class two bed flats! The empty flat here is going for £625 a month! How do they afford London?
