Today was warm (20°C) and sunny, inviting us to a good walk. We accepted the invitation!
The first situation we encountered was that the police had taped off part of Pentonville Road.
Hotel taped off
The tape, strung between police cars and lamp posts, isolates the hotel and closes off Baron Street. There was no obvious reason for this except that we noticed what appeared to be a pair of shoes onm the road, suggesting an accident of some sort.
Update: The police cordoned off the area because of a fatal accident between a car and a moped. Report here.
Old Nurses’ Home
In Moreland Street we noticed this building. A curious feature is that what was obviously intended to be the entrance is now closed off with iron railings. The plaque over the door provides a clue as to the purpose of the building.
Griffon
Photo by Tigger
The beast appears to be a griffon or a winged lion. Underneath is an inscription that I could not read. Tigger was able to decipher it as indicating St Mark’s Hospital Nurses’ Home.
I can find no reference to St Mark’s Hospital in Moreland Street. It seems this building is now a clinic of UCLH (University College London Hospital). I assume that the old nurses’ home no longer exists as such.
Yellow lamp post
Another curiosity in this street is that two of these very tall lamp posts were painted bright yellow whereas all the others were black. Why are these two different?
Underground ventilation
There used to be a tube station here (I don’t know its name) whose use was discontinued. It remained closed for a number of years, presumably because the shaft was needed for ventilation of the Underground system. More recently, the old building has been demolished and replaced with this structure enclosed in “cheese grater” metal walls.
A plaque explains that it now serves a double purpose. It helps ventilate the Underground and remove excess heat (a perennial problem afflicting the Underground) and recycling this heat as heating for the local community. A neat plan and I hope it is successful.
Decorated with art works
The lower part if the structure is decorated with panels arranged in what seems a random pattern. Each is a composition of square blocks arranged in some way that is no doubt meaningful to the artist.
Close-up of art work
This is a close-up of one of the compositions to give you an idea of how they are made.
One of London’s excessively tall buildings
There used to be a limit on the height of buildings in London but, regretfully, this has been removed, resulting in the erection of ridiculously tall building that are not only a blot on the landcape but shut out the sky and turn the streets into windy canyons. This is just another wretched example.
At its base, however, we discovered something special.
Opening the lock
It is a sculpture by Ian Rank-Broadley entitled Opening the lock. It shows two men pushing one of the levers to open a gate of a lock on the nearby Regent’s Canal. One pushes with his hands while the other is literally “putting his back into it”. Their dog is paying close attention to their activity.
Decorative metal flanges
We decided to return the way we had come rather than along the busy City Road. I don’t know what the above structure is meant to be or even whether this is its final form but I liked the cheerful colours if the metal flanges decorating the outside.
Pollution measure
We came across this curious object affixed to a lamp post. Tigger asked me whether I knew what it was. I did not but Tigger knew: it is a device for collecting particulates in order to identify pollution in the local atmosphere.
As I tried to find a good angle for the photograph, two cyclists rode past. One was so curious about what I was doing that he watched me instead of the road and nearly fell off his bike!
Lunching pigeons
We continued back to the Angel by walking along Goswell Road. Near a small food store is an open area where someone had left pieces of bread. This group of pigeons was enthusiastically lunching on the bread. They looked happy and that made me feel happy too!
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p align=”left”>We called in at Jusaka for our coffee and found that, in line with the latest guidelines, they had reinstalled some of their tables and seating. They suggested we drink our coffee there. I didn’t feel quite ready for this, being used to taking it home. Perhaps next time.
SilverTiger at home and abroad 