City Road, the Angel

This is what the world – well, one small part of it – looked like at 7:31am today. I photographed it on the way to the bus stop.

You might wonder what I was doing out and about at this unconscionable hour on a weekday. The title of the post might give you a clue if you know your London but not otherwise.

The explanation is that I have an appointment this morning at Guy’s Hospital, in the block that resides in the street picturesquely named Great Maze Pond.

As I had no idea where this is, other than that it is near London Bridge Station, Tigger offered to guide me there. Today, she has to go into the office for 9am, hence our early start to allow her to lead me to my destination and then hurry off to her office.

Another point is that I was hoping that by travelling early, we would miss the worst part of the rush hour and the crowded buses that are likely at that time. In that we were successful.

There were minor hold-ups along the way because of road works. (There are always hold-ups because of works on London’s roads.) Despite these, we arrived with plenty of time to spare and, having found Great Maze Pond, turned back to the station and bought coffee at Caffè Nero.

With about an hour to go for my appointment, I am sitting in Nero with my coffee but Tigger has sped off to her place of work.

The Thames
Photo by Tigger

You may be curious to know why I have this rendezvous. However, as one person’s medical problems are generally of little interest to others, I will simply say that I have to attend Guy’s dental services about a problem my dentist could not deal with. I think the purpose of today’s appointment is to take X-rays.

Main entrance, Guy’s Hospital

I decided to find the entrance to Guy’s even though it was still early. I found it but was asked to take a seat in the lobby until nearer my appointment time (9:45). I was happy to do this as it’s warmer there than traipsing around outside.

The name of Great Maze Pond derives from a manor house called Maze that once existed hereabouts. On its land there was indeed a “great pond” though it had been filled in and built on sometime in the 1800s. You will find something of the history of the area here.

At 9:30, I made my way to the lifts and pressed the button for Floor 22.

It’s somewhere up there

I won’t bore you with an account of what happened on Floor 22. Suffice it to say that I left the building at about 10:30.

Random Street view

The easiest way to go home from here is via London Bridge Station which is also a bus station.

Escalator to the station

To go from Great Maze Pond to the bus station, one must go up a level. For this you can take the escalator which is unusual for being in the open air. This is the only one of its kind that I have encountered.

Number 43

The 43 bus, which passes through the Angel, “terminates” at London Bridge Station. In Transport for London jargon, “terminates” means that this is one end of its route, a terminus. The drivers have the right to take a 15-minute break before travelling back the other way. Not that there is much that they can do while waiting as there are no facilities. I suppose they could pop into the station for a coffee or a visit to the toilet but I don’t think they are allowed to leave the bus. It’s a tough life, being a bus driver!

Just as I reached the stop, the driver opened the door. I was the only passenger on the lower deck though more people came aboard during the journey. Traffic las less dense at this hour but there were still the inevitable delays because of the interminable road works. London is an organism that endlessly grows and mutates and never reaches completion.