After lunch, Tigger proposed a trip to Victoria and from there to St James’s Park.

Catching the 38

Accordingly, we masked up and caught a number 38 bus.

Victoria Station

We arrived at Victoria Station and went inside. The first purpose was to check the “facilities” and make sure they were open. They were, so we could come here if need be.

Inside the station

Stations are apt to be busy places but as it was still early afternoon it wasn’t too crowded.

Visiting a shop

The station has upper area with shops and food outlets. We went for a look and found that many were closed but one or two were open. One of these was Hema and we paid it a visit. This is the first time I have been inside a shop (apart from Sainsbury’s) since lockdown was imposed. Quite an event, in its way.

Near the station is a public garden. It is shaped like two triangles touching one another by one corner each and the parts are called Grosvenor Gardens and Lower Grosvenor Gardens, respectively. We had noticed something interesting in the gardens as our bus went by and now returned for a look.

Small, Medium, Large
Richard Woods

What we had seen was in fact a work of art, by Richard Woods, entitled Small, Medium, Large. This website provides an explanation of the work.

In the second photo above, you may notice that there is a rough sleeper asleep against the end of the artwork. Perhaps the art provides some shelter from the cold wind.

Little Ben

Near Victoria Station, at a crossroads, stands this pretty tower clock. First installed in 1892, it was refurbished and reinstalled in 1964 by Westminster Council with the help of Elf Aquitaine UK as (according to the plaque) “a gesture of Franco-British friendship”.

Presumably a work of art

Passing through a shopping mall, we spied this object of green glass. It’s presumably a work of art though I didn’t see a plaque.

Icon above a door

On a street corner, we saw this small tableau or icon above a door. I assume it has religious significant though I could be wrong. It reminded me of our visits to Flanders where there are religious sculptures on many street corners.

Beds of flowers

The sight of these vividly coloured beds of flowers indicated that we had reached St James’s Park.

Buckingham Palace

St James’s is a royal park and nearby is the royal residence of Buckingham Palace. All around the palace was still and quiet, the lack of traffic and tourists contrasting with “normal” times.

St James’s Park Lake

St James’s Park is quite large (23 hectares or 57 acres) and has different areas of flower beds, trees and a lake. It also has a sizeable cafe, currently closed. I was pleased (relieved even) to discover that the park’s toilets were open for an entry toll of 20p (electronic payments only!).

The park is big enough that you need to decide what to concentrate on, whether strolling or lounging, for example, or, more to our taste, watching the birds on and around the lake. There are dizzyingly many birds and different species, attracted no doubt by the abundance of food, some natural and some provided by human visitors.

Black swan

One of our first sightings was of this black swan, one of several on the lake.

People come to the park to feed the birds and the birds have become used to this and to putting aside their usual caution. Several people had birds perched on their hands feeding.

A pigeon muscles in

This lady has perfected the technique of holding bird food in both hands while providing fingers for parakeets to perch on while eating. All was going well and calmly until a pigeon tried to muscle in and knocked one of the parakeets off her hand.

Pigeon frenzy

Someone must like pigeons as much as I do! I have often shown you pigeon photos but none quite as animated as this scene!

Amazingly many coots

We sat on a bench beside the lake and watched the water fowl. Along with ducks, geese, moorhens and other species, coots are present in huge numbers. I have never seen such a concentration of coots anywhere else. Despite their small size, they are quite aggressive at defending what they consider their territory and we did see some scuffles but for the most part, they were willing to co-exist. I can only think this is because there is plenty of food for all.

A flotilla of pelicans

At a particular moment, a flotilla of pelicans went past. Fortunately, they did not approach but continued on their way. I say “fortunately” because these birds can cause trouble. It’s not unknown for one to scoop up and swallow a live pigeon, to the fright and disgust of onlookers. I was therefore glad that they moved on.

Paths for strolling

The park has pleasant paths for strolling (or jogging!) and provides an amenable place for exercise, if you live close by.

Well-kept flowerbeds

There are beautiful beds of flowers and all kinds of shrubs and trees, all well ordered and clean.

Fine old trees

On the way out, I admired this stand of mature trees, beautiful in the sunshine. The park, of course, is full of trees of all sizes, some of them young saplings and others ancient trees of great size. All quite admirable.

We now went to a bus stop close by and took a bus first to Victoria Station, then the 38 that had brought us here and now carried us back to the Angel.