It’s a lovely sunny day today, though not too warm, perfect for a ramble in the City or anywhere else. Tigger, who knows the City well, needed a couple of things from shops she knew there, so off we went.

A sunny day at the Angel

We went down to a bus stop where we could catch a number 43 bus into the City and, while waiting, I took this photo.

Aboard the 43

Travelling mid-morning means that the bused are not crowded as they are apt to be earlier on.

The lower end of Moorgate

We left the bus at the lower end of Moorgate. Here we are in the City proper, where every other building contains a bank and all the well known financial companies have offices. It looks deserted but only because everyone is indoors working at whatever City workers work at.

Telegraph Street

We turned up this narrow way called Telegraph Street. In the City there are many such lanes and alleys, often with picturesque names, remnants no doubt of the medieval street layout.

Whalebone Court

As an example, we came upon this passage called Whalebone Court. Could this, in times past, have been where artisans making goods out of whalebone had their workshops? It’s quite likely though the establishment in the corner these days is a barber’s shop.

Work of art?

Passing an office block, I photographed the metal structure in the lobby. Is it intended as a work of art? These days, artworks assume such a variety of forms that it becomes difficult to distinguish between a work of art and a heap of rubbish awaiting collection.

Throgmorton Street

We entered another narrow thoroughfare, this one called Throgmorton Street. According to Wikipedia, “It is named after Nicholas Throckmorton, chief banker of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and the head of an ancient Warwickshire family.”

A handsome pair of telamons

Among the items that claimed my attention in this street was this handsome pair of telamons,…

Premises with a clock

…these premises with a fine old clock that, I’m glad to say, is in working order, and…

Frieze above a gateway

…this frieze in relief above a carriage entrance.

We went for coffee

We made a pause in a branch of Black Sheep Coffee, one of Tigger’s favourite hang-outs on working days in the City.

Inside Black Sheep

Coffee and croissants

Although we had had breakfast before setting out, we allowed ourselves to be tempted and had croissants with our coffee. They were nicer than those we had yesterday and I cautiously awarded them 7 out of 10.

Unascribed work of art

This at least can be unequivocally recognised as a work of art though I did not see a plate with the artist’s name.

Also unascribed

This artwork was also anonymous. Make of it what you will.

Tigger visited the shops that she had come to see and made her purchases but I will not bore with this any further.

London Wall and Wormwood Street

We now walked to Liverpool Street Station where we would catch a bus for home. In the photo, we are crossing London Wall (ahead in the photo) where it mutates into Wormwood Street (behind me).

Liverpool Street Station

To catch our bus we had to cross through Liverpool Street Station, which was quite busy, as railway stations are apt to be at all times of day, and go up a level.

Für das Kind
Flor Kent

On the way through, I photographed the monument recalling the bringing of children to Britain from Europe to save them from Nazi atrocities. It was originally in front of the station entrance but had been moved inside, I don’t know whether temporarily or permanently.

Liverpool Street Bus Station

At the bus station we had a little while to wait for our bus but it eventually arrived.

Aboard the 153

We caught a trusty 153 single-deck bus that whisked us through the City and up the hill to the Angel.

We will have a little rest and then have lunch and perhaps go out again this afternoon.

As the weather was dry, a little warmer and even threatening sunshine, we ventured a little further afield in our walk.

Aboard the 38 to Victoria

In St John Street we boarded a 38 bus bound for Victoria Station. We disembarked one stop before the station and began walking.

Buckingham Gate

We left the bus here in a busy thoroughfare called Buckingham Gate which runs beside the gardens of Buckingham Palace.

In search of coffee and cake

We entered this pedestrian precinct full of restaurants and night clubs. Tigger had vouchsafed that she fancied coffee and cake so we went off in search of that.

Notes

Our search brought us to a coffee shop called Notes which supplied our needs.

Coffee and cake
Photo by Tigger

Tigger had a cake of some sort but I again chose a croissant. Croissants are among my favourites though it’s hard to find really good ones in the UK.

Steps to Palace Place

We set off to find a map shop that Tigger wanted to visit. Following the route shown in her phone brought us to this stepped street called Palace Place. (The proximity of Buckingham Palace has resulted in many local streets having “Palace” or “Buckingham” in their names.)

Palace Place

In Palace Place we encountered a man on a large delivery bicycle. Following his GPS, he thought he could cut through here, only to find his way barred by a staircase impassable for his loaded bicycle. He disappeared, seeking a way round the obstacle.

Buckingham Mews

Still searching, we chanced upon the picturesque Buckingham Mews. Is it as pleasant a location to live in as it looks?

Petty France

Not finding what we were looking for, we reverted to rambling and looking at (and photographing) whatever things of interest we chanced to encounter. Here we are walking along a famous street called Petty France. The name possibly derives from French Huguenot refugees who settled in the area. A number of important buildings, government and other, are sited here. I remember the passport office being here years ago.

It might be tempting to think that the “Petty” in “Petty France” comes from the French word petite but this is not likely. The word “petty” was used in past times simply to mean “small” or “of slight importance” as, for example, in the judicial term “petty larceny”. There is also a street near the Tower of London called Petty Wales for which any French linguistic connection is obviously non-existent.

Caxton Hall

We passed in front of the magnificent Grade II listed Caxton Hall, built 1878-82.

Caxton Hall, main entrance

The main entrance is lavishly decorated and provided with two sculpted figures with busts above them. We thought the figure in the right may be the then future King Edward VII but are uncertain of the remainder.

The nain doorway

This picture shows a closer view of the main doorway and its detailed decor.

A ground-floor window

This photo shows a ground-floor window and its decoration. Note that the figuring on the pilasters is different in each case and not repeated from one to the other.

Blewcoat School

We stumbled upon the local Blewcoat (sic) School, dating to 1709. Bluecoat Schools, originally dating from the 16th century were charity schools that accepted a number of pupils free of charge. Some accepted both girls and boys though this one seems to have been for boys only. The name comes from the blue uniform, a coat for boys and dress for girls, and the schools often feature a sculpture of a notional scholar – or pair of scholars, where girls were also admitted – on the façade as this one does.

Original name plaque with date

This school was originally founded in 1688, moving to these premises in 1709, and continuing as a school until 1954. Some other Bluecoat schools are still functioning as schools. More information will be found here.

The Greencoat Boy

Not faraway we discovered a pub called the Greencoat Boy and then several buildings with “Grey coat” in the name. I was beginning to wonder whether these too indicated the past presence of schools distinguished by the colours of their pupils’ uniforms. It seems the answer is both yes and no. The “Greencoat”, I think, has nothing to do with schools or anything else and is just an imaginative name, though I could of course be proved wrong. As for the Grey Coat, there at least we do have a school.

The Grey Coat Hospital

It is called the Grey Coat Hospital and is today a Church of England-run school for girls. (In past ages, establishments were often named “hospital” that were not medical facilities as we now use the term. They might denote charitable foundations where people could lodge overnight or longer. For example, the famous institution for old soldiers is called the Royal Hospital Chelsea.)

The Grey Coat Hospital was founded in 1698 and is an example of an ancient charity school that still functions as a school.

Two more architecturally interesting buildings that we “collected” along the way were…

St James’s Court

…St James’s Court and…

Westminster Palace Gardens

…Westminster Palace Gardens. I have not researched these two buildings: this is left as an exercise for the reader 🙂

St Matthew’s Westminster

Hiding coyly behind a tree is the Anglican Church of St Matthew Westminster. It was designed by that prolific producer of churches George Gilbert Scott, and built 1849-51, though almost completely destroyed by fire in 1977 and subsequently rebuilt.

Man in the Moon Passage

We now caught a bus that delivered us to Regent Street. There we were intrigued by the name of a narrow walkway called Man in the Moon Passage and, as it was leading our way, we walked down it, though it turned out not to be as quaint or interesting as its name.

Piccadilly

It led us to another famous London street, Piccadilly. This contains many interesting places to explore (e.g. St James’s Church, a bit of whose spire you can see on the left, Waterstone’s flagship bookshop and Fortnum & Mason’s store) but we were content to go to the bus stop and catch a number 38 bus back home to the Angel.

Aboard the 38 bus

It was raining in earnest today with no sign of an early cessation. We were determined to go for a walk, however, and set out bravely. Here I will let you into a little secret: Tigger has an app on her phone that counts how many steps she has taken during the day and she has fixed a daily minimum amount. This is good because it ensures that we go for at least one good walk each day.

Beware puddles

As you can see, it had been raining for some time and it was best to avoid walking near the road because of the risk of being splashed by passing vehicles.

Plenty of traffic

We walked down Pentonville Road where there were plenty of vehicles to do the splashing, especially buses with their broad tyres.

Walking down Pentonville Road in the rain

Here were are walking down Pentonville Road, heading for King’s Cross and St Pancras Stations. We promised ourselves coffee in the dry as a reward.

The Victorian Gothic Station

Here we are arriving in view of St Pancras Station, a Victorian Gothic marvel that was very nearly stolen from us by vandal developers who wished to demolish it. Happily, it survived and long may it continue to do so.

A glimpse of King’s Cross Departures

We walked round the periphery of King’s Cross Station without going inside. I took this quick-glimpse photo of the Departures building.

Eurostar Departures

We entered St Pancras Station by the entrance nearest Eurostar Departures. As the photo shows, it was eerily quiet. Though services are running, the frequency of trains is low compared with pre-Covid days. The only train showing on the departures board was the 16:31 to Paris.

I bought some books

On arrival, because I had been disappointed with the books I had borrowed from the library, Tigger suggested a visit to Hatchard’s bookshop in the station. We had bought French books there before. I went a little mad and bought four, shown above. Fortunately, they are part of the Waterstine’s chain and our Waterstone’s loyalty card had some credit in it which took some of the sting out of the cost.

A corner in EN&L Cafe

For coffee, we went to an establishment called EN&L Cafe. They have tables outside (though within the station building) but also some two-person booths inside. We sat in one of these. For a treat, we also had croissants.

Two views inside St Pancras Station

After our coffee break, Tigger proposed continuing our walk but doing so inside the station. The complex is big enough for this to make sense and there are several different areas accessible without tickets.

Pret’s “terrace”

We passed by Pret A Manger which has an indoor “terrace” for customers and…

A view from the escalator

…we took the escalator to the upper floor from where I took this photo showing the magnificent vaulted roof.

Upper-level ticket barriers and platforms

We have started many journeys from here when travelling to northern destinations. Perhaps we will do so again if and when Covid can be brought under control.

Sir John Betjeman
Martin Jennings, 2007

Here, on the level, stands a statue of Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman, his privileged position in the midst of the station being in honour of his support in saving this beautiful and historic Grade I listed building from destruction.

Shhh, you know who…!

As I haven’t included a self-portrait lately, I though you might be amused by this, slightly unflattering, view of yours truly, checking the sculpture’s details.

The Meeting Point
Paul Day

We also paid a visit to a rather different work of art, the huge pair of lovers called The Meeting Point by Paul Day. Around the base of the main sculpture is a set of small reliefs showing scenes related to travel by train and Underground. One of these vignettes seems particularly popular.

Homeless person and dog
Photo by Tigger

This small artwork-within-an-artwork depicts an elderly homeless person carrying her possessions in bags and, nearby, a seated dog. It’s not clear whether they are travelling together or have been momentarily brought in proximity by chance. How do I know the group is popular? Because they, and particularly the dog, are shiny from being touched by people’s hands.

St Pancras Station courtyard

We left the station by the courtyard and made our way back towards King’s Cross Station and the bus stop in front of it. Yes, Tigger had checked her app and found that she had completed the requisite number of steps for today, meaning that we were justified in taking the bus back!

On the 214 back to the Angel

When we had finished lunch, there was still time to reach the deli before they closed at 3 pm.

Cloudy but no rain

It was cloudy but the rain was still holding off so we thought we could take our coffee into Myddelton Square Gardens and perhaps feed the denizens thereof. We looked for the cats both in Claremont Square and Myddelton Square but drew a blank in both. (Cat fanatics us? Hm, well, maybe… 🙂 )

The pigeon colony on the grass

When we reached the garden with our coffee (and a jar of birdseed), we found the pigeon colony relaxing and socialising on the grass as they are wont to do when the park is quiet. We settled down and…

Pigeon mêlée

…threw some bird seed. Instantly, all the pigeons converged on the seed and the waft of their flight blew over me like a sudden gust of wind.

Squirrel appears…

Because we had chosen a bench close to trees, it wasn’t long before some squirrels showed up. The plan was to distract the pigeons by throwing quantities of seed and, while they were occupied, feed titbits to the squirrels. What could possibly go wrong?

…and disappears

Curiously, the squirrels seem nervous of the pigeons and if the pigeons go for the food you throw to the squirrel, the latter lets them have it. I suppose we can understand their point of view if we imagine competing with pigeons six feet tall!

“Have you something for me?”

The trick is to select larger items, such as slices of dried banana, that the pigeons can’t manage, and therefore ignore. When the coast is clear, the squirrels may see them and pick them up.

“Is it here somewhere?”

Surprisingly quickly, the food was all used up. The squirrels waited around for a while, hoping more food might appear.

“I’ll bid you adieu, then”

Finally, convinced that no more goodies were forthcoming, the squirrels faded into the foliage.

Discreetly withdrawing

The pigeons too began to drift back onto the grass to pick up where they left off when we came. So we also, having finished our coffee, stole quietly away.

We had not seen the last of the square’s indigenes, however…

Electra doing the rounds

Yes, it was Electra, doing her daily circles round the square. I managed to catch her passing by.

A last look on the way home

We, however, turned for home with a last look back down Mylne Street to Myddelton Square. Tomorrow is another day and will bring its own activities.

Today is Fathers’ Day, a fact that I became aware of yesterday when a card from my son dropped through the letterbox. That was pretty good shooting, given that we do not yet have Sunday deliveries of post. I also received a text from him this morning.

Though Fathers’ Day was celebrated by the Catholic Church in medieval times, its modern incarnation apparently originated in 1910 in the US, from whence it was subsequently imported into the UK, along with much else, both good and bad. More on this will be found here.

I’m not sure that I particularly deserve to be celebrated for my role of pater familias but I’m grateful nonetheless, and admiring of my son whose achievements in life far exceed mine.

Forecourt of the DoubleTree Hotel

As the above photo shows, today is cloudy, damp and cool. At about 11 am we as usual made our way to the local emporium of food and domestic supplies known as Sainsbury’s. This is a weekly chore but, strangely, one that I quite enjoy, though I have never worked out why.

The Farmers’ Market

Though it was not actually raining, the weather seemed to have a slightly inhibiting effect on activity in the market. The Farmers’ Market was less crowded than usual, I noticed.

The cafe has tables outside

The Millennium Cafe had, a little optimistically perhaps, put chairs and tables outside but there were no takers, apart from the group gathered under the canopy.

Closed to traffic, White Conduit Street

Signage around the market tends to be sporadic at best. Today there was a “Road Closed” sign banning vehicles from White Conduit Street, a sensible enough precaution but the first time I had ever seen one. The potted plant stall was present as usual but with a much reduced display. The gentleman in motor-cycle gear is probably a food delivery man awaiting a call because there is usually a gaggle of them waiting here in White Conduit Street.

Sainsbury’s was fairly busy

Sainsbury’s was fairly busy, perhaps because we were a little later than usual or because people preferred to shop under cover rather than out in the open in the market.

Collect your daily bread here

Tigger has the shopping run down to a fine art and knows exactly what to buy and where to find it. This includes playing the points game. We soon had everything we needed and headed for the checkout.

Queueing at the checkout

Perhaps for the reasons mentioned above, the queue at the checkout was longer than usual but we waited patiently for our turn and this came commendably quickly despite the loaded trolleys ahead of us.

Hurrying down Liverpool Road

Leaving Tigger with the shopping (I always feel a little mean about that despite my role as coffee-fetcher), I hurried off down Liverpool Road and…

Making my way through the market

…into Chapel Market, which seemed a little busier now, perhaps because the rain was holding off.

Looking through the window in Mercer’s

There was no one ahead of me in Mercer’s and I was served straightaway. Then coffee in hand, we made for home.

According to the forecast, the day will continue cloudy with the threat of rain. After a rest and lunch, we will see what we can make of the afternoon.