Category Archives: London

187. This is the Modern World – From The Jam, Guilfest 2008

Posted on 16 July, 2008 by | Leave a comment

guilfest-2008-from-the-jamA police car and a screaming siren
Pneumatic drill and ripped-up concrete
– The Jam: That’s Entertainment, 1981

Better stop dreaming of the quiet life
‘Cos it’s the one we’ll never know
– The Jam: A Town Called Malice, 1982

Gritty urban realism. Recession.

That’s how it was then, and this is how it sounded. The Jam captured the mood of Britain at the start of the eighties. The loss of hope and the mindlessly brutal banality of an existence with no glimpse of economic rescue or absolution.
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Posted in 2008, Guildford, heroes, history, London, music, politics, summer

185. On the gallops – Epsom Downs and The Derby

Posted on 25 June, 2008 by | 10 comments

green-tunnel-crunching-flints-rifle-butts-alley-epsom-surrey-england-roadsofstoneSummer drifts across these hills. And on warm June days, this is where you’ll find me, the lazy afternoon lagging heavily at my heels all along this steady climb to reach the Downs.

I leave the grey town streets along the old familiar path and follow its narrow cut between the houses. Up ahead, across the road, the first field opens up beside me, but there’s still some work to do.
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Posted in 2008, geology, history, London, racing, summer, Surrey and Sussex

181. The Ophelia of Suburbia – Hogsmill River, Ewell

Posted on 30 April, 2008 by | 8 comments

weathercock-ewell-surrey-england-by-robert-brook-flickrThe rain is falling softly beneath a grey and weeping sky.

Dull, wet, oppressive sinks the afternoon, through a rising restlessness I can’t define. Puddles beneath my feet. Familiar streets chiding my every turn.

Northeastwards from here in Epsom, the city stretches wide. Twenty miles to London Bridge, and as many reaching out beyond. The megalopolis, looming heavy in the rain.
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Posted in 2008, geology, history, life and times, London, Surrey and Sussex, training

169. Down tracks and cracks in Paris and London – Tate Modern and the 1812 from Waterloo

Posted on 16 November, 2007 by | 7 comments

waterloo-eurostar-station-by-jan-hanford-on-flickrdotcom.jpgRain. River. November. On the long-awaited day that Paris came closer to London.

As I step on to the platform under a damp grey sky, there’s a farewell party in full swing around the station.

After thirteen years, the last Eurostar will depart here in a few hours’ time. And in the morning, when the first train arrives at a gleaming new St Pancras across the Thames, Paris will be just two hours and fifteen rail minutes from London.

‘Fog in the Channel – Continent Isolated’. So read the famous newspaper headline of yore. Not any more. This rapprochement is almost complete.
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Posted in 2007, France, geology, London, Paris, travel, winter

155. Le grand départ – the Tour de France in London 2007

Posted on 9 July, 2007 by | 3 comments

tour-de-france-london-2007-park-lane.jpg

The streets of London deserted … except for a million people lining the roads.

A Brit leading the Tour de France halfway through Kent, and pulling on the King of the Mountains jersey, later that same evening.

The best weather of the summer.

The Tour de France – in London, for the first time ever.

Truly, the weekend of a lifetime. And we were there, too.

On Saturday afternoon, we wandered happily from Green Park to the Serpentine, watching the cyclists flash by. The speed of the racers was simply unbelievable – Hyde Park Corner hasn’t seen traffic moving so quickly for many a long year.
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Posted in 2007, cycling, France, heroes, history, London, summer

152. Running on Roman Road 1 – The Devil’s Highway, Bracknell Forest Five

Posted on 20 June, 2007 by | 7 comments

the-devils-highway-copyright-microsoft-live-earth-2007.jpg

(updated and completed 26.06.2007 …
… banner image © Microsoft Virtual Earth)

bracknell-forest-five-rhododendrons.jpgThe straightest line on any map.

In southern England, as in much of Europe, straight lines most often record the course of a Roman road.

2,000 years later, Roman roads form an important part of our transport network, even today. Their arrow-straight trajectories define the traces of many of the modern roads which radiate out of London.

Even in this wildest and most remote colony of the Roman world (and perhaps especially here), the Roman legions had to travel. Trade needed to flow. The effective linking of the farthest outposts of Empire was necessary not just for military protection, but also fundamental to the process of Romanisation.

bracknell-forest-five-runners-on-the-heath.jpgThe traveller passing from Dover to London along the A2 and continuing northwestwards on the A5 from Marble Arch to St Alban’s is following Watling Street, all the way.
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Posted in 2007, history, London, racing, summer