maynardcase.co.uk linkfest

This is the fairly magnificent Admiralty Arch, which is a gateway from the frequently gridlocked Trafalgar Square to the wide open spaces of the Mall, which leads up the the (frankly rather dull) Buckingham Palace. Rather unusually it contains office space, currently being used by the Centre for Management and Policy Studies.

The inscription above the arches reads:

ANNO:DECIMO:EDWARDI:SEPTIMI:REGIS
VICTORI?:REGIN?:CIVES:GRATISSIMI:MDCCCCX:

Which roughly means “In the tenth year of the reign of King Edward VII, to Queen Victoria from a grateful nation, 1910″.

This is John Islip Street, near where I live. Lovely place, and filled with elegant stucco-fronted houses in neat orderly lines.

The British Airways London Eye^TM is, to be fair, a really excellent ferris wheel. It actually has grace and it’s such an audacious idea that you really do have to give the designers credit for their idea.

So I’m lucky enough to be walking past Westminster most mornings, at about 8.30 or so. It’s usually not too busy - lots of civil servants wandering around, but the odd dedicated tourist.

Today I was going to work for a late shift, so I was passing through at about 10.30. Parliament Square was packed with bloody tourists clogging up the place! Worse than the streets around Victoria Station
So I thought I’d join in the fun and take this classic shot of the London Eye and Big Ben (actually St Stephen’s Tower), a top tourist favourite - enjoy!

Westminster tube station was re-designed a few years ago, when the new Jubilee Line Extension was created. It’s designed to look slightly futuristic, I think, with moulded concrete and rough walls illuminated by harsh lighting. The large open spaces are criss-crossed with huge cylindrical beams. Quite a sci-fi feel to the place - you can imagine playing some sort of multi-player game there (in fact, it would be excellent for paintball…).

So it was quite bizarre to see what looks like a monk-type chap chatting to what looked like some people in Royal Navy uniforms. The contrast was too much to resist taking a picture! It almost makes me think of Doctor Who, or a slight tatty looking Jedi wandering around…