Clare and I went on an impromptu tour of London infrastructure today after unexpectedly ending up at Dishoom Canary Wharf due to a power cut at the Kensington branch.
A ten-minute walk from Canary Wharf took us to the Temple Of Storms (officially the Isle Of Dogs Pumping Station), a grade II* listed building constructed in 1988. While I’m not generally into postmodern architecture, it’s refreshing to see a modern industrial building that isn’t just a metal and concrete box.
@katemorley I love how there’s always new stuff to discover. Worked out that way for a couple of years and had no idea this was there. Thanks!
This was my first ever in-person view of the Millennium Dome (or O2 arena, as we’re meant to call it now). I was in my late teens when it first opened and I wanted to see it at the time, but my London-born parents have sworn never to return to the city as its post-Thatcher progressiveness offends their conservatism.
A few hours later we went inside to find it’s basically a fairly standard shopping centre with a rather tatty-looking umbrella on top.
> have sworn never to return to the city as its post-Thatcher progressiveness offends their conservatism
Ouch. Much sympathy.
I'm also London born and will never return -- but that has more to do with #Autism and severe discomfort in overcrowded spaces.
Continuing the Millennium theme, we passed one of the 1400 Millennium Beacons, looking a bit worse-for-wear a quarter of a century later (a figure that made us both feel very old). Several shelducks were feeding in the former dock in the background.
On the strangely-named Goodluck Hope peninsula we spotted this former Whale Oil Extraction building, and talked about how strange it is that the industrial-scale slaughter of whales was once an economical means of producing oil.
Throughout our walk we could see the London Cable Car. While a cable car might make sense for a mountainous city, it’s a ridiculous means of transport for somewhere as flat as London, and it’s almost entirely used by tourists. So of course we had to give it a go.
Near the highest point the cable car slowed down, and with today’s windy weather it started swaying alarmingly. The views across London were spectacular, but on the approach to the Greenwich peninsula it was very visible how the Millennium Dome had failed to encourage further regeneration of the surrounding former industrial area.
Bonus photo: “Britain Needs Reggae”
