Wooden cobbles
August 16th, 2011
“The streets of London were once paved with end grain cobbles and end grain flooring has been used widely in engineering and other industries because of its durability,”
Next to Braithwaite House are wooden cobbles, blocks of wood on end, as seen in butchers’ blocks, a small square of them within a cobbled lane to the left of Braithwaite House in Bunhill Row in the City of London. Fascinating.
UPDATE: – 30/3/12 – I’ve found some more. Walking up Pentonville Road towards the Angel, on the left just after the junction with Penton Street I walked behind a car waiting to pull out from the layby outside 98-100 Pentonville Road and there beneath gaps in the tarmac, are wooden cobbles. If I’ve got the address wrong then they are not far from there, check the adjacent lay bys outside buildings there in case I’ve got the number wrong.
I found several bare patches, and touched them to be sure. I’m surprised the tarmac sticks to them at all to be frank and it would be much nicer if it were to be removed and the ends varnished, what a lovely sight that would be.
Taylor Wimpey example of kitchen design
July 25th, 2011
I had to laugh. That’s what somebody typed into Google (in the title) before reaching my page on crap flats. I had no idea they were designed I thought they were the space left over when the requisite number of en-suite bedrooms and toilets had been put in along with the composite living/dining area. I cannot seriously imagine design ever coming into it.
Look through this blog and all the TW kitchens you’ll see here will be units stuck along a wall or around a corner or as an afterthought (mostly) without windows to look out of.
Thank you 109.149.4.xx for making my day.
Taylor Wimpey aren’t the only ones. Read my post on Kidbrooke Village – Phase One or Pepys Estate and what you find is that Berkeley Homes also regard it as acceptable not to include a separate kitchen in either their new developments or their redevelopments. They are not even pretending to approach open plan, they are just dumping a line of units along the wall in a room as an apology for a kitchen.
On passing through Sheffield
July 19th, 2011
This July (and September) came a chance to return to Sheffield, to see the changes and more importantly view the city as a whole rather than just as an appendage to its most iconic hilltop landmark. What follow are the photos and comments from that trip.
From bottom left the station roof then Sheaf Square fountain. At far left the Showroom and above it the Hubs. Above that the Butcher Works Arundel St (find chimney). In the centre The Howard and at top right the “cheese-grater” car park.
Pentagon Mall Chatham Kent
July 19th, 2011
Here are a few more photographs of the original Pentagon Mall at Chatham in Kent.
Sheffield: The Furnace Trail
July 18th, 2011
“Sheffield steel” is so ingrained in the language and the city that out of simple curiousity I have spent some time walking around the Kelham Island area following the history of steel-making. To this end the excellent “Furnace Trail” booklet provides an introduction.
Norrkoping: Arbetets museum and weirs
July 17th, 2011
Author’s note: I wrote this article and included the photographs to go with the post above entitled Sheffield: The Furnace Trail. In the summer of 1989 I was working on a general cargo ship called the Hudsongracht which made several port calls in Sweden of which one was Norrkoping. On a walk around town I came across this weir which took my breath away in both its size and force. I later visited the museum detailed below.
It has a parallel industrial history to the Northern towns of England and waterworks to match. I can still remember standing stunned in amazement at the force and grandeur of the water flowing over the weir at Norrkoping and have included a photograph of it below from Google Earth.
Rebuilding the City: 1951 and Now
July 3rd, 2011
In spite of the mens’ final at Wimbledon the function room on Level 5 of the Royal Festival Hall was all seats taken to hear several well known experts on architecture and housing speak to the assembled along with a lesser known figure of equal importance being Jean Symons, clerk on site during the building of the Royal Festival Hall.
Paul Finch was chair, and introduced the meeting allotting each of the speakers fifteen minutes each, starting with Jean Symons who spoke from notes very movingly about her time on site and the scenes that surrounded her.
On passing through Glasgow
June 17th, 2011
Travel has long been a pleasure of mine and it had been many years (nearly 19 years in this case) since work had called me North but the opportunity to catch up after almost two decades of change was irresistible. So much is new, the Foster Armadillo concert hall, BBC Scotland, the new Zaha Hadid Riverside Museum, the Science Museum and several bridges. But better still so much is still there from last time. The Charles Rennie Mackintosh buildings, the wealth of good architecture and the friendly people.
Glasgow is a city that grows on me each time I go. Here are a very few shots of places I passed by, some of which I had time to visit and others not, but there’s always next time for it’s a city that draws you back.
On arriving at Central Station . . . let’s park our bags and . . .
Virgin Pendolino
June 16th, 2011
UPDATE: 25/8/16 Following the Corbyn silly season story I’ve had another look at the seating plans five years on. The Virgin East Coast Mallards don’t suffer from what I experienced in 2011, the seating plan shows three first and six standard rather than the four first and five standard on the West Coast in 2011.
The Virgin East Coast HST seating plan shows three first and seven standard class carriages.
The Virgin West Coast updated seating plan may be downloaded here
Original article 16th June 2011
I had my first ride in a Virgin Pendolino recently, standard class (as we kept being told on the tannoy – there’s nothing like being repeatedly reminded you’re a pleb), forward facing and aisle, aircraft seating, quiet carriage. On the plus side the ride was comfortable, quiet and fast. On the minus side it was like sitting inside a small aircraft with 2+2 seating, with the luggage inside the cabin, and insufficient luggage racks at that, and in the wrong place.
Kate Davies and H&F
May 4th, 2011
Fun with Nick and Kate
Both the Independent on Sunday and the Daily Mail featured the erstwhile director of housing for Hammersmith, Nick Johnson, and his partner, Kate Davies, this week. Good investigative journalism but slightly missing the point, which is why are they paid so much out of public funds to promote private housing?
The same day I saw these stories I got notice of a planning application from Notting Hill Housing (prop. Kate Davies). It is to build 41 properties on the former VW garage site in King Street. Four of these will be five-bedroomed town houses in St Peter’s Square, each retailing for about £3million on the open market – which is what all 41 will be doing. Apparently, there is insufficient equity in the site for this housing association – whose only purpose for existing and paying its chief executive is to house people on low incomes – to build a single affordable home.
https://www.andyslaughter.co.uk/?p=4736 or if that fails then locally here -> Fun with Nick and Kate