My Openhouse London 2022 Part 1.

Sunday 11th September

 

This year for Open House Festival London I went to:

 

Two Temple Place

 

William Waldorf Astor’s neo-gothic estate office on Victoria Embankment. So much woodcarving, so many literary references, a really spectacular interior reflecting the tastes of one of the richest men ever to seek refuge from the USA.

 

 

 

 

 

Open House Festival listing

 

HQS Wellington

 

Nope. Arrived to find a scrappy bit of paper blowing on the breeze with the message in ballpoint pen “Apologies The ship is closed as a mark of respect Open House would like to apologise”. An unfortunate person was on hand to suggest people went to Two Temple Place instead.

 

 

 

Wandsworth Prison Museum

 

Located in a large shed in the prison car park rather than in the prison building itself so no issues with security. Open House had mistakenly said that tours inside the prison would be run but as the museum curator explained this would have needed visitors to book and provide ID well in advance, which didn’t happen. The compact museum building contains over 470 exhibits from pictures and uniforms, prisoners’ belongings, and newspaper articles about some of the more well known inmates. A large scale model of the prison dominates the entrance showing the layout of the main buildings. Very interesting and one of those places I’d probably never thought of going to had it not been an Open House venue.

 

 

 

 

 

Open House Listing

 

 Stationers’ Hall

 

I hadn’t originally intended to visit this today but had time available having “missed the boat” earlier. This turned out to be a blessing though as this 17th century livery hall is a gem. Appropriately the information hand out was beautifully printed and bound in a stiff card cover, the interior oozes history, and the tea served under the plane tree in the courtyard garden was welcome. Various guild members were selling beautiful bound volumes of prints but my book budget is nearer £9.99 rather than with the decimal point moved two places to the right. Nice to look at though!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Open House listing

 

That was day one of my Open House adventures for 2022, the next lot would be on the following Saturday and will be covered in the next post.

 

 

Steel City

 

5th September - 9th September

A belated trip to “the North” owing to rail strikes earlier in the Summer when I originally planned it. No such issues this time and apart from the usual poor standard GWR service from Reading to Paddington - late, crowded, seat reservations turned off - the trip was uneventful. Inexplicably I think it’s the first time I’ve departed and arrived at St. Pancras too, at least as far as I remember.

 

 

 

I had no set plans for this trip other than just to get away from home (and from work) but had checked out some local attractions and downloaded the Stagecoach app for the trams (SuperTram!) for convenience in booking day rider tickets, slightly nerdy completism meaning riding the whole network was likely to be a thing.

 

 

 

I had intended to do this on Tuesday but a road traffic accident caused services to be curtailed at Gleadless Townend at lunchtime so the lines to Halfway and Herdings Park didn’t get done until Thursday. The weather was slightly better for hanging around waiting for trams on Thursday anyway.

 

 

 

The disrupted trams meant part of Tuesday afternoon was spent in the excellent Kelham Island Museum exploring Sheffield’s metalworking and engineering history. Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the city. Sadly I didn’t time it right to see the 12000 h.p. steam engine in action though.

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday I explored a little further afield getting a South Pennies Day Ranger train (might have been influenced by GLovesTrains there) ticket and doing a loop via Leeds, which had been my original intended trip destination had I been able to find a suitable, i.e. not too costly, hotel, the across the Pennines to Manchester and back to Edale then returning to Sheffield.

 

 

 

I had previously visited Edale back in May 2019 and promised myself I’d come back with more time and have a walk and a pint in the village pub. It was too wet this time for walking far but I managed the latter without nay trouble at all :-)

 

 

 

 I must be due another break in Manchester too, a place I enjoyed visiting a lot last time. Also having time to spare and a ranger ticket I obviously took a train out to this place:

 

 

 

Because yes I am that immature :-D

 

On Thursday I took the TramTrain to have a look around Rotherham, which had some nice old buildings but did appear to be largely shut.

 

 

 

Back in Sheffield I went for a wander about the city centre and was sitting in the Winter Gardens with a coffee when the Queen died. I’m sure that the rainbow that appeared over the Crucible and Lyceum theatres was just a coincidence.

 

 

 

My watering hole of choice on this trip was the Red Deer in Pitt Street which is a pleasant, friendly pub off the main city centre streets, which is always a good find when away. Good beer selection as well.

 

 

 

And £3.80 a pint. I fuckin’ love t’north :-D

Great Dorset Steam Fair 2022

I went to the Great Dorset Steam Fair for the first time in a few years.

Here's some of what I saw

It's really to big do do it all in a day trip, one year I'll stay over again.

I did take some photos too, in this Flickr Album 

Imberbus 2022

 

Eighteen minutes of old bus porn for those who like that sort of thing.

At Barking Riverside

6th August 2022

Better late than not at all I finally made it to the newest station on the London Overground, Barking Riverside.

 

 

 

It’s all impressively modern.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But at the moment it’s surrounded by an enormous amount of bugger all.

 

 

 

So having had a look around I walked down to London’s newest riverboat pier.

 

 

 

And got on a Thames Clipper back into town, bagging an outside seat for an hour’s cruise in the sunshine, passing through the Thames Flood Barrier for my first time.

 

 

 

 And taking in the sights of London’s riverside - those on the North bank anyway - all the way to Embankment Pier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I do like a trip on the river.

The Great Little Trains of South West London

24th July 2022

 

On Sunday, the temperature having reduced to something more bearable I fancied a trip out, somewhere not too far away and with something interesting to do/see. I have visited the Great Engines at Kempton Waterworks before but on the other side of the M3 there is a more modestly sized bit of engineering heritage.

 

The Hampton Kempton Waterworks Railway opened during the First World War and was closed and dismantled some 30-odd years later but is planned to rise again if the money can be raised to rebuild it on (mostly) its original three and a half mile route from Hampton Wharf on the Thames to Kempton Waterworks. For the moment what exists is a loop of track and a few sidings, very much like a great big train set, which offers the simple pleasure of a ride on a narrow gauge railway without having to trek all the way down to Wales.

 

There is one station, Hamworth Halt, with a single platform. This gets a Sunday only service between March and October with three departures an hour between 1030 and 1540.

 

 

 

Here also is the ticket office - although you can and probably should book in advance online - and refreshments kiosk. Fares: £4 for adults 16yrs and over. £2 for children 3 to 15 years (under 3s go free). Each journey trundles around the loop of track three times.

 

 

 

Beside the station is a kids playground and picnic and viewing areas with seats and tables (and parasols thankfully). Car parking is free and located under the M3 motorway flyover right between the railway and Kempton engine house.

 

There is one train comprising two carriages one of which is wheelchair accessible (including powered chairs I was told) and although basic they are not cramped as this is a 2 foot gauge railway not a model railway. There is enough legroom to put a CrossCountry Voyager to shame although admittedly that’s a low bar :-)

 

 

 

Motive power is provided by Darent an 0-4-0 tank engine originally supplied to Provan Gasworks in Glasgow in 1903 by Andrew Barclay of Kilmarnock. It has had an interesting history and greatly changed in appearance in the years since. They also have a couple of industrial diesel locomotives on site which are probably a lot more convenient for general duties.

 

 

 

I caught the 1220 departure that I had booked in advance expecting it to be busy on such a lovely sunny Sunday but there were only four of us aboard. I remarked on this to the guard who said that it’s sometimes like that, the earlier trains had been busier and indeed the 1240 train pictured above was nearly full so I’d struck lucky.

 

It was an enjoyable little trip as the video below will confirm and I’d encourage anyone with an hour or two on a Sunday in South West London to go and visit so that eventually the volunteers can restore the line to 2.3 miles through the countryside which will be an even better experience. To succeed they are going to need a lot of £4 fares!

 

 

 

Getting there:

 

Drive to Sat Nav TW13 7ND or google maps TW13 6XH entry via Thames Water site drive about .75 miles, nearest tube Hatton Cross Piccadilly Line then bus H25, nearest rail Kempton Park about 20-30 minutes walk, buses H25 to Sunbury Way stop VA or 290 to Feltham Junction roundabout then follow the brown signs for the museum.

 

Cats Are C***s

 The problem:

I'd quite like to be able to enter and leave my house without passing through the stench of cat shit and cloud of flies.

A solution(?):

Given that high-velocity lead poisoning seems to be frowned upon let's try this instead which will "Rid your garden of cats and other mammals with this garden repeller, complete with the new HyperResonance Frequency system. Designed to induce maximum discomfort, this system provides short varying bursts of ultrasound that shocks the animal".

 The result:

Yep, head right in the speaker like he's at a heavy metal gig.

Cats are c*nts.