Waterlogged

 I love London....

"Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford."

— Samuel Johnson

I have loved London for a very long time. When my husband and I first moved to London in 1978, I was desperately homesick for the first 6 months, but that passed. There after I found it a vibrant, exciting place to live and despite the most awful bedsitters we were able to go to the theatre, concerts and pubs, and travel fairly cheaply as well.  I was quite sad to leave 4 years later. However my sister now lives in Southbank near Upper Ground. It has been a bonus for me to be able to visit her on a regular basis. 

Modern Broadwall

 

View from the balcony

London Eye from the balcony

 Outside the British Film Industry Building

She lives in an amazing historic area - one of the oldest settlements of London.  Prior to the 19th Century much of the area was marshland. Lower Marsh Street is a rememberance to that time. Around the time of the original Roman settlements, banks of earth were erected along the south side of the Thames in order to keep out the tidal waters and to hold them in check. One of them near the river was called Narrow Wall whilst another binding the marsh to the east was called Broad Wall, an ancient raised road which followed the line of Lambeth Marsh. Upper Ground is the oldest thoroughfare in Christ Church parish. It is the descendant of the path which from the Norman period, and perhaps earlier, ran along the inside of the embanking river wall; and it still retains the narrowness and the twists and turns characteristic of a country lane. At the west end Upper Ground extended, as it still does, to Broadwall. 

During the Tudor and early Stuart periods, and perhaps earlier, the King's Barge House occupied the piece of land to the north-west of Upper Ground. The Barge House is commemorated in the narrow alley leading out of Upper Ground and over steps to a landing stage on the river strand—the successor of the "stairs near the Barge House".

I saw that recent building excavations at Borough Market have revealed a number of Roman artifacts and dwellings. I love the fact that these have to be preserved and incorporated in some way onto the modern buildings.

 Roman Ruins at Borough

Borough Market



The Shard

Shard in the distance

Southbank in the background

The residents of this area prior to the 19th Century must have had very wet feet. At this stage I can almost appreciate how they feel. It has rained fairly extensively since I arrived here, and unfortunately for a number of areas has resulted in flooding. I have always said I prefer cold weather as it is easier to get warm than it is to cool off. However I have discovered that I haven't found a way of getting the right degree of warmth. It's cold and wet outside but always boiling hot inside - why does everyone insist on having the heating up so high? The buses, underground, trains, shops, pubs etc turn the warm protective clothing into a sauna. It takes the pleasure out of shopping too. All the beautiful tempting purchases (clothes) become very unappealing when it involves having to strip off what seems like a million layers of clothing, some of which are decidely damp, in mostly communal change areas, only to have to redress in now cool damp clothes.

Dressing for the cold

Still it is lovely despite wet feet. The Christmas lights are beautiful.  It does feel so much more "Christmassy" when it's cool.

Lights in Regency Street

Christmas decorations in Carnaby Street