Steam train on the tube!

So, my parents don't understand why I like twitter so much or what it really adds to...anything. Part of the reason is things like this: without seeing a random retweet, I wouldn't have known about the special steam train journeys on the old Metropolitan Line route. 

Yesterday (Jan 13th - there's another on Jan 20th) I went up to Barbican underground station (which is not actually underground) to see the steam train. I got a quick glimpse of it at Moorgate before it started moving, but I skipped on a normal tube so I could get to Barbican before it did...

Barbican station was, unsurprisingly, pretty busy (I think it's a pretty safe bet that all the stations along the route were like this!).

I was only a few minutes ahead of the train (helpful as it was bloody cold), although we had to wait for a few normal tubes to come and go. 

The Sarah Siddons locomotive (one of the world's oldest electric trains) at the front of the train:

The carriages going past:

And finally the Met Locomotive No 1 steam engine (built 1898):

This website was really useful when I was trying to work out where to go, in case anyone's planning on going up for the 20th: 

http://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2013/01/07/best-places-to-photograph-london-undergrounds-heritage-steam-train-trips/

Other info:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-20998737

http://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/events/vehicles-on-the-move

BT ArtBox

So in the last few weeks some decorated phone boxes have appeared (placed in some rather random locations) around town. They're decorated fibreglass replicas of phone boxes, and they're part of a project to celebrate the 25th anniversary of ChildLine.


Naturally, I have been taking photos of them (not making as much effort as I did with the eggs, hahaha).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                      




Details:
http://www.btartboxes.com/04NewsDetail.php?storyid=10


Gallery:
http://www.btartboxes.com/02SculptureMosaic.php


Design your own:
http://www.btartboxes.com/11DesignYourOwn.php

Bank of the Thames

One of my favourite things about living in London is how easy it is to go out and do something I've never done before, even in an area I know pretty well.

On Sunday I went for a walk on the bank of the Thames!

Crishna and I were up in town for a wander and I noticed one of those people who goes down onto the banks of the Thames and makes big sand sculptures (he was making a horse), and there were some other people wandering about, so we decided to go down as well :D

As you can tell from the pictures we were coming up to Blackfriars Bridge on the South side of the river - in the photos you can see Unilever House, Sion Hall, the old City of London Girls' School building, and obviously St Paul's Cathedral, the NatWest building and the Gherkin.

I did pick up a few little shells as well :)

Phoenix Garden

A colleague told me about this place a while ago, and as we had a lovely sunny break in the rain on Wednesday I decided to go along to see what it was like.


The Phoenix Garden is a community garden in Covent Garden, just off Shaftesbury Avenue (it's on Stacey St - turn off next to the Odeon). It's a gorgeous quiet space with lots of flowers, a couple of ponds, plenty of benches and a LOT of insects. Watch out if you don't like flying stingy things; I know bees aren't going to sting me but aaaaaaaaargh they make me jump.


There's also other wildlife - the damselflies were particularly exciting to me - including a cat that was enjoying the sunshine.

I'd like to tell everyone to go (and pretty much the first email I sent the next day was telling people where it was) but then it would get crowded so...maybe don't all go at once?

And some of the flowers growing in the garden:

Website: http://www.thephoenixgarden.org/