ON THE second day of my April 2024 trip, I did not one but two walks, although one was much shorter than the other. For the first, I arose well before breakfast and went for a wander around Dundee, which I would be leaving later. Ordinarily, I would roll this into the following walk but I quickly realised that there was enough to be seen to make this its own thing. And so it was…
Tag: royal_cypher
I Spy… Iconic Columns
In addition to boxes of various hues, London has other items of street furniture that are common to the rest of the country. Chief amongst these is the ubiquitous pillar box, found on street corners the length and breadth of the land. So sturdy, so reassuring, so constant — they are a cultural icon, beacons of stability amid a changing world. The pillar box is quintessentially British.
I Spy… the Gentle Glow of More Gas Lamps
You know how I said that London’s oldest street lights are the George IV gas lamps on Birdcage Walk? Well, while they don’t appear to have any actual competition, there are some close runners up.
I Spy… the Gentle Glow of Gas Lamps
Think of Victorian London and what do you see in your mind’s eye? ‘Pea soup’ fogs, the yellow glow of gaslights, hansom cabs, Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper. Three of those five things are consigned to history and another one is fictional. But one of them stubbornly refuses to go forth into that dark night. And so long as it keeps refusing, the night will never be so dark…
Gaslights. Apparently, they never went away.
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