September 2021 Part Four - Our fine day in London

I think London has two viewpoints. If you're like me and love a big city, and live in a small city where not much happens, London to me is exciting, fresh and vibrant, a place I would love to live in if the opportunity ever arose. Then there's the other viewpoint, and I think that's of people who live or work in London (like James) who find it noisy, messy, expensive and the place full of annoying tourists. I suppose I am one of those annoying tourists, although I do always try to get out of other people's way when I'm getting excited about something random. Which you'll notice towards the end of this post.

We first of all made a visit to the British Museum, I have a thing about Greek & Roman sculpture, so we spent a few hour working our way through the various galleries, exploring what was on offer. Something that always blows my mind is how unbelievable the details are, two thousand years later, and the marble still looks like fine linen. It's astonishing at how skilled the carvers were. The statues are so lifelike, so detailed, and so elaborate, you really get an understanding about how the Greeks, but more so the Romans really did like the finer things in life.

The Roman horse just blows me away, it's almost like its wandering around looking for it's rider. Any moment, it's going to come alive! Shame I didn't have any sugar cubes or apples with me, otherwise I would have shared!

We then headed over to the Victoria & Albert Museum, specifically to the plaster casts section, somewhere I am always amazed by.

I've blogged about the plaster courts before, but I just find it so fascinating, that years ago we would take a plaster cast of an object, and bring the cast back to the museum and create a whole gallery of it. Obviously Trajan's column was too heavy for the museum to try to bring back (that's a joke!). But I love that particular part of the museum, because where else would you find Trajan's column next to the tombs of English Kings, Cathedral Facades and Anglo-Saxon crosses? Variety is the spice of life! 

James had made a dinner reservation at Arabica, which was located in the Coal Drops, not far from Euston & Kings Cross train stations. We caught the tube up, and had a lovely wander up to the Coal Drops. It's not somewhere I'd ever been before, and it was marvellous. As its name suggests, it was where the old coal stores were, and would have been used to supply the local area and the train stations with the fuel to power the trains. Over time it became disused and abandoned, and apparently was the best place to have a rave in the 90's. Now, it's been transformed, keeping as much of the original character as possible. It's a trendy place to eat, shop, play and explore. And we did just that!  

I think London St Pancras might just be the grandest train station I've ever seen! Also, side fun fact for you, in the square between the stations, there was a Pick N Mix stand. It had everything you could imagine sweet wise; laces, chocolate buttons, fudge, honeycomb, liquorice. I could go on. I grabbed a bag, and started filling. I will first of all say, I'm not so good with guessing weights, and even with James urging caution, I filled to my heart's content. I remember saying to him how I hadn't done this since I was a child! 

 

Then, I felt like I had been hit by a truck. "£31.57 please" the chap said when he weighed the bag. "I've never had anyone spend this much before, I'll just double up the bag as it's tearing"

I looked beseechingly at James. Did I really just select 30 quids worth of pick and mix? He just shrugged at me in a "I told you so fashion" then walked away and pretended he didn't know me. I didn't even ask to put any of it back, I just tapped my card and ran away, hoping that my record amount of Pick N Mix wouldn't get me featured on some news broadcast on shameful purchases. I'd also love to say that all those sweets lasted me months, but in reality, just over a week. My back was so painful I was struggling to hold the bag, so I ended up asking (begging) James to carry it for me to save my aching spine. 

A view of the canal as you enter the coal drops, I loved the way the setting sun was beaming it's fading orange light onto the scaffolding of the building on the left. 

Arabica was fantastic, it was a brilliant mix of Middle Eastern foods, all small plates Mezze style, so you could order many different ones to share between you. These were the Persian style meatballs, they were so juicy and flavourful, I didn't want to share them after I'd tasted the first one! The charred cabbage with pomegranate seeds were also delicious! Unfortunately for you, You won't be able to taste these, as the blog is three years behind and their menu has changed. But I tell you, you will love it there. Service was great, food was great, drinks were great. Need I say anymore? They were extremely busy while we were there, so I would advise booking a table in advance to guarantee one. Find out more at their website: Arabica, if you love their recipes, you can now order a cookbook with their favourites in, it's out now! 

Now, at the start of the post, I said about how sometimes I'm an annoying tourist, and how annoying that is for other people. Well, here's the bit why I tell you why. In Southampton (where we live) we have these two gas towers, one built in 1905, the other in the thirties. (We here call them the gas towers, although I know the correct term is gas holders). They've been a part of the skyline of Southampton since they were built, and recently it was announced they were going to be demolished to make way for a new development of tower blocks. Now, I'm not anti progress, the St Mary's area and around the stadium have needed regeneration for years, and I think new housing and infrastructure is a good thing to kick start a change in the area. But demolishing two iconic structures to do so seems wrong. Now, space is a premium in any city centre, and to have the space wasted is wrong, and we simply cannot keep every single building that's fallen out of its original use...but I thought, surely they can be incorporated into something else? Maybe turn it into a park or green space, and build up around them, there's plenty of space to do so. Or maybe at a push, and I hate to say this, but we could have demolished one. One of them has a tall standing structure of girders in a square pattern, the other one was a very low level one, the highest part being an unremarkable metal staircase for access. Perhaps we compromised and kept one, and developed on the other one. Would that maybe be acceptable? 

A view of the former gas works while I was out for a walk during a covid lockdown. (Can you believe that was only a couple of years ago?) As you can see, one is a rigid permanent structure, the other wasn't, and you would only see the flexible balloon like structure when it was full of gas. Anyway, I am digressing. But no, they have sadly been demolished, and we have lost an iconic piece of history in the city. The council were very steadfast in their decision, saying there was no way to keep any parts of the old structure or repurpose them. Obviously, I'm not privy to the planning, consultation and design process and all of it's details. It may have been to expensive, they may have been too far gone to be restored. But imagine my surprise when we discovered that the former gas towers in the Coal Drops had not only been preserved, but had been incorporated into something brand new! 

Apartment blocks, the same height as the tops of the towers, built right inside them. What a fantastic idea, whoever designed this, well done and thank you. This is such an innovative and brilliant way to preserve such structures, while making sure the space that they occupy is being used in the best way that they can. The towers inside them almost highlight the gas tower, and along with the new coat of paint and the lighting, they seem to glow in the night. As you can probably visualise, I was stood there, open mouthed and staring at them while people tried to get past. This is proof that if you really think about it, you can make anything work. 

It's now been named Gasholder Park, and it forms a jewel in the regeneration of the area. Perhaps even more amazingly, they were originally nearer to the station, but they were dismantled, piece by piece, shipped to Yorkshire to be restored & repainted, before being shipped back and rebuilt in the new spot just by the banks of the canal. And it is a wonderful area. This is what we should be doing, respecting our industrial heritage, and using something new to help preserve it. That really is, what I call innovative. 

If you want to read an interesting article written by someone who has a passion for gas towers & gas holders, and also about how the whole project worked, check out the link below:

A Love Letter To Gas Holders/ 

After the all that excitement and delicious food, it was time to head back to the hotel as we were leaving in the morning. But I took this shot, as we were walking out, just to show how seamlessly old & new can be side by side. 

And to quote James about it all "My arm hurts carrying this enormous bag of sweets, you carry it for a bit".