Recently in London Category

We've moved to Wanstead and had Christmas in less than a month, so it has been busy. Wanstead is lovely in the snow, there is a pretty forest behind our house so all is peaceful.

It has been pretty peaceful here too, but as is the way of the new year, I will hopefully change that. I've joined up with the write more project52 which should result in a blog post a week. That would be the first time since 2003, so we'll see. Writing the book has given me a taste for it, but I've not had the time other for much other than the book / job / family, then moving house took over my other spare time.

The other idea I've had is the quarterly project. I hope that three months is enough time to get one of the ideas floating around my head linked to one of the domain names I've bought and pushed out into the wilds. Briefly extending this, I mean to create a simple web app that does something useful for me and hopefully a few other people too.

Later this year, we are going to move from Walthamstow to Aldersbrook in Wanstead. We are moving for a variety of reasons, but one is green space. I was very struck by the differences in these satellite photos from Yahoo, they are at the same zoom scale, 16.

Walthamstow is on the top. The brown patch is Walthamstow Cemetery, there is green space, but not a lot and it is in smaller patches.

Aldersbrook is below with Wanstead Flats to the south, Wanstead Park to the north and east. From Wanstead Flats you can cycle right up into Epping Forest, pretty much all in forest. These are half size reproductions of the original 600 odd pixel images, click to see them larger. The difference in the amount of green space amazed me, though the stripes to the north are a private golf course.

There are some trade offs, zone 4 on the Central line, as opposed to zone 3 on the faster Victoria line and a mid station rather than at the end of the line. It is also a good walk to the tube station, but we have a long walk to get to nursery at the minute, so not as much of an increase, every journey though. Still in London too, E11 or E12 postcode, the postcode boundary is in the middle of Aldersbrook for some odd reason, the council boundary hugs London Cemetery, which is the green portion on the east.

Quite looking forward to moving, we sold our house last week, well subject to contract. It'll be my first time living properly east of GMT too. Lastly, discovering that there was a places page for on Flickr for Wanstead made me happy.

I work beside Kings Cross station, so I've been watching the developments at the station on a daily basis. The recent demolition of the buildings beside platform 1 near the junction (google map) of Wharfdale Road and York Way exposed the remains of the bridge which carried the former Battle Bridge Road. The stub of this bridge, shown below has been further pared back in this work. The bridge is part of a concerted campaign to get a link from the Islington side of the Kings Cross area into the actual station. Current plans will only allow access from the St Pancras or western side.

The new platform Y (planning application pdf), which is the cause of the recent demolition, will run along the old cab access road, shown in this photo taken in 2006. To the left in this photo is the current platform 1.

There is much change at Kings Cross, some of it I think is positive, if they can make it as nice as the St Pancras station, that would be great. The access issue is frustrating. My morning walk out of Kings Cross in the sunshine up York Way is not exactly unpleasant. A bridge over the platforms would be appreciated and route a large number of people away from the front of the station and thronging up York Way.

Travelling by the Victoria line for the past year has been lovely, my travel is 16-20 minutes on the tube and only one tube-train. Last year it was at least a train and a tube and a longer walk to the station. I do miss being above ground, but with the Victoria line being entirely underground it is not affected by the cold weather.

One downside, I rarely get my PowerBook out on the tube, whereas I used to get it out and write stuff on the train. Still, I'd be loathed to swap back, I can usually get a seat on the way in so I read instead, the Economist sometimes, but more on magazines in another post.

I went out to see Jeffrey Bernard is unwell at the Garrick, thanks to my friend Chris. It was excellent, Tom Conti is fantastic as Jeffrey, poignant, but witty with a well crafty stage drunk manner. Lots of half trips and glances out to the audience for laughs, all well timed.

A lot of the reviews have been a bit down on the revival of this play, as it is a bit soft on alcoholics, playing up the romantic drunk image, this is true and Soho has changed a lot since it was first put in the early 90s. However, I feel that reviving this play much later would fail, it is very much of its time. When Chris and I directed and lit it in the mid nineties it was great fun, but felt a bit alien, neither of us had been to Soho, later when I visited in the later 90s the scene of the play had changed. Soho in the last ten years has changed even more. So sentimental as the play is, I enjoyed it, but I had two viewpoints on it.

A quick aside, whilst watching the play I couldn't get out of my head how much Dave Cross and Tom Conti look like one another.

Jeffrey Bernard is on at the Garrick until the 3rd September, if you are looking for a fun night out at the theatre I'd highly recommend it.

So, Walthamstow is a terrorism centre in London, I must tell you it doesn't feel like one. People are friendly in the shops and on the market. It feels pretty open and relaxed to me, there are different pockets and groups definitely, but then every place has those.

The oft mentioned village feels very quiet in the day, the market / high street is really busy and then they reverse in the evening. Everything on the high street shuts and then restaurants on Orford Road open up.

After six months here, I'm really happy, it is closer to London than we were in Forest Hill and feels more friendly, plus there is Epping 15 minutes away.

Hot down here, humid.
The air is close, people too,
door opens, relief

I've travelled to work for the past eight and a bit years on the trains from SE London to most of the southern terminals of London. I've used Victoria, Blackfriars, Charing Cross, London Bridge and even Waterloo East for a while. Soon, no more, I get to be a tube dweller, travelling from Walthamstow to Kings Cross. Mostly trains are not bad, you get to see something and they are cooler in the summer. However I'll not miss the cold wet evenings waiting 15 minutes for yet another delayed train.
Also for the first time in London I'll be using one form of transport for my entire journey, which will be delightful. Even when I worked at Bush House and had 18 months of no underground travel, I still had to change trains at London Bridge.
I'm also looking forward to exploring North London, it'll be like moving to a different city, but more on that in another post.

It is that time of year again, London Film Festival, hooray. My annual orgy of cinematic delight, Lucy and I have 11 films planned in the next fortnight, one already seen last night and two tonight. I really enjoy the festival, it is a great opportunity to see foreign films and independent cinema. Though, I still am planning to see Serenity too.
LFF reviews will pepper this blog for the next few weeks...

Lucy has put together a good document about childhood trauma and set of notes about how to deal with today if you have children. They understand it differently, but don't really need special treatment, it is best to talk to them about it.