Friday 7 September 2018

Buses and Daleks in London

I'm fairly easy to please, so a long bus ride sitting on the top of a double decker right at the front was an ideal way to start the day.
We went from Woolwich to Greenwich to start with, and met a chap on the market who turns London landmarks into Daleks in his art - it's very cleverly done, and he also takes stalls at Comic Cons around the country. I took his card - but now I've lost it.
Anyway, we went on from there (the bus stop is by a building that claims to be the oldest in Greenwich - now a takeaway), roughly following the river through Deptford, Canada Water, and Bermondsey (I caught a glimpse of a plaque marking medieval Bermondsey Abbey). Then the Young Man told me to turn to look, and I could see the end of Tower Bridge at the end of the road as the bus turned away from it down Tower Bridge Road and then onto the New Kent Road. I'd heard of the Old Kent Road, but never thought that there must be a New one to go with it. That took us to Elephant and Castle, and then to Waterloo, where we got off.
I had expressed my desire to buy a pith helmet, for Steampunk costuming purposes. My original one was quite cheap, and the webbing inside had broken so it came down over my eyes. The Young Man knew just the place for me to find one - an army surplus shop along The Cut near Waterloo.
The shop is so crammed full of stuff that we had to climb over a pile of rucksacks just to get in. The chap behind the counter produced two different styles of pith helmet instantly, though, together with a tiny mirror so I could see how I looked in them. I chose the one with the more pointed brim - dressed up with a flowing silk scarf it will be just the thing for my Victorian adventuress.
Feeling in the need for sustenance, we had a look at the local cafes, and decided on noodles for lunch. We ate at Culture Grub, a Chinese café that served green tea in glasses. The noodles were very good.
Then the Young Man took me off the main road and down a back street - to the very spot where some of the outdoor filming for Remembrance of the Daleks (Ace's first full story as Sylvester McCoy's Companion) was done. Coal Hill School, the main location for the story, was somewhere else, but Daleks were blown up right where we were! This Doctor Who story was written by Ben Aaronovitch, who also wrote the Rivers of London series we had been visiting locations from earlier in the week.
Then we set off for a little retail therapy in the afternoon, finally getting the bus to Trafalgar Square to get the train back to Woolwich from Charing Cross Station.

2 comments:

  1. The artist is Stu Mackay and his site is StuMackayfineart.com

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  2. Thank you! I knew you had a card as well!

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