Many places describe themselves as the Home of Football or something similar, but Hackney Marshes in London has as good a claim as any. 88 football pitches make this probably the largest single centre for football in the whole world. About 30 of them were being used today by a diverse range of teams including UK Moldova FC, FC Karpaty, Flamengo, Limehouse Tigres. The sun was shining. You have your Mecca I’m sure, perhaps this is mine.
As made by this board outside Walthamstow Central station this morning. And thanks to ‘good service’ on the tube, Grand Central trains and….. er, OK, Northern (just about) — it was blessed enough. Blessed with very fine weather, at least.
The heading of this post is somewhat superfluous bearing in mind this bridge. In April 2014 I took this picture from more or less the same spot, one of the touristic epicentres of London, and so not at all what it used to be in my youth etc. etc. when Camden was the place to come for your cheap, punk clothing.
As seen from the Walthamstow Travelodge, looking south. Yes, I’m in London again. I like London. There are things to do here.
Almost every one of my trips to London ends here. Now and again I might leave in a different direction, but mostly it’s on one of the half-hourly Leeds services: we all watch the departures board over there, to see if this will be one of those times where LNER give us all more than about eight minutes’ notice. (Today, they did.)
After 19 different places in 23 days, London becomes the first location to make it on two days in a row since the beginning of July. This was actually the first photo I took today. While intending that my wanderings around parts of the East End of London would lead to some good photo opportunities — cobbled streets, urchins picking whelks out from mudbanks on the Thames, that kind of thing — most of it looks like this these days.
He was running, mostly. A few minutes after I took this one he passed me on another lap. When I was running — this is a while ago now — I would never have thought of doing so on a Friday evening, but each to their own.
When this weekend in London was organised I had no idea that the London Marathon was being run this Sunday morning, although with hindsight, this certainly explained the dearth of hotel rooms. Never mind, it was nice to get out (albeit in the rain) to a point on the route relatively near to our accommodation and watch this massive river of people flow past: 45,000 people were participating, and we must have seen at least three-quarters of them come down the Woolwich Road. This photo was taken exactly 12 minutes after the leading men came past, so Amy’s doing pretty well.
In the 1940s The Valley stadium in south-east London could seat 70,000 people and was one of the biggest football grounds in the country. It doesn’t quite have that same scale any more but it’s still a decent football stadium: if you can find the entrance to the away end, anyway. At least the extended trek that was required to gain access allowed the opportunity of this shot, the only point from which the city behind could properly be seen. And the steward, doing his thing.
My last day in London, this time. I did the Thames as a subject on Sunday, but I’m doing it again. A glorious morning: the two walkers seen here, and me, were considerably overdressed. I’m not sure that the bridge ahead has a name, but it takes the suburban line over the river to Chiswick. This is a very attractive part of the city, which is why I will never be able to afford to live there.
Being 42 