Christmas Day walk 2020

The walk did me good.  Really appreciate the days when the sun is out - how different your perspective is when the circumstances are not the same.  I will complain less about the sun when I come home.  Even the rain is more welcome back home - cools things down, and nothing like the feeling after a torrential downpour.  The air feels fresher, the streets are sparkling with all the grime and dirt washed away.  The rain here is never heavy enough - it just makes everything feel damp and uncomfortable, though it feels warmer.

Anyway, after deciding to get out of the flat, I changed and went down to the lobby where I spoke to the concierge Mario (he's from Holland) to wish him Merry Christmas - he's a nice chap and I got to know him a little when he accompanied someone into the flat to check on the water heater.  A few of them are quite nice and I think people in service jobs generally appreciate it when you take a personal interest in them and get to know them.  Another one Bill is an Everton fan, and we always chat about football and have a good laugh.  Then there's also a black man Marvin who is very pleasant and will always chat with you if you are inclined to.

So after talking to Mario, I left by the side door and that sort of determined my route.  I did not have a destination or route in mind anyway.  So I headed down John Islip Street and turned into Atterbury Street and then out onto Millbank where the Tate is.

It was only today that I realised that this piece at the Tate has Indian influences.

Walked along Millbank and then onto Lambeth Bridge.  The sun was shining in the cold air and it was calm and peaceful and bright, as Christmas should be.

I decided to head to quieter streets as there were quite a number of people out and about, not doubt attracted by the same good weather as I was.  Did a short counter-clockwise loop down Lambeth Road, Hercules Road, and then Westminster Bridge Road.

It was only when I was approaching Westminster Bridge that I recalled the warnings that there might be attacks during the Christmas period, and that it had happened here before.  I became a bit more alert of the people around me, and would turn round once in a while to check my surroundings.

Decided that I didn't feel like going through the heavier traffic and crowds that would be in the Westminster area, and so turned to walk along Albert Embankment where I called mummy.

After the call, as I walked along Albert Embankment, I discovered this monument to the SOE agents in World War 2.  The inscription reads:

"The Maquis.  

French Resistance Fighters.

470 SOE agents were sent on sabotage missions to occupied France where they fought with networks of French resistance fighters who played an important part in the liberation of France in 1944. 

Violet Szabo

1921-1945

Whose sculpture is on this plinth and who was posthumously awarded the George Cross and the Croix De Guerre, was among the 117 SOE Agents who did not survive their missions to France."

Dedicated to the people who were in the SOE (Special Operations Executive) the forerunner of today's MI6.  They fought behind the lines during World War 2.  The inscription reads:

The SOE was secretly formed for the purpose of recruiting agents, men and women of many nationalities who would volunteer to continue the fight for freedom, by performing acts of sabotagein countries occupied by the enemy during the Second World War.

This monument is in honour of all the courageous SOE agents; those who did survive and those who did not survive their perilous missions.

Their services were beyond the call of duty

In the pages of history

Their names are carved with pride"

Riverside apartments - mummy and I looked at a flat there.  Beautiful view of the river, but the kitchen was very oddly designed and not very practical.

Interesting bench.  So Matt said it looked like film reels.  More like entangled cassette tape, but you guys won't get the reference.  Cassette tapes were the recordable CDs of our time.  First there were records (now making a comeback as the more hip "vinyl") but it wasn't portable and you could not record your own (they are 'pressed' - to make grooves).  When they started releasing music on cassettes, it spawned a whole new industry.  The Sony Walkman was born, and music became portable and anti-social behavior was born hahaha..  The other important development was the introduction of home tape decks that allowed you to make your own recordings.  (And thus the inspiration for the mix tape in Guardians of the Galaxy.) You would make tapes for friends, girlfriends that showed off your excellent (or not) taste in music, or professed your love.  The problem with tape was that after a while they tended to stick and that would cause it to become all entangled in the player.  You would have to slowly pull it out and then carefully turn the spools of the cassette to get the tape all back in.  If you were lucky, the tape was not damaged.  Otherwise it was 'adios'.

What's that line in Jurassic Park?  Life finds a way.  It was fascinating that in close up, it looked like a forest of sorts.