Oct 29 - more Canals, Canada Water & more British Museum

 Hi

Today won't be as heavy as yesterday.  I decided I'd take a look at more London canals.  There are still a lot of them in existence.  I chose to take the Tube a bit east of King's Cross to a station named Angel, just a short walk from the canals.

First view of the canal.  In the distance is a large smoke stack (I think unused) and a crane that was probably used for unloading barges.

2nd view:  Oops!  There's a rental e-bike in the water.  The bike is Lime colour, the name of the rental company.  The water looks to be about 4 feet deep.

Here's a lock.  The upper gates are open.  Everything is manual - I understand that the gates are balanced well enough that a single person can push or pull them to operate them.

A view from downstream of the lower gates.  I presume a certain amount of leakage is normal.

Nice weeds growing on the gate.

About here I met a couple wearing blue blazers with some sort of symbols.  They asked me if I have any questions about the canals.Of course I do!

We yacked for a while.  It became evident they were fundraising for the Canal Trust. I gave them a donation and they were happy to talk.  First question:  "Where does the poo go?"  The people have to move their boats to a pump-out station every two weeks or so.  Some have electricity and water connections, but many don't.  

The Canal Trust people are very proud of the work they have done to clean up the system.  He showed me some before and after pictures.  Here's a link to their website Canal Trust

Oh, yeah.  I mentioned the Lime bike and the fellow told me the Lime people fish an average of 2 bikes out a day.  I wonder how many of the bikes go in with a human on it.

Here's a contrast for you - a very old canal system with a modern building right beside.  I hope the guy that designed the footings for that building knew what he was doing (my inner engineer speaking).  I suspect whoever designed it has done this a few times.

A mosaic in the wall - a bit of beautification

A lot of boats tied up two deep on this side as well as a single row tied up on the other side.   There is enough space in the middle of the channel to get by.

(Remember I told you they had to move to pump-out stations.  If you are against the wall, you may have to move a boat or 2 before you can move.)

A short side channel with many more boats

Here's a nice, big boat named "Poppy," named after the little girl who used to live across from us in Nanoose, but has moved.

Some of the boats do have funky names .  I saw an 'Eeyore' and a 'Footloose' (somehow 'Footloose' seems more appropriate for a horse instead of a boat) 

Here's something you don't see every day.  Is this a water main or a 'poo crossing?"  What happens when the pipe gets rusty?

This one's for sale! Check out the QR code in the next picture.  The price seems cheaper than a lot of real estate ads I've seen. 

The QR code links to a site that has pictures of this boat's interiors and talks about the advantages of narrow boat living.  I had a quick look at it and never saw the word "poo" or an equivalent, more polite expression.

Enuf of the canals.  It was a really enjoyable stroll, in spite of the rain.

As I was checking the map at the nearest Tube station I noticed a stop titled "Canada Water" on the line leaving the station.  Well!  We have time to go down and have a look at this.

So I did and heres what's at Canada Water Station

Yup, there's water.  Here Mr. AI's explanation of the name:

There is a sporting gear shop in the building I arrived at.  A quick look around - sporting gear prices don't seem too different than ours.  Clothes cost about the same (can't judge quality); and you can get a decent 'around town' bike for about 1000 GBP

Now, this e-bike was pretty expensive (3,999 GBP) on sale but the sign said it had seats for 4 children inside.

On the far side there appears to be a hydroponic installation of some kind.  The lighting looks different in the photo;  it is actually 'whiter.'

Turns out this is quite a big deal.  A link to their website  Harvest London

Looking back from the far side of the lake - a rather distinctive shaped buiding

That's Canada Water.  Next on the list was a recomendation from somewhere to visit Leadenhall Market.  An easy one change Tube ride.  A block or two of walking and I'm there.

Here's the entrance 

It turns out this is a fancy Victorian style market that is mostly restaurants and coffee shops.  I see a lot of people dressed up in business attire, having lunch here.

These signs describe the history of the market.

I haven't finished with the British Museum yet, so let's whip over there and take a look a look at this mosaic.

Sorry, folks, but that's it for today for the blog.  I did go to the British Museum and spent the afternoon there.  However it is past 10 p.m. now and I have an early get up for a tour of the Cotswolds and Oxford.

I'm very sorry to leave you hanging.      😏

It's Thursday the 30th now - I just got back from dinner after the Cotswolds day trip.  I'll leave that for later while I finish yesterday.

As I left the Leadenhall Market towards the tube, one of the modern structures in the vicinity caught my eye

Some description by Mr. AI

I dunno - looks more like an egg to me.

I got to the British Museum about 2 :30 p.m. and got in relatively quickly.  I had Googled various phrases about the Leadenhall Mosaic and one pointed to "Room 49: Roman Britain."

I was looking at my notes from my previous trip.   On the way to Room 49 I noticed Room 42 was now open.  Room 42 had the 'must see' object I didn't see, so I dropped in there on the way to 49.

Here it is, an astrolabe. This one is Islamic

Here's a nice description of an Astrolabe from Mr. Google AI

If you are really interested, your phone should be able to read the QR code (mine did) and listen to the audipo.

Oop, more nice stuff in Room 42.  This display is titled "Ottoman tiles"

Sorry about the descriptions.   If you are really interested, I'll send you the original file which you can enlarge using your own software (like Paint, etc)

Finally, I get to Room 49.  I go around the room twice and find nothing that seems relevant.  Some poor museum emoloyee enters the room and I pounce on him, "Where is this the Leadenhall Mosaic?"  He looks confused and doesn't recall it.  I show him the article I found on the web.  He takes my phone and scrolls down to the bottom of the article.  The answer pops up in the phrase "Location:  Not on display."

ARRGH!   So I Googled some more, and at least found a picture of it.

It is 114 cm in diameter and weighs 43 kg.

A mosaic that is in Room 42

So, that's it for yesterday (Wednesday).  I will apologize (especially to teachers) about the poor grammer and spelling that I found throughout the post.  I don't check my work as I do it.  I wait until later.  Since later was today, there were lots of glaring errors left overnight.

I scheduled nothng for Friday, so I'll try to get today's adventure posted before y0u wake up tomorrow.

Greg