Blooming moat

A week or so ago we paid our visit to the floral experience which has been put together in the moat of the Tower of London, Superbloom in the language of visitor attractions. An attraction for which a supplement to our subscription to Historic Royal Palaces is applicable. The subscription which gets us into Hampton Court Palace (and grounds, once more open to the public than they are now) and pays its way on that account. 

An overcast but dry day, much better than sun for this sort of outing. Without thinking, I had booked tickets for 11:00, which turned out to mean leaving the house at 08:45 for the 09:15 train. Very early for us these days, but we managed without too much strain.

Caravans on Fair Green, the ones that were still there a few days later to be noticed at reference 2. On this occasion I wondered whether the travellers made a point of having lots of litter, just to annoy all the tiresome regular people. No respect for the people from whom they extracted their precarious living.

Off the train at London Bridge, from where we crossed the bridge and turned right onto the riverside walk. Getting down from the bridge to the walk via some kind of compact but arty, open plan staircase. To pass a riverside restaurant just before the tower, all kitted out with COVID capsules. Which I would have thought a bit claustrophobic, especially if it got hot. And substantially reducing the impact of all the passers-by and fellow customers. Impact which is a good part of the point of paying so much extra for one's grub.

Into the moat, to find something like a 500 metre stretch of flowers planted around the moat, in a bed maybe five to ten metres wide. But, possibly infected by the Chelsea disease, they couldn't just plant the flowers. The border had to be an interesting shape and every 100 metres there had to be an attraction of some kind or another.

The first of these was a large slide, mainly occupied by school children, but BH teamed up to have a go with a couple of other oldies. She was well pleased with herself and I think she prompted various other oldies to have a go. I waited on a convenient bench.

From the convenient bench. Not the country-craft edging.

Another involved arty music especially composed for the occasion, with part of the sound system being snapped above. Perhaps a relative of the chap who made the music at the recent Stonehenge exhibition. perhaps a relative of the chap who does the talking barrels and talking drain covers in the courts of Hampton Court Palace.

But there were also lots of flowers in flower, even if a lot of them were not meadow flowers, and some of them might even have been foreign. We had chosen our day well. The only catch being that providing enough water, particularly on the various hillocks, was clearly a problem. And planting some of the seeds in special water retaining netting was not good enough.

Getting near the end of the line, where we had a range of art metalwork.

We were pleased to find that we got out just by Tower Bridge, as that was where we wanted to cross the river, to fund lunch somewhere between that bridge and London Bridge station.

So, a good idea. An imaginative use of an otherwise not much used open space in the heart of London. But I would have liked it better had they kept it a bit simpler, just stuck to a swathe of flowers and grass. Not bothered with the attractions (except perhaps the opening slide) and not bothered with the hillocks which were clearly prone to dry out (as the people at Wisley could have told them, having experimented there with a large hillock a few years before). Then maybe mowed it once or twice a year to keep woody plants like brambles and trees down - which would otherwise take over in short order. 

Out to find this fine plastic lemon tree in a middle sized event space which they had forgotten to lock up. But we were soon shoed out by security.

We wound up taking a light lunch in a very quiet branch of the once famous El Vino operation, now part of the Davy family of reference 3. Moor Place. I took some humus and flat bread (good), followed by a ham & cheese sandwich (adequate). While BH was happy enough with a taste of my humus and her smoked salmon sandwich. But the wine was fine, as one would expect from a once serious wine shipper. Properly serious bottle with the label on the back being all Italian, except for the bottom line which said 'Product of Italy'. See references 4 and 5.

The shipper who used to have an important outlet in Fleet Street for scribblers, lawyers and male walk-ins, but no ladies, at least not in the front bar. Occasionally, the usually crowded scene was livened up by libbers who thought they deserved access too. Sadly, I never saw a bra being burned, never mind what might have once been inside.

By way of entertainment we had lots of windows and lots of interesting and interestingly dressed people walking past, added to which there was a family of art chimpanzees scattered around. Apparently sculpted - or possibly moulded - from life. 

Google says the image above was captured in December 2021, but I don't recall any cuddly animals on the day of our visit. Perhaps swept away until a new attraction is installed for the Christmas to come. El Vino's at the back, in the middle of the snap, I think the place with the red umbrellas.

Some confusion about whether the thoroughfare in question is called More Place or More London Place. And there is also a More London Riverside. With these last two, to my mind, being rather odd names.

Just caught a train to Epsom which was good. Amused when getting out at Epsom by a chap who was wearing rubber shoes, complete with toes. Never seen such a thing before, but Bing tells me I have missed out on an important fashion in aqua footwear. At least, I can get the Ssalena shoes for ladies above from AliExpress -  but no-one else seems to have heard of them. All very puzzling.

PS: failed to spot the big, south London incinerator, yet again. See reference 6.

References

Reference 1: https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/whats-on/superbloom-at-the-tower-of-london.

Reference 2: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/07/odds-and-ends.html.

Reference 3: https://www.davy.co.uk/.

Reference 4: https://www.pelassa.com/it/. A modest website by the standard of the bigger producers. I wonder what percentage of their stuff they sell into the UK?

Reference 5: https://www.pelassa.com/en/the-wines/item/34-san-vito-roero-arneis-en.html.

Reference 6: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/05/london-bridge.html.