A wander around Borough Market and Borough Yards

The skies are [finally] blue here in London and it's hot hot HOT. Hurrah!

People often say that the sun has come out but they forget that it's always up there burning ferociously, but usually covered by clouds. When it's as hot as this, it gets me thinking about the power of those clouds, wondering if there is a tog rating for cloud blankets as per duvets.

Anyway, enough about the weather. I went to Tate Modern on Monday afternoon and afterwards, as I wandered the backstreets heading towards London Bridge, I snapped a few pics, inc these two:

Whist I despise the Tate's modern extension to Gilbert Scott's elegant Bankside power station, I do rather like the graphic patchwork patterns that can be achieved by zooming in on it. Nearby there's a lovely glimpse of St Paul's through the trees. 

I crossed over Southwark Street and, as I went under the railway lines and looked left/east, I noticed that the patterns from the metalwork above were making shadows that echoed the Shard in the distance. The Shard dominates the area as shown by my second pic here where it looms over the beautiful old façade of a hop dealer's premises in Borough High Street...

My intention had been to head to London Bridge and catch a bus home to Holloway but as it was such a nice day with not so many people about I let myself go wandering. I headed into Borough Market which was mostly clear after a busy trading morning, meaning signage and imagery is easier to see.

And then an amble around the streets that surround the market. I've long been fascinated by this building that faces Southwark Cathedral and when I get a moment I will find out who/what BMT stands for, seen within its 1897 marker.

Adjacent to this building there are a couple of old bollards from the 1820s and some corner protectors of interest:

I walked to the riverside and noticed that the modern crane being used to redevelop a nearby building that is covered in scaffolding and white protective material echoed the masts on the replica of The Golden Hind. Again, nice patterns and colours:

I then stood and admired the view of the City of London across the River Thames – OK, let's be honest, I went in the pub and had a beer on the terrace and admired the view from there(!): 

This pic shows how many London landmarks are visible from this spot – a double decker red London bus on London Bridge is going past Adelaide House (the first reinforced concrete office block; an Art Deco era marvel that is currently undergoing internal renovation), then there's The Walkie Talkie, The Gherkin, 22 Bishopsgate, lots of other tall buildings that have names I can't remember right now, and a glimpse of Tower 42... all here surrounding what would have been one of the biggest buildings it its day, the Grade II* listed Fishmongers Hall, built 90 years before Adelaide House in the early 1830s.

By this time it was almost 6pm and the shadows cast by the sun were marvellous. I took few pics near The Clink Museum:

Plus a couple of myself near the newly developed Borough Yards, a clever repurposing of the arches beneath the railway lines:

There are some interesting things here. I specifically like the neon boards that resembles the signs that used to be outside cinemas, but here illustration the diverse range of trades and professions here throughout the many decades, and someone has highlighted that the bottom of the metal brackets look like faces:

Deckchairs are currently arranged in front of a large screen where the Olympics is being shown. Men's gymnastics is amazing. Here I bumped into some people I had chatted to at Tate Modern. How delightful. We chatted for quite a while and swapped contact details. 

I finally headed home. Walking towards London Bridge via Winchester Walk there was another lovely view, this time of the cathedral bathed in late afternoon sunshine (about 7.20pm).

What a lovely afternoon. 

London's architectural icons

'Icon' and 'iconic' are often-repeated words these days, usually used to describe new buildings that are very tall and shouty – ooh look at me... try avoiding me! Often the word is applied before the building is completed; it will be the biggest/tallest/pointiest/greenest/glassiest/etc

Perhaps the developers are using the word in the sense of those religious icons you can buy in the backstreets of Naples; the ones you add to a shrine or put on your mantlepiece? In which case those little souvenirs of The Eiffel Tower would fit the bill if architecture was your god of choice.

In the same way as a community can't just be created by bulldozing streets of small houses and putting up tower blocks with chain restaurants and homogenous coffee bars on the ground floor, I think icons, in the sense of architecture, are made over time and thus earn their iconic label.

I wrote about Centrepoint last year and it features in the ten pics below of London landmarks I believe have become iconic – tall, sometimes inspiring, structures that have become mostly well-loved points of reference; some as landmarks, others as architectural statements. 

This doesn't need captioning; these structures ought to be easily-identified by any Londoner

Art In The City, St Mary Axe and The Gherkin

Last weekend I finally found time to go and see [most of] the art installations in and around The Gherkin At St Mary Axe.

Ai Weiwei's bicycle rack and Damien Hirst's donation's box

Tomoaki Suzuki's little people and Keita Miyazaki's car parts.

I was also interested by other things that were not part of the trail; a sobbing woman near the air filters and a drain full of fag ends in Lime Street.

Near the Hirst piece a bollard made from a cannon can be found.

Every time I visit the Gherkin, love it as I do, after all, it may be the only truly beautiful and beautifully designed glass structure made in the past twenty years, I am always distracted by the rhythmic solidarity of Holland House across the road in Bury Street.
But I will save that for another day...