Wednesday 1 November 2023

Another Day Of Only One Post, For Two Reasons,

firstly we were out and I took way too many photographs,


and secondly today, Wednesday, I will be out as soon as I post the blog to visit Duncan, back to Tuesday,

wrap up warm for a day to London,

coat and hat on,

into a bright day,

blue skies over Beckenham station,

as we took the train,

to London Bridge,

in no time we were on the concourse, 

looking towards Brough Market,

and this sculpture,

in front of a all glass building,

I am not sure what it is,

but it was begging for Diana to have a pose,

or two,

or three!

we walked towards the end of the road,

a train over the bridge, the market underneath,

across the road,

the market and a shop,

which sells kitchen equipment,

the front of the market,

we made our way inside, 

the first stall, 

of many,

drunk cheese anyone?

there were many new stalls,

as well as some we remembered from our last visits,

doughnuts, Diana's favourite,

across the road into another section of the market,

we have bought pheasants, quail, pigeons,

and kebabs from this stall before,

the first of the fruit and vegetable stalls, we were looking for cob and chestnuts,

none here but lots of figs,

we passed more stalls,

with all manner of cakes to tempt us,

this stall specialising in dried and cured meats,

plenty of cheese here as well,

as well as dried sausages,

some infused with truffles,

we were approaching my favourite stall,

selling seafood,

what a selection,

as always I weakened, a pot of cockles for breakfast, no change there then!

in case you want to find it, the stall is the Dorset Oyster Bar,

which is almost opposite the biggest pans I have ever seen,

selling paella,

there is another seafood stall that I noticed was selling this fearsome fellow,

look at those teeth,

it is a wolf fish, (Anarhichas lupus), and yes they do bite!

also there are lots of butchers here,

yummy!

and other fruit and vegetable stall,

with a few carved pumpkins,

I had to get close to see what theses were, dates,

a few more pumpkins,

and by the side of the mushrooms,

chestnuts!

Diana used her expert eyes,

to pick the best of the crop,

whilst I looked at the various shades mushrooms came in, pink,

blue,

yellow, 

and almost orange,

on the triangular stall,

wheels of cheese, 

as well as smaller portions,

with more dried and cured meats,

this very specialised stall, Brough Olives Ltd, selling? you guessed it, olives!

we found another fruit and vegetable stall, we were still looking for cobnuts,

back across the road,

passing these ornamental gourds,

but no cobnuts,

the cheese wheels again,

10% off, 

not something you see in every market, sugar cane,

which you can have crushed to make a drink,

and jackfruit, it was just like being back in Thailand!

a treat for any cook to use, 

truffles,

we started to make our way out, 

passing some of the smaller stalls,

towards the fish & chip stall,

where we turned left, passing some more doughnuts, a tad expensive we thought, plain ones at £4.00 each,

away from the bridge, 

and towards the Shard,

rain was forecast for this afternoon and a few grey clouds were incoming,

on the other side of the road, The Barrow Boy And Banker,

we crossed further down the road,

walking past London Bridge station on our right,

the Shard,

behind it, 

we turned left into Hay's Galleria,

so time for a couple of poses,

well I had too!

we made our way into the main area,

where these stalls,

are being readied for Christmas,

next a few photographs of the The Navigators, by David Kemp, no relation, (as far as I know), the piece is a rivet-covered bronze sculpture with the face of a man and the body of an industrial-age ship, The Navigators is actually an enormous kinetic machine

it started to work just as we arrived, 

a short video of it working, 

past the sculpture, 

the wooden bar had been erected,

so a couple for the album,

no one in the booths yet,

looking towards the bar,

with plenty of seating,

both side of the barrels,

in front of the bar a archway,

we emerged opposite the Walkie-Talkie building, 

and made our way to number 26,

a bar and restaurant, 


as it happens we changed our table,

'Cheers!', with a larger and lime,

and one from Diana, 

our meal arrived, a huge haddock and chips for Diana,

a leg of lamb shepherds pie with vegetables for myself,

eyes down and tuck in, our bill came to £50.95, include larger and a coke, which considering we were in London seemed pretty fair, also the portions were large and the food excellent, 

Diana had a coffee after the meal,

a quick pose outside,

as we made our way past the Navigators,

stopping for a pose,

or two,

over the road to the station,

passing every kids favourite shop,


whilst we were here there was one shop we wanted to call into,


there were a few things we wanted to buy for Christmas,

we were a tad early for our train, so a look into Oliver Bonas,

then upstairs,

and onto our train,

for the journey home,

we passed Tower Bridge,

and the home of Millwall,

one of the London clubs,

as I was taking photographs, 

Diana was taking a video of me,

we soon arrived in Beckenham, walking past Foxgrove Lodge, the residents there had put out a few Halloween decorations,

as we walked further into the park,

some cobwebs had appeared outside of this home,

rounding the corner, still nice blue skies the rain had held off, arriving home a couple of quiz shows and then our evening meal, a bit of bad news for Diana, she is on all night shift for the next 2 nights, 10.00 in the evening until 05.00 in the morning, it does not happen very often, but it is a horrible shift, we watched a Deadliest Catch and a Midsomer Murder before Diana had to leave, for myself I wrote the some of the blog as tomorrow morning I will be pushed for time as I will be leaving early to visit Duncan, soon after Diana left I was off to bed.


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