04/11/18: Galleries and museums

Most of the walking I did in the last week was around museums and galleries. I started on Tuesday at the Bob Dylan exhibition, Mondo Scripto, on New Bond Street. This is a fascinating collection of sketches by Dylan illustrating specific lyrics from his songs, which he had also written out in full beside the images. These pencil artworks are oddly literal – often not an interpretation of the song, but of one specific line or image from the song – but they were far stronger than his paintings, a few of which were also displayed. The exhibition also presented some of his metal sculptures and a short film – a very glowing summary of his career, with no new insights, but enjoyable to see nonetheless. The thing that probably made the biggest impression on me was the wall of books about Dylan assembled next to the staircase as additional furnishing. It was amazing to see books I have sought out for years, alongside others that I’ve never seen anywhere except for on my own shelves. Surprisingly, there was no gift shop. They surely could have sold Dylan CDs, Dylan postcards, Dylan tea towels and “I heart Dylan” fridge magnets. Instead, they had a £1,500 collector’s edition (4,950 copies printed) of the museum guide that was somewhat outside of my price range. Well worth seeing, the exhibition is set to tour the world after this initial London run.


Two days later I tubed to Elephant and Castle for the Imperial War Museum. While they had plenty of impressive objects on display, I found the arrangement cluttered and difficult to follow. It didn’t help that there were thousands of people trying to see the same things. It suffered from the modern museum plague of overlapping audio sound effects and commentaries fighting for your attention. I would far prefer to be left with my own thoughts, especially when the subject matter is as serious as this. The museum also suffered from mixing large- and small-scale exhibits. There simply weren’t enough tanks, bombs and planes, but a chunk of mangled debris from the Twin Towers was a memorable sight.

A walk around the harrowing Auschwitz exhibition turned into a sort of bad dream when I was unable to find the exit and kept circling the same disturbing exhibits again and again in search of the door…

A far more satisfying experience was this morning’s visit to the RAF museum in Hendon. I’ve been here many, many times and it’s to the organisers’ huge credit that any modernisation has been undertaken without diluting the experience. The sense of scale lacking at the Imperial War Museum is overwhelmingly present here. Everything is huge. As you walk around aircraft hangers with massive bombers looming over you, you see what military hardware really looks like. It was shortly after opening time, so the hangars were deserted. There were no audio commentaries, sound effects or flashing screens to distract or annoy, so you could just absorb what was in front of you (and above you) without interruption. Since my last visit, there had been various improvements: part of the car park had been grassed over, the flow between various hangars seemed more logical and orderly, and a new restaurant had opened up. But all the old favourites were still there to marvel at – the Provost T you can sit inside, the vast Vulcan bomber you can walk beneath, the colossal helicopters you can wander around and the various ponytailed male plane enthusiasts loving every detail.

07/10/18: Whetstone to East Barnet

I walked from the allotments in Whetstone down to the Everyman Cinema in Barnet and then turned right past Barnet fire station (and a boy in a Batman hat), toward East Barnet.

It was a cold and windy morning, but rather nice in the sun. The endless roar of traffic started to get to me after while – it’s not just the noise but the smell of carbon monoxide and the thought (in the back of my mind) of what this is doing to my health. Then again walking is good for your health, so maybe these things balance out somehow. I was pleased to find 20p in the road. It made a change from the usual condom wrappers, discarded kebabs, Nerf gun bullets and Lucozade bottles, although I saw all of those as well.

In East Barnet I stupidly waited for North London Hospice charity shop to open. It didn’t open at the scheduled time (10:30) and after lingering a few minutes I wondered what I was doing with myself and continued walking. I turned left down to East Barnet Library, then swing back round to East Barnet Village.

The gun shop is still there, bizarrely positioned next door to a police station. Just what the world needs in these troubled times.

Another charity shop was still closed (Cancer Research), making me think I should have done this walk an hour later. I turned right out of East Barnet past the signs for lost cats Boris and Bubbles (maybe they ran off together), and took the litter-strewn railway bridge back in the direction of Oakleigh Park Station. It was then a simple uphill jaunt back to Whetstone.

01/10/18: Totteridge sunset

15/09/18: Love Is Love

Whetstone.

06/09/18: Steps

I haven’t had many thrilling walks lately, so decided to count the steps, upward and downward, in a typical working day.

Here's the tally...

Totteridge & Whetstone tube entrance (street level) to Northern Line platform (southbound): down 32 steps.

Exchange at King's Cross from Northern Line (Bank branch) to Piccadilly Line (westbound) via broken escalator: up 32 steps.

Exit from Earl’s Court station to street level – lift to “ticket hall level”, so no steps, then up 8 steps to the way out.

Entrance from pavement to Tesco on A4 to buy lunch: up 5 steps.

Exit from Tesco to pavement to head for office: up 6 steps.

Going from pavement to business area: down 29 steps to security door, then up 10 steps to where the offices start.

Pavement to office: up 21 steps.

Lunchbreak: office to pavement: down 21 steps.

Browsing in Waterstones: down 20 steps, up 20 steps.

End of lunchbreak: pavement to office again: up 21 steps.

End of day: office to pavement: down 21 steps.

Business area to pavement: down 10 steps to security door, then up 29 steps to the main road.

Pavement to Earl’s Court tube platform (District Line): down 24 steps.

Exchange at Embankment from District Line to Northern Line (northbound): down 22, then up 3 to escalator.

Totteridge & Whetstone tube platform to pavement: up 32.


•Total up: 187 steps
•Total down: 179 steps

18/07/18: Barcelona (day two)

I took a second brief stroll around the Barcelona city centre, enjoying the remarkable architecture. 




I also had a quick look at the football stadium.

The nearest thing to a park that I could find was a small sandy space with benches and trees, where I met this little green bird.

And just in case it seems like I'm romanticising the place too much...

17/07/18: Barcelona (day one)

On a work trip, managed just a brief stroll through the streets of Barcelona. I was impressed with how many trees there were in the city centre and how lovely much of the architecture looked. Surprisingly, it was no hotter than London. The last time I saw this many scooters was when I was in Florence.

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11/07/18: Football not coming home

West Kensington.

09/07/18: Earl's Court posters and stickers

Roaming around Earl's Court and West Kensington, I see various signs and messages.

1. "I demand a vote on the final Brexit deal"
You can demand all you like, but it doesn't mean that you'll get what you want. Clearly the government has no idea whatsoever what to do and is ploughing ahead with the myth that the 51.9% knew what they were voting for. In fact, the day I took this picture the Cabinet imploded with the high-level resignations. Who know what will happen? Certainly not Theresa May.


2. "You know where you are? You're in the jungle, baby."
I became oddly obsessed with this massive poster advertising the reissue of a Guns N' Roses album from 1987. Never cared for the group or their lousy music, but this huge slogan on the A4 is so daft that it really grabbed my attention.


3. "Florence + The Machine – High As Hope"
Less eye-catching than the above, but interesting to see that music is getting such big promotion these days.

24/06/18: Hot Totteridge

It was way too warm to walk very far. This summer has barely started and it seems to be the hottest in years. The grass is already yellow and the brook is down to a minimalist trickle. Other people enjoy the sultry conditions more than I do: there were two young couples enjoying the relative privacy of the field, with one pair getting quite “frisky”, so I had to change my route quickly to avoid walking right past them.

I found a fresh white golf ball and tried to throw it back onto the golf course, although I think it bounced off a tree instead.

I met a small ginger cat and was howled at by a big black dog. A bunch of people on deckchairs were having a picnic. There seemed too many of them for it to be a family event. Perhaps it was a church social meeting or something like that.

Miles walked: 1.85
Cats spotted: 1

10/06/18: Death and madness

Totteridge to Woodside Park along the river.

There was dragonfly lying dead on its back on the path – not something you see every day. There was also a dead pigeon at the side of road.

A female walker went past wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “Blisters are in this year”.

At the café, I drank some strong coffee – not silly old decaf, for once.

On the walk back, a strange man pointed at a coat left next to a bin and said “There’s a straitjacket.” Maybe he could have used it...

Miles walked: 3.28
Cats spotted: 2

21/05/18: Totteridge 4.75-miler

Having found myself a new job, I knew this would be my last morning walk for a while. A fox lying dead at the roadside – startling and beautiful – seemed a bad omen. As well as the usual roar of traffic, Totteridge Village had a strange smell of sewage. A girl on a passing bus was wearing a Game of Thrones T-shirt. By Dollis Brook, I saw a heron fly over. As always, I marvelled at its dinosaur-like quality. No hat and no “good morning” greetings suggested that the two are indeed related.

Back to work tomorrow. On 36 walks during this period between jobs I covered 134.49 miles. I will miss doing this every day.

09/05/18: Totteridge

Three "good morning" greetings, one from my neighbour wearing a Stranglers T-shirt.

07/05/18: Totteridge 4.8-miler

Another scorcher. I put on my silly £1 hat bought on Saturday for Sunday’s Big Fun Walk, and headed up into the village. It was already too hot.

With the roar of traffic passing St. Andrew’s Church I wondered how it was possible for the people buried in the graveyard by the road to rest in peace.

It’s nice when people say “good morning”, especially since this didn’t happen a couple of miles down the road in Finchley. In fact, I got more “good morning” greetings than usual – perhaps a result of the silly hat.

06/05/18: Big Fun Walk for North London Hospice (East Finchley to Westminster)

It was our third year running for this charity event.

We remembered the registration wristbands this time and made a good start at East Finchley tube, armed with the usual nylon drawstring bag, biscuits, bottle of water and route map.

We collected sandwiches and an apple in Cherry Tree Wood, then began the long trek through Highgate Wood, Highgate itself (past the Alms House and Highgate School) and then into Hampstead Heath.



At Parliament Hill we were talking about people who have never seen Star Wars, when a passing woman – also doing the Big Fun Walk – chipped in to proudly announce that she’d never seen Star Wars.

It was really hot already. My daughter, in a moment of bad temper, threw a section of her cheese sandwich at my son. It missed and landed on the path. I told her off and said she shouldn’t leave litter on the floor. She picked it up and carried on eating it.

We continued in the direction of Belsize Park and Primrose Hill, following the other green bags and wristbands.


One advantage of having done this twice before was knowing the route. In fact, the route was slightly changed – and much improved – by a scenic detour along the canal before entering Regent’s Park. This was in order to avoid another event, but it had the benefit of making the walk a proper 10 miles rather than the 9.6 miles of previous years.

I chatted to a nice lady who was doing this for the first time and we walked together for a bit. She also had a walking app, but hers was actually “talking” to her – emitting from her belt were sporadic announcements about her speed and distance.


There was an embarrassing moment at the park inner circle when I was asked where the toilets were and sent another walker in what turned out to be the wrong direction. I had to avoid her for the rest of the morning.

I always dislike the Baker Street part of the route. It’s too noisy and crowded. We saw a few people going the wrong way at the George Street junction (too far ahead for us to alert them), and there wasn’t a North London Hospice marshal to advise. Things improve when you finally hit Hyde Park.

We managed to go slightly off-piste ourselves at Buckingham Palace – perhaps confused by the thousands of tourists and selfie sticks – somehow coming out on the other side of St. James’s Park Lake.


A man held a pigeon in his hands for a photo opportunity – appropriately enough, this was on Birdcage Walk.

We finished with a time of 3 hours 21 minutes. This was sadly much slower than last year, but it had been far hotter and the distance slightly greater.

At Storey's Gate, Westminster, we went through the balloon arch that marks the finish line and were awarded our medals. Of 1,350 registered walkers (up on last year), we were in the first 15.


There were biscuits, bottles of water and hot drinks. Plus, the NLH team were unloading the uneaten sandwiches from Cherry Tree Wood.

I met up with the app lady again and we compared distances. She had also got a bit lost, but had it logged as 17 kilometres.

A jazz band played and we sat on the grass. As always, a lovely way to spend the morning.




Miles walked: 10.17
Cats spotted: 0

26/04/18: Totteridge 4.16-miler

Another walk with the early birds. It was freezing in the shade and “scorchio” in the sun.

A man walking his dog wasn’t happy when a nearby woman’s dog came over to be sociable. He yelled at the woman: “Are you gonna f*#%ing call your dog or what?”

A long-haired girl on her way to school used her phone’s selfie camera to check on her looks.

On the cycle path, cyclists zoomed past me with alarming and dangerous proximity.

A beagle called Barney howled at me.

The abandoned car is now upside down.

24/04/18: Totteridge 4.74-miler

1. Pigeon
2. Duck
3. Magpie
4. Parakeet
5. Blue tit
6. Robin
7. Crow
8. Blackbird
9. Sparrow

Saw the woman with the sling again. Saw a woman in a straw hat walking two dogs and taking her morning mug of coffee with her. Very civilised.

20/04/18: Totteridge 4.34-miler

As I walked along Dollis Brook, there was a constant chorus of birdsong: they were clearly delighted at the change of seasons. Like yesterday, it was unusually warm – we seem to have skipped spring (after a long winter) and lurched straight into summer. The temperature was already into the twenties and it was still early. I saw joggers (perhaps preparing for this weekend’s London Marathon), a woman with an arm in a sling, and plenty of dog walkers. A walker with a German Shepherd dog wore a German Shepherd dog T-shirt. The abandoned car had finally been moved of the field, leaving a rectangle of lighter-coloured grass where it had stood. I saw blackbirds, crows, magpies, parakeets, pigeons and robins, but not the herons or grebes sometimes visible by the water. Miles walked: 4.34 Cats spotted: 0

15/04/18: Totteridge 4.54-miler

Many cyclists. One horse on the cycle path. I had to step out of the way and onto the muddy verge as the rider told me there were cyclists oncoming. Indeed, they swished past at the very last moment. The brave horse kept its composure.

The abandoned car is still there in the field by the brook, but now it has been graffitied and all the windows smashed in. There is a sticker on the front saying that it's being monitored and will be removed.

The weather is really warming up now. I certainly didn’t need my big black coat.

Miles walked: 4.54
Cats spotted: 1

05/04/18: Whetstone to Woodside Park

Walked to the Vero café in Woodside Park, counting birds along the river. Saw the following:
1. Robin
3. Wading bird with red beak
4. Magpie
5. Pigeon
6. Crow
7. Blue tit
8. Wren
9. Parakeet
10. Duck
11. Pied wagtail(?) – on an aerial above a house, so hard to tell for sure.

Heard others (pretty sure there was a blackbird singing in a tree), but they had to be seen to make the list.

A chinook flew over.

We saw a dead crow, lying upside down on the grass.

Back in Whetstone, we were passed by four police motorbikes in a hurry.

Miles walked: 3.18
Cats spotted: 0