One morning last week was really sunny so I set out to cheer myself up by looking at flowers.
I can’t resist starting with another picture from our car park …
The repurposed boxes will give you a clue as to nature of merchandise often delivered to our flats!
A walk around the Barbican podium revealed some lovely displays managed by the members of the Barbican Horticultural Society …
I’m really looking forward to Spring.
Meanwhile, a confused hollyhock thinks it’s June …
A reminder from last Summer …
Some pictures from Bunhill Burial Ground …
This fine bust of Shakespeare looks out over the St Mary Aldermanbury garden …
A Wren church gutted in the Blitz, the remains of St Mary Aldermanbury were shipped to Fulton, Missouri, USA in 1966. The restored church is now a memorial to Winston Churchill’s ‘Iron Curtain’ speech made at Westminster College, Fulton, in 1946. The plaque commemorates his fellow actors Henry Condell and John Heminge who were key figures in the printing of the playwright’s First Folio of works seven years after his death.
Some nearby flowers …
Outside St Paul’s Underground Station …
At the junction of Bread Street and Queen Victoria Street …
Massive thanks to the City of London gardening team who look after public spaces so enthusiastically throughout the year.
Outside the Dion Restaurant in St Paul’s Churchyard …
I did smile when I noticed this new mural in the Reception area at the City Point offices (EC2Y 9HT). Very cheerful …
You might also enjoy this post from the Gentle Author in Spitalfields Life : Winter Flowers.
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I have been looking again at my rescued copy of Living London published in 1902 and was fascinated by this description of the London Policeman …
It may be his painful duty to arrest you and lock you up … but he much prefers to be your guide and champion, to help and stand by you at every turn. At the crowded street crossing with uplifted finger he stays the multitudinous thunder of the traffic … and may sometime later risk his valuable life against the murderous burglar. Whether gentle or rough, he is always the same, civil-spoken, well mannered, long suffering but sturdy and uncompromising servant of the people.
The writer, Major Arthur Griffiths (1838-1908), was an Assistant Governor of several London prisons and wrote a number of books about policing, befriending a number of senior officers in the process.
His words inspired me to go off to do a bit more research and find some images that might complement this description.
It has been decades since I saw a policeman on traffic, or ‘point’, duty and so I haven’t for a long time witnessed an officer’s ‘uplifted finger’ staying the traffic. But I have found some great images.
At Bank junction. An old postcard (I’d guess from the 1930s) …
Another from circa 1930, taken on Ludgate Hill and its junction with Ludgate Circus …
Copyright: Museum of London.
This officer is standing in almost the same place during the terrible winter of 1962/3 which became known as the Big Freeze …
Copyright: Rob Baker.
Outside the old Lyons Corner House Restaurant on the Strand near Charing Cross, probably early 1970s …
Fox Photos/Getty Images.
And what about this great scene. It’s entitled A London policeman controlling traffic from a box at Ludgate Circus on 2nd February 1931 …
Picture: Getty Images.
Here’s another image from a different angle. I imagine that the levers in the box can be used to control the traffic lights. Boy do we need something similar at that location today …
Image: Keith Nale, Pinterest.
This short eight minute film on YouTube is a real treat. It dates from 1932 and includes film of Bank Junction during a busy time of day with no traffic lights, just two policemen controlling everything. There’s a wonderful moment when a lady interrupts one of them to ask directions! Click here for the link. If that doesn’t work try Googling ‘London Traffic – early (1932) British Pathé’.
As far as arrests are concerned, my copy of Living London has provided me with one arrest image – a man caught trying to pawn stolen goods …
By the expression on the pawnbroker’s face it looks like he was the one who gave the police a tip off.
This is an 1890 photograph of an arrest entitled Taken in Charge …
Picture from Pinterest, Dustin DeWitt.
Apparently it’s from an article about the Metropolitan Police but I can’t find any more detail. Presumably the officers and the person they are detaining had to stand still for the picture to be taken, hence its ‘posed’ appearance.
All this research reminded me of my visit almost three years ago to the City of London Police Museum where I recorded a fine set of moustaches …
The City of London police have been responsible for looking after the Square Mile since 1839 and this exhibition is a collaboration with the Guildhall Library.
Some exhibits make you smile …
The coat hanger joke refers to the fact that the minimum height for a City of London Police officer used to be 5 feet 9 inches whereas for the Metropolitan Police it was 5 feet 7 inches.
Other exhibits are more serious …
Cleverly disguised bombs made by Suffragettes.
And finally some police enforcement equipment …
The object with the elaborate crest is a tipstaff dated 1839 – it was a sign of rank and unscrewed to provide a place to carry documents. The handcuffs are 19th century, the earlier one was attached to the wrist of the detained person and the officer would hold the other side. The ‘bullseye’ lamp for night patrol is from the 1880s and the truncheon, with the City emblem, from the same period.
Villains also had ‘tools of the trade’. It looks like Major Griffiths had access to the notorious ‘Black Museum’ at Scotland Yard when writing his article since it includes pictures of some of the Museum’s exhibits …
In this image showing a corner of the Museum you can see that exhibits include some nooses hanging from the ceiling. They were probably used in the execution of individuals whose story excited particular public interest. Also visible are the death masks of five executed criminals lined up on a shelf at the back …
A number of items on display in the London Police Museum have come from the Black Museum.
*Click here to listen to the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company singing A Policeman’s Lot from ThePirates of Penzance. You will find the lyrics here.
The weather last week was truly, truly awful but I waited until the sky brightened a little to go in search of some natural colour and some signs that nature was reasserting itself beyond the gloom.
What could be a better start that these spectacular red berries …
Here they are in their context outside St Paul’s Cathedral …
Some more berries peep out in Brewers’ Hall Garden …
Nearby Karin Jonzen’s Gardener (1971) toils patiently …
Postman’s Park has splashes of colour if you look carefully …
Along with a curious goldfish …
Congratulations to the owners or tenants of 30 Gresham Street for these displays …
There are also some pretty beds alongside St Paul’s Underground Station …
It’s nice to return home where our Car Park Attendant has created this wonderful little garden …
Incidentally, on my way back from St Paul’s this plaque caught my eye. I think the wording gives us a hint of the pride of the Kingdom when imperial power was probably at its height: ‘British Dominions beyond the Seas’ …
You might also like to read The Gentle Author’s blog on Winter Flowers.
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