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Tag Archives: Greenwich Park

Social-distancing: end of week 13

21 Sunday Jun 2020

Posted by Neil Clasper in Diversions

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Charlton, Greenwich Park

A non-chronological look back at a week that felt like it was 90% work – but maybe in hindsight wasn’t so bad. I did get out for a couple of walks and bike rides at least.

A Sunday afternoon walk to Greenwich Park to take in the view and have an ice cream (soft serve on a cone, with flake).

Greenwich Park view View from in front of the Wolf Statue looking over the Queen’s House and Old Royal Naval college towards Canary Wharf

 

New graffiti on the way to the Met Car Pound – executed a bit better than much of what we see around here.

‘End Boris’

A couple of foxes seen on an evening stroll. They’ve always been pretty visible in the neighbourhood but lockdown conditions seem to be suiting them very well.

Taped up artwork on a Westcombe Park bus stop. No other clues to its meaning or provenance to be seen. To be encouraged, though, I think.

‘The It Girls’

Closer to home, a Painted Lady butterfly in my front garden, and a new felt ‘pot’ for tomatoes in my back garden. Having had one abortive trip lockdown to the garden centre, leaving after seeing the queue snaking round the car park in the full midday sun, my gardening supplies have come via the internet with all of the randomness and suprise in what actually gets delivered that that implies. It’s worked well enough so far, though. Some new sedums arrived shortly after a 24 hour downpour, leaving me feeling slightly foolish as I went round the garden with a watering can after planting them out.

 

A short evening walk round the block after a torrential downpour. Nice to see the old phone box light working.

 

A Father’s Day morning bike ride with my daughter and a couple of friends along the Thames Path towards Thamesmead and back again, starting in very light rain and ending in full sun as we climbed the hill from the river back up to Charlton. Building up to a longer ride to Erith Pier before the summer’s out, I hope.

A cycling end note: last week I mentioned the scheme to close off Blackheath’s South Row to cars with a note of optimism. That optimism is, like the scheme, now temporarily suspended... In the meantime, Greenwich Council have announced the ‘details’ of the safe walking and cycling schemes to TfL for funding, but so far this just seems to be a list of routes or road names, with nothing to explain to the public what is actually planned. As lockdown eases and the roads get busier, it feels very much like an opportunity to really make the neighbourhood more pleasant for walkers and cyclists is being missed.

Social-distancing: end of week 12

14 Sunday Jun 2020

Posted by Neil Clasper in Diversions

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Greenwich Park, lockdown, social distancing, strawberries

Greenwich Park: view from the Wolfe statue on a Saturday evening in June.

The weeks have been passing relentlessly; each one much like the last with slight variants in the weather. The loosening and somewhat complex relaxing of lockdown rules hasn’t made a great deal of difference to us yet: schools are still effectively closed and likely to be until September at the earliest, working from home continues relatively smoothly, we can’t go and see our parents, we’re getting most of our food and other essentials delivered – and we don’t much fancy going to a theme park, or whatever else of that sort is being reopened with our government’s strange priorities.

Having said that, we have strayed slightly further from the immediate neighbourhood for the first time since early March. A Saturday morning walk around Foots Cray Meadows was nice: sun out, people around but not exactly in crowds, and plenty to look at: the River Cray nice and clean for the 9 year old to paddle in, fish visible, coots, moorhens, ducks, dragonflies and damselflies. We’ll go back.

On Saturday evening I went for a quick spin on the bike to Greenwich Park. I’d avoided it for the last couple of months on the basis that it looked much busier than the surrounding streets when I’ve been running, but I thought I should take a look now things are a little more relaxed. It’s always a lovely place, but removing the through traffic and car park has made a huge difference. To cycle up the main avenue from the Heath to the Wolfe Statue without dodging the traffic and parking cars, and to see it in use by families and kids on bikes was a pleasure. I believe the ban on through traffic may be permanent but suspect that the car park will be back, as a source of revenue for Royal Parks. It would be nice if they at least reduced the size of it, but as with mooted long term improvements to the cycling and pedestrian environment around the borough, I’m not optimistic (though this scheme on the other side of the Heath is a source of hope).

I’ve been cycling more than running, having aggravated a niggling muscle injury. It probably needs some physio but I can’t get a referral until it’s been scanned, and all scans are cancelled for the foreseeable – until the pandemic dies out, presumably. It’s not too big a deal, but does give an insight into the downstream effects of coronavirus on society’s health. What will be the long term effect of all these minor (or in some cases presumably not so minor) issues being put off for months?

This year’s strawberry crop

This afternoon we sat in the garden and drank wine with friends – who also brought us tomato plants. A good way to round off the weekend; the future may hold more garden drinks than pub drinks for a while (at least while the weather holds).

The Queen’s House, Greenwich Park, and Canary Wharf – August 2018

20 Monday Aug 2018

Posted by Neil Clasper in Diversions, London, Photography

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Canary Wharf, East London, Fuji XT20, Fujifilm, Greenwich Park, London skyline, monochrome, National Maritime Museum, Old Royal Naval College, south east London, The Queen's House

The view from Greenwich Park, Queen's House, Canary Wharf skyline
A Sunday afternoon walk to Greenwich Park, through the flower garden, past the bandstand to say hello to my uncle playing piano with a Big Band on the bandstand, then on to the Wolfe statue for the classic view over the park looking north.

One day – one day – I’ll pull together some proper then-and-now photos taken from this spot over the last 15 years. But this is how it looks now: the grass in the park very slightly greened up and recovered after weeks without rain; the Isle of Dogs and Canary Wharf stopped at this particular moment of development, a brief pause before the glass and steel buildings spread further out from Canada Square. I’ll no doubt be back there in the coming weeks – maybe I’ll try a then-and-now then.

London skyline views: east and west from Greenwich Park

26 Sunday Nov 2017

Posted by Neil Clasper in London, Photography

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deptford creek, Fuji XT20, Greenwich Park, London skyline, River Ravensbourne

Two shots taken late afternoon from Greenwich Park, before the sunset really started.

Both pictures were taken on my new Fuji Xt20 which arrived on Saturday. My first impressions from the weekend’s shooting are very positive indeed: I’ve loved my XT-10 but this is quicker to focus, quicker to start up, and the files are – as you’d expect from 24mp vs 16mp – bigger and richer. I’m quite excited by the possibilities.

Here’s a bonus shot of Deptford Creek taken with it on Saturday afternoon.

London skyline sunset from Greenwich Park; August 2017

07 Monday Aug 2017

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Fuji XT10, Greenwich Park, London skyline, sunset

London Skyline Sunset

I’ve never been massively excited about sunset pictures, but it’s hard to resist when Greenwich Park is a short evening bike ride away and the sky looks like this.

In other news, I now have a Facebook page for my photography; ‘Like’ it, if you like.

 

Greenwich Park views; November 2016

26 Saturday Nov 2016

Posted by Neil Clasper in London, Photography

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Canary Wharf, East Greenwich, Fuji XT10, Greenwich Park, Greenwich power station, Maritime Museum

I’ve shot these before countless times now, but it still feels worth it. The skyline keeps on changing (it might not be too long until views of the Millennium Done are mostly obscured from the south), and the autumn colours pass before you know it.

Shot on my Fuji X-T10 with 35mm and 60mm lenses on a chilly November day.

Greenwich Park; January 2016

30 Saturday Jan 2016

Posted by Neil Clasper in London

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Canary Wharf, Greenwich Park, Isle of Dogs, London skyline, Queens House

untitled-22

A quick peer out at the view from the top of Greenwich Park on a murky Sunday morning, on our way to a showing at the planetarium. I’m not sure how many times I’ve shot this view – and it’s pretty much the most cliched shot in the area – but I’m not bored of it yet.

November Antidotes

26 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by Neil Clasper in Antidotes

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DIY, Greenwich Park, Jesus and Mary Chain

Greenwich Park, autumn
Some highlights from a damp month:

The Basement Tapes Complete – not sure I’ve changed my mind much from my initial impressions, but it is an amazing piece of work; I expect to be digging into for years to come.

I saw the Jesus and Mary Chain play the whole of ‘Psychocandy’ (plus a short Greatest Hits set) at the wonderful Troxy in Limehouse, and it was brain-janglingly fantastic.

Don’t Make A Scene ‘zine turned up in the post – a really inspiring guide to promoting DIY gigs. It’s got me thinking about some of the musical things I want to do next year.

Spring morning, Greenwich Park

03 Sunday Mar 2013

Posted by Neil Clasper in London, Photography

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Greenwich Park, london, Spring

20130303-120037.jpg

A Sunday morning stroll through Greenwich Park; the sun out and a feeling that maybe Spring might actually be here. The re-turfed area looks ok, and far from the post-Olympic devastation that some have suggested.

Greenwich Park – view from the Observatory

22 Saturday Dec 2012

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Greenwich Park, london, monochrome. London skyline, photography



Greenwich Park, originally uploaded by neilclasper.

Taken last Sunday, when the sun finally reappeared.

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The view from Greenwich Park - December 2022.The view from Greenwich Park - December 2022.
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