A sunny day in Paddington Basin

Lunchtime is busy around the basin most days but sunshine and the food fair bring people pouring from the glass and concrete towers to either sit or eat beneath  their tall prisons.

Free table tennis in Spring and Summer.

About 7/8 different food choices.

The colourful deckchairs are supplied by the land management company.

Large queues at the food stalls.

 

Lots of daytime events take place and today it`s stand up paddleboards. Some future events including ferret racing and Formula 1 wheel change listed HERE.

Thirsty? Try canal water.

The Grand Junction Canal Company arrived in Paddington in 1801. Paddington became a very busy terminus with goods being shipped on by horse and cart across London.

This block of  old canal warehouses is just about all that remains in the basin of a very busy industrial scene. I was always curious as to why the building carried on past the corner of the basin.
The building through the gap in the distance is part of the hospital but has an interesting history that surfaced during research of this post. Will blog it soon.

As you can see in this shot it`s not the floating walkway that gives this impression the building does move away from the canal edge. The other warehouse doors make easy work of loading/unloading of boats but the far left one always looked wrong to me.

My fascination with the Grand Junction Water Co. led me to find this map. As you can see in the top left there is an arm at this point in the basin. This led to a builders merchants The other things of interest are the reservoirs made originally for supplying the canal in case of water shortages. In 1811 the Grand Junction Canal Co. having an excess of water decided to go into the water supply business to properties in Paddington. Yep it was canal water they were supplying. It did lay in the reservoirs and became clear but was far from healthy so in 1820 they started taking water from the River Thames at Chelsea quite near a sewage outlet. That went on until in 1835 they moved to Kew, now the steam museum, and pumped water back 5 miles to the Paddington reservoirs through a 30" pipe. In 1855 after it became illegal to take water from the tidal part of the river they moved to Hampton and still pumped water via Kew to Paddington.
Notice the street name below the reservoirs, Grand Junction Street, now Sussex gardens. Further down the page is a link to an 1817 map and you can see the canal company was here all alone giving  them no opposition to name things as they wish.

The south reservoir is here at Norfolk square.

The Lower reservoir is at Talbot square both of these are protected from development by an act of parliament granted when they were first built.

The North reservoir is here in London street and has been built on. All three were sold 1842-1851 and this site was shown on ordnance survey maps of 1872 (click 1872) as being part of St Mary`s hospital.  The map also shows this side street as being called Amber Mews and Francis Mews running down the other side of the building. Today they are Winsland street and W`mews.

The part to the right of picture is to this day still part of the hospital. The GJWC built in 1855 a larger reservoir in nearby Kensington. Just 50 years later and the GJWC became Metropolitan Water Board.

Links for further reading HERE  HERE 
1817 map showing the basin, 2 of the reservoirs and the pumping station HERE

Friends From Afar!

"A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles." ~Tim Cahill

The bonnie lass and her American Hubby, Joe.

    We were fortunate to hook up with our dear friends  Sally and Joe Horton while we moored up at Kensal Green earlier in the spring, waiting for the endless rain and over cast weather to disperse so we could move down onto the Thames. Theirs was an ambitious travel itinerary including as it does Sally's family and friends in East Anglia and Scotland (she's a bonnie lass from Glasgow). 
   The Hortons were traveling with two of their dear Pullman,Washington friends Roger and LeiAnn so a bit of sightseeing across the Island was also in the cards. Given all of this Les and I did not think it would be possible to spend time with Sally and Joe this trip but bless them--they found us At Kensal Green when they were in London and invited us to meet them at Covent Garden for dinner one evening.
  Les and I got all dressed up--aftershave,dress slacks, and shined shoes for Les; perfume and jewelry for me!  We weren't planning to eat out any place posh--it's just that ANY dinner off the boat is an occasion to dress nice for those of us who live aboard all the time!  We really don't have any other excuses for dressing up, so...off we went.
   A short walk up the canal towpath, a zigzag across Sainsbury's parking lot and we were out on the street at the Ladbroke Grove bus stop. The number 23 picked us up and about forty five minutes later it deposited us at Aldwych street in the theatre district adjacent to Covent Garden. 
   A short walk through the grounds of St. James chapel (the Actors' church) and there we were, just as Sally and Joe came sauntering along with LeiAnn and Roger. Les waved his arms and Sally and I made a beeline for one another. Big hugs and smiles! Introductions ensued. I had never met Roger and LeiAnn although I had eaten at their fine establishment in Pullman many times. Rico's Pub is the closest most folks in Eastern Washington State will ever come to a British pub unless they visit Europe.

Joe, Jaq, Les, LeiAnn, and Roger

Rico's Public House, Pullman, Washington.

   The interior of Rico's is brick, dark paneling, thick wooden beams, a long bar, comfortable tables and booths by the window to look out on main street (as High street is known in the USA). There are books and games and a variety of newspapers to keep one occupied as well as a separate section with billiard tables (Snooker to Brits) and darts. Live music and dancing is available on the weekends. Rico's has a good pub grub menu and makes the best hamburgers served with thick, fat chips--not french fries! One can get this served up with Guinness or Mac & Jack's dark Ale, two of over 20 choices on tap. There is a sign above the door in     
Latin which says, "There is no beer in heaven, therefore all beer must be drunk here."
   Les has fond memories of a beautiful, sunny day boating and fishing on the Snake River aboard Roger's boat, back in July 2011, but he hadn't the pleasure of meeting LeiAnn. Off we all went chattering and laughing, catching up as we walked the London Streets to Porter's--guaranteed for good British food. We waited at the bar for fifteen minutes during which time the men ordered their lagers and ales, Sally took a trip down memory lane with a Harvey Wallbanger and LeiAnn and I ordered mead. Soon we were seated at our booth and having a great time. As we six chatted I discovered that Roger and Lei Ann had lived in Alaska for some time in the 1970's during the North Slope Pipeline boom. It was great to reminisce about things Alaskan.
   The menu at Porter's is extensive and it was hard to narrow down one's choice. During their travels the past few weeks through Anglia and the Cotswolds, Roger had taken a liking to a Brit dish called faggots, of which I had never heard.

Faggots with mash, peas and gravy

   Faggots date back to at least the mid 1800's and were a means of using the heart, liver and offal of pigs, mixed with herbs and bread crumbs, shaped into patties and often cooked in a crock of gravy. At Porter's this dish is made from minced beef, onion, carrots and herbs, and cooked in an onion and ale gravy.
    Les and Joe had the braised lamb shank pie which they both agreed was superb. I had the chicken and mushroom pie which was okay. Sally ordered Steak and Kidney pie and I cannot remember what LeiAnn decided upon--the mead quite went to my head! At the end of the evening we all stumbled out laughingly into the street in high spirits as Les gave Sally details of how to take the bus from their nearby hotel to the canal where we were moored. LeiAnn and Roger had never been aboard a narrow boat. We planned to wind the boat before they arrived, pick up our four friends and cruise through Little Venice, past the London Zoo, wind before Camden locks and end at Paddington Basin.
   The next morning dawned miserable, cold, and rainy. Les walked up toward the bus stop and found the two couples on the towpath, huddled under a bridge! A quick walk back to NB Valerie and a warm up with coffee, tea and carrot cake--using Joe's incredible, best-ever recipe. With some Django Reindhardt music in the background, we set off in the rain--the men in back and Sally, LeiAnn and I inside. A pair of swans approached the boat and LeiAnn fed them from the window....all too soon our cruise was over. We cut it short due to the lousy weather and just headed into Paddington Basin where we parted from our friends. They took the underground onward in their journey and we moored up for the night. 

A full table and mile high pies at Porter's in Covent Garden, London.

   Thank you Sally and Joe, for taking time from your busy travel schedule to spend a bit of it with us, and thanks for introducing us to LeiAnn and Roger--the craic was was grand!!

Paddington

Paddington Basin and home for 7 days. Jaq says avoid hotel costs and bring your home with you.

Trouble is no one told this fellow he was in our home as he popped up from the bathroom sink drain. Jaq sat on the loo and was eye level when she demanded I immediately come see our visitor before he disappeared. I assume it`s a Newt. He stayed long enough for photos and turned back the way he came.

Maybe the Newt was sheltering from the hail stones in this sudden downpour.

 

I had just returned before the downpour from a walk across the park and took this picture on a sunny afternoon thinking spring is here.

When the downpour stopped Jaq and I walked around outside the basin and found a shop with a familiar name. Notice the wet pavements and shadows cast by the sun. Jaq is starting to get used to the sudden changes of weather in just a couple of hours.

It`s a canoe loaded with what looks like the guys, you can see his mop of hair, worldly goods. Now the people on the boat don`t look the type to be towing a guy in a canoe but ........i`m speechless.

Well if you are comfortable sitting on the roof steering then why not. The picture on the left shows his extended tiller arm. Maybe the motor cycle and the roof box up front blocked his view in the normal steering position.

 

Plenty of Parakeets to be seen on the way in to London. Usually seen around Cowley and then all the way into Paddington. They have been around for many years and are now spreading into the midlands. As to where they came from the answers are many. Jimmy Hendrix released them to brighten up Carnaby Street. Some escaped from the film set of African Queen. Another theory is some escaped from a cargo plane at Heathrow airport. Anyway for sure there are thousands now as they have acclimatised to our weather and have no problem breeding and surviving. Plenty of them in Hyde Park. Anyway we need a few brightly coloured birds in the UK.