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On to the Golden Hinde replica at Pickford's Wharf, but no time to look around on board, likewise the Clink Prison. That whole area is being gentrified and redeveloped again, with the result that you can't think for the continual DUGDUGDUGDUGDUG racket of jackhammers and other machinery. They've so far managed not to accidentally knock over the little that remains of Winchester Palace, but they have encroached upon all space around and above it as much as they dare without provoking a strongly-worded letter from English Heritage. The site's only had about 20 years to breathe since it was opened up to display again after being progressively buried under warehouses since the 1600s, and now they're at it again! Comparing, say, the skyspace behind the surviving 14th century rose window now and when the site featured as a stylish background to part of a Saint Etienne video clip about a decade ago, there's a round penthouse or something now visible through the window. That wasn't even there in 2000. Thankfully it's still possible to photograph the window from a certain angle and miss the plastic beyond. Next it started to rain. Scuttled off past the Borough Market and back to London Bridge tube. Next? St Paul's!
You could spend a day and a half in St Paul's Cathedral and still easily miss something. It would be nice to be in there during evensong but today's scheduling didn't allow for that. Started off in the crypt simply because it was the first entry point that presented itself to get out of the rain after leaving St Paul's tube station. And, as with everywhere else, private enterprise is creeping in, in the form of privately-run cafeterias and the like. A new screen of gates has been installed in the centre of the crypt in honour of Sir Winston Churchill. There is a round stone plaque in the floor bisected by the centre gates, and the whole thing is directly under the main dome of the cathedral above...a most significant position for a monument to a most significant human being. Churchill is only the third person to be honoured in such a way in the whole history of St Paul's, and the new structure is also in line with the tomb of Nelson. The crypt of St Paul's is apparently the longest in the world, and the quite numerous memorial stones and statues there go back several centuries.
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