My mother grew up on The Hard – her grandmother ran her own pub there – now sadly gone, destroyed in WWII. She told me about the poor of Portsea and I seem to remember her telling me stories about the Mudlarks. She didn’t consider them “the poor” – she considered them her kith and…
Tag: UK
A Londoner’s tip
If you are in old London town, wandering around the Trafalgar Square / Strand area, then why not check out The Cafe in The Crypt at St Martin-in-the-Fields for a quick cuppa or something a little more substantial? With the entrance next door to the venerable church itself, beneath a contemporary structure, I watch people walk…
The Pickwick Bicycle Club
My introduction to The Pickwick Bicycle Club came as a result of the unveiling of the UK’s first statue to honour the novelist Charles Dickens, in the city of his birth, Portsmouth. Cycling in from stage right, weaving their way through bollards, chairs and pedestrians were a bevy of five or six cyclists – some…
Singular Statues: #9 Charles Dickens Unveilled
It was a truly British occasion – 7th February 2014. A few ladies and gentlemen were dressed in Victorian attire and suddenly, through the Guildhall precinct on what can still be termed Commercial Road, came a team of penny farthing cyclists weaving through the pedestrians (The Pickwick Bicycle Club) – all to a backdrop of…
A Dickens of a thing …
I started this A3Traveller blog with a post on Charles Dickens for we share a common birthdate, so it seemed somewhat appropriate, especially given he is a local lad made good. It’s wonderful to hear therefore that a statue to this literary master will be unveiled in the city of his birth at Portsmouth’s Guildhall Square…
A dream fulfilled: exploring a fort
I grew up in Fareham and Portsmouth so the Victorian land fort defenses on top of Portsdown Hill and the sea forts just off Southsea Beach were on my background radar as places of great interest and intrigue during my childhood. I was fed stories about all the forts being connected by secret tunnels which…
Shard-View – Western Europe’s tallest skyscraper
It seems that The Shard London is a Marmite skyscraper – do you know that expression? Very strangely in my opinion, people either seem to like it or loathe it, with equal passion. For those of you familiar with this blog, you will immediately know that I love both Marmite and I am a definite…
Singular Statues: #5 Sound II
The fifth in the series of Singular Statues is by the artist, Antony Gormley, who is said to have donated this work – Sound II – to Winchester Cathedral. Located in the crypt, it is best viewed when the area is flooded (the cathedral is very close to the water table), where you see this…
Pawprint Series: Portsmouth to Arundel Canal
Having a dog is a great way to investigate a city you thought you knew well. Looking for new and interesting walks for The Hound has certainly lead me to discover parts of Portsmouth which I didn’t know existed. Having driven past it on the Eastern Road when travelling into Portsmouth, I decided to park…
The Hindhead Tunnel – Genius Engineering
If, like me, you have driven back and forth to London from Portsmouth on the A3 prior to 2011, you will have realised the pure joy of bypassing The Devil’s Punchbowl and the mind-numbing traffic queues at Hindhead crossroads. The 29th July 2011 could not have come quickly enough for me and I even visited…
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