Some more money found me today
Three one pence pieces were found under a tree on Hornsey High Street – brilliant! Work colleague SF suggested that it was a money tree, which made me chuckle.
Another coin was found after work just outside the Three Compasses pub in Hornsey High Street.
Total so far £3.09
Hornsey is proving to be an excellent area for finding money.
Today I wanted to collect Claudia from NG’s. I arrived at about 09:30 to check Claudia over and get her ready for riding home.
First though, needed to get some energy so we went to the coffee shop and had breakfast:
What a lovely way to start the day...
I had decided to have a slow ride and mill around London seeing what I could see. My route was to go through Chiswick, through Hammersmith, and then head south to the Chelsea Embankment and ride along the Thames to Waterloo and then North to Hornsey. It was gloriously sunny all day and perfect for cycling.
I got to Hammersmith easily enough. Then I passed a road called Colet Gardens and it immediately stood out as a name I’d come across recently and then suddenly it hit me! I’ve just watched the first series of the 70’s police drama The Sweeney and was looking up where they filmed it and was delighted to discover that it was film in and around Hammersmith. The opening titles of the series were filmed in Colet Gardens. I had to take a picture.
The opening credits are a series of still photographs closely linked so as to give the impression of movement. This is set to fast music.
This is one of the pictures:
We're the Sweeney and we haven't had any breakfast!
I'm Lix and I had a muffin for breakfast!
From here I went south to the Chelsea Embankment:
You can see Battersea Powerstation in the background.
The view from Chelsea Embankment
From here I rode along the Thames, sometimes walking to see things. My route from here took me to Parliament Square, through Whitehall, up to Trafalgar Square, past Charing Cross Train Station, along the Strand, up to Aldwych, to Holborn via Kingsway, then up to Euston Road past King’s Cross, St Pancras Train Stations, along Pentonville Road, past Angel Tube on Upper Street, up to Highbury and Islington Tube, then further north to Hornsey.
Here are some pictures of my journey:
The view from Victoria Palace Gardens
A pigeon came to say hello. Hello Pigeon
Beautiful Claudia
Left -Westminster. Right - Parliament. Ahead - Whitehall, and Trafalgar Square
It's just past two and time for tea. Um de dum, de dum.
I hadn’t ridden Claudia since last summer. It was probably fool-hardy of me to attemp to cycle all the way from Brentford to Hornsey not having ridden for so long but I did take it easy. The worked out from MapMyRide.com that the total distance I cycled was 19.5 miles. That is the furthest I’ve ever cycled. I’m very pleased. At the moment though my legs feel a bit wobbly. I’ve had a good week excercise wise. Along with my 19.5 mile cycle, I’ve done two 10k runs.
After my cycle, one part of my body is feeling particularly erm, sore. But lets not go there eh? No, lets not!
Where was I with the money finding? I think my last post concerning my finding money stated that I’d found £1.79 so far.
Update: I’ve found more! Woooooo.
1p – On the threshold of the entrance/exit of Angel Tube – this Thursday
5p – On the pavement of Hornsey Hight Street. Coming home from work on Friday.
£1 – YES. I found a pound. RARR RARR RARR. By the kerb on Campsbourne Road about one minute after finding the above. I could not stop smiling as I walked home. Ahh happy days.
20p – Victoria Palace Gardens. Adjacent to Parliament. Today.
That brings my total so far to £3.05.
Pleased Lix.
This evening I was walking back from Tescos from where I’d procured for my special attention, some eclairs, apple pies, muffins and some Hob Nobs. Om nom. I was striding along home in the way that only a 6ft woman can do with newly purchased chocolates when a little old man walked past. Or nearly walked past. He suddenly turned to me and said
‘Excuse me, what do you think about what is happening in Northern Ireland at the moment?
I was about to shake my head and say something along the lines of ‘Sorry, no’ and walk on but something made me stop and was surprised to discover that I was going to stand here and argue with this man who had stopped me – because I just knew he was going to turn the conversation to religion.
I asked him if he was attempting to engage me in a political discussion. He chuckled and said no but asked if I thought God was responsible for the troubles. I replied ‘No; humans were responsible for the troubles.
He then said ‘Do you think those people evolved from monkeys?’
‘Yes’ I said.
Yup, the whole Northern Ireland thing had been a ploy to ask me about evolution. If I had some strong opinions about NI, he would have lost interest immediately. He didn’t touch upon the subject again.
He then accusingly asked ‘You really believe we evolved from monkeys?’ At the same time as getting a book out of his bag and showing me a picture of a gorilla and a human, in the foreground. I pointed to the picture and helpfully said ‘That’s a gorilla not a monkey.’
He shook his head, shrugging off my comment and asked again if I thought we evolved from them, as he pointed to the gorilla.
I said, no. I believe we both evolved from a common ancestor.
He looked stumped. I sensed a failure to compute.
He then got another book out of his bag, at which point I thought, oh no I’ve indulged the religio and now I can’t escape.
He asked me if I’d heard of a man called Alfred Wallace. I asked - ‘Do you mean Alfred Russell Wallace, the naturalist?’
He said ‘Erm, yeah, I think so, yeah. I can tell you’re an intelligent person and hopefully open-minded?’
I said I was certainly open-minded! The term ‘Open-minded’ by religious peddlers though doesn’t mean – you give your point of view, I’ll give mine, we’ll then open a dialogue and discuss our points of view and maybe be swayed by the other’s argument’, no. It means ‘I will not listen to any counter-argument you may offer. God exists and if you say he doesn’t then you’re wrong.’ I was getting vexed.
He then pointed out a quote from Wallace which I was going to type in here from memory but couldn’t be sure that I would remember so I looked for it online and here it is:
‘The human brain is nothing like the brain of chimpanzees and orangutans. These apes have more in common with each other brain-wise than they do with us.’ (Wallace).
I closed the book he had given me and said ‘You can’t just offer stuff like this out of context to try and make your point and expect people to be convinced by your argument. Religious people do this all the time to try and make out that the majority of scientists don’t support evolution.’ I gave him back his book.
Well, the quote was indeed out of context.
The quote in the book was was certainly correct. It was embedded in a speech given by Wallace affirming Darwin’s original idea of natural selecion but when read in a wider context, changes its meaning somewhat. Here is the whole paragraph, which incorporates the quote above:
‘While there are many parallels in the bodies of man and animals, there are some gaping differences as well. The human brain is nothing like the brain of chimpanzees and orangutans. These apes have more in common with each other brain-wise than they do with us. This suggests that we diverged from them much sooner than they did from each other. Man has an undeniable greater ability to use the brain, but this is not enough to suggest that he originated from something completely different from the rest of animals. The common ancestor theory still remains the only reasonable one in the face of the presented evidence.’ (Wallace)
I stated the science has continually backed up Wallace’s and Darwin’s idea of evolution and it is a fact, not a theory and that science has continually chipped away at the ideas that religion was built on.
I think he saw that he wasn’t getting anywhere with me and that I was here for the long-haul argument, which I was!
He pointed to a car that we were both standing next to and said ‘Animals don’t build things, they’re not creative. Only people can build things, we get this from God.’
I thought about the birds that use stones to smash the eggs of other birds in order to eat the contents but decided not to mention it as I couldn’t remember what birds do this, but did say that the animal kingdom was replete with species that utilise tools in their immediate environment for their own needs and asked him if he’d ever seen the picture of the ape walking across the stretch of water using a walking stick.* He obviously hadn’t, or if he had, he had dismissed it. I can’t blame him – he evolved that way.
I also thought of the article I read only yesterday on the BBCNews website about a chimp in a zoo in Sweden that ‘planned’ stone throwing attacks on zoo visitors.**
I said ‘In any case, all these things you’re using as ‘evidence’ doesn’t offer any proof that a God exists.
At which point he dismissively replied, as if it was obvious - ‘I only have to use my common sense to know that God exists.’
I heatedly replied ‘Common sense has nothing to do with it….’
He stated that only God could stop war and fighting and told me that the Devil was making people behave in this way.
I said that people don’t need religion to be good. I decided to test his depth of knowlegde on this subject and asked him if he’d ever heard of Reciprocal Altruism?
He hadn’t and I wasn’t suprised given the arguments he’d used so far to support his faith.
He gave up and shook his head. He packed his books up, turned away smiling and bid me a nice day and I was left on the pavement infuriated at his closed minded, ignorant of the facts, one-way argument.
Presumably, he went to find someone who has trouble thinking for themselves.
* Wild gorillas seen using tools - Here
** Zoo chimp ‘planned’ stone attacks - Here
Well, I am still debating with myself whether to cut my hair again.
I love having short hair although I really do want to grow it out and have floppy hair again.
Late last year I tried to grow it out but just couldn’t stand it and had it cut. I felt happy and sad.
Happy because I had lovely short, brilliant funky hair again but sad because equally, I want longer hair.
Oh what to do what to do?
Had a mixed weekend really. Eventful, but mixed.
Decided to collect Claudia* from NG’s, in Brentford and ride her home to Haringey. I worked out that this was a journey of ab0ut 16 miles. I intended to have a relaxing ride to the City, mill about and then ride North the five or so miles home.
I haven’t ridden Claudia for a few months and was worried about the condition and whether the tyres had any pressure left in them. NG, last week assured me they were okay for riding.
When I checked the tyres, I found that they weren’t okay for riding and so went to the local bike shop to get a cheap pump. When I got back to NG’s, I found that I could not place the pump on the valve to pump it up and on closer inspection, discovered that the valve had come away from the wheel rim and was broken. This was causing it to become inserted ‘within’ the tyre when pressed. The wheel rim had a large crack in it (The rims are quite thick) and I thought that it would be unrideable and very dangerous to attempt to ride it. Don’t want the wheel snapping leaving me sprawled across the road. Off I went back to the bike shop to get someone to look at the wheel.
The shop I go to is on Brentford High Street called Whizzbike. Very helpful people work there.
The engineer told me that the wheel was structurally sound and it was just the aesthetic bit of the wheel that was cracked and as this didn’t add anything to the integrity of the wheel. It was fine for riding.
By the time I’d gotten all this done it was getting late, rain was forecast and I didn’ t bring any waterproofs or lights.
I decided to leave Claudia at NG’s for another week. I’m coming Claudia, don’t feel alone!
The BBC had forecast rain today but I got up this morning at about 07:30 and it was soon glorious sunshine. Not a single cloud in the sky. I decided to take a walk to the top of Muswell Hill and take some pictures of Alexandra Palace and the spectacular view of London.
I was suprised to find that there were hundreds and hundreds of people all walking up Muswell Hill and through Alexandra Palace Park toward Alexandra Palace. Men and women of all ages and children. Obviously they were going to something going on at Alexandra Palace and tried to guess what type of thing it could be judging by the people on their way there but I simply could not. There was a variety of people all heading in the direction of the Palace. I only ‘trend’ that I could see was that a lot of them seemed to be wearing ‘outdoor’ or ’sports’ clothing. I decided that I had to find out what was going on and so I followed them, sneakily pretending to be whatever they were. My full length leather coat got only minimal glances amongst all the sporty attire.
So, I got to the Palace doors and went in eager to find out where the constant stream of people were going.
Would you believe they were all going to ‘The Boat and Dinghy Show’? I had no idea that something like this would be so popular. I decided not to pay the entrance fee and went and took some pictures instead.
Here are some of them:
Nearly at the top of the Hill. You can see some sailor types walking up. On the horizon you can just make out the Gherkin and Canary Wharf
I was standing in Alexandra Palace grounds when taking this picture. It’s just left of the picture above.
London. Stinking, pathetic, beautiful
Alexandra Palace.
Alexandra Palace mast. (left!) There also appears to be some blob type thing in the middle and a plane on the left of the mast.
Front and mast.
White Fluffy Clouds
Prior to going for a walk up to Ally Pally, I had had breakfast in a lovely cafe with D and S. I wanted to have a big breakfast as I intended to have a long run in the afternoon. I wanted to do some timed sessions on a track and had decided to try the running track at Wood Green. The predicted rain though was on it’s way. I don’t care about running in the rain; in fact, I quite like it. On leaving the house the weather, although overcast, was okay. As I was on the bus it started to rain a little but still okay. I got off the bus at Wood Green ready to walk the 3/4 mile or so to the track. It started raining harder, then got windier, then the rain started pouring. I got soaked. I waited in a little shelter overlooking the track for 20 minutes as running around a track in this type of beating rain and very strong wind would have been incredibly difficult, and quite stupid. Having a rain soaked head and running against a very strong head-wind is extremely painful. For me at least.
So I thought I’d give it until 14:30 to see how the rain would be then. I stood in my shelter listening to Bjork on my MP3 and when 14:30 came it looked like this wind and rain would be continuing all afternoon. I took the decision to walk back to Wood Green. I got even more soaked this time. I was freezing too. My feet were soaking wet and trousers were sloshing about. I went to Wood Green Mall and dried off my hair in the lavatories (using my gym towel) and then headed homeward. By now the rain had stopped and the skies were clearing but I was still too wet to want to walk back to the track and run. Fuck that, I wanted to go home and have a bath and possibly eat something sugary like chocolate or cake. By the time I got home, the sun was poking through the clouds. BAH BAH BAH BAH BAH BAH!
I did though find 5p! Woooooooooo.
2p – walking back from the cafe with S. It was in a patch of mud.
2p – on the path just outside the house, on my way to the track.
1p – about two minutes after the above. It was in the road by the bus stop. I found 1p in the same spot the week earlier.
This brings my total up to £1.79
GO LIX
I went to the Tate Modern last week to check out Gonzales-Foerster’s installation in the Turbine Hall.
Charlotte Higgins from the Guardian had this to say about it:
‘To walk into Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster’s new installation at Tate Modern is like walking into a sci-fi movie – a deeply disturbing, rather dark experience in which you the viewer project your own narrative and your own anxieties on to the piece. And, I suspect, with TH.2058 (as it is called), Tate has another Turbine Hall hit on its hands. Not only does it have at its heart the kind of “interactivity” that is so popular among visitors to Tate Modern, but also, with its apocalyptic vision, it seems deeply in tune with the times.’
Well, okay. I wasn’t that impressed. I didn’t find it deeply disturbing but then again Charlotte does justify her wording by saying that the individual projects their own ‘narrative and your own anxieties on to the piece’. Therefore, Charlotte is not reviewing this installation so much as imparting her own innermost fears and thoughts onto the reader.
And anyway, isn’t all art a relationship between piece and viewer?
Also, I have problems with art being popular because people can walk around in it or ‘interact’. Can’t people just spend even a few minutes contemplating what they’re looking at? This is on the same level as the disappointment you feel when going to a museum only to find it strongly biased towards children. “Pick up this big coloured lid with a shiny handle to see a picture of a trilobite.’ These patronised children will grow up to dismiss any art they can’t ‘interact’ with.
But on…
This explanatory text accompanies the piece:
OCTOBER 2058 – TATE MODERN – LONDON
It rains incessantly in London – not a day, not an hour without rain, a deluge that has now lasted for years and changed the way people travel, their clothes, leisure activities, imagination and desires. They dream about infinitely dry deserts.
This continual watering has had a strange effect on urban sculptures. As well as erosion and rust, they have started to grow like giant, thirsty tropical plants, to become even more monumental. In order to hold this organic growth in check, it has been decided to store them in the Turbine Hall, surrounded by hundreds of bunks that shelter – day and night – refugees from the rain.
A giant screen shows a strange film, which seems to be as much experimental cinema as science fiction. Fragments of Solaris, Fahrenheit 451 and Planet of the Apes are mixed with more abstract sequences such as Johanna Vaude’s L’Oeil Sauvage but also images from Chris Marker’s La Jetée. Could this possibly be the last film?
On the beds are books saved from the damp and treated to prevent the pages going mouldy and disintegrating. On every bunk there is at least one book, such as JG Ballard’s The Drowned World, Jeff Noon’s Vurt, Philip K Dick’s The Man in the High Castle, but also Jorge Luis Borges’s Ficciones and Roberto Bolaño’s 2666.
On one of the beds, hidden among the giant sculptures, a lonely radio plays what sounds like distressed 1958 bossa nova. The mass bedding, the books, images, works of art and music produce a strange effect reminiscent of a Jean-Luc Godard film, a culture of quotation in a context of catastrophe.
In the shelter, the prone figures are reminiscent of Henry Moore’s ’shelter drawings’, while his sculpture for sheep stands next to a giant apple core by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Museums have been closed for years because of water seepages and the high level of humidity. In the huge collective shelter that the Turbine Hall has become, a fantastical and heterogeneous montage develops, including sculpture, literature, music, cinema, sleeping figures and drops of rain.
Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster
Louise Bourgeois
Maman 1999
Tate Collection. Presented by the artist 2008.
Reproduced with permission from the artist
Alexander Calder
Flamingo 1973
Federal Plaza, Chicago
Reproduced with permission from the Calder Foundation, New York
Maurizio Cattelan
Felix 2001
Oil on polyvinyl resin and fibreglass
Courtesy the artist and Marian Goodman Gallery, New York
Henry Moore
Sheep Piece 1971–2
Henry Moore Foundation, Hertfordshire
Reproduced with permission from The Henry Moore Foundation
Bruce Nauman
Untitled (Three Large Animals) 1989
Tate Collection
Reproduced with permission from the artist
Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen
Apple Core 1992
Reproduced with the permission of the Oldenburg van Bruggen Foundation
& 2008 Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen
Excerpts from the following:
Honestly, I found reading the lists here much more involving than the installation.
Then again, I projected my own feelings and ‘anxieties’ onto the piece – as everyone else does with all art!
Find a penny, pick it up and all day long you’ll have good luck as part of the rhyme goes.
I decided last year, on the 20th September, that I would attempt to find as much money on the streets of London as I could in twelve months.
http://lickerish.wordpress.com/2008/09/28/find-a-penny
My one rule was that I would pick up every coin I could (providing it was safe) regardless of the embarassment factor, and let me tell you, there most certainly has been a good deal of that.
It’s now time for an update. I can remember where I found a lot of the money but there is some that I simply cannot remember where I found them.
My grand total of money found on the streets of london from September 20th to 5th March is – £1.74. Wooo!
Here’s a breakdown of the coins found so far:
20 pence pieces – 4
5 pence pieces – 14
2 pence pieces – 3
1 pence pieces – 18
I shall try to remember where I found them all:
1p – Covent Garden flower market cashpoint (this was on the shelf of the cashpoint).
1p – Burleigh Street. Just off the Strand (this was in the road).
20p – Shop floor of Forbidden Planet – Shaftesbury Avenue.
5p – Shop floor of Forbidden Planet – Shaftesbury Avenue (those nerds certainly throw their money away. This was a few days after finding 20p there).
5p – Along the Grand Union Canal at Brentford.
5p – Shop floor of ‘Game’ – Chiswick High Road (I was queueing to buy a game. I put my brolly down and saw the coin. Yay!)
5p – Between the seats on the 341 bus from Waterloo.
1p – On the floor of the 341 bus (a few days before or after the above. I cannot remember)
1p – Walking through Chappel Market in Islington (it was packed but I still bent down and picked up the precious thing!)
5p – Tottenham Court Road (this was stuck in a crack in the middle of the road. I’d started to cross when the traffic lights were green but just HAD to get the coin)
5p – In the toilets at Waterloo. (it was on top of the turnstyle machine)
5p – On a Waterloo to Brentford train at about 11:00pm (this was about ten minutes after the above)
1p – Walking along Hornsey Road (the penny was on a patch of grass. Not sure how I spotted it)
20p – Walking along Upper Street, Islington (about 30 minutes after finding the above)
5p – At the bottom of some escalators at King’s Cross Underground (I made several people stumble as I bent down, but I just couldn’t let it go)
1p – On the junction of Upper Street and Friend Street, Islington (it was covered in mud)
1p – Between the pavement on Shaftesbury Avenue. (it was covered in dirt)
2p – On the number 27 bus coming from Hammersmith (see below)
1p – On the number 27 bus coming from Hammersmith (I got on a bus at about 9:30pm and immediately saw 1p & 2p coins on floor just past the stairs. I picked up the 2p and then went up the stairs. I was too embarassed to pick up the 1p but I just HAD to. I hoped no one had picked it up. When I got downstairs to get off the bus, I saw that it was still there much to my delight. I bent down and picked it up in front of lots of people. How embarassing. I smiled all the way home)
1p – At the foot of the stairs of the 341 bus stopping at Waterloo. (I made several people stop behind me on the stairs as I bent down to pick it up).
1p – Walking down Crouch End Hill with D and S.
1p – On top of the counter in HMV in Islington. (someone had discarded it. I was at the front of a long queue and really felt self-conscious about reaching out and taking it, but I did it and secretly giggled to myself)
1p – At the self-service point at Tesco’s in Hornsey.
1p – On Upper Street by Islington Library.
1p – On Upper Street by the Queen Bodicea.
5p – On Whiskin Street, Islington.
5p – Very near to the turnstyles of Turnpike Lane Underground Station.
1p – In the road on Hornsey High Street.
2p – On the pavement by Hornsey Rail Station (this was in the dark. A distant streetlight made it reflect for a second. I couldn’t help but smile as I picked it up. Love finding money!)
TONIGHT I found 26p in the space of about 5 minutes! WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
20p – On the pavement on Hornsey High Street (delightful)
5p – In the road on Hornsey High Street (About 5 minutes after finding the above. I was waiting to cross the road when I spotted something shiny in the road, so I walked along the road and bent down to examine it. God knows what the people driving past thought I was doing bending down in the middle of the road. Funny. I make me laugh lots)
1p – In the road on Hornsey High Street (About 5 seconds after finding the above. I felt like doing a dance in the road. How happy was I? I could not help smiling lots and lots as I walked home. Good times!)
That leaves 29p that I just cannot recall the location of their being found. I’m sure I’ll remember some of them. When I do, I’ll update this post.
Miscellaneous finds:
2p – In the road in Kensington a few days before September 20th – (on the night D, S and I went to see The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
1p – NG found this and gave it to me for my collection. It doesn’t count in my 12 month experiment.
5p – Found on the pavement in Brighton.
2p – Found on the pavement in Brighton as I was on my way to the Station.
1p – Found on the number 27 bus in Coventry (visiting Embers and Ishmael. BABY!)
1p – Not picked up! Bah! I saw this from the platform of Hammersmith Underground (H&C Line). (This is the last stop and at the end of the line where lots of dirt is piled around where the end-of-line barriers are situated, I saw 1p. I desparately wanted to jump down and pick it up. The train of course doesn’t go this far and there’s no track there so I would have been perfectly safe just jumping down and picking it up. I wonder if it’s still there…
I am incredibly surprised by how much money is lying all around us. I just cannot help smiling now when I find some coin, especially when it’s been lying around for a long time. Some of the coins I have are so beaten up either by the weather or the constant abuse by vehicle wheels that they’re barely recognisable as coins.
So, adding all the finds – London, Brighton and Coventry, I have made 42 separate finds in 167 days (since Sept 20th)
167/42 = 3.98. Yup, that’s one coin found every four days on average
Not sure if that’s good or not.
Most of my friends think I’m slightly mad as I tell them with glee that I’ve just found another coin. The majority shake their head in bewilderment. Splitters! My favourite comment has been from NG though who said, after I’d just gone through a purple patch of finding coins – ‘Bloody hell, it’s like the money’s finding you!’ I like that idea.
My 12 month experiment continues…
I am of course talking about attempting to walk around Parliament Square and through the thronging crowds of tourists.
You really do have to fight your way through them. Not only tourists, but schools parties too.
Last week during my week off, I decided to go to the Cabinet War Rooms in Whitehall. This is the undergound bunkers and tunnels where Churchill and his immediate entourage directed the efforts of the British and Allies to win the Second World War.
I found it fascinating.
From Wikipedia:
The Cabinet War Rooms, now known as the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms, became operational in 1939 and were heavily used by Winston Churchill during World War II. Engineered as a bunker, the facility was reinforced with a layer of concrete, one to three metres thick referred to as ‘the slab’”. Over 100 meetings were held in the Cabinet War Rooms between 1939 and 1945. They were opened to the public in 1984 and are now maintained by the Imperial War Museum.
The section of the War Rooms open to the public is only a portion of a much larger facility. They originally covered three acres (12,000 m²) and housed a staff of up to 528 people, with facilities including a canteen, hospital, shooting range and dormitories. The centrepiece of the War Rooms is the Cabinet Room itself, where Churchill’s War Cabinet met. The Map Room is located nearby, from where the course of the war was directed. It is still in much the same condition as when it was abandoned, with the original maps still on the walls and telephones lining the desks. Churchill slept in a small nearby bedroom although, according to the audio presentation in the museum, he only slept in the war rooms for three nights over the course of the war. One feature of the bunker was a telephone scrambler system that allowed Churchill to securely speak with President Roosevelt in the White House. The unit was concealed as the Prime Minister’s lavatory.
On the handsets that are given out to every individual, that guide you through the Rooms, it mentions the lavatory. This was no more than an inconspicuous door that was locked. Members of staff were told that it was the only flushing toilet in the Rooms and that it was broken and this was the reason that it was kept locked. Sneaky Winnie. I normally read on the loo, not Winston Churchill though – he talked to presidents.
Here are some pictures:
“Oi, dryer, you are bang out of order; now put ya knickers on and go an’ get me a towel, alright?”
My collection of baby-changing facility photo’s continues. I love this one. It looks like baby is going to kick parent away.
This is where Winston met with members of the Government. Note all the astrays. Jeepers. Imagine all the smoke.
“Hello mister, okay are you?”
“Hello young miss, visiting the War Rooms are you?”
“Erm, yeah, how did you guess?”
“Well, I saw you here, I thought, aye-up, she’s visiting the War Rooms.”
“Wow that’s amazing. Churchill was certainly safe with you around.”
“I thank you.”
“Well, I must be off. What’s your name anyhow? I’m Lix.”
“I’m Bert.”
“Nice to meet you Bert, catch you again some time.”
“Okay young miss. Oh say hello to Charles and Henry for me won’t you?”
“Err yeah, will do.”
Churchill’s private office. (Not sure how he got in there with that bar across!)
“Alright mate?”
“Bugger off, I’m trying to listen to the football.”
“Ooh, how are the Villa doing?”
“They’re winning 2:1 against Stoke, now get lost.”
“I see. What’s that big knob over there? Oh hang on, it’s you!”
“Hello. Got time for a chat?”
“No I have not young lady. I am getting the full-time football scores. Please go away.”
“Nice hairdo!”
“WHAT?”
“Nothing.”
“Hello.”
“I’m sorry, I cannot talk just now, I’m typing up the match reports.”
“Oooh great. Do you know how Villa got on?”
“Yes, it was, erm, let me see…yes, here we are – it was 2:2.”
“Ahh bollocks.”
“Well quite. Stoke scored the equaliser with two minutes to go.”
“Blurg!”
“I like to read in bed too. Reading anything interesting?”
“Just reading the match reports that Gladys has typed up ready for printing tomorrow, I like to give them the once over you kno..hang on, what’s this? “”Stoke equalised with two minutes to go”" They equalised with a minute to go not two minutes that stupid bloody cow. GLADYS, IN HERE, NOW!”
“Hello Mr Parker, will it be the usual? I’ve brought that special nightgown that you like.”
“Cough. No, no Gladys, the report’s incorrect. Please check your facts. It’ll need to be redone.”
“Oh. Oh very well.”
“Well don’t look so dissapointed. Get them typed up, give ‘em to the Post Boy and come back to my room for a erm, nightcap.”
“Oooh, I will Mr Parker.”
“…and this is where Aston Villa won the European Cup in 1982, Rotterdam. It was sublime, Nigel Spink played the game of his life…”
“Hello, are you Charles and Henry?”
“Hello young lady, yes we are. And who do I have the pleasure of addressing?”
“I’m Lix, nice to meet you. Who’s that bloke at the back?”
“Oh that rotter? That’s McIntyre. We don’t talk to him. Never been the same since he was caught in that crossfire in ‘41.”
“Aww, that’s really sad.”
“No, not really. It was a crossfire of Eccles cakes in the canteen up on the Strand. Some argument between the cooks there apparently. Never got over it did he Charles?”
“No. Worst case of Ecclesphobia I’ve ever seen. Everytime he sees an Eccles cake now, he dives under the nearest table.”
“Yeah, poor bastard. He even has to give meringue a wide berth!”
“Err, yeah, anyway. Bert says hello to you both.”
“Oh you haven’t been talking to him have you?”
“Yeah, he was okay.”
“No. The mans a total bore. He’s a baboon in a suit.”
“That’s a bit strong isn’t it?”
“Well okay, perhaps you’re right. It’s not a suit; it’s a collection of oddments from the lost-property box!”
