Kings Cross Gasholders

My sister read an article about how Kings Cross development was menacing a relict of the past, the Kings Cross Gasholders.

She sent me the cutting and one day I visited the area by chance and discovered this almost unknown London landmark.

Kings Cross is now a territory taken over by civil works firms busily completing the new train station and urban development.



This is a satellite view of the area taken from Google maps (NW1 1UR). The round is the frame the only gasholder surviving from a total of eight.

The huge railway building of the photo occupies the area where a number of gasholders were built between 1879 and 1881 for the Gas, Light and Coke Company.

Decommissioned and abandoned for decades, the Kings Cross Gasholders are being dismantled. The only one left lies now suspended in time and surrounded by the piled frames of its former neighbours. I took the picture above in the summer of 2005.

I could see a happy kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) perching in the tallest section of the remaining frame. It would be wrong to remove the last surviving witness of the industrial past of London.

Battersea power station

Victor Hwang owns the Battersea power station and its surrondings. He plans to use his Parkview International to become even richer by building flats and, marginally, some private leisure venues in the landmark.

From Vauxhall



you can see the power station at Battersea



Julia Peyton graciously got the permission to use the building for a temporary exhibition of contemporary Chinese videos. Five pounds per head grant you the access to three floors of the west wing of the derelict building.

People queue at the entrance in the street and again at the entrance of the building as well. I heard the bulky security guards being asked by the public about how to buy the admission tickets. I knew that Internet is now a mass phenomenon when they summarily answered that you could either queue there and then or 'simply book it in Internet at www....'.




North facade



Northeast chimeney.



Northeast tower


Taking photographs in the interior of the building is forbidden.

The visits are organised in groups and lead by a guide. Our guide's voice was only heard to recite warnings, rules and other dos and donts that seemed extracted from a particularly zealous civil servant's notes. The videos by Chinese artists are boring and depressing clips. Our visit took less than 30 minutes.

The wet, dark and ruinous floors with views over the empty central body of the station are worth the visit however.

My wheel got nicked!

I chained my nice Ridgeback bike yesterday by the O2 centre in Finchley Road. The place happens to be one of the most celebrated spots to steal bikes parts in the whole NW of London. I forgot that and also that I had to chain not only my rear wheel, but my front one too.

Also, the wheel has this quick release mechanism. You just pull the level and the wheel gets loose, ready to take away. And away it had gone by the time I returned to my bike, 30 minutes after I had left it.

The recycling odyssey

The mission
To behave responsibly and take a few computer stuff that I don't need any more and give them a fresh start in life as recyclable items.

Where
In the leafy surroundings of Kilburn and West Hampstead, London, United Kindom


Who
A tax-paying inmigrant ready to use a non-polluting and inmensely satisfying transport



What
A short lived Canon i350 printer, a couple of obsolete Intel Pentium III processors, hard drive, floppy driver, a bunch of alkaline batteries and a few other widgets.



The odyssey
I started peddaling furiosly. I always admired how cab drivers find their way from my house to the Royal Free Hospital or viceversa. Well, I tried to emulate them but my navigating skills needed frequent visual checkings of my personal GPS: a neighbourhood map I took at a tube station.
When I reached Hampstead Heath High Street and saw all those European-dressing like people, I knew I was going to make it. It was a matter of negotiating the narrow Savernake Road and reaching Gospel Oak.
Oops, that trolley needs a recycling job too!


Finally, Regis Road gave me a welcome with this fancy offices...


...and the target, the depot!