Last Pylon

The last pylon for the Emirates Air Line is now being assembled.























When it is complete the cables can be strung. Some of the cable cars are already visible in the North Greenwich terminus.

Olympic Rings

This afternoon the Olympic rings passed by on the Thames:

















I was initially under the impression that they were being transported by water to the Olympic Park. But it would appear that these are only a set of rings, not the rings as there are various sets at different events in different places in London and other parts of the country. They set off from central London this morning, passing under Tower bridge, which was lifted specially, with Boris Johnson the mayor of London watching. Unfortunately the view I caught was of the back of the rings - they are the proper colours on the other side. Why couldn't they be painted on both sides? Apparently they will go into storage and will be seen again on the river closer to the games in 150 days' time.

Cable Car Progress

A few weeks ago the most enormous crane was assembled in North Greenwich to lift the parts of the larger pylons into place.

















The crane (a Liebherr LR 13000) weighs a thousand tonnes (crane 400 tonnes and the extra counterweight behind it is 600 tonnes) and special piling was put in to support it.

The corresponding pylon on the other side of the river is more that half complete:

Unusual Things

There were unusual and probably unrelated things going on around North Greenwich today. The Royal Navy sent a helicopter to make several passes over the river around the peninsula, at one point hovering at rooftop level over the centre of the river for five minutes, approximately where the future cable car will cross the water.>/p>

Later while walking round the dome I saw one of the Thames Clippers, probably Hurricane Clipper beached on the river bank.

I think the vessel was deliberately beached because if you look closely you can see a man in wellies who appears to be inspecting the sterngear, and this is the nearest handy tidal mudflat to their base.

In the second picture you can just about see how narrow the hulls of these boats are.

Dome Abseiling

This last week has seen a number of trips down the O2 domes suspension cables by persons unknown:

















We office workers have been speculating and consensus is that they are carrying out some early task in the installation of the rooftop walkway, planned to be opened this year.

Packing Away the Toys

The Christmas fair ride has been packed away at the O2. Here it is folding into a package for transport, like a really slow transformer. Optimus Prime comes to mind.

Christmas at the Cutty Sark

Here's the christmas tree being erected at the top of the mast of the Cutty Sark. The tree appears to be lashed to a spar which is in turn lashed to the top of the mast. Maybe there is some sort of maritime protocol being observed here..

Advert Closer

The Emirates Air-Line is beginning to show signs of cable-car like features:

















This will be the first advertisement to appear on the London tube map and it will appear twice. See the map on the Transport for London web site linked above. The two new cable car stations will be called Emirates North Greenwich and Emirates Royal docks. I hope they paid a lot for that.


















In this picture we see the lowest segment of the Greenwich side pylon about to be lifted into place on its pile in the river bed by a seven-storey high floating crane, the GPS Atlas.

Bulwark

After a few days' stay in Greenwich, HMS Bulwark sailed down the Thames on her way to points south (I suspect). Here is the "Most technologically advanced assault ship in the fleet" squeezing past Antony Gormley's Quantum Cloud

The DUKW Has Landed

Amphibious tour company Meridian Ducks have arrived at the Dome. The company has just started operating an amphibious tour bus from the North Greenwich bus station next to the Milleniumm Dome in London.

A few weeks ago I saw a brand new DUKW, failing to leave the river at the slipway next to the Dome during my lunch time stroll. I had left my 'phone behind so couldn't take a picture at the time. The vehicle (actually a Seahorse amphibian) was digging itself into the silt on the slope despite the efforts of four policemen and two crew members. After lunch I could see efforts continuing to bring it up the beach eventually bore fruit after a couple of hours. A week or so later the slope had been tidied up to make the process of leaving the water feasible.

Today, I saw this at the bus station next to the new ticket booth, at the taxi rank.

Mammals

We went to London on a day trip to see the Natural History Museum.
Animatronic T. Rex:






















After the dinosaurs we went to look at the Blue Whale in the mammals gallery:























It's just as I remember it from school trips as long as 30 years ago, with one small change: There used to be lots of pennies on the whale's tail. Today there is a discreet sign that says you should not throw things onto the tail as it will damage the exhibit.

Greenwich Peninsula

I've moved to an office in North Greenwich, on the Greenwich peninsula. It used to be a vast chemical works, cleaned up for the millennium dome and now site of a huge urban renewal scheme. From the office I can see river traffic and walking at lunch times I can see some of the wierd and wonderful things left over from the millennium.
River traffic:










Millennium sculptures:

Quantum cloud by Antony Gormley











If you look carefully you can make out a human figure at the centre of the cloud.


Slice of Reality by Richard Wilson

A Rare View

Here's another rare view in London. They've just demolished the building at the end of Cheapside, revealing the eastern end of St Paul's cathedral. This view will only be visible for a few months because no site in the City remains empty for long. The building that was there previously looked as if it was built in the early fifties.

St Stephen Walbrook

London quite frequently reveals unique temporary views. This church is next to a large building site and the demolition of the old building has revealed a view that has been hidden for years and will be concealed again when the new building goes up. St Stephen,a Wren church is where the Samaritans were founded. The building that was demolished, the Walbrook, had a frieze of statues high on the facade. They represented Agriculture, Industry, Mining and Fisheries. Each was a slightly idealised art-deco style nude figure with an appropriate article to hide his embarassment. A lamb, a cog wheel, a pickaxe and a fish respectively. I felt sorry for the miner as the pick handle was not very large.