The New Power Generation

Have you seen what they are planning to do to Battersea Power Station? It's a building that always fascinated me as a child. Not only because it meant we were on one of our rare trips to London, but also because it resembled an upside-down snooker table.

Every time we went passed my Dad used to tell me that, when he was a child, his father would ask him "How many bricks are in that, son?" It is quite staggering to think that instead of the reinforced concrete monstrosities of today, Battersea is constructed of red brick. There must be millions of them in the entire construction. I wonder if anyone actually has counted?

Of course in it's generating days, it did actually manage, in a roundabout way, to kill of a lot of Londoners with poisonous smogs, but then what do you expect when you decide to put three or four coal burning power stations right in the heart of a city? That said, I had not realised that it was still producing power up until the 80's!

The new plan looks really interesting, and who knows maybe this one will actually come to fruition. I seem to recall it was going to be some kind of theme park in the 90's, but that all came to a disasterous end. I just hope Parkview, the current developers, spend as much money on regeneration as they have done on the website!

Timewatch London

Last Saturday I had conceived a masterplan to view two British relics, whilst I still could. When I conveyed this fact to my Dad, his jovial reply was "Oh you're coming home to see your Mum and me then?" I told him that, unfortunately, this was not the case!

HMS Belfast and Concorde were my targets. As it turns out, I only had time to see the one relic, as HMS Belfast has a TARDIS-like quality. You wouldn't think you could spend 4 and a half hours on one ship, but PK and myself managed it somehow. Built in 1939, HMS Belfast was still in service at the beginning of the 1970's, so you can imagine that it was a flagship in some fairly important situations: The World War II merchant supply lines to Russia, the D-Day landings, The Korean War and The Cold War Pacific Fleet.

It was that important a vessel that upon it's retirement, the last Admiral to command her set to work making sure she was preserved as a historical monument.

Unfortunately, HMS Belfast is never going to be in a seaworthy condition again. Besides, I don't think Londoners would sleep too well knowing that nine guns than can fire a shell 12 miles were still active in the heart of the City! Concorde is a different matter though. Having missed the opportunity to see her fly, in the flesh, my last hope is that one of her kind is preserved in flying form. Sir Richard, I'm leaving it in your hands!

The Wizard of Oz

I met a really nice Australian lad online on Saturday. He doesn't wear a hat with corks on and he never mentioned barbecues or called me 'cobber' once. He was just intelligent and kind and really cute.

We chatted for hours on MSN until he really had to go to bed at 5am, Australian time! This internet thingy is so cool.