Ghost signs (19): Lille

Lille is generously scattered with ghost signs. I'll probably add some more detailed posts later, but here are a few highlights. First, two large signs visible together on the same street:


Moving out of the city centre, this house one of the roads (and now tramways) leading in from Roubaix has adverts on both sides:
Not strictly a ghost sign, I still couldn't resist this wonderful 'Panhard Levassor' signage incorporated into the brickwork:


Finally, this sign may be largely obscured, but the wonderfully curvy arrow is still clearly visible:

A Thames Tale (4)

To start at the beginning, click here.


The Gatherer then led Stan to a well where he drew up in a bucket the stickiest, blackest, smelliest gloop Stan had ever seen.


Stan sat on the river bank with his dog and waited for the sunset to come.


Stan did as the message commanded and poured the foul gloop along the river bank.


Right before his eyes, tiny shoots pushed through the earth and grew into a marvellous, colourful jungle of flowers stretching out towards the sky.

~ The End ~

A Thames Tale (3)

To start at the beginning, click here.


'Follow me' the creature said, 'and we shall ask the Gatherer.' So Stan followed into the murky depths of the river.


The Gatherer was busy sorting out his collection of bottles. 'Excuse me Mr Gatherer?' Stan coughed. 'But would you be able to tell me what this says?'


At sunset pour the blackest gloop from the depths of the river across the watery bank.

To be continued.

A Thames Tale (2)

Click here for part one.


It was a warm, sunny afternoon. Just the kind of afernoon that Stan liked to take his dog for a walk.


Along the walk, Stan found an old soda can with a message in it. 'I wonder what it could say?'


Stan turned around to find a strange creature looking at him.

To be continued.

A Thames Tale (1)

On a brick wall down by the river at Greenwich is a lovely artwork: the illustrated Thames Tale by Amanda Hinge. As the Greenwich Phantom has pointed out, it's a little mysterious - all the more so since the website address on the wall no longer works - but very charming.

I'm off to Lille for the next few days, so while I'm gone the Thames Tale will unfold right here. This slight, whimsical story begins with a message in a cola can...

Sunday bridge quiz

What are the five London bridges visible in this photo? And which bridge is missing?

Click to enlarge the photo; and no cheating with a map!

The Guardian gets positive about Deptford

In a nice contrast to other recent coverage, the Guardian's Let's move to... Deptford article was mainly positive about the area. Even if they failed to notice any of the parks and used the dullest photograph possible.

Daily Express Buildings

I had always thought of the Daily Express Building, a piece of black-and-silver Art Deco on Fleet Street, as a purely London landmark. However, thanks to a post on the excellent new Lost in Manchester blog, I discovered that it is in fact one of three (with the final 'triplet' in Glasgow).

London's version was built between 1930 and 1932 by architects Ellis & Clarke with Sir Owen Williams. He had trained as an engineer before moving to architecture and was responsible for buildings including Wembley Stadium and the Peckham Pioneer Health Centre. After the war, he would build the M1 motorway.

The structure is concrete, with the basement originally holding the printing press and the journalists working on the upper floors. Lord Beaverbrook liked the fact that the glass curtain walls meant Londoners could see his journalists working into the night.

The exterior is a mixture of chromium, clear glass and black Vitrolite. Pilkington manufactured this pigmented glass in a range of colours; it was used for interior tiling as well as external facades. Peer through the gaps in the curtains and you might be able to see the reliefs and exuberant Deco flourishes in the lobby.

When new, the Express building was supposed to be 'Britain's most modern building for Britain's most modern newspaper'. However, it was parodied by Evelyn Waugh in Scoop and later nicknamed the Black Lubyanka.

The Manchester and Glasgow buildings are by the same architect (Glasgow was built in 1937 and Manchester in 1939) and have similar chrome, glass and vitrolite facades. None of the three are homes to the Daily Express any longer. The newspaper left Fleet Street in 1989; the building was subsequently restored to its current splendour and is now occupied by Goldman Sachs.

Cockles from Leigh on Sea

Tuesday's pictures deserve some more information, showing as they do Leigh on Sea's famous cockle industry.

The town was once a thriving Thames estuary port, but a combination of larger ships and the silting up of the deep water channel sent it into decline. Leigh then became a fishing village; its fishing fleet turned its attention primarily to cockles at the beginning of the 20th century.

Fishing methods have changed from the original hand-raking: by the middle of the twentieth century cockling boats were the norm. They played an important role in the Dunkirk evacuations, where the Renown was destroyed by a mine with the loss of all crew.

The arrival of the railway brought benefits to the fishermen, as it enabled them to quickly tranport their catch to Billingsgate Market - as well as bringing visitors, since Leigh On Sea's beach is the closest to London. Cockle sheds line the walk from railway station to town. Many of these have stayed with the same families for over a century. In the hot weather, it's lovely to sit by the sea eating the very freshest shellfish!

A breath of sea air

As London swelters, it's nice to imagine being at the seaside, so here are some pictures of Leigh on Sea last year.