Walk in the Park

Well, there was a walk in the park eventually though at the end rather than the start.

This was a walk on Wednesday, with youngest sister and brother. The walk was  great fun though not as lengthy as usual.

We walked from the maytrees' SW19/20 home, along the railway footpath to Wimbledon station, thence by train to Vauxhall station; over Vauxhall bridge, thence to Horseferry Road SW1 and  the nearby Regency Cafe, where we took a short respite for lunch: 

Though I must have passed by this cafe hundreds of times when taking  walking breaks from work at nearby Witham Weld, long since re-named PWW, never previously had I entered. The cafe was used by younger brother and work colleagues a few years back, when he and they  worked  as  computer experts at the nearby Tate Britain.

The cafe used to be a workers' cafe rather like that used by the losing teams  on Alan Sugar's Apprentice TV programme. The Regency was packed, loud and full. But we queued and managed to find great seats for lunch. My lunch of omelette, home made chips and a soft drink was very good value at about £6, though the place was noisy. I suspect that the Regency cafe was formerly a cheap place for workers to have lunch, whereas now it is possibly more used by people looking to see what the cafe is like, or perhaps seeking really good value meals.

After lunch, we walked passed Tate Modern back over Vauxhall Bridge, crossing westwards near to the MI5/MI6 buildings; then along the riverside path towards the old Battersea Power station.

Surprisingly to me at least, the new  Thames sewer, running from upstream Teddington, is still being constructed, although work on it was taking place during my latter years at PWW which I left  for Farrer & Co, in 2014.

The construction works in any event created some diversions from the Thames foot path before we reached Battersea Power station. Or rather the former Battersea Power station, which has long since closed. During the years when there was a working  Battersea power station, there were tunnels  under the Thames from the power station, to the Churchill Gardens  council estate on the opposite side of the river.  The council flats used thereby to receive cheap electricity from the power station. 

The power station has long since closed, the cheap electricity supply ceased and the council flats sold off to their sitting tenants, though the smoke belching from the former power station chimneys, of course no longer pollutes us all. 

Two or maybe three  companies, spent vast sums on endeavouring to convert the power station building into apartments and shopping centre but failed, leaving the conversion to the current company, which to its credit, has succeeded so far at least.

Thus my own view is that the conversion of the power station has been successful but what a tedious (to me)  series of shops have so far opened inside. Still, work there continues so the end result might be better. Meanwhile the American Embassy has been constructed nearby and the Northern TfL underground line has been extended, principally  I believe  for the Americans, with two new underground stations on the extended part of the route.

Youngest sister, then took the local ferry back whilst younger brother and I, walked on towards Battersea Park.

The Park was as pretty as ever.  I recalled going there as a child on the old big dipper rides and more recently of course many times, for example to view the boats travelling down stream for the start of the 2012 London Olympic Games.

After Battersea Park, a walk to Battersea Park railway station where a train to Clapham Junction and thence home, was straightforward.