Battersea Fun and Fair Weather

Wednesday was a fun day out in London with three friends. Having arrived at Canary Wharf, we caught a Thames Clipper catamaran for a chilled out voyage upriver to Battersea Power Station. When I first moved up to London in 1982 it was just about still working to generate electricity, ceasing operations completely the following year. Over the next three decades I watched this iconic landmark building slowly become a dilapidated and decayed shell of its former towering Art Deco glory, as several schemes to refurbish it for various uses (including an indoor theme park) came to nothing. Eventually, from 2012 onwards, the building was saved from collapse in the nick of time, and has now opened as an enormous shopping mall and restaurant complex. I never thought I would ever go inside this amazing building, such a familiar sight throughout my adult life. We had a gelato ice cream there, gawped at the sheer scale of the place, marvelled at some original features and machinery parts which had been left on view, and sauntered round the shops (see Extras). I bought a new pair of shoes from the Skechers store, and then we broke for lunch in Nando’s.

For the afternoon we went over to Covent Garden (scene of my misspent youth in the 80’s), and had a wander round the Apple Market and the Jubilee Hall Market, making some more purchases from them. Finally, the weather now improved from the morning’s overcast skies into a pleasantly sunny afternoon, we sat at an outdoor cafe table for some tea and cake. We walked off some calories going on foot to Holborn Kingsway tube station (another of my old stamping grounds from decades past), and started on our journey home. We’re already making plans for the next day out.

Needless to say, I slept like a log.