Tuesday 3 February 2015

My new favourite statue.

  Thanks to a combination of Writer's Block and a stinking cold, the post I originally had planned may be somewhat delayed. In the meantime - and mainly to establish that I am still updating this blog - here's some photos I took on my last trip up to London. 

  One of the things I do like about London is that you're never far away from something interesting. Sometimes all it take is to wander down a road you've never visited before.

 Embankment Gardens is a small patch of  peace and prettiness by the side of the Thames. Ten minutes walk will find you headed towards the bustle of Central London but here at least, you get a chance to amble along looking at the trees and the statues without somebody breathing down your neck.

  There's also a good selection of artwork. My favourite piece - probably my favourite statue in London if not the UK - is the one I'm posting today.

Topless muse statue


lovely bronze woman

Gorgeous, isn't it?   

 A little research reveals that this is a memorial to Arthur Sullivan (of Gilbert & Sullivan fame) and it is so much better than a simple bust of the musical man gazing into the distance, isn't it? Adding the grieving Muse gives just that little more impact and emotion. You feel half tempted to put your arms around her and say "There. There..."
 You also feel tempted to offer her your coat because with the weather of late, the poor girl must be freezing.

Memoirs Of A Metro Girl has a good, informative post on this subject. When I said "research?"  here's where I did it.
Arthur Sullivan memorial in Embankment Gardens: A racy tribute to a legendary composer

Moving on with my mini-tour of the London bits I'd never visited before, I briefly strayed into Covent Garden market and as I headed up the road towards somewhere with a comic shop I happened to look right and up



The same job could have been done by a flat bit of reinforced concrete and some guardrails. 
But where's the fun in that? 

 Once again, I stumbled across something cool completely by accident. I have absolutely no information about this walkway - where it goes, why it's there, why it seems to have been designed by Moebius - so any details would be lovely.
 It doesn't help that I'm not entirely sure what street I was on at the time. Somewhere between Jubilee Market  and LongAcre and that's the best I can do.

 Part of hopes that the next time I'm up that way, this little bridge will be gone and all the people I ask will say "What bridge? There's never been a bridge there?"

  I finished off the evening by fulfilling a minor ambition - walking across the Millenium Bridge. By this point, night had fallen and London was all lit up.
I don't know why, but you can take the grimmest city in England and when you're looking at it from a distance, street lights and windows shining, it soothes the soul.

 Most of the pics I took came out rubbish (or had me in them) but I did manage to get:
 I know, it's the sort of touristy crap you see on a million postcards. 
But to me it brings back memories of a great day out. 

To finish, a pic I took just moments later but clearly something went..peculiar.
I may have accidentally photographed inter-dimensional invaders.
Or supersonic Faeries. 

That's all folks. 

10 comments:

  1. A refreshing post, Big D. The statue of Arthur Sullivan with the grieving muse is an absolute marvel, conveying the idea of shortness of life hauntingly. You are a kind man to have thought of the weather hurting her.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks umashankar. The artist really was talented, wasn't he?

      Delete
  2. Hi Dale, Yes I agree that's a wonderful statue. Sounds a contradiction in terms but it seems "full of life". Back in the 90's I did a fair few trips to London and I remember being advised to visit the Silver Vaults. It contains an amazing array of silverware and artwork below ground, as it's also the world HQ for silver.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Another cool place I'd never heard of. Next time up up in London I might swing by to have a butchers.

      Delete
  3. A strangely inspiring post, it will be your fault if I end up traveling the world one of these days, if only to go find that bridge. I have to agree, the statue of Sullivan is much more exhilarating with the grieving Muse. Beautiful photographs and a delicious tour – thank you

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. London has some really nice quiet spaces. Last time I was up there I decided to see what was up a particular road and found this gorgeous private garden, literally 15 minutes walk from the British Museum.

      Glad you liked the post Nickey.

      Delete
  4. What a great concept for a sculpture. I guess it makes perfect sense for the muse to weep over the death of a well-beloved artist, one who has brought so much pleasure to so many people. Great find, BigD

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've never been to London, so it was nice to read your post and see a few off-the-beaten-path sights. That bridge/walkway is super cool, definitely Moebius-inspired. You're right about how soothing and attractive a cityscape can be in the twilight! My friend, Chester, and his brother built a beautiful marble tower near where I live where you can view the entire Atlanta skyline from the roof. It's even beautiful in the daytime.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Building your own tower is quite high up the list of "Cool things to do when you have time"

      Do you have any pictures of it?

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Labels

#HeavyMetal (246) #TheMetalProject (228) Advice (2) Airboy (2) aircraft (27) album covers (115) Alestorm (2) Andrew j Offutt (1) angels (1) anime (22) AOR (10) art and stuff (28) Attractive women. (98) B-reaction (1) Barbarion (1) Beasty Girls (1) Big D is going to lose his temper in a minute. (4) Big D talks bollocks (36) Big D talks bollocks. (38) Big D talks bollocks. aircraft (2) Black Metal (3) blatant fanservice (154) blatant plug (5) BOLOS (1) Books (49) Boston Wrestling 1964 (1) British comics (21) bunny (1) Buses (3) Captain America (1) carrier bags (1) cars (2) cartoons (12) Catgirl Nuku Nuku (1) Catwoman (1) Change 123 (1) Charleston wrestling 1964 (1) Cheapo DVD Review (75) Children (1) Chingford (1) Christmas (4) Clouds (1) comics (31) Dale rambles about stuff. (1) David Gibbins (1) Dejah Thoris (1) dinosaurs (13) dogs (2) doing stuff badly. (1) Dragonforce (1) dreams (1) DUKW (1) DVD artists are lying bastards (23) Elvis impersonators (1) Eric Roberts will work for food (3) European wrestling 1964 (1) eurovision (20) eurovision Metal Contest (6) fantasy (9) Fathers Day (1) female cyborgs (1) Film (158) films (50) First Squad (1) gardening (1) German Comics (3) Getting started. (1) Ghosts (1) gig (3) Goolie abuse (4) gorgons (1) Grappling Gertie (4) Green Lantern (1) Guest post (2) Hard Gay (1) Harley Quinn (1) Hawkgirl (1) Heavy Metal Artwork Blog (121) Heavy Metal Blog (96) Heavy Metal Cover Girls (95) History (3) Horror (31) Islamic Metal (1) Judge Anderson (2) Kobra And The Lotus. (1) Lawnmower Deth (2) Lesbian Bed Death (2) List (16) Lords Of The Trident (3) Manga (11) marrow fighting (1) Martial Arts (14) Maryland wrestling 1964 (1) massive shoulderpads (1) Matthew Reilly (2) men's issues (6) Merlin (1) metal (329) Metal Christmas (1) Metal songs about metal (229) mimi hagiwara (1) MinamICon (1) Mind Wars (1) models (19) monkeys (2) Monsters Of Rock (2) MRAs (1) museums (8) music (31) music from the weird aprt of Youtube (3) music from the weird part of Youtube (2) music that gets under my skin. (2) Neil Peart RIP. (1) Nice cover (2) Nicholas Eames. (1) Night Fighters (1) Nightside (1) Noot noot (1) NWOBHM (3) Oatcakes (1) Olympics (1) photos (3) pinup (1) ponies (6) Portsmouth (13) Power Girl (2) power metal (1) puroresu (2) Rain (1) rant (19) Redheads (7) Roswell Conspiracies (2) rules (2) Sci-Fi (45) sexy witches (6) shame about the book. (2) Sharktopus (1) Sigismund (1) silliness (1) Southsea (15) Southsea Food Festival 2022 (1) spiders (1) Spitfires (4) Sport is bollocks (1) Starblazer (1) Stockings (1) Storm Eunice 2022 (1) Story (9) Strike Witches (1) Strip magazine (1) Stuff with armoured cars (1) Stuff with axemurdering lumberjacks (1) Stuff with B36 Bombers (1) Stuff with big flying lizards (12) Stuff with Black Metal Catgirls (1) Stuff with blokes in kilts. (2) stuff with cute banshees. (2) Stuff with enormous birds (1) Stuff With Flying Fruit (1) Stuff with Giant Crabs. (3) Stuff with giant Germans singing about sausage. Music from the weird part of Youtube. (1) Stuff with Girls In Eyepatches (3) Stuff with Gladiators (8) stuff with kickboxing teachers. (1) Stuff with killer cricketers (1) Stuff with Killer Rabbits (1) stuff with killer snails (1) Stuff With Killer Unicorns (1) stuff with Maoris (1) Stuff with mermaids (1) Stuff with Nazi Vampires (3) Stuff with Ninjas (3) Stuff with Psycho Coppers (1) Stuff with Robot Maids (1) Stuff with Roller Derby (1) stuff with rollerskating Muses (1) Stuff with soulsucking mummies. (2) Stuff with strippers (3) Stuff with talking statues (2) Stuff with Vikings (3) Stuff with violent clowns (1) Stuff With Walking Fish (2) Stuff with weird Kiwis (1) Stuff with werewolves (5) Stuff with Wolves (1) stuffed animals (1) Stupid films about sharks (10) Synthwave (4) tanks (5) Tarkan (1) Taya Valkyrie (1) Terrible Metal Album Covers (28) Terrible songs (1) Terry Pratchett. (1) The Band (1) The Hangover pt 2 (1) The Lost Fleet (1) The Metal Project (226) Thundercats (1) Ticket Tales. (1) Top Ten (6) Toy soldiers (9) Truffle (1) Turkish films (2) Ultimate Metal Playlist (9) Valentine (2) Valkyrie (2) Vampires (8) videos (1) voyager (1) War Films (4) Warships (1) weird crushes (5) weird shit (7) White Pigeon (1) women in blindfolds (2) Women with Scythes (1) women with spears (5) women with swords (52) women with wings (7) women's wrestling (50) womens wrestling comics (13) womens' wrestling movies. (1) Wrestling (33) Wrestling Books (5) Wrestling Magazines (15) wrestling October 1964 (1) WTF? Japan (10) WW2 (1) Yamato (2) you do this shit deliberately don't you? (1) Zombie Films (6)