A Weekend Diary

…words and images from England's green and pleasant land…

Archive for the tag “Harry Potter”

Friday afternoon in Fareham…and Saturday evening in London…

Worked a ten-hour day on Thursday, so treated myself to a half day on Friday…and spent a couple of hours in Fareham town centre…

A pint of Carling, at Table 63, in The Vanguard Pub, in Fareham West Street...

A pint of Carling, at Table 63, in The Vanguard Pub, in Fareham West Street…

The sculpture at the right is called 'Still Moves' and carries the inscription 'Nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed’...which I'd have to meditate on for a very long time before it made any sense ;)...

The sculpture at the right is called ‘Still Moves’ and carries the inscription ‘Nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed’…which I’d have to meditate on for a very long time before it made any sense ;)…

A bit further along the pedestrianised part of West Street, in the direction of the railway station...

A bit further along the pedestrianised part of West Street, in the direction of the railway station…

Had my barnet cut, by long-time barber Giovanni at Baker Street on Saturday afternoon, then headed down to the West End by way of King’s Cross…

The wonderful interior of King's Cross station, rendered in mono...

The wonderful interior of King’s Cross station, rendered in mono…

I’ve posted a couple of other photos of Platform 9¾ at King’s Cross on this blog, but never before have I caught a Harry Potter fan so…err…mid-air 🙂

An enthusiastic Harry Potter fan :)...

An enthusiastic Harry Potter fan :)…

That wonderful interior in colour...

That wonderful interior in colour…

The Victorian frontage of King's Cross, in the Euston Road...

The Victorian frontage of King’s Cross, in the Euston Road…

Black cabs, outside St Pancras International...

Black cabs, outside St Pancras International…

The Hippodrome, on the corner of Cranbourn Street and the Charing Cross Road

The Hippodrome, on the corner of Cranbourn Street and the Charing Cross Road

Cranbourn Street, leading to the north side of Leicester Square...

Cranbourn Street, leading to the north side of Leicester Square…

A festive Leicester Square, viewed from its south-western corner...

A festive Leicester Square, viewed from its south-western corner…

And a bit further north in Chinatown, a TCM/Massage clinic in Newport Court, off the Charing Cross Road

And a bit further north in Chinatown, a TCM/Massage clinic in Newport Court, off the Charing Cross Road

A temporary 'Gift Factory' outside the Royal Festival Hall on London's South Bank, with the London Eye visible in the distance...

A temporary ‘Gift Factory’ outside the Royal Festival Hall on London’s South Bank, with the London Eye visible in the distance…

Travelling down the escalator to the Northen Line platform at Waterloo Tube station...

Travelling down the escalator to the Northern Line platform at Waterloo Tube station…

Awaiting a High Barnet train home....and I'm wondering who composed the poem, presumably not Boris ;)...

Awaiting a High Barnet train home….and I’m wondering who composed the poem…presumably not Boris ;)…

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A few days in the North…

Had some leave from work last week so I took the opportunity to visit an old friend now dwelling in North Yorkshire, and here are some of the photos resulting from this brief sojourn in Richmond and surrounds…

Celebrating 150 years of the London Underground, at King's Cross and St. Pancras Tube station...

Celebrating 150 years of the London Underground, at King’s Cross and St. Pancras Tube station…

I caught the East Coast line train from Platform 1 on the King’s Cross to Edinburgh service, as far as Darlington…although it is not perhaps as thrilling a journey as Harry Potter’s journeys were on the Hogwarts Express from Platform 9¾ 😉

Platform 9¾, at King's Cross mainline station...

Platform 9¾, at King’s Cross mainline station…

Darlington is important in the history of railways, as explained here…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockton_and_Darlington_Railway

I was heading for Richmond, which is no longer served by a railway line, so it was a half-hour bus journey on the Arriva X26 bus service instead, from a bus stop not far from this clock tower…

West Row, in Darlington town centre...

West Row, in Darlington town centre…

Arriving in Richmond mid-afternoon on Tuesday, I made for a Wetherspoon’s pub near the town centre, The Ralph Fitz Randal, for some welcome food and drink (a jacket potato with five bean chilli, some chips, and a pint of Summer Ale), to await my old friend, who’d been out for a walk that afternoon with a local rambling group. This photo was taken in the afternoon sun, in Friary Gardens, opposite the pub…

Flowers in sunlight, in front of Greyfriars Tower, in Friary Gardens, Richmond, North Yorkshire

Flowers in sunlight, in front of Greyfriars Tower, in Friary Gardens, Richmond, North Yorkshire

On the Wednesday morning I wandered down to The Station, now converted to an café/cinema/exhibition space, and which this week was hosting the touring photographic exhibition Best Shots. Excellent it is too, so go see it if you get the chance locally…

http://www.bestshots.co.uk/tour

This photo was taken on the way back from The Station to the town centre…

Richmond Castle...

Richmond Castle…

I later met up with my friend for a drive up to County Durham, to look at a few buildings thereabouts, Egglestone Abbey, Barnard Castle, and Raby Castle…

Barnard Castle, County Durham...

Barnard Castle, County Durham…

The River Tees, through a window at Barnard Castle...

The River Tees, through a window at Barnard Castle…

Raby Castle, County Durham, home of Lord Barnard...

Raby Castle, County Durham, home of Lord Barnard…

Antlered deer in the grounds of Raby Castle...

Antlered deer in the grounds of Raby Castle…

On the Thursday, I spent the morning exploring Richmond town centre, and paying a visit to Richmond Castle, which is fortunately (as is Barnard Castle) an English Heritage property, which I get into for free, being a Member…

Poster in the window of a shop in Finkle Street, Richmond...

Poster in the window of a shop in Finkle Street, Richmond…

The Keep at Richmond Castle...

The Keep at Richmond Castle…

Hmmm, seemingly a dangerous place, Richmond Castle…;)

Danger Steep Slope, at Richmond Castle...

Danger Steep Slope, at Richmond Castle…

Danger Sudden Drop, at Richmond Castle...

Danger Sudden Drop, at Richmond Castle…

Flowers on the walls of Richmond Castle...

Flowers on the walls of Richmond Castle…

The Market Place, from the top of the Keep at Richmond Castle...

The Market Place, from the top of the Keep at Richmond Castle…

We then spent the afternoon in a circular tour of Swaledale and Wensleydale in my friend’s car, and there are some wonderful views to be had in this part of the world…:)

A sheep at Marrick, in Swaledale...

A sheep at Marrick, in Swaledale…

A cow at Marrick, in Swaledale...

A cow at Marrick, in Swaledale…

Sheep at a water tap, near Marrick, in Swaledale

Sheep at a water tap, near Marrick, in Swaledale

Sheep grazing near the River Swale, near Marrick...

Sheep grazing near the River Swale, near Marrick…

The town of Reeth in Swaledale...

The town of Reeth in Swaledale…

On the road from Muker to Hawes...

On the road from Muker to Hawes…

An artist on the road from Muker to Hawes...

An artist on the road from Muker to Hawes…

View westwards on the road to Hawes from Muker...

View westwards on the road to Hawes from Muker…

On the (literally) high road to Ribblehead from Hawes...

On the (literally) high road to Ribblehead from Hawes…

The weather had been fine for most of the week in North Yorkshire, but on Friday the rains came down, so we spent most of the day at the extraordinary Bowes Museum, outside Barnard Castle, which, incidentally, has a very good café, Café Bowes, on the premises…

Bowes Museum, at Barnard Castle, County Durham...

Bowes Museum, at Barnard Castle, County Durham…

Every day at 2 pm, this 18th Century automaton, The Silver Swan, gives a forty second performance…

http://www.thebowesmuseum.org.uk/collections/the-silver-swan/history/

Awaiting the 2 pm performance of the Silver Swan, at Bowes Museum...

Awaiting the 2 pm performance of the Silver Swan, at Bowes Museum…

The Silver Swan in motion...

The Silver Swan in motion…

The Silver Swan, not moving...

The Silver Swan, not moving…

...and the silver fishes...

…and the silver fishes…

A Pierrot, circa 1900, when wound up, his hands play the harp...

A Pierrot, circa 1900, when wound up, his hands play the harp…

A Penny Farthing bicycle...

A Penny Farthing bicycle…

A couple of exhibits relating to Messrs Mason and Dixon, immortalised by the Mason-Dixon Line between Pennsylvania and Maryland in the United States…

Jeremiah Dixon...

Jeremiah Dixon…

A journal of Charles Mason...

A journal of Charles Mason…

Plenty of good paintings in the Bowes museum, and I rather liked this one…;)

Come back and see me again sometime ;)...

Come back and see me again sometime ;)…

I was taking no chances on missing my connection back to London on Saturday morning, and caught the 09.01 X26 bus back from Richmond Market Place to Darlington Station…

In very good time...

In very good time…

Homeward bound...

Homeward bound…

King’s Cross station, early Saturday evening…

I watched a documentary on the expansion of  King’s Cross station a few weeks ago, and there were some ambivalent reactions from a few of the station staff to some of the changes, but personally I love it, not least because of the inspired architecture that now dominates the concourse there.

And being King’s Cross, of course, it has some some latter-day literary connections, evidenced by the Harry Potter shop in one of the photos below. I also rather like the fact that there’s now a Platform zero/nought, which I guess is pretty unusual in platform numbering schemes in the world’s railway stations…although I could be wrong …;)

ConcourseLandscape

i've never read a Harry Potter book, or seen any of the films, some I'm not quite sure why attempts were apparently being made to phtograph a bloke jumping into a shopping trolley or similar, but I guess that's an essential element of the Harry Potter stories... ;)

I’ve never read a Harry Potter book, nor seen any of the films, so I’m not quite sure why attempts were apparently being made to photograph a bloke jumping into a shopping trolley or similar, but I guess that might be an essential element of the Harry Potter stories… 😉

Platforms0to8  

So here's Platform 0, with a couple about to board the 7 o'clock train to Newcastle. in the north-east of England...

So here’s Platform 0, with a couple about to board the 7 o’clock train to Newcastle. in the north-east of England…

King'sCrossStation  King'sCrossL

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