Another dip into pictures taken while wandering London streets, this time focusing on the benches, lamp posts, phone boxes, statues and other fixtures that line the streets, often barely noticed, but sometimes pushing their way into attention.
The push may come from unusual design, unusual location, or occasionally a puzzling message. Here are some of my favorites, all but two from London.
The first, above, is one of a series along the Embankment, facing out over the Thames…a pleasant stop for just a view, or to rest while jogging, or to let your camel rest.
Nearby, one of many statues on the Embankment, with color and its own animal feature, and just by, what was once a modern convenience shows how time has passed it by.
Phone boxes are in increasingly short supply in London (and elsewhere) in the mobile age; perhaps this group on the Strand are huddled together to resist removal?
London’s lamp posts and other civic fixtures often show their age or origin by monogram of the monarch during whose reign they were cast and erected. This one’s been around since the reign of George IV (1820-37). Those below show no dates, but the symbols of the City of Westminster and the Council of London. We spotted every monarch from IV on to Elizabeth, with one exception: Edward VIII abdicated too quickly to make it to the streets.
This next one looks like a serious memorial, and it has that purpose, but it’s also a water fountain for the public. It’s just near St Paul’s Cathedral.
But of course, not all street furniture is so serious minded. Here are a couple of examples; the first is near the Old Spitalfields Market.
Inside the market, the street furniture is a bit more informal, but just as functional as the formal pieces on the Embankment.
And then there’s Little Ben. Clocks are popular street furniture, and were especially popular as civic honors at the time of Victoria’s Gold and Diamond Jubilees. This one’s of a similar style, but dates to 1892.
Little Ben was taken down in the 1960s, and re-installed in 1991 with help from a French oil company, and accompanied by a joking reference to daylight savings and the time difference between Britain and Europe.
And here are my two out-of-towners: A bench perfectly placed on a hilltop on the Isle of Portland, Devon, for a wonderful view of Weymouth Bay and beyond, and a nice view by Michael Maggs/Wikipedia of the lamp posts in Lyme Regis, one of the most significant fossil sights on Devon’s Jurassic Coast. Note that the inset of the arms is an image of an amonite, one of the area’s most common fossils and the town’s symbol.
For more street furniture on TravelGumbo, click here for From Where I Sit: A Gallery of Benches, and Art under Your Feet, a blog about manhole covers.
