RafflesTravels

It was the morning of the show and a hectic one at that. T had to get to Torandot, A had to get to Roehampton and F had to revise. I was allocated with the task of getting A to her rehearsal on time. I was not looking forward to driving through the typically chocca block Wandsworth Town on a Saturday morning. After heavy traffic on route and what seemed like a ridiculously large number of road works and temporary lights, we somehow made the drop at 09:30 on the dot.  The location was a school in the edge of one of the biggest post war council estates in London - the Alton estate (built in the 50s). After some initial struggle finding the entrance, the Stagecoach signs came into to view and off A went with a skip and a jump holding hands with one of her friends as she went in. With a sign of relief at not having stuffed up the drop, I had some time on my hands before the show.  As we had been here many times before, I knew what I wanted to do - a ramble into Richmond via t...

After a referral to get my wisdom teeth checked, I was sent to Kings College Hostpital for expert advise that may “save me hassle in the future”. After an enjoyable bike ride, I made it to here with 10mins to spare. As I was whisked straight in, my hopes were high that this would be a short check up and that I would be in an out in 15 or 20mins. It ended up taking a couple of hours, after waiting for a couple of dentists making their way around a packed room full of dentist chairs and asking each person their full medical history, with the person before me having possibly the most medical conditions you could imagine, from a double heart attack, asthma, a liver condition and a stroke! All this, plus a couple of X-rays later I was done! The fate of my wisdom was back in the hands of the experts. As I left, I felt I needed some outdoor space to recuperate. Where better than the nearby Ruskin Park. A lovely little oasis next to the sprawling Victorian hospital that has been extended m...

Having had an intense morning at work handling cutting edge first world “issues”, it was time for a Friday afternoon break in the past…. A short bike ride away was the oddity of Vauxhall, with the ever present oasis that is Brunswick House.  Chaining up my bike, I am greeted with the ugly site of the main bus station - a horrible design for this giant glorified bus stop. According to RC, who regularly adds esoteric facts to conversations, the reason why they make buses go around it for no apparent reason is because it helps MI5 to increase their spiritual power due to the airflow generated (based on an Aleister Crowley-esk spiritual theory related to lay lines). Who knew?  Rolfe Judd was originally commissioned by Lambeth council to sort this area out. However, the original £16M “Pod” design proved too costly and was scaled back to the “Ribbon” design we have today. This Vauxhall area is still being developed rapidly but it still appears odd, like some sort of no man’s...