What happened at the weekend... *g*

[byslantedlight]

*headdeskheaddeskheaddesk*

Which plonker forgot to turn on for George Gently tonight...?

*headdeskheaddeskheaddesk*

I can't get iPlayer to work on my tv either, though thank god it works on my laptop (I just watched the last Poldark - ever so good. And now I can read the novel that I might have bought the other day...) So - George Gently still to come, but for now...

It was a lovely weekend in London! I've already said that Saturday was a gorgeous afternoon of chat with veronicaluv, who it was lovely to meet at long last.

And then Sunday! Sunday was full of many lovely things too! The least lovely thing was that my bed was too hard, but I must have slept a bit, because I woke up. *g* I was bit worried that I was up and about too early for a Sunday, but I managed to find coffee, and then tried to work out what to do next. I had to be at Paddington at 1pm, and various places didn't open until 11, which was a bit of a pain, but then I found just the spot, and set off on my way. *g* I went past... Rather smart door steps (I do like a nice mosaic *g*) and ghost signs (I do like a good ghost sign... *g*)

Surprise Fanny and Stella street! I was reading about them last year, and I glanced up at a blue plaque that I passed, and it was them! Funny, in a way, to think of all that happened on that street, over a hundred years ago... and on the bright side, if it happened today people wouldn't really turn a hair...

And then I was at my destination! Who do you think sat in this chair... to do his writing...? ... Charles Dickens! I found my way to the Charles Dickens Museum!He sat down and wrote every morning, and then did other things in the afternoon. How lush...
And very nice it was too.

And then it was time to go and find my things, and go and find Paddington, and go and find minori_k! Hurrah! And that was lovely too (and I just have to say squeeeee!Oyster Card! but I'll say no more than that right now *g*), and we both caught our breath from dashing around, and then we set off to dash some more - at Camden Lock. We were going location spotting! *g* Even better, we also met up with heliophile_oxon at the tube station - but then had something of a shock. Camden Lock Market is ridiculously busy on a Sunday in April! We could barely thread our way through the crowds, never mind do much spotting... Here's some before and after shots, to give you an idea...
Once you were the other side of that entrance, nothing bigger than a... a... well, we could barely move.

As for the road they drove down to get to the market... Not a chance!

We couldn't even get into MayLi's shop!
So we decided to escape the madness that was the market, and hope it might be a little quieter at Doyle's flat...

And it was, and we could stand around and wonder to our heart's content... *g*

How fun that this street has barely changed...

Of course we had to work out where the gate that Bodie opened for Doyle was - well-spotted that minori_k!

heliophile_oxon said she'd seen a pic from inside the flat too, and the other day she very kindly sent me a copy to compare...(isn't it a nice flat today too? *g*) ...but we found ourselves wondering how Doyle's flat worked, because these days it looks like this: (courtesy of GoogleMap that one) ...and yet those big skylight windows make it look as though it's not the ground-floor flat.

Except that we saw that Doyle's flat is on the ground floor. So, here's the thing. Inside that outside gate, is the gate that Bodie opened for Doyle at the front where we were, and the lads go straight through into Doyle's kitchen. (Okay, I admit, that was just gratuitous picturing... *g*

So his flat's on the ground floor, definitely, except obviously the bit that's split level. Except that look at those windows on the other side - huge-enormous skylights that look like they're miles up! So then we were trying to work that out... and the best I can see, is this: I think there's clever window-ing going on - it's split level, rather than having the second floor go all the way across, so Doyle's got huge windows on the side opposite the kitchen - and if you look carefully you can see in both the then and now shots, there's greenery outside them there windows... so it is ground floor, right? *g* And then I reckon that instead of that side of the second floor, they've got gorgeous big slanted windows, giving the illusion of eternal sky and no one above them... I tried to see the back of the building from a different street on Googlemaps, but no go...

Bob Rocca's book quotes the director (oh, and note the interesting fandom info!): It was decided that Doyle's flat was not to be a permanent fixture as Menmuir wanted his 'agents' to always be on the move, rarely using the same house twice. With that in mind I suggested the Cliff Road flat in Camden as it belonged to a friend of mine at the time, I remembered it because of the odd multi-level aspect, which made shooting far easier from the top of the stairs...
Which doesn't help much about the architecture, but - canon about them moving house! That's not fanon, it came from the actual show - I bet it dribbled out in interviews and into fanfic from there, then the source was historically forgotten and we figured they'd made it up out of common sense... and now here we are again! *g*

We wandered off to find a cafe or something next, and after a nice wander through London streets, and then a sit down near Tufnell Park, Minori and I waved goodbye to Heliophile. It seemed just a bit too early to go home yet though (all the summer not-raining light evenings!), and so we thought we'd try to squeeze in one more location, since it was sort of on the way back... *g*


And actually this is more similar than I realised at the time - the railings were there back then - and even those cone-like topiary-type things!

It's very cool seeing how much hasn't changed... *g*

But finally even Minori and I had to agree that it was time to go home, and so we did... I just missed a train which turned out to be good, because I was early for the next one which meant that I managed to get a seat. People were standing down the entire car, and I don't think I could have - my legs were so tired from all that happy walking! *g* So thank you minori_k and heliophile_oxon for a lovely day, and thank you again veronicaluv for a lovely the-day-before. I had the nicest London weekend I've had for aaaages! *g*

And now... quel surpris, it's not an early night again... *g* G'night!

Comments

[hagsrus.livejournal.com]

Thank you - I really enjoyed your excursion!

[dollidaydream.livejournal.com]

You sound like you both had an awesome day! Thank you so much for the great photos and descriptions. Doyle's flat is endlessly interesting. It's easily my favourite of all the lads' abodes. When I think of him in his flat in fanfic, it's that one if the author doesn't say. Thanks again for all the lovely pics. Glad you both had a good trip to the smoke! :)

[minori-k.livejournal.com]

Yay! *vbg* thank you for editing a photo which me in! lol
It was a lovely location tour, wasn't it! Except the craziness of Camden Lock Market... I've never been to that place for ages! How poplar the place is! Shane we couldn't get a view of glass windows Doyle stands against. The flat used for Hunter/Hunted was fab, though! It's really nice that place hasn't changed much!

I tried to reply to all comments on my latest post but got too tired to do so! Too many things I did these few days! But having a lot of fun to go and see many lovely places in London now!

I found I missed the latest episode of George Gently too! Huge shame on me!

[ali15son.livejournal.com]

thankyou for sharing your wonderful pictures and glad to know you enjoyed yourself.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh bliss, bliss, and double bliss! Thank you for taking all these wonderful location shots!!! I so much want to come over and go for a wander myself. Lucky Minori!! Can I book myself in for your next guided tour? No idea when I'm coming over though [lol]. You mentioned the book by Bob Rocca and I haven't been able to track down a copy for myself - I soooo want one! Any ideas where I can try? I think they retail for about $60 Oz dollars - not sure. Well this is my last night here in my old [two month] flat and then this time tomorrow night I'll be soaking up to my nose in bubbles, hopefully. I keep thinking about B and D constantly having to move flats and I wonder if they had to do their own packing? The weather down here is appalling - pouring rain and floods; just like the last time I moved house.....Kiashi

[caffyolay.livejournal.com]

What a brilliant adventure! Loved reading about it. And I too have been to the Charles Dickens Museum. Very, very interesting.

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

It was a nice day! And considering how unbelievably crowded it was, I think we did pretty well to make it into even a corner of May Li's workshop *g*

The photos down St. Pancras way look great - very unchanged. I suppose it must be the split-level effect that seemed odd at the flat re the windows ... can you see the back of the building on Google Earth/the aerial view of Maps?

[miwahni.livejournal.com]

What a fantastic day! Sitting here green with envy. The company, the location scouting - nice to see that so much is unchanged. And perhaps someone with a better memory than I have can confirm whether that's May Li's funny little yellow car in the background of the photo where Doyle is getting into his Capri?

That mosaic doorstep is amazing. And I love how the ghost sign has been left alone, just a little bit of history.

[gvenanne.livejournal.com]

Wow - excuse me but wow! All these places... Also the last ones caught me staring at Doyle's legs, I must admit, so I did need to concentrate for a while to remember where was I *g* It's so fascinating to see that all these places are... well I understand that they are real and in fact it was Paddington that sounded to me like I need to get to Fair's Point by noon. *g* I think maybe it is because I had learned this name when thanks to the Iron Curtain Great Britain was like some sort of fantasy land))) Pros came to me when it was clear that foreign countries can be visited. But still these photographs make me stare in awe at my screen. :) Congratulations with such a wonderful time!

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

What a lovely day! All the sites you saw, Pros and non-Pros, I'm envious. I especially love being able to see Doyle's flat. They certainly used some varied locations.

[solosundance.livejournal.com]

Love all your pics - glad you had such a nice time!

[freetraveller15.livejournal.com]

Great pictures and location report!
minori_k showed me some of her pics from that day when we met in London two days ago ☺
She's lovely and we had a fabulous time also with the other Pros fans. After pub lunch at the Scarsdale we went for a walk in Holland Park, so beautiful with flowers in bloom.
I know what you mean about the... Oyster card surprise :) I loved it!
Cheers, Paola