I had an interesting conversation with other climbers last weekend: what keeps us here, in this climbing no man’s land? For some people, it’s understandably job related. For me, it’s more than that. London is simply one of the quirkiest places on earth. It’s true! Wherever you go, there’s something interesting going on. To illustrate that, let me tell you what happened to me on Sunday. I was at St Pancras, collecting my Eurostar ticket (going to Font soon!), and decided to go walking around Bloomsbury just for the sake of it.
As I was trying to get away from the traffic of Judd Street, I saw a lot of people standing outside a building. I decided to get closer. It turned out to be… an Indian wedding! There were even guys wearing maharaja slippers with pointy toes. You could feel they were going to have the mother of all parties. I didn’t want to intrude too much, so passed them by and turned right onto Tonbridge Street. There was a courtyard at the end of it. I went in and saw this fake rock standing among the greenery.
I later found out that it was made by an artist called Nicole Morris (yes, it’s art!), who describes it as “a series of camouflaged plinths.” It’s called “In time your love will fade.” Fading or not, it was time for a climb. V0 at the most. Still fun!
After my little climbing interlude, I took Wakefield Street and kept walking straight. A garden appeared on the left: St George’s Gardens, one of London’s best kept secrets apparently. It used to be a cemetery (don’t freak out) and Oliver Cromwell’s granddaughter is still buried there.
I rejoined Judd Street and got to the Brunswick Centre, which seems to be Bloomsbury’s equivalent of a High Street. The place was heaving with people. I left the shoppers behind, ending up in Coram Street, where I found this massive free standing tower that begs to be climbed. It’s next to the Holiday Inn Hotel, in case you want to find it. What a peculiar spot! Does anybody know what is it doing there? I can see lots of potential happy climbers making use of it. Maybe another idea worth pitching to Mayor Boris (aka Man on a Wire)?
Not far from it, on Herbrand Street, I came across this magnificent art deco building. That’s where McCann, the advertising agency, has its local offices. I like how the green details of the windows play against the whiteness of the walls. I did a bit of research on the building’s history. It was built by Wallis, Gilbert and Partners in 1931, the same architects responsible for the Hoover building on the A40. Can you see the similarities now? And it used to be a… car hire garage famed for its steep ramped access. Wow! I wonder what it looks like inside. Does anybody of you work for McCann and would like to give us a tour?
Anyway, I continued walking straight ahead and spotted the Horse Hospital soon after crossing Bernard Street. The only horses you might get a chance to see around these days are of the clothes kind, I’m afraid. The building has been transformed into a trendy art venue. 
Don’t dismiss it too quickly, for somewhere stuck on its wall you’ll find London’s really, really best kept secret: the one and only London 2012 teleportation machine. How do you think we managed to cope with all the crowds in town for the Olympics? That’s something Seb Coe will never tell you! Unfortunately, the machine isn’t operational anymore. Don’t even try, or you’ll lose your credit card forever!
It was time to go: people where starting to stop to see what I was looking at. I turned right onto Guildford Street and crossed Bloomsbury Square. It was getting dark. I carried onto Montague Place. If my recollections were right, Goodge street station wasn’t too far away. I passed the scaffolding from the British Museum. There was a small garden on my right. The sign on the gate said that it was the site of an “interactive sound sculpture that uses the movements of pedestrians to evoke a phantom of a lost iron fence.” I walked along the wall to test it. And it worked! Clink, clonk. Welcome to Phantom Railings. A family of four then joined too, making us the loudest cacophonous orchestra in town. What a fun way to end this magic Bloomsbury walking tour. And this is why, ladies and gents, I LOVE London.
BoulderingStuff 