Down by the riverside

On Tuesday, I decided to go to the Imperial War Museum. I'd seen the direction sign at Waterloo station when passing through, and thought it would make for a good day.

Getting onto the street in the right place was a bit of a hassle, as I couldn't locate the sign I'd seen, but eventually I was on the road and found my first direction sign to the museum.

It was plastered over with a sign saying, "Closed until 14 July."

So... Plan B, except that there was no Plan B.

I found a bookshop. The owner saw me passing, rushed out, twisted my arm painfully behind my back, and forced me to go in.

Old Vic Theatre from the bookshop corner

Once I escaped, I crossed the road and found a park. Having fortuitously equipped myself with coffee and some comfort food (useful in cases of disappointment), I sat in the park and ate and drank.

In the park, I pondered my situation. A quick check of the Internet confirmed that the IWM really was closed. But the old song (was it The Kinks?) about Waterloo Sunset rang in my ears, so I thought I would head for the bridge.

But, first, I found St James' Church. I was immediately impressed. Food stalls in the forecourt, posters affixed to the fence... clearly this is a church where things are going on.

 The church also runs a missing persons noticeboard.

Food, glorious food...

Waterloo Bridge was worth looking out from. It gives great views of the Thames.

...and, in the distance, St Paul's Cathedral, the famous Wren design that replaced the earlier cathedral burnt down in the Great Fire of London, more than a century before Cook reached Australia.

Down on the concourse, there was plenty to see, but the work of a graffiti artist particularly attracted my attention:

It seemed strange to me that there was clandestine graffiti going on in one area, and the example below, obviously contracted by the designers, in another. The problem with graffiti is not that it happens, but that it challenges the power structures of society.

This pixie shelter was cute and would be fun for kids: look at the interesting roof structure, too.

I headed back then to St Johns Church for a delicious burrito and a drink before going into some of the back streets.
I noted the contrast between the stately Anglican church and its Catholic counterpart, St Patrick's, in the back street...

Eventually cold and my affinity for plumbing drove me back to Waterloo station, but not before some more bookshop owners enticed me in. I liked the pattern in the bicycle wheels as in the photo below (taken near a fascinating hobbies related bookshop):

However, there was another reason for my being in town, and I joined up with my son at the station before we headed to Giraffe on the south bank for a birthday dinner with Miss 9 and her mother and brother.

I was there, too.

A few glimpses of illuminations along the waterway, and then off to Rachel and Cam's place (where I was still staying) and to bed.