Photos

Thames Barrier park is located on the north side of the River Thames in London, next to the Thames Barrier. It is a new park (created in 1999) as part of the development of London's docklands area. Further to the north of this park work has commenced on the new London Aquarium and construction work is progressing well on the new rail link to London City Airport which is also close by.

So why is this interesting to me? Well, London is a city which continues to grow and evolve. I can remember very well the early developments in the London docklands and the building of Canary Wharf tower (which I have been lucky enough to visit the top of - it was going to be open to the public when it was first built, but because of Irish terrorism - long before 9/11, was closed within the first two weeks)(*). It has been incredible to watch how the whole area has regenerated over the last 20 years with some interesting and varied architecture.

Given that no more than 30 years ago, the United Kingdom was considered the sick man of Europe, this green ramp signifies the growth and effort that has gone into turning that situation around.

(* - Little story on opening of Canary Wharf tower. When it was first opened to the public a group of Japanese tourists went up to the 55th floor. They were looking south out of the window and getting very very excited. When asked why, they said - look, you can see the Eiffel tower, amazing! What they were actually looking at was Crystal Palace, a TV transmitter to the south of london, but I guess the two do look a little alike :-)

(De-fished the fisheye lens to get straight edges, no other changes)