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The Crystal Palace and Mother
Feb. 6th, 2014 11:47 amLast Saturday morning Adrian and I went to Anerley Town Hall for one of a number of 'drop-in' sessions for the Crystal Palace Project.
The project is about re-building the Crystal Palace that stood at the top of the namesake park (on what was until then Penge Common) between 1854 and 1936 when it was destroyed by fire.
Now Ni Zhaoxing, a Chinese billionaire and art collector would like to rebuild the palace.
The presentation of the project was rather interesting. At present it hasn't been decided whether it would be a reconstruction of the original (although modified as there's a bus station and a TV mast on part of the grounds) or a new re-interpretation.
A number of subjects were touched such as transport links, what would be in the palace itself (they are planning to have 55%/60% available to the general public with a mix of art galleries and studios, exhibition space, perhaps a viewing platform...), regeneration of the nearby town centres, etc.
It was clear that a number of people in the audience were against it and a few didn't mince their words, to the point of being rather unpleasant and xenophobic. I - on the other hand - am in favour: the top of the park doesn't have much of an identity at the moment and it's a bit of a mess. It'd be good to have something iconic up there, which could be enjoyed by residents and tourists alike.
We'll see what will happen!
Walking back home, we went past this now abandoned building.
It is scheduled to be pulled down and replaced by a modern health centre. The same fate awaits the locally listed (ca. 1900) relief station nearby.
In the evening we had dinner at Jill and David's who recently left the cottages for a much larger property 10 minutes away.
We had a cracking lamb stew and a spiffing pear crumble with butterscotch sauce.
On Sunday lunchtime we went to the local garden centre/cafe' as Adrian had arranged to meet another volunteer from the Garden Museum.
When got back, we watched a film on TV ('Made in Dagenham') and then Adrian bagged the new Blooms of Penge cards
and later I planted some seeds in a recently purchased heated seed propagator.
Amazingly last night, there was already one sprouting (a cosmea double pink)! - and frustratingly some white fungus in a couple of spots on the soil. I opened the little vents on the lid... hopefully it will help.
Last week wasn't without worries.
My mother had heart surgery to repair a mitral valve (they originally said that it may have to be replaced but then settled for a repair). It seems to have gone well - but I was on tenterhooks for a couple of days. She was in intensive care for a night and was discharged on Tuesday after a week. Now she's at another hospital facility outside of Turin for a few weeks' convalescence.
I was repeatedly told by her not to go and visit; she said that she would have been cross if I had wasted money doing so and as, you don't want to upset someone with heart problems, I didn't go. Probably other relatives and friends of the family think I'm awful not to go but well I only followed orders! lol
I should see her anyway in 6 weeks' time for a long week-end on the way to Tuscany. Hopefully, she'll be home by then.
The project is about re-building the Crystal Palace that stood at the top of the namesake park (on what was until then Penge Common) between 1854 and 1936 when it was destroyed by fire.
Now Ni Zhaoxing, a Chinese billionaire and art collector would like to rebuild the palace.
The presentation of the project was rather interesting. At present it hasn't been decided whether it would be a reconstruction of the original (although modified as there's a bus station and a TV mast on part of the grounds) or a new re-interpretation.
A number of subjects were touched such as transport links, what would be in the palace itself (they are planning to have 55%/60% available to the general public with a mix of art galleries and studios, exhibition space, perhaps a viewing platform...), regeneration of the nearby town centres, etc.
It was clear that a number of people in the audience were against it and a few didn't mince their words, to the point of being rather unpleasant and xenophobic. I - on the other hand - am in favour: the top of the park doesn't have much of an identity at the moment and it's a bit of a mess. It'd be good to have something iconic up there, which could be enjoyed by residents and tourists alike.
We'll see what will happen!
Walking back home, we went past this now abandoned building.
It is scheduled to be pulled down and replaced by a modern health centre. The same fate awaits the locally listed (ca. 1900) relief station nearby.
In the evening we had dinner at Jill and David's who recently left the cottages for a much larger property 10 minutes away.
We had a cracking lamb stew and a spiffing pear crumble with butterscotch sauce.
On Sunday lunchtime we went to the local garden centre/cafe' as Adrian had arranged to meet another volunteer from the Garden Museum.
When got back, we watched a film on TV ('Made in Dagenham') and then Adrian bagged the new Blooms of Penge cards
and later I planted some seeds in a recently purchased heated seed propagator.
Amazingly last night, there was already one sprouting (a cosmea double pink)! - and frustratingly some white fungus in a couple of spots on the soil. I opened the little vents on the lid... hopefully it will help.
Last week wasn't without worries.
My mother had heart surgery to repair a mitral valve (they originally said that it may have to be replaced but then settled for a repair). It seems to have gone well - but I was on tenterhooks for a couple of days. She was in intensive care for a night and was discharged on Tuesday after a week. Now she's at another hospital facility outside of Turin for a few weeks' convalescence.
I was repeatedly told by her not to go and visit; she said that she would have been cross if I had wasted money doing so and as, you don't want to upset someone with heart problems, I didn't go. Probably other relatives and friends of the family think I'm awful not to go but well I only followed orders! lol
I should see her anyway in 6 weeks' time for a long week-end on the way to Tuscany. Hopefully, she'll be home by then.
