Film

Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens

Having watched Episodes I to VI in the cinema (albeit the first trilogy as the 1997 Special Edition rather than its original form), it's no surprise that Episode VII took me back to the big screen.

While I'll agree that this film is – ahem – a new hope for the franchise, and that it ticks all the relevant boxes, I was l left feeling a little nonplussed by it. I put it down to this: I've changed. I'm not suggesting it's infantile or unentertaining. It's not about "growing up". I just realise that two and a half hours of constant fighting is a bit of a turn-off for me, even when the human goodies will always prevail over the faceless baddies in the end.

Still, it got us out to the cinema. This is something we intend to do much more of over the coming year.

Thames Path

Teddington → Tower of London

Distance: 24.61 miles
Ascent: 138 metres
Duration: 5 hours 49 minutes

A London Marathon
« Not walked | Island Gardens »

In common with a few other National Trails, the Thames Path has an alternative option for part of its length. As it wends its way through London a route is described on both the north and the south banks of the river. Since I've previously completed the north bank section downstream of the Tower of London, today I decided to bite off the remaining distance in one huge chunk.

The rhythm of the day was of course provided by the bridges. I wish I'd thought to take photographs of them all, but here are the final sixteen. (How many can you name?)

They are — in order — Battersea, Albert, Chelsea, Grosvenor, Vauxhall, Lambeth Westminster, Hungerford/Golden Jubilee, Waterloo, Blackfriars, Blackfriars Rail, Millennium, Southwark, Canon Street, London, Tower. Top marks if you recognised them all; time for a day-trip to town if you only spotted the last one.

This is the longest walk I've ever done. Once I added getting to the start from Teddington Station, getting from the end to Tower Hill tube and a little extra pacing around, the distance came in at 26.2 miles — a London Marathon, if you will. (Total duration six hours twenty-four minutes. Hardly a time to be proud of, but certainly something to build on.)

Thames Path

Waterloo → Woolwich

Distance: 14.56 miles
Ascent: 60 metres
Duration: 4 hours 35 minutes

Goats
« Not walked | Not walked »

Today's soggier than yesterday, but there's been so much to see.

The hits kept coming: the new City skyline momentarily lost in low cloud; an abundance of public art (favourite: the sign pointing the 24,589 mile way back to itself by circumnavigating the globe via the North and South Poles); renovated wharves; tales of local heroes; the ghoulish gateposts and Grinling Gibbons "Valley of Dry Bones" reredos at St Nicholas, Deptford; Greenwich with the Cutty Sark, Painted Gallery and Time Ball (we were just in time for the one o'clock drop).

The most unusual sight was the tiny farm at Surrey Docks, where inquisitive goats climbed the fence for a better look while pigs, sheep and cattle sat idly by.

In an unusual move we ate lunch out — the Millennium Dome provides plenty of choice just a short distance from the finish line — and topped the meal off with freshly caught whelks from a barrow on the road in New Charlton.

All of a sudden the great Thames Barrier was upon us and the end of another National Trail: my sixth and Emma's fourth. I don't know why it ends here. Indeed, there's a signpost directing walkers on towards Crayford Ness on the Thames Path Extension and it's tempting to just keep going. But where would that lead? A circuit of our island, perhaps?

Thames Path

Richmond → Waterloo

Distance: 17.16 miles
Ascent: 61 metres
Duration: 4 hours 43 minutes

Birds and cats
« Not walked | Not walked »

We walked with the crowds today. The usual joggers were out, being encouraged on by the Ring-Necked Parakeets that have made the west-London riverside their home. But as we approached Chiswick Bridge, they were joined by cyclists shouting in the direction of the river (and not necessarily looking where they were going).

We'd stumbled across the Quitin Head race, with 250 rowing eights jostling for position on the water. The starting line was at Hammersmith Bridge, and once past there we had the riverside to ourselves again.

It's been a fascinating walk, partly because it connects so many places I've known over the years. It's also been revealing: I'd forgotten just how many power stations used to operate from the river banks.

What'll stick in our memory most though, are the cats.

A lengthy detour away from the water's edge in Battersea takes the Thames Path past the the Dogs and Cats Home. There was no way Emma would resist a sign directing This Way to the Cats. Inside a well-equipped cattery, waifs and strays mewed plaintively from behind the glass doors of their cells. It's a cheap jibe to compare the place to a prison, but the "inmates" certainly seemed just as keen to escape.

Tempting as it was to adopt one, we left empty-handed and continued until we reached to the final crowd of the day: camera-laden tourists thronging on the Albert Embankment.

Thames Path

Walton-on-Thames → Richmond

Distance: 13.06 miles
Ascent: 37 metres
Duration: 3 hours 38 minutes

Towards the centre of the dart board
« Not walked | Not walked »

When we resumed walking the Thames Path in October we were determined to finish before the end of the year. We didn't quite achieve that, but having crossed the M25 last time we feel the end is in sight.

It's been a cold day, and the path has been muddy where the ice has started to melt. At Kingston we crossed the line of the London Outer Orbital Path, and at Richmond we intersected the Capital Ring. Slicing through these concentric round-London routes it feels as through we're working our way to the bullseye of the dart board of the capital.

The highlight was brushing past the Royal Palace at Hampton Court. There's no getting away from its splendour, but it's disappointing that the entire park is hidden from the river behind a double-fence or high hedge.

Originally we'd planned to walk further today but there seems little point. No matter how far we go we'd still have two walks remaining so stopping at a good transport hub seemed sensible option.

If all goes to plan, next time we'll pierce the final circle: the Jubilee Walkway at the heart of the city.

Books

Last and First Men

Published in 1930, Last and First Men is the first novel written by the pacifist philosopher Olaf Stapledon. It's a future history of mankind stretching from the (then) present-day to a point one thousand million, million years in the future when mankind finally ceases to exist.

Twenty years ago a stranger recommended the book to me, and today I've finally finished reading it. At times it's horribly turgid, but those moments are interspersed with sections of sheer brilliance.

While occasionally the writing discloses the era in which it was written (there are hints at eugenics and much preoccupation with aviation), it's surprising just how relevant the underlying themes are to today's society. This just demonstrates Stapledon's greatest achievement: he has expressed essential human weaknesses in a way that's sadly too believable.

Frequently Stapledon's pacifistic views come to the fore and it's hard not to be swept along with them, such as this impassioned speech by an un-named member of the British Cabinet:

"From the people of England to the people of France. Catastrophe has fallen on us at your hands. In this hour of agony, all hate and anger have left us. Our eyes are opened. No longer can we think of ourselves as English merely, and you as merely French; all of us are, before all else, civilized beings. Do not imagine that we are defeated, and that this message is a cry for mercy. Our armament is intact, and our resources still very great. Yet, because of the revelation which has come to us today, we will not fight. No plane, no ship, no soldier of Britain shall commit any further act of hostility. Do what you will. It would be better even that a great people should be destroyed than that the whole race should be thrown into turmoil. But you will not strike again. As our own eyes have been opened by agony, yours now will be opened by our act of brotherhood."

It's a tough read, but worthwhile if you have the stamina.

Personal

Peak Beard

All good experiments must come to an end.

On the plus side, I no longer have to be nervous about eating soup again.