South of the river, London Bridge way

Just as there are parts of Warsaw that I totally don't know, despite living in the city for 22 years, there are parts of London I don't know, despite having lived there for 36 years (four in Coventry make up the difference). I have never visited Borough Market or back of London Bridge station - and I find some charming Brictorian British architecture. A plethora of railway viaducts criss-cross the area, creating atmospheric klimat of an earlier London.

Borough Market, like Smithfield and Covent Garden, is a large enclosed space with cast-iron pillars and glazed roof. It has evolved into a foodie magnet, with a large number of stalls selling tasty and specialist foods - and not cheap. Full of tourists and office workers, at lunchtime (I was here around 12:30) it is absolutely heaving with customers.

The roots of Borough Market are clear to see - a family business going strong for nearly 140 years, still there, under the railway line linking London Bridge and Cannon Street stations

Left: under glass, I push through the crowds. There are many street-food vendors, cooking and serving aromatic food in small cardboard boxes to be eaten on the spot. Trouble is, with so many people jostling through, it gets uncomfortable. Staff are on hand to move on diners choosing inconsiderate spots to stand and eat.

The pre-Christmas rush makes things worse, as foodies come here to buy gifts - chocolates, cheeses - it looks like I'm here at precisely the wrong time.

Below: clock on the corner of Borough High Street and Tooley St. Above it, to the left, the very tip of the Shard, at 306m, the tallest building in the EU, about to lose its throne a) because of Brexit and b) because Warsaw's Varso tower (310m) will be taller when completed next year.

Note too the bushes growing above the facade, in the space in front of the railway tracks.

Below: to the left, Southwark (pron. SUTH-urck) Cathedral, to the right, early Brictorian office buildings.

Crossing London Bridge, mistaken by many for Tower Bridge (the next bridge downstream). Note the Brictorian embankment, the slime marking the high-water level (the Thames is tidal right through London). The next bridge, the one with the tower, is the railway bridge to Cannon Street station. The skyscraper to the left is One Blackfriars (170m)

I can see further explorations of the South Bank and Bankside are required on future visits to London!

This time last year:
Brexit going nowhere

This time three years ago:
News from Nowa Iwiczna

This time four years ago:
Modern governance for a complex world (prescient post!)

This time five years ago:
Contagion - CEE's foreign-exchange markets 

This time six years ago:
Muddy Karczunkowska

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Ul. Trombity - a step closer to dry feet?

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Matters of style

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Real winter hits Warsaw
[Today's daytime high in Warsaw: 13C]

This time 11 years ago:
This is not Mazowsze, no?