The Fridays Xmas Tourette - 29th December. London's Finest.

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Beebo

Firm and Fruity
Location
Hexleybeef
What a fab ride, thanks Simon. The weather was kind to us, if a little cold in the shade. London was looking its best, and was surprisingly busy especially over in the now fashionable Eastend. I couldnt stay long at ABO, but it was nice to meet a few new people. I've learnt that Fab Foodie is a McNuggetaholic and srw/rvw can get a tandem on the underground.
Here's some photos of the day.

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HPC in daylight! Any good ride needs a Guard of Honour, I presume that all Fnrttc's will start with one in future.
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Who lives in a house like this?
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The sky was blue, and the tube station was red.
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Our only puncture stop, in the shadow of St Pauls.
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Some old Church, innit!
 

vernon

Harder than Ronnie Pickering
Location
Meanwood, Leeds
My day started at 'oh my god' o'clock and a short pie fuelled ride to the station for the Leeds to York train. Having over a hour to kill, I pedalled around York admiring the illuminated city walls and Christmas lights before catching the London train.

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Using Dell's helpful map I pedalled from Kings Cross to Speakers' Corner to rendezvous with the Tourette. Warm greetings and pleasantries were exchanged as I joined the group and on we pedaled to the the best public toilets ever where Aperitif made himself known and shared some cognac flavoured Christmas spirits with me.

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Dellzeqq's edifying commentaries and the diversity of architectural wonders chosen were beyond reproach and I saw London in a very different light.

Who'd have thought if parachuted in blindfolded and the building then revealed, that The Royal College of Organists building was in London and not in mainland Europe?

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The fraudulence of the facade of the Natural History museum, not stone built but an iron framed structure clad in twice baked terracotta tiles - sound alike a pie recipe worth exploring....

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The brutalist, minimalist design of the Danish embassy fittingly inspired by and constructed from Lego.

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A maritime marvel, The Blue House:

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Possibly containing the DNA of the Black House...

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Culminating in a mix of old and new

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and fittingly, my last view of London, the naked portal of Kings Cross Station with arches aplenty...

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Many thanks to @dellzeqq for his brilliant choice of buildings, erudition and bonhomie, The Fridays for their collective wit and charm, @Aperitif for his assistance in apportioning pie distribution and quality assurance, @Mice just for being Mice and assisting with pie consumption, @mmmmartin for his photographic assistance and capturing my slimmer profile; @Fab Foodie, @StuAff co-conspierators or should that be conspire-eaters, @slowmotion for the beer, @Adrian for the offer of a ride on his Brompton - I wish that I'd taken you up on it and everyone else who crossed paths with me yesterday. I ended the day back at home, fittingly, with a mince pie.

A memorable day out!
 

martint235

Dog on a bike
Location
Welling
That was a really good ride, thanks Simon. I didn't actually hear much of the commentary but I rarely get into London these days so just cycling around town in bright sunshine was an absolute joy!
 
He'd have had a very strong tailwind back from Dungeness.
Vernon doesn't do strong tailwinds anymore...charcoal bibpongs, remember?
Glad you listened, Vernon - I spent most of my time watching 'loose' bikes and wasn't paying close attention.
The lead flashing on the bluehouse 'did it' for me and my warped sense of nice.
 

ianmac62

Guru
Location
Northampton
Christ Church Spitalfields makes it into Jenkins' hundred best churches in his 1999 book "England's Thousand Best Churches". Fourteen years ago, he noted that the restoration was far from complete: "the ceiling seems to rest ... on gloom and dust". In 1970 the church was near to collapse but Jenkins was able to describe it as "London Baroque at its most self-confident" although he does quote Pevsner's view that it "could not be called anything but ugly".

Critics, eh? Take 'em or leave 'em!
 

srw

It's a bit more complicated than that...
Kaunas Church of the Resurrection is one of them. I can't think for the life of me what the other one is. It's on the tip of my tongue...
Google image search might help you out.
 
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