It seems ages since I picked up a camera and tried to take more than “snaps”.

With a clear blue sky and brilliant light it seemed too good an opportunity to turn down and so I headed into central London to take some pictures and visit some galleries. Chinatown was all dressed up for the New Year tomorrow and the galleries I wanted to visit were relatively uncrowded.

One of my favorite walks in London is along the south bank of the Thames from Hungerford Bridge to Borough Court. It seems that there is always something going on in this part of the city. From people jogging or walking to fairs, beach parties or food festivals. Even on a quiet day you can wander along and watch the river.

I guess I like this area as it was always the gateway into London for me when I was child and brought here by my parents. In those days Hungerford Bridge was a narrow, dirty walkway strapped to the side of Charing Cross railway bridge. All of the drains were blocked along it which meant you often had to wade through puddles but I loved it. I used to walk along and watch the riverboats hoping one day I could work on the river. In later life I walked into the city for meetings over the bridge past the young juggler who couldn’t manage beanbags but now has gravitated to firebrands and also moved upmarket with a pitch outside the Tate Modern.

I remember one of the last times I walked over the old bridge. By this time it was even more depressing, clad in shuttering to hide the emergence of the new bridge to one side of it. Halfway along the bridge were some flowers and a note remembering where someone’s loved one took their life.

Now there are two new walkways on either side of the railway bridge. Clean, shiny and bright metal they are wide, well drained and welcoming. In all the construction the private shrine to a loved one lost had been brushed away.

I still love the walk and the view. Even more so as at the end of it is Borough Court and not just because of the food at Brindisa….