The House Husband

After a heady class about Open Source Software and the challenges and benefits it produces, I wandered down to the gherkin to meet Mirinda for our mid-week lunch date. This time, I remembered the camera and, although it was a very grey and dull day, I managed a couple of photographs.

Now, given the limitations of my camera and the proximity of other buildings, the gherkin is not the easiest building to photograph up close. For one thing, it’s not just a case of standing at the bottom and pointing the camera up. The fact that it bulges in the middle then tapers at the top, means it’s impossible to get all of it in. For another, St Mary Axe is a narrow street and you just can’t get far enough back. A wide angle lens would do it but I’m not sure glueing one onto the front of my little camera would have the desired effect.

So, I took two. The first one is the view you get the moment you walk into St Mary Axe. Approaching from London Wall, you haven’t seen it and then, suddenly, wham, there it is. And this is what it looks like.

The Gherkin from the corner

The second shot is from the tiled area out the front – I say the front but the building is round and there’s an entrance around the other side too, though I’m sure, this is the official entrance. I really love the angled struts meeting at the bottom, almost like they’re holding it up in some sort of net.

The Gherkin entrance

We went for a bit of a wander as well as lunch today. We visited the Leadenhall Market, a Victorian (built in 1881) covered market. It is fantastic. There’s a nice Wikipedia bit about it (including some great photos) here. The day had drawn decidedly gloomy and the rain was misting about so I couldn’t take any photos, sadly, but we thoroughly enjoyed it…before Mirinda went back to work and I took the Tube and train home

I’ve seen the building called The Gherkin (there’s someone else’s photo here) from afar many, many times but, until today, I had never been near it. I was to meet Mirinda there for lunch. Well, outside rather than in it. I wish I’d taken my camera – though it was a lousy day for pictures.

I was walking from uni so figured I’d just use it as a landmark and head in its general direction. I’m REALLY glad I remembered my A-Z. From the uni, all the way to St Mary Axe, there was no sign of it. Granted I walked through the Barbican and was generally under cover but I figured when I reached London Wall I’d catch a glimpse. But, no. And then I turned into St Mary Axe.

I wandered what St Mary Axe means too. Apparently it was the name of the medieval parish. The parish church was called St Mary’s and opposite it was a pub, the sign of which was a big axe. And that’s it. No street, road, alley, or anything like that. Just St Mary Axe. And like most things London, the church and the pub have long since disappeared.

Anyway…The gherkin is amazing! That first sight of it is close to perfection. Being so close, it’s difficult to see it all at once, but not so much you don’t appreciate the size and shape. It is cocooned in black and white metallic webbing-like diagonal stripes. Mirinda tells me that when the trees are in leaf, the green is reflected from the windows in a marvellous fashion.

Lunch was lovely – we ate at Eat – and then we walked back to the flat where I left her to make the looooong journey home to two frantic poodles. My class on Wednesday finishes at 12:50 so we’re going to try and make this a weekly lunch date. Next week I’ll remember my camera.