london diary

october started with a fine day, and i went to visit the largest sikh temple or gurdwara in europe (and the fourth largest in the world) which opened a couple of years ago in southall, along with a group of friends from the london arts café. we were shown around the building by one of the sikh volunteer guides and also the architect, richard adams of architect co-partnership, which had won the open competion to design the building. he had worked fully with the sikh community to produce a building suited to their needs, and it does so impressively: clean simple surfaces, powerful colour in the windows and light streaming into the central stairway and lobby from the large window and glass roof areas.

the sri guru singh sabha gurdwara serves the community, both for workship and for other needs. as well as a vast prayer hall officially capable of seating up to 3,000 people (and actually holding rather more at major festivals) there is a fine marriage room, and various other facilities including a langar (dining hall); this free community kitchen can serve over 20,000 vegetarian meals over a festival weekend.

the gurdwara had a powerfully religious atmosphere. on entering we followed the customary practice of removing our shoes, covering our heads with the scarves provided and washing our hands before commencing our visit. at various points both our guide and the architect explained how the building served the basic sikh tenets of service, humility and equality, and also the spiritual guidance from the sri guru granth sahib, the religious writings which are were appointed as spiritual head of the sikh religion, the eternal guru, by guru gobind singh around three hundred years ago.

although the architecture and the prayer hall in particular were impressive, what made the strongest impression on me was the kitchen, especially the team of women working together. the food was excellent, a real pleasure to eat, although my still rather painful knee made it easier for me to stand and eat at one of the tables rather than in the traditional manner seated on the floor. although food is free, those eating may perform some service to the temple in thanks for their food, or give an donation of some kind, which we gladly did.

southall is now britain's holy city, apparently with places of worship for over 50 religions or denominations. brother daniel faivre's 'glimpses of a holy city' published in 2001 after more than 20 years of living in southall gives a good insight into some of this diversity.

sunday i was helping to hang a show for the london arts café, at the juggler in hoxton market until 28 october, 2005. london arts cafe has never managed to open a permanent café, but has initiated a number of urban art projects and published a magazine on urban art as well as organising related events and visits. the mixed show is on the theme of cafe life, appropriately held in a very nice cafe and gallery space, and includes paintings, drawings, prints, photos (including 4 of mine) and some 3d work. its opening on thursday was well attended and we sold a few pictures.
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saturday was an interesting exercise in logistics. i started with the women's land army laying a wreath at the cenotaph. many of these women seemed very lively considering their ages. few had a good word for the memorial to the women of the second world war recently unveiled near the cenotaph. some had attended the opening by the queen and were disappointed that she had not spoken at all at the event.
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i'd hoped to be away by midday, but as often, the times i had were slightly out, so i was running a little late by the time i reached charing cross. there i found that i had to wait for the 12.37 to get me to catford. on the train i looked at the map, did a few rough calculations and decided that the mayor's charity vehicle pull from downham to lewisham would reach catford before me, so i got off at ladywell.

this aims to raise money for charity, with teams pulling lorries on ropes. i took a few pictures - there isn't a huge lot you can do with an event like this - and then got on the top floor of a bus which was travelling along the open lane inside the event, hoping to overtake them. it would have worked, but for an illegally parked vehicle that was blocking the lane.
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at lewisham station i'd missed the victoria train, and had to run under the subway to jump on a charing cross service just as the doors were closing. a change at waterloo east to southwark on the jubilee, then to the victoria line at green park seemed likely to offer the fastest route, and got me to victoria and westminster cathedral just at the right moment for the next event i'd hoped to photograph.

the 'rosary crusade of reparation' started in vienna in 1947, with a series of processions with the statue of 'our lady of fatima'. appearing to portuguese children in 1917, at fatima, the virgin mary had asked for prayers and penance to avoid further wars and acheive world peace. this call was renewed in the rosary crusade by father petrus pavlicek following a vision during his visit to a marian shrine in 1946. the processions became an annual event, held on or around 12 sept, the feast of the name of mary (which celebrated the defeat of turkish armies surrounding vienna in 1683), and soon spread to other countries. when russian troops left austria in 1955, many austrian catholics ascribed this to their prayers in the rosary crusade.
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another celebration the following day was also dedicated to world peace, as the ganesh chaturthi festival was celebrated in this country for the first time. the tradition of this ganapati festival dates back to 1895 in maharashtra, india. it aims to raise awareness of hindu culture in britain and "to bring people from different faiths and walks of like together in order to promote peace and harmony in a multicultural society."

statues of lord ganesh specially brought from india were transported through the centre of southall, from the vishwa hindu temple to the site of the oldest hindu temple in britain, ram mandir in king street and back.

later the statues were to be taken to the thames and ritually immersed in the water at putney, close to the starting point of the boat race. unfortunately i had to miss this part of the event.
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saturday i thought i'd try out my brompton again, going back to the thames estuary. i took the train to benfleet, then cycled east along the edge of the river. i hadn't meant to go very far, but in the end arrived in the middle of leigh, which i'd not visited before. surprisingly it wasn't as bad as i'd expected, and still a number of working boats, mainly for shellfish.

then i rode back and out onto two tree island (yes, there were more, but mainly it was scrub). i'd hoped the nature reserve would feel remote, but the constant buzzing of a couple of model aircraft made it feel oppressive. i hurried back west and over the bridge to canvey. formed out of five or so islands by dutch engineers in the early 17th century, one of my early memories is hearing the radio news of the terrible floods of january 1953 in which 58 were killed.

first i wanted to take a look at the waterway in the centre of the island, then i cycled round the north and south-east parts of the sea wall, back to where i come on my last visit to the island early in the year. since then, i also took a picture of it from the air, when i looked out of the window soon after takeoff from gatwick on the way to poland and suddenly realised we were over holehaven.

the early mist was very slow to clear, and although it was a fine day, and hot sitting in the sun at lunchtime, the haze never quite went completely. but it was pleasant weather for riding.
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applying law to families that have broken up is difficult, and currently often results in a raw deal for fathers. even where they are granted access, there is often no way of acheiving it. i don't think there are any easy answers; when relationships break down, people are often very bitter and irrational and any normal relationship can be very difficult to establish.

there does need to be an enforcable legal framework based on the best interests of the children concerned, and where both parents want to be involved in their future this must normally be for their good. quite how this can be done is hard to see, and sometimes family courts seems to need both the wisdom of solomon and the patience of job.

what is very clear is that many fathers (and a few mothers) get a raw deal at the moment, and the children involved are short-changed too. fathers 4 justice are a very media-savvy organisation and have in the past pulled off some clever stunts to bring attention to their case.

the demonstration on friday 21st 'wakey wakey mr blair' was in support of overnight stays for children with their dads after separation. advertised as a 'pyjama protest', those taking part were asked to wear their jim jams, slippers and dressing gown, bring their hot water bottles, teddy bears and even their beds.

it poured on the morning of the march, which perhaps put a few people off coming, and there were only just over a hundred demonstrators all told, with just a sprinkling of pyjamas and beds, but the good publicity had resulted in a reasonable amount of press interest, both on the march and, rather more waiting for their arrival at the royal courts of justice in the strand.

i limped along with the march which was led by a hired open top double-decker bus, going the whole distance and took a few pictures en route, but the arrival outside the law courts was disappointingly unorganised. after listening to the address from the top of the bus for a few minutes decided it was time to catch a bus myself.
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the lions part is a group of actors who came together in the original shakespeare company but now pursue independent professional careers in theatre and tv etc. , but work together on various projects including three regular celebrations on bankside in co-operation with the globe theatre. one of these is october plenty, loosely based on traditional english harvest festivities and particularly celebrating the apple and grain harvest. characters in the procession include the green man (or berry man), the hobby horse and a large corn queen stuffed with fruit and veg. not to mention a violin-playing dancing bear and other musicians and more characters who take part in several plays and performances in various locations.

the day started in front of the globe theatre with the bear, then the procession came and led us into the globe theatre, where they gave a short performance before we went through the streets to borough market where further plays and games were scheduled. i decided it was time for lunch and left at this point.
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hub-e-ali organise an annual mourning program in london to mark the martydom of ali, the cousin of the prophet muhammad ane the first person to embrace islam, who was martyred in 660ce in kufa, iraq. ali was struck by a poisoned sword while leading dawn prayers in the mosque, and died two days later.the event and its consequences continue to divide muslims down to the present day.

many (and not only muslims) have regarded ali as the model of a just islamic ruler, working to establish peace, justice and morality. the procession both marks the killing of ali and also looks forward to the day when a descendent of the prophet muhammad will return to be the saviour of the world.

it also celebrates the duty of the followers of islam to speak out against oppression and immorality, and to live pious lives in solidarity with the oppressed. to show their sorrow, those taking part in the mourning parade (jaloos) recite eulogies about ali and beat their breasts (seena zani.) a coffin (taboot) is carried as a part of the procession, along with symbolic flags. there is also a long session of recitations before the parade.
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the brompton folding bike is really an ideal form of transport for london, an essential tool for the urban photographer. it's short wheelbase is great in slow-moving crowded traffic, and it can be folded in 15s to travel by tube, rail, taxi or even bus. their only problem is that they are highly prized by cycle theives.

the weather forecast was for a fine summery day, so i took the opportunity to check up on a few things and fill in some little gaps, where i'd not quite managed to photograph things before. first i wanted to go along the footpath at bell green, next to sainsbury's, so i decided to make a slightly longer trip of it by starting at clock house. there is a good, almost traffic-free route north from their along the pool river, then the river ravensbourne, at times suprisingly rural.
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taking photographs slows you down, as does stopping to sit in the sun and eat sandwiches, so at lewisham i decided to get on the dlr with the bike to travel to canning town. perhaps one day the riverside walkway by bow creek to the station will open, but it seems unlikely to be in our lifetime. i went round the creek, over the lower lea crossing and on to silvertown way to see how the new stretch of dlr was progressing.
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then i cycled up to stratford to take a look at stratford marsh again before work starts in earnest to demolish the existing businesses and create the olympic waste. it was getting later and noticeably darker by the time i was there, although the day felt like summer, it gets dark rather earlier at the end of october.

what really makes no sense at all is to put our clocks back to make it even darker still, as we were going to in a couple of days time. if i were in charge, we'd move to the same time as france and the rest of our neighbours across the channel. i don't like dark mornings, but it would be much better than having it get dark in the middle of the afternoon in winter. orcadians or even scots would be welcome to have their own time zone if they really must, but its about time they stopped imposing it on the rest of us. the sun set around 5.30, and next week that means it will be 4.30.
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some of my work gets put into nice organised websites.

this isn't meant to be like that, but you can see some of the rest at

london pictures
londons industrial history

and you can read what I think about photography at

>Re:PHOTO

All pictures on this section of the site are © Peter Marshall 2005;
to buy prints or for permission to reproduce pictures or to comment on this site, or for any other questions,

contact me

your comments may be added to the site - or not.
Payment may be waived for acceptable non-profit uses.

some of my work gets put into nice organised websites.

this isn't meant to be like that, but you can see some of the rest at

london pictures
londons industrial history

and you can read what I think about photography at

>Re:PHOTO

All pictures on this section of the site are © Peter Marshall 2005;
to but prints or for permission to reproduce pictures or to comment on this site, or for any other questions,

contact me

your comments may be added to the site - or not.
Payment may be waived for acceptable non-profit uses.