{"id":1775,"date":"2012-11-05T19:33:36","date_gmt":"2012-11-05T19:33:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.macnovel.org.uk\/?p=1775"},"modified":"2012-11-05T19:33:36","modified_gmt":"2012-11-05T19:33:36","slug":"a-flying-view-of-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.macnovel.org.uk\/?p=1775","title":{"rendered":"A Flying View of London"},"content":{"rendered":"

This weekend I visited the latest fascinating addition to London’s skyline, a construction that would probably have attracted a lot more attention had it not opened immediately before the Olympics — an event it was partly conceived to serve.<\/p>\n

Its official name is the rather ghastly corporate speak of ‘The Emirates Air Line’<\/a> after its sponsors — who also have their name symbiotically linked to Arsenal’s stadium. However, if taking the Emirates money was the difference between constructing this spectacular cable car ride and not then I’m glad Boris and TFL took the shilling. It’s magnificent and I’d recommend anyone to take a ride — take a look at this view of the Shard that I took from ninety metres above the Thames.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Shard Rises Between the Canary Wharf Towers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stunning: shame I didn’t get the top of 1 Canada Water but the Shard only appears between the Canary Wharf buildings for a few seconds, such is the speed of the ride.<\/p>\n

It’s apparently the most expensive cable car system built anywhere in the world<\/a> — a legacy of the ‘cost is no object’ building frenzy in East London in the run up to the Olympics. It opened ahead of schedule a month before the games and theoretically links the ‘North Greenwich Arena’ (O2\/Millennium Dome) with Excel in the Royal Docks area.<\/p>\n

\"Dome<\/a>
Canary Wharf Seen from Above the Millennium Dome (O2 Arena for the modernists)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Its two boarding stations are pretty much in the middle of nowhere, which makes the cable car’s presence all the more surreal. It’s the type of structure that would probably never have been built at any other time and so, to my mind, all the more valuable for that — like many other highlights of last summer, it’s frankly a bit bonkers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Olympic<\/a>
Olympic Stadium from Above the River<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The photo above shows post-Olympic contrasts in this part of London. The stadium (now looking darker after the removal of the white decoration that clothed its circumference) and Orbit tower sit in the distance surrounded by a post-industrial landscape of squat warehouses, electricity pylons and tube lines.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Emirates Skyline Cable Cars<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maybe in years to come large numbers of commuters will actually commute across from one regenerated side of the Thames to the next? (As hinted above, it’s an integrated part of Transport for London — you can get a discount with an Oyster or Travelcard but not fly for free.) In the meantime it brings some fun to this rather bleak and windswept part of London.<\/p>\n

As well as Canary Wharf, the dome and the Olympic Park, the cable car gives great views of the rest of London — including the unusual perspective of the City from the East. The push to move the centre of gravity of London to the east, of which the Olympic legacy was meant to be part, is reflected in my novel. Much of the London of The Angel\u00c2\u00a0<\/em>is surveyed in the two photos below:<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The City Seen from Downriver<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"East<\/a>
East London<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Apart from a brief excursion in the middle of the novel, the furthest the characters go west is the line of the hidden river Fleet (running approximately down Farringdon Road to Blackfriars Station). The characters work and play in the bohemian, unmanicured areas of Shoreditch, Old Street, Spitalfields and Brick Lane that abut the City and live further out in the likes of Dalston and Hackney Wick.<\/p>\n

\"Tap<\/a>
Tap East, Stratford Westfield<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I started off my trip with a visit to a new pub brewery in the unlikely setting of the retail temple of Stratford Westfield (bibulous research for the novel) and then moved on from the southern terminus of the cable car into Greenwich.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Walking from the area of the O2 into Greenwich, I was struck by how much of this area is still post-industrial and a little down at heel — quite a contrast from the centre of Greenwich around the Cutty Sark where the pubs and bars were heaving at 6pm.<\/p>\n

\"Canary<\/a>
Canary Wharf, Illuminated<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As night fell the towers of Canary Wharf illuminated like beacons in the dark — I walked through the Olympic equestrian venue of Greenwich Park and took a night-time version of the stunning vista that was featured in the horse-jumping events. But with their bankers’ logos on display, the towers across the river seemed to represent the distance and remoteness of the financial institutions from the London that surrounds them — the tension and conflict that I’m trying to tap into as the wellspring of\u00c2\u00a0The Angel.<\/p>\n

\"Night<\/a>
Night Time View from Greenwich Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This weekend I visited the latest fascinating addition to London’s skyline, a construction that would probably have attracted a lot more attention had it not opened immediately before the Olympics — an event it was partly conceived to serve. Its official name is the rather ghastly corporate speak of ‘The Emirates Air Line’ after its … <\/p>\n

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