please empty your brain below
|
|
Love St James' Park - try to go there at least once a week. I think its a shame they're replacing the Blue Bridge - it's a really elegant piece of Mid Century Modernism.
Johnny Topaz | 26.09.25 - 8:20 a.m. | #
|
My memories of St James's park include a mid afternoon sunbathing fox amongst the picnic eaters, and tourists belatedly realising they were feeding the rats rather than the squirrels. Paraqeets seem to hold greater attraction today.
Certainly in the 1980s Treasury officials would meet M15 intelligence officers for a walk in the park to discuss sensitive matters.
gruntbuggly | 26.09.25 - 8:24 a.m. | #
|
|
My wildlife memories include my only ever seen (plenty heard) Tawny Owl one evening and still being pleasantly surprised to see a fox strolling around the northeast corner just a few hundred metres from Trafalgar Square.
Robert Butlin | 26.09.25 - 8:50 a.m. | #
|
|
A regular part of my journey to work and a lunchtime haunt when I was based at 55 Broadway. I still remember the reaction of a group of tourists when a pelican gulped up a smaller bird for its lunch.
Andrew S | 26.09.25 - 10:00 a.m. | #
|
|
Marvellous. I used to do a similar stroll most lunchtimes while ruminating at 1 Horse Guards or the FCO. The contrast with and detachment from the adjacent bustle and build, with the nature and wildlife, are delectable, and a perfect stimulus for the afternoon's further ruminations.
Strabismus | 26.09.25 - 10:55 a.m. | #
|
|
Is there anything wrong with the blue bridge to justify its replacement, apart from the colour. Just repaint the railings in black or racing green and save loads of money. Keep the original name as a quirky curiosity.
kev | 26.09.25 - 11:30 a.m. | #
|
When I was based in the Cabinet Office buildings from 2003-6, my daily constitutional was a walk in the park. It wouldn't be considered sensitive material but one of my most striking memories of the park is having my performance review on a bench there as the room we'd booked was unavailable. It was a beautiful misty morning in late September (exactly 20 years ago - yeesh!) with the sun just burning through, the leaves only just starting to turn and not a soul to be seen or heard at 9.30am. Magical!
Equally memorable was walking through the park to follow the Sultan's Elephant through the Mall on that lovely sunny May day in 2006.
Anon | 26.09.25 - 11:54 a.m. | #
|
There is a lovely episode of Galton and Simpson Comedy Playhouse set in St James's Park. The remake by Galton and Simpson starring Paul Merton and Josie Lawrence is here.
Spoiler alert, the twist at the end is something mentioned in the article and the comments.
Pedantic of Purley | 26.09.25 - 12:52 p.m. | #
|
|
My less beautiful memory of St James's Park is seeing a pelican scoop up an overconfident pigeon as a meal that can only be the avian equivalent of a really skanky burger!
Putters | 26.09.25 - 5:10 p.m. | #
|
Used to enjoy lunchtime walks round the park in the years I worked nearby. I remember being told that a memorable letter of complaint received in the relevant Government department from a member of the public said their child had been traumatised by seeing one of the pelicans gobble up one of the smaller birds (something other commenters have themselves witnessed I see).
Duck Island Cottage was, I think, on the Buildings at Risk register for many years. It will be sad to lose the Blue Bridge, featured in so many films over the years - I particularly remember "The Ipcress File".
Chris Atkins | 26.09.25 - 7:03 p.m. | #
|
When I was a kid in the late 1960s the blue bridge was the rendezvous point for my mum, my sister and I meeting up with my dad after work on sunny summer afternoons
I feel sad that it is going to be replaced
schmoodub | 27.09.25 - 10:29 a.m. | #
|
|
|
TridentScan v3.0.0 | Privacy Policy
|