Rant About London

This is a photo of the Monument in London.

And this is a grouchy post about the development of modern London.

The Monument was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and Dr Robert Hooke and was erected to commemorate the Great Fire Of London (1666) and to mark the rebuilding of the city.

So it has been there for approximately three hundred and fifty years.

The photo on the left here is from 2011.

Now fast forward to my visit to London a couple of weeks ago.

I was on my way back to Liverpool Street from the Thames, and stopped to look at the Monument.

And like you do, I thought back to when I had last photographed it and how I climbed the stairs inside it to look over London and how I had taken a shot of Tower Bridge.

Memory banks filled, I continued on my way.

I turned a corner and saw this on a side street.

The Monument Building,
94,000 sq ft of Grade A office and retail space available 01.2016

Who allowed this encroachment on the free space around the statue?

Give it room to breathe, for heaven’s sake.

When will come the day when we all have to shuffle sideways between the buildings in London because there will be no room to walk normally?

[Click the image to see a larger version.]

Rant over.