Urban Adventurer

A few days ago I noticed someone (a stranger) was wearing sandals that would just suit my needs. She told me where she found them, and I went online to see if I could order them without the tricky journey going to the shop would entail.

I found that they had a store near my childhood stomping ground, and I decided to combine a visit to the store with a little exploration.

I was too late in the summer to find the sandals. But I managed to pass one of the few bits left of the naval history of Deptford, which is on the Thames. These are the gates of the old Royal Naval Victualling Yard.

St Nicholas' Church is a really ugly late 19th Century brick building, but the old tower remains. The top was apparently destroyed by a gale in 1901 and rebuilt in 1903 (only the old base is visible in this picture).


The only other thing of note is this marble plaque in the churchyard. It's as close as I can get to my current literary hero. I couldn't help thinking that a quote from Dr Faustus was not necessarily very apt in a churchyard!

I couldn't find a way to get down to where the statue of Peter The Great of Russia is. So many streets are dead ends now, or the way to the river bank is blocked by building works. But the thing that upset me most was the fact that they are building new flats by what they are calling Greenwich Creek. IT'S DEPTFORD CREEK! Bad enough that part of Deptford got transferred across into Greenwich, but to rename this historic waterway (OK, so most of it is really yucky) so that it might sound more appealing to Yuppies is a step too far. I hope they all get stuck behind the opening of the swing bridge across the Creek every day of their lives.