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consult-sherlockholmes · 15 days

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I took a walk in Regent's Park yesterday after returning to 221B, to reacquaint myself with London and breathe the London air again. And I was greeted by a little friend, who took a perch on my trousers.

Exochomus quadripustulatus, a pine ladybird.

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chaoticelegant · 1 year

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23-04-23: Cherry Blossoms and Murder Mysteries

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irisbleufic · 4 months

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I haven’t been able to get my hands on Regents’ Park Honey since 2015. Most of the UK vendors that carry it didn’t ship to the US for the longest time. Last week, I discovered one of them now does.

Five perfect jars arrived today, so improbably fast. I opened one right away. Hellebore, ivy, rose. London as I remember it, fragile autumn sunlight in Regents’, St. James’s, as the latest summer’s crop is finally on the café shelves.

So often it hurts to remember what I’ve lost, but sometimes, sometimes I can find it again. Those parks, those flowers, this proof I ever lived there at all.

(I know what I’ve written is proof enough, but this, I can touch. I can taste.)

#london #st james park #regents park #honey #good omens #forgive me if i cannot unlink this from fiction but it is everything to me

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kafkasapartment · 1 year

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The Rolling Stones in Regent’s Park, 1964. Terry O'Neill. C-Type Print.

“Time is on my side, yes it is .”

#the rolling stones #photography #pop culture #1960s #photographie #foto #fotografia #fotografie #music #musica #musik #england #regents park

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sixminutestoriesblog · 3 months

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the Regent's Park skating disaster

It was a cold day on January 15, 1867 and a large number of London's population was out taking in the icy air in Regent's Park. Along with the regular snowball fights and snowmen building, there was a decent crowd out ice skating on the frozen-over lake that was used for boating during the warm months. Yes, just yesterday the ice on the lake had broken, sending twenty-one skaters into the frigid water but they had all been pulled out safely and besides, the lake had frozen over again in the night. Now, all morning and into the afternoon, skaters had been out on it, flashing by in pairs or alone, children and adults both enjoying the freedom of all but flying while only kept on earth by the thinnest strips of metal. All told, there were an estimated 500 skaters gliding through the frigid air across the frozen lake and an estimated 2,000 more people wandered the snowy park or watching the skating from the shoreline. The day was clear and despite the cold, there was a festive atmosphere. Treat sellers, offering oranges and roasted nuts, joined the skaters on the ice, plying their wares. Ice skating was one of London's favorite past-times and one that welcomed skaters of every class, a rarity in the stratified Victorian city.

And then, late that afternoon - the ice near the shore cracked.

Almost half the skaters disappeared.

Dressed in heavy winter clothes, with metal on their feet, surrounded by icy water, the skaters sank fast. The crowds on the banks leapt into action. Branches were pulled from trees and stretched out to desperately reaching hands. Upturned recreational boats that had been little more than benches only moments ago were righted and launched for the parts of the lake too far from shore for helpful hands and stretching tree branches. Many of the victims were lucky. Mr. Duton of Frederick Street held his two sons above the cold water while he stood in it up to his chin for almost half an hour before they were all rescued. Another man found himself safely on a piece of ice and waited until he was the last survivor to need rescue before accepting a seat on one of the rescue boats and taking up an oar himself to help get everyone to shore. But the lake was as deep as twelve feet (3.7 meters) in some areas and not everyone was a good enough swimmer, or simply lucky enough to be in the right place. Given the number of skaters and the size of the lake, it was amazing that almost everyone was saved.

Almost.

Thirty-nine people drowned that day and one more died of hypothermia after being rescued.

To add to the horror of the tragedy, it was hard to recover the bodies of the dead as well. The lake froze again and again, trapping its victims in its embrace and even when it wasn't holding the dead in its icy grip, divers had to risk the brutal cold of the water to reach the ones that had sunk into the deepest, darkest parts of the lake. Eventually, the last body was recovered but it was the worst weather-related disaster up to that time and the public demanded answers.

There were no answers, other than Nature, to give.

While there had been some workers breaking ice close to the small islands in the lake so that the waterfowl had a place to swim, or to keep people from accessing the islands, they hadn't been near the shore where the ice had broken. There was no one to blame. It was just Winter.

You can still visit Regent's Park, and its lake, today. It would be hard to drown, in winter of otherwise, these days though. The spring after the disaster, the lake was drained and its bed was leveled off and filled with concrete. These days the lake is only about four foot (1.2 meters) deep. If you fall in now all you need to do to avoid drowning is to simply stand up.