Day: 26 April 2009

It is wonderful to experience new beginnings, changes, additions, and today has been no exception.

It has been one of the warmest April months in the UK on record, and today as people pounded the streets of London in the London Marathon, I took a more leisurely stroll to the River Thames. (click to see video)

Many people were also of the same mind, perhaps an after lunch walk, a chance to be with friends or family, to take time and see the world go by, a chance to recharge the batteries with energy giving sun rays, or like me to get some exercise.

Crowds enjoying the sun overlooking the River Thames, Kingston upon Thames
We are blessed in Kingston upon Thames to have many wildfowl living on the River Thames, perhaps mostly because people feed them so well.

Not only was it the public who were enjoying the weather, swans preened themselves, as others crowded (click) to have their share of the offerings the public were giving them.

Swans preening on the River Thames
It was the goose with her new gosling’s and unhatched eggs which caught my eye, little balls of yellow fluff as two gosling’s sheltered under their mothers wings on a nest of duck down.

A gosling enjoying the sun under the its mother

Many times over the years living in Kingston upon Thames, I have walked passed the old Empire Theatre opposite to the Wilkinson store, passed a dirty looking alleyway, and paid no attention to what looked to me was a service road to the pub (public house) and the various fast service food shops.

Entrance to the small alleyway to the Toilet Gallery
Other places of interest stand out as I passed them, the Coronation Stone, the Out Of Order falling over telephone boxes, Lovekyn Chapel, and more in Kingston upon Thames, but never the alleyway.

Then I had my Phillip’s Sausage working, and an old white building at the end of the alleyway caught my eye, and a small sign The Toilet Gallery, painted on the wall.

The Toilet Gallery, Kingston upon Thames
The Toilet Galley is a disused ladies only toilet, still having the cubicles and basins, but without the usual fragrance, was opened in 2003 as a place for avant-garde artists to show their work.

Inside the Toilet Gallery
Very small, but enough to show some great works. Well worth a visit for people to support.