Comments on: The Lonely Streets Of Old London

By: belle

belle — Wed, 25 Nov 2015 19:51:43 +0000

How interesting. I can well understand your emotional response. I have a black and white photograph of my mother sitting alone and awkwardly on the steps beneath the Albert Memorial. In it, she is dwarfed by the monument. At the time it was taken, we were separated as a family and I was in my 20’s before I could look at it without crying. I still can’t walk past it without feeling upset.
If only you had known then how your life would turn out, amazing story.

By: Collin Kelley

Collin Kelley — Wed, 25 Nov 2015 02:37:46 +0000

These are fantastic! The Hampton Court and Kensington Palace photos are giving me serious “Last Year at Marienbad” flashbacks. 🙂

By: Stephen Barker

Stephen Barker — Wed, 25 Nov 2015 00:59:30 +0000

Even now on the weekends parts of the City of London are very quiet and empty. Seeing these photos makes one wish you could see the old city before the loss from bombing and development. One thing I don’t miss is the blackness of the buildings caused by the soot and smoke from coal fires.

I particularly liked the photo from Eltham Palace and Cloth Fair. Thank you for sharing them.

By: Stephen Foster

Stephen Foster — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 16:05:27 +0000

Lovely pictures. Am I right in saying that the picture of the Tower of London is the Execution shed where prisoners were executed by firing squad?

By: YANNET VALDIVIESO

YANNET VALDIVIESO — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 14:08:56 +0000

¡Fantástico escrito y fotografías! somos unas solas y solos

By: Linda Granfield

Linda Granfield — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 12:24:17 +0000

I was okay until the Cloth Fair children.
Impossible to not respond emotionally to these images; some joy in the peace of the fellow on the grass on Hampstead Heath, thank goodness.

And, GA, you are far from alone today! This blog, your lectures/books–you’ve got so many people around you now I wonder if you have to make an effort now to be by yourself!

Thanks for letting us into your life–we enriched!

By: Tony Quinn

Tony Quinn — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 11:03:48 +0000

Wonderful photos. I am always struck by the sense of quiet around even major institutions during the Edwardian era; the crowds seen in the usual bustling street pictures just melt away.
Or are they hiding? In the Bunhill Fields shot you can see five or possibly six figures watching in the background. Perhaps ‘alone’ here referred to John Bunyan, in his tomb.

By: Liz Trenow

Liz Trenow — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 10:50:54 +0000

Dear Gentle Author
Thank you for these wonderful photographs! I can see why you identify with them, as I too have been lonely in London. But for me, these lone people are not necessarily lonely. Instead, each of these photographs feels like the start of a story (or even a novel): Why are they alone? Who are they waiting for? What is their exciting/terrifying/sad/enthralling secret? What has just happened? What happens next?
Best wishes
Liz Trenow
PS I am an avid follower of your column and have acknowledged you in my next novel (set in Spitalfields) to be published by Pan Macmillan in early 2017.

By: Terry

Terry — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 08:59:38 +0000

Haunting images of solitary ghostly figures dwarfed by their often grand surroundings. Such a lovely mix of interesting photos of London. Thank you.

By: Yvonne Eade Kolessides

Yvonne Eade Kolessides — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 07:41:26 +0000

Good morning and thank you once again for starting my day in Victorian London..
The eerie atmosphere and the loneliness pictured is so real, simply amazing..