London Skybar

[SE9]

Originally Posted by wawd

I noticed someone mentioned this in the Shard thread but did anyone else notice the rather alarming fact that the Thames was so high it was bursting its banks last weekend??

I have pics and a video of a flooded road in Greenwich if anyone is interested....

Does this usually happen? Is it something to be alarmed about? I certainly have never seen it happen before....

Apparently its been unusually high for the past few days... not sure why, as we haven't had severe rainfall, and its not the time of year that yields the highest tides.

Some clips on YouTube:


Richmond - 7th October




Greenwich - 8th October




Millbank - 10th October

[BorderBoy]

None of these flooded sites are that unusual. Richmond embankment floods on a regular routine. So to Greenwich. At Millbank and indeed all the way along the embankment the high tide is regularly above the footpath/road level. If anything unusual was happening re flooding you sure as hell wouldn't be standing shooting video at those locations

[wjfox]

Medo, Mic of Orion and I noticed the unusually high tide during our recent walk. It was actually spilling over onto the walkway between London Bridge and the Tower of London. Makes you wonder how London will cope in 50-100 years, when sea levels are forecast to rise by over 2 metres. The Thames Barrier is due for an upgrade in a few decades, but even this may be insufficient. Vast swathes of East London and the Thames Estuary are likely to be inundated.

[El_Greco]

Originally Posted by wjfox

A walk you say?

[SE9]

Originally Posted by BorderBoy

None of these flooded sites are that unusual. Richmond embankment floods on a regular routine. So to Greenwich. At Millbank and indeed all the way along the embankment the high tide is regularly above the footpath/road level. If anything unusual was happening re flooding you sure as hell wouldn't be standing shooting video at those locations

They are unusual. Locals wouldn't have bothered whipping their cameras, filming, uploading and annotating it if it was a common occurrence.

In the case of Richmond, I think it has flooded in that manner twice this year; once last weekend, and once in Spring. In Greenwich I've seen the waters rise to almost the level in the video, but not higher. It definitely is unusual to see it at that height.

[anonymous1]

I've a question for you Londoners....

I've walked up Charing Cross Road every night for the past 2 weeks or so. Even if it hasn't rained, the part just north of Leicester Square tube station is wet. What is this from?

Perhaps this is a stupid question.

[Jex7844]

Guys, I remember taking some bus in London which offered a great insight of London's key places to visit but unfortunately its number has slipped my mind...

I also remember recommending it to my friends when visiting London more than the traditional sightseeing buses which are both very pricy and crap imo.

I hope you guys can do me this favor...Many thanks!

[SE9]

^ Could be any number of buses.

For example the 11, which passes Westminster (Abbey and Palace) - Trafalgar Square - the Royal Courts of Justice - St. Paul's Cathedral - Bank of England..

[wawd]

cheers for all the responses to my question about flooding guys, knew this would be the first place to come to get some good info

as someone who is regulalry in Greenwich at the weekends this certainly was not a usual occurance...

i'm surprised doom-and-gloom BBC London has not done a crisis feature on this yet hehe

[BorderBoy]

Originally Posted by SE9

They are unusual. Locals wouldn't have bothered whipping their cameras, filming, uploading and annotating it if it was a common occurrence.

In the case of Richmond, I think it has flooded in that manner twice this year; once last weekend, and once in Spring. In Greenwich I've seen the waters rise to almost the level in the video, but not higher. It definitely is unusual to see it at that height.

I've seen flooding of the river bank paths at Richmond at least half a dozen times in the past year. I have video of my five year old daughter wading in knee deep water where just an hour before the crowds were strolling.

If you walk along the embankment on the north side of the river at high tide you will notice that the actual road surface is well below the high water level. This is really normal.

The Thames is completely controlled above the barrier and, as I said, if anything unusual was happening you would have more than a few people with cameras about.

[connorwilliams]

With Sky Gardens being built into Skyscrapers, what's the chances the city could start seeing the 'rise' of Farm Towers?

Take City Farm in the City of London and look at how popular it is.

Imagine then a skyscraper full of allotments in greenhouse conditions, or a Farm on many levels. It could have a public park and a botanical garden. It might work!

[lynnewarner]

hi all, here's just a few of my pics of my first trip into london ,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/5461313...7625097650921/

[BorderBoy]

Originally Posted by connorwilliams

With Sky Gardens being built into Skyscrapers, what's the chances the city could start seeing the 'rise' of Farm Towers?

Take City Farm in the City of London and look at how popular it is.

Imagine then a skyscraper full of allotments in greenhouse conditions, or a Farm on many levels. It could have a public park and a botanical garden. It might work!

There are a number of serious problems with "farm towers", not least the energy required to run 'em:

"The energy levels required for vertical farming will be very high. As the normal amount of light, which is over 90% utilized by field crops, is being split between 30 or so floors, ten to forty watts per square foot of supplemental light will be required. Bruce Bugbee, a crop physiologist at Utah State University, believes that the huge power demands of vertical farming would be too expensive and uncompetitive with traditional farms using only free natural light.Heating costs can be very high in greenhouses, causing many greenhouses to close down in the winter months. Even throughout the northern continental United States, while heating with relatively cheap fossil fuels, the heating cost can be over $200,000/ha". Wiki'

With Peak Oil promising permanently high energy costs from now on I think there's little chance of this idea ever developing beyond the visionary schemes of architects' electronic fantasies.

[RMC42Southampton]

Quick change of topic here.

When I used to lurk on this site years back, I remember a member called something like 'Twilight'? Right miserable old sod. Always used to slag off Downfallen. Is it me or did he stop posting quite literally the day the news came through about Downfallens death? I cant even remember him writing RIP or anything. Just vanished. Maybe i'm wrong. I dont even know if Twilight was his name anyway. Something like that...

[bstl]

Not sure, haven't noticed him around for quite a while tbh.

Just wanted to ask if anyone knew anything of the light beacon that was put in at Broadcasting House. I know it was installed absolutely ages ago now, but I've never noticed any beam of light in the sky coming from that area. Has it ever actually been turned on?

[bstl]

Just noticed that one of the tags for the Bishopsgate Tower thread is (and I know it's misspelt) "wtfdrewhallem". What's that about?

[wjfox]

Yet another tube strike...

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/845769-t...r-travel-chaos

[Rational Plan]

Originally Posted by Sesquip

There are similar stories from all countries. The "bystander effect" is a well recorded psychological phenomenon. But research also show that mere knowledge of the effect dramatically reduces its strength. ie. knowing that groups refuse to act means that individuals are more likely to react

I've read that you are more likely to get offers of help with broken down car on a lonely road than your are on a busy despite thousands of more vehicles.

There all sorts of phenomenon regarding how we actually think and act rather than what we believe we do.

Here is great website that looks into these effects.
http://youarenotsosmart.com/

[Legal Beagle]

Originally Posted by wjfox

Yet another tube strike...

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/845769-t...r-travel-chaos

And the Firemen go on strike from Friday (on bonfire night)... what with all the cuts in public services, this could well be the beginning of a new winter of discontent. Is there anyone here who'll admit to being old enough to remember the last one?

[Octoman]

Why the hell are we still in the EU??

Its a parasitic socialist organisation. And utterly corrupt too.