London - Where NOT to go!

[Fen]

Once upon a time you could get a superb photographic view from the top of the Monument.

This is what you saw:



And then they closed the Monument for refurbishment and repairs.

What they did next is beyond belief... Instead of replacing the metal cage at the top of the Monument, they've install a wire mesh. When I asked why, they said it was due to 'Health & Safety' and would stop people trying to jump off.

I asked if anyone had tried when the cage was there and the woman replied, "No, no one was able to get through the cage".

I suggested that the wire mesh would be quite easy to cut through with a good pair of cutters and then someone could jump. She smiled (in that knowing manner) and suggested that being as they're cameras installed at the top we'd be able to stop them from doing that.

"Hmmm" I thought, "First you'd have to run all the way up the stairs, all 311 of them"

Anyhow... The mesh is there to stay and this is now the not so superb view

[Bettina]

Awful. Really awful.

[Roger_Provins]

That's absolutely horrible Well done for having words with them Fen

[ukgooner]

How very annoying!
I was planning on going up there one lunchtime but will not bother now, thanks for the tip.

[shiato5torm]

yeah, I went up there a few weeks ago - was full of excitement at the views I was going to get...got to the top and was sorely disappointed. *rses. mesh everywhere!
views were great but you feel a bit like a caged animal, knackered from the climb and frustrated by the mesh around you!

[spinno]

...wouldn't be so bad but the Great Fire is Key Stage 1 topic this year...we took Spike on a freezing cold Saturday about a week before the thing re-opened.

[DaveS]

All bow down before the great god Healthandsafety
Seriously, how big is the mesh, and could you poke a lens through it? A DSLR lens? Compact lens?

Not too seriously wire cutters four snips opening big enough for lens.
Dave

[Fen]

No way you could get a lens through the mesh unless it's a compact camera

[swanseadave]

Would shooting at maximum aperture with the lens close to the mesh work by bluring the mesh so as to be invisible?I`ve successfully used that technique at zoos etc,where animals are behind mesh.
Just a thought Try it.
Cheers Dave

[Fen]

Nope. Tried it.

The wire is about 2mm thick

[DaveS]

So bolt cutters rather than wire cutters....bit obvious really .
I do think there are people (Sad bar-stewards) who are activly anti-photography, and will try and frustrate you at every turn, whilst trying to appear rational .
I guess I wont be going to the Monument then, sad really.
The answer I suppose is to boycott photography-hostile (Whether actively or passively) locations. Trouble is there are enough knuckle-walkers who don't care to keep them in business
Dave

[TheFatControlleR]

Sad really, even oik-riddled building sites in the city leave port holes in the temporary facades for Joe Public to varda what's going on inside. Doesn't take a brain surgeon to think it through... More so on such an obvious tourist attraction and vantage point.

[Photocracy]

You should have asked her what people trapped in the top are meant to do when London starts flooding and blocks the only exit from below! Then you should have told her to stick that in her health and safety policy and risk assess it!!! [img]/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Or, more to the point, what if there's another great fire? Trapped people burnt to death in a monument built to mark the previous one is going to look a bit silly.

[Hotblack]

Or, more to the point, what if there's another great fire? Trapped people burnt to death in a monument built to mark the previous one is going to look a bit silly.

It's unlikely anyone would actually jump from it to save their life. The sudden stop at the bottom would see to that.

[AdamWalsh]

One of my favourite places for a portrait is underneath Westminster Bridge in London on the Charing Cross side looking through to the other side where they have the book stalls........there is a raised section you can stand at away from the pavement and get a great symetrical shot - downside is tramps often sleep there - also some great vintage look stairs on the street up to the bridge road level behind this part Im talking about.

[Learning]

Have you written to Boris? It may help.