Walking in Woking

I've been hoping for good enough weather to do an outing with the dogs. Work has been frustrating, and nothing clears the head like a grand day-out in the country.



I'd targeted Woking for a daytrip for a while. It is where HG Wells lived and set his famous book "War of the Worlds". The martians land in Horsell Common in Woking. Semi-Direct trains depart from Waterloo Station for an easy 25 minute train ride there.





As the majority of the day would be outside with the dogs, the weather needs to be decent. Finally, after a couple weeks of failed attempts (i.e. - rain, freezing temperatures), I had a Saturday where that looked promising (i.e. - partial sun, temperatures in the mid 50s).



The dogs and I set off for the station, and caught the train, and in no time, we were out in the suburbs outside London. It actually is a fairly compact city compared to LA.

We arrived in Woking, just as the skies cleared up to blue sky (a true pleasure and not to be taken for granted here). The town is a cute suburban town - most of my coworkers were confused when I said I wanted to visit it. It has a nice shopping area - much like a real mall back home.



And in the center of town is a sculpture commemorating Woking's favorite son HG Wells. It is a large statue of one of the Martian Tripods that destroyed Woking in the book. If you go down underground into one of the pedestrian subways, you will also find a cool mural dedicated to the book. It's funny to think that so much has been done to celebrate an event that didn't take place, and which in the book destroys the town and everyone in it.

Not far from the town center is the home where HG Wells lived. It still stands and is occupied. I tried to snap my picture but not disturb the people who live there now. It was here that he lived while writing War of the Worlds, and drawing inspiration from the town and businesses in it. As he describes it, he used to wander around the town thinking of places he'd like to destroy in his book.



From there, the dogs and I wandered on to Horsell Common, which is a lovely wooded park. It was nice to see some nature as a contrast to the endless brick and cement in London. A pretty canal runs right near it just outside of Woking.



I noticed some flowers starting to bloom. The promise of spring is in the air after a very cold and snowy winter.







We ended our trip to Woking at The Plough, a dog-friendly country pub that is famous for its homemade pies. Sadly, they were not serving food until after 6pm. They have about 25 different types of pies, which sounded fantastic. I'll just have to come back.

MURDER!

This notice was in my mailbox informing me of a murder that had occured a few blocks away, and that the police were looking for any leads as to the identity of the criminals. I can only hope that with as many CCTV cameras as there are in my neighborhood, that they should have all the information they need to find and capture them.

Yes. London still has its share of violent crime too. Though guns are banned from private ownership, they are still used by criminals. More commonly, knives are used in committing violent crimes and are the weapons of choice among gang members. I heard a figure that 1-3 violent crime injuries are the result of a knifing. So, violence is still violence.

I found it interesting that a coworker of mine who is planning to visit the US, asked me if he should buy a gun while there to have for the month that he is planning to be there. I assured him that the US is not the lawless wild west of television and film, though there are certainly plenty of gun related violence.