They're building in the air

This is the Olympic equestrian stadium part-built in Greenwich Park. I was astonished at the scale of it and the quantities of scaffolding rising up and up. This picture is roughly the top two-thirds of part of one bank of seating.

I was born and grew up near Greenwich and spent a good deal of my childhood in the park - visiting the deer and squirrels when I was small, having picnics, sitting in trees, watching the red ball on Flamsteed House drop to alert the boats on the river that it was 1pm, collecting chestnuts, then, as a teenager, talking with my best friend as we cycled  for hours round and round the park. We used to get turfed out when it got dark.

Back on familiar territory today I wanted to see how this stadium is going to fit into the park. Wow! The views for spectators over Queen's House and the Naval College to Canary Wharf will be stunning. It dwarfs the Queen's House colonnade.

The Cutty Sark, re-opened in April after the devastating 2007 fire, is only a few minutes walk from Queen's House. I started sceptical of the refurbishment, but it soon won me over. Although I have also visited this many, many times, I have never before seen it frame the almost-finished Shard a few miles away at London Bridge.

Apologies for all the (non-obligatory - of course) links, but they may be interesting for those who don't know Greenwich or the recent changes.