This week there has been talk of trying to build a version of the London Eye in New York. An idea which would kind of defy the Eye's original purpose which was to provide London with a famous landmark you could go to the top of to get a view of the city. The designers had been on a tour of famous cities and had done all the sights in each of them. They had been to the top of the empire state building, the top of the Eiffel tower and so on and when they came back home to London they noticed that there wasn't an equivalent monument. The only option was the monument which isn't really high enough or to use Big Bob which is the name of the big hot air balloon which only goes up and down somewhere in Vauxhall. Hardly the same. And this situation inspired the wheel.

Of course London did previously have such a vantage point. It was the Golden Gallery in Saint Paul's Cathedral. Unfortunately it became unsafe for modern safety standards and was closed some years ago. In fact I went up to the gallery in the last week it was open to the public. They didn't announce it's imminent closure to the public in case there was a stampede. But I had some contacts on the inside, so to speak. I happened to know a few wardens of Saint Paul's and they tipped me off to the situation. It seemed a good idea at the time to go until I was actually up there and realised that I didn't need anyone to tell me it didn't comply with modern safety standards. It really did feel quite precarious up there. Knowing it had been declared "unsafe" didn't help.

What's less known, perhaps, is that there is a similarly "unsafe by modern standards" place in New York. It's perhaps because it's right next to one of the most famous vantage points in New York that people don't morn its loss so much. You used to be able to go outside to a vantage point on the torch of the statue of liberty. The route up there was quite precarious, you had to use a string ladder, so it was never great safety wise. But some workmen trying to fix some problem with the statue did damage the arm so it's believed that constant access might cause the arm to fall off of the statue. Which would be a bit of a problem.

Every so often people are allowed up there. So maybe I'll be able to do it at some point. But until then I'll just have to get on with other "unsafe by modern standards" activities like crossing the road.