My Commute

For Tangobaby - with my cheap, elderly digicam.

A platform ...



A view from the train ...



These are round the back of Television Centre, just down the road from my office. If you've ever watched John Simpson bleeding for his viewers on BBC News, it probably came through one of these. I've often wondered if they really have to be white all over - if they can have a boring little logo, couldn't they be painted to look like giant daisies? I asked someone who knows and he said it probably helps, technically, that they're mostly white.

The awesome roof of St. Pancras International, with a statue of Betjeman, the poet, visible on the bridge.



If Paddington is the Valhalla of trains, this is Freya's hall of clouds. It was recently restored and repainted in the original colour. I don't need to go upstairs here when changing between my usual trains, but it makes a nice picture. If they have to close the underground station for overcrowding, you can walk to Euston, or for about the same amount of time you can come up here and get a reasonable crêpe and a cup of tea and by the time you've finished it will probably be open again.

Here's Sir John Betjeman:



The statue is here because he liked the place and wanted it to be properly restored. Notice the gothic arches behind him; the eminent Victorian who designed this and the vast steel roof saw no cause to change the style because of he changed technology; apart from the inspired idea of painting the roof sky-blue.

The clock.



Nearly home