And so, the trip back from London, and that invariably means King’s Cross is the departure point. I quite like the Giraffe café, on the balcony above the concourse — it’s a fairly agreeable railway station all round, in fact. Maybe the guy eating the sandwich might feel his depiction is a little unflattering but at least it catches the lunchtime moment.
The latest in an occasional series on this blog — Abandoned Shoes, n+1. (A previous episode is here, for example.) As this one is waiting at the top of the subway that leads down and into King’s Cross station, perhaps it’s just trying to get home. I am reminded of a joke from an early series of Red Dwarf about “shoes having souls”.
After the sheer excitement of the last few days, at least today was a livelier and more interesting one, involving a day trip to London. It was for work, and working on a Saturday is usually something I avoid at all costs, but this one was worth doing (being connected with my project on St Helena). King’s Cross was its usual busy and attractive self as I began the journey home. The first of four trips to the capital, of varying length, that I am scheduled to make over the next few weeks.
Back in the long hot days of June 2018 I spent a whole working week in London, most of it here, in McGlynn’s pub on Whidborne Street (see this photo for instance). Finally it is open again, albeit for outside drinking only, so I and the other customers stoically ignore the fact that it is about to rain. Tonight’s real significance was that this was the first night I have spent away from home in 2021. Life, of a sort, returns: but not yet in full.
This is the 99th London shot to feature on here, by the way.
It’s been nice to come down to London for a couple of days, the weather’s been good and I have met friends and had decent exercise. But there’s been something eerie about it, unnatural and wrong. Difficult to do much else today than post another picture of somewhere that should be very busy on this day and time under normal circumstances, but instead, echoed like an empty cathedral.
Some pass by, some stand still, but we are all eventually heading somewhere else than King’s Cross station. I waited out my 20 minute train delay on the walkway above the main concourse, offering the chance to take this angle on it all.
London approaches its century of appearances on the blog: this is number 91, and going on my usual frequency of visits here, it’ll hit the milestone before 2020 is out. Tonight I’m just passing through, but it has made for a more leisurely journey than if I’d started from home tomorrow. And yes — the various signs and stickers on that fire exit over there do annoy me.
London is the fourth most-often depicted place on this blog and it is true I spend a decent amount of time there. But a good number of its appearances are when I’ve just been passing through. Today started in Brighton — it ended in the Oxfordshire countryside (of which more tomorrow one way or another). But to get between those places by public transport: London sits there, sucking you in like a black hole.
Second day in a row to somehow be connected to fast food. But hey, that was my weekend, whether at Bamber Bridge (as yesterday) or in the nation’s capital (as today)…
Well, here we are again. And as usual – just for a quick visit. Things to do, then I’m off home again. This is how London has become the fourth most-depicted place on this blog. A place to come to and depart from…
Being 42 