Coming and going

One of the many reasons I don't blog much any more is because I spend nearly 4 hours of each weekday commuting.  And while I love trains in general, sometimes they exasperate me beyond bearing.  But the two London stations I see most often are really beautiful these days.

Here's the clock tower of St Pancras, seen through the uncovered and refurbished windows of King's Cross. A decade ago, those windows were covered in netting, absolutely filthy and mostly broken.  A decade before that, St Pancras was a dilapidated shell, saved by John Betjeman and other campaigners in the 60s but a shadow of its former glory. Now both are thriving, living stations, the centre of a new complex which includes Central St Martin's School of Art.  When I hear people getting on the "all modern life is rubbish" tack, I think of the restoration and development of this area and smile.