A trip from London to Cardiff and back – and just think of all the things that I could have experienced! And what did I experience? Almost bloody nothing. Train to Cardiff. Cab to BBC Cardiff. Talk for a couple of hours. Can to train station. Train to London. Tube back home. So what did I take pictures of? Bits of bloody train stations…
Firstly – a few bits of Paddington’s roof – the newer parts that is – the curves, the lights. It’s elegant and wonderful.
Other bits of the roof have this tremendously arcane quality – god knows when this part of the roof was assembled, but look at it – it’s like the membranes of a insect’s wing! A huge, crumbling, monstrous wing!
Those struts and panes – structural and elegant – lines slim and piled upon one another – half scaffolding and half greenhouse. This station – halfway towards Cardiff – really appealled to me…
The light in Cardiff in the early evening was honey-coloured and smooth. It’s all tiles and smooth banisters – architecture that was designed to weather well and last. You can tell that it’s struggled with the pressures put upon it – but it feels lived-in, homely – and weirdly British…
A pure and elegant vanishing-point – lines disappearing into the distance, segmented into blues, blacks, reds and yellows. A stunningly beautiful image from Cardiff station…
Back in London – and like an image directly out of the Industrial Revolution the monstrous carcass of Paddington stretches before you. You can almost smell my exhaustion. To home. And to bed!
