Saturday, December 09, 2006

Changing platforms, balloon, whale cloud

At Tunbridge Wells railway station, the London train is due on platform 1 at almost the same time as the Hastings train going in the opposite direction is due on platform 2. A loudspeaker annoucement tells us that the London train will now be on platform 2 and the Hastings train on platform 1. There is a rush for the bridge, and a breathless realignement of passengers. Heidi remarks that it could part of a new government policy to get an obese public to take some exercise. A man eating a sandwich says: "I like that one. That's a good idea!"

In Covent Garden this saturday afternoon, people wander in and out of the shops, stroll to and fro, watch each other; a group of buskers perform "it's a wonderful life". A lone balloon flies high overhead, powered by the wind, in an easterly direction.

A tall, purple cloud in the western sky looks like a diving whale, the end of its broad tail upwards, its body diving into the urban skyline, where the sun is setting.

2 comments:

tristan said...

sounds like a great day out !

Anonymous said...

It part of the Olympics run up - we are trying out new entries. This is the Plathlon - See how many people you can get left on the platform - the timings between the announcment and the doors closing are pre-set - the only varible is chosing when to announce the trains :-) Factors like wind, queue at the coffee shop, number of people at the ticket window, denisty of tourists to commuters and the position of the guard at the enterance have a big effect.