Back to the start

Well, although there are no bells and whistles to celebrate, no bunting flapping and no notifications to my subscribers (I think), this is my Blip anniversary.

On 8th March last year I posted my first blip and, having done so, fell ill with tonsillitis. Well actually, I was already suffering but I thought it was just a cold and, as I don't tend to suffer from man flu, I thought a good night's sleep would see me alright.

I had just returned from Birmingham, having been on an annual sojourn with my mate Cameron (we visit Focus On Imaging at the NEC as an excuse for a get together and drink). Passing through St Pancras I had seen the Olympic rings and they seemed ripe for a starting blip. Had I known that it would be a week or so before blip 2, I would have waited until I could get a run at things and consequently it is another couple of weeks before my 365 milestone.

So today I decided to go back and take the photo from the other side and show the view of St Pancras station including Eurostar train and the very expensive Champagne Bar. No Birmingham trip this year as I had to give my time to visiting my dad.

I've had a quick look through my journal and I don't intend to repeat this process throughout the year as I could run into numerous problems along the way.

Anyway, this is the statue of Sir John Betjeman (Poet) who had a fondness for Victorian architecture and was a founding member of Victorian Society. He led the campaign to save Holy Trinity, Sloane Street in London when it was threatened with demolition in the early 1970s. He fought a spirited but ultimately unsuccessful campaign to save the Propylaeum, known commonly as the Euston Arch, London. He is considered instrumental in helping to save the famous façade of St Pancras railway station, London and was commemorated when it re-opened as an international and domestic terminus in November 2007. He called the plan to demolish St Pancras a "criminal folly". About the station itself he wrote" "What [the Londoner] sees in his mind's eye is that cluster of towers and pinnacles seen from Pentonville Hill and outlined against a foggy sunset, and the great arc of Barlow's train shed gaping to devour incoming engines, and the sudden burst of exuberant Gothic of the hotel seen from gloomy Judd Street."

On the re-opening St Pancras in 2007, this statue of Betjeman by Martin Jennings was erected in the station at platform level.

Thanks for dropping by.