Living wall....

Manchester is in a state of traffic chaos at the moment. Well more than usual. The huge sink hole that appeared last week is still closing the Mancunian Way. That appeared just as the demolition guys moved into the university to tear down the bridge that joins the two parts of the University Precinct Centre, closing Europe's busiest bus route for several weeks. And then the metro system has been cut in half, forcing people to walk or catch buses to link the two halves of the system. Meanwhile the entire route of the Second City Crossing is in the process of being built blocking Corporation, Cross and Princess Streets to traffic and having a knock on effect in the surrounding streets.

The one bright spot in all this the Deansgate/Castlefield station on the tram system. It's had to be considerably enlarged and reconfigured to make room for the extra trams that it will have to accommodate when the Second City Crossing opens in 2017.

They have added lovely touches like the etched leaves and insects in the glass canopies over the platforms, the sedum beds that fill the spaces between the rails and this, the living wall that has been installed on the staircase that will take us down to street level at the end of Deansgate.