Commute

When we were in London over the weekend, I found myself thinking about the stresses involved in travelling about the city. We had no difficult journeys, but on both Saturday and Sunday we took the train into London Bridge station, as well as travelling by train to and from Gatwick. Norwood Junction, near where we were staying, is a model railway station, with several platforms and traditional shelters over them; stairs dive into the depths and up again, without a lift in sight. It was all pretty straightforward - but it was so busy, so full of people determinedly going about their business...

Today I was also making the commute that I have to make every time I visit my hairdresser in Greenock. The contrast with London travel could hardly be greater. My main photo is of Hunter's Quay, taken from the ferry just as it pulled away from the slip. I like this view, which apart from the modern block of flats cannot have changed much in the last hundred years. The extra photo is of the other end of the ferry ride; the bus-stop at McInroy's Point where I caught the bus to Greenock. You will notice that there's not a soul in sight, not a car on the road at that moment. There is a small queue of cars waiting out of sight to get on the ferry, and shortly my bus will come from where it is lurking at the terminal, which is also its terminus.

People, myself included, often moan about life on a peninsula, about unreliable ferries and bad weather. But getting about still has a rather 1950s charm. It couldn't be further away from the London experience.