After 6 hours and 45 minutes in the air and another nearly 3 hours of customs control, airport terminal shuttles, the Thameslink train from Gatwick to St. Pancras station, and a rather steep 15 minute uphill walk from St. Pancras to the hotel, I’ve “arrived” in the UK.
The UK National Rail system is rather fantastic —especially when compared to GO Transit—although people in the UK seem to complain about how much it costs. In the 30 minutes I waited for my Thameslink train into London three or four other trains (from several train franchises) arrived and departed, taking people all over the UK (take that Lakeshore West!) Much of the journey is rural, punctuated by brief blurs of activity as the train passes through small-town stations.
The first glimpse of London was quite exciting: small towns give way to larger urban centres and then suddenly The Shard (currently the UK’s tallest building) appears on the skyline. Today’s train transited through London Blackfriars, which is the rail station closest to St. Paul’s Cathedral—itself a moving experience to see. After three hundred years it’s still one of the dominant features of the London skyline (although I wasn’t able to get a photo as the train pulled entered a London Underground station.) Likewise, crossing the Thames is another one of those “hooray we’re in London!” moments, and it was thrilling to see Tower Bridge (albeit tiny) in the distance.
The most thrilling experience of the day (other than FaceTiming with Ammar and Mortimer Cat) was exiting the train at London St. Pancras International station—easily one of the most beautiful train stations in the world. Constructed in the Victorian era (and opened in 1868), it’s now the UK terminus of the Eurostar. Today I was limited to my iPhone XR camera and not firing on all cylinders, but it’s definitely on my list of places to photograph with the DSLR.
A close second (third counting Ammar and Mortimer amusements) to seeing St. Pancras, was raiding the local Tesco store and discovering they have giant bottles of Irn Bru, Scotland’s “other national drink” (after whiskey). Irn Bru is something I’ve loved since I was a kid, though it’s quite expensive to buy in Canada. In truth I fell head over heels in love with it when we were in Scotland in 2019, thanks to the generosity of my cousin Kath who took Ammar and I to the grocery and let us have whatever we wanted.
Tomorrow is my first “official” day at London Metropolitan Archives, though I’m not expecting to get in a full day after needing to register for a Reader’s Card and then wait for the next “Collection,” which is the hourly interval where materials are brought out from the closed stacks for consultation.