The Hub of My Young Universe
London's main railway stations truly are wonderful and Charing Cross was the one that I frequented the most as I travelled every weekday from Woolwich Arsenal in SE London to Green Park Underground, near the great Victoria Station.
The sounds of the whistles, doors slamming, the hum of the electric trains...the overhead announcements reverberating in the cavernous domed roof... "last call for Waterloo, London Bridge, Deptford, Greenwich, Maze Hill, Westcombe Park, Charlton, Woolwich Dockyard , Woolwich Arsenal, Plumstead, Abbey Wood, Belvedere, Slade Green, Erith and Deptford"...and that recalled after 46 years !! (Says a lot for the theory of conditioning doesn't it !!)
And then the train pulls out across the old iron bridge high above the Thames, looking across to the Royal Festival Hall to the west.
And..in the mornings, after a journey crammed up against other commuters buried in their newspapers and jumping off the train as it still slowed to a stop into the station and hitting the platform running for the underground entrance.
I've lived in North America for over 42 years and if there is one thing that I am truly envious of it is the British and European rail systems. I would love to have such systems over here, especially as I recently dumped my car!!
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