Day Twelve - Anerley Hill, SE19

(didn't go to work yesterday - upstairs bathroom flooded mine, had to wait in for plumber. Think it's all sorted now)

What a cheerful anti-crime poster. Still, wearing those white earbuds does rather shout "I have hundreds of pounds' worth of consumer electronics on my person! Mug me!", doesn't it?

Coincidentally, I didn't wear my £50 MP3 CD Walkman to work today. Wish I had, although I would have missed the young Australian chap at the station kiosk, when confronted with a choice of tea, filter or instant coffee, asking "is there anywhere around here where I can score a Latte?". Regrettably, I missed the kiosk owner's no-doubt frosty reply.

Day Eleven - Victoria Underground Station, SW1

I was lazy this morning (and a little late) so I got the tube one stop from Victoria to St James' Park rather than walking it as usual. Of course, I didn't realise there were delays until I got to the platform so it actually ended up taking longer than if I'd walked it...

This part of the District Line was the second part of the Underground to be built by the cut and cover method (proper tunneling didn't come until they built what is now the Northern Line in 1890). This method allowed for the odd open space to let some light in and some smoke out. As I waited for the train to turn up I was distracted by the shafts of light coming down at the western end of the platform. the picture of the shafts of light didn't come out, but at least I was able to lean over the barriers at the end of the platform and take a look up and see a view that you don't normally get in a central London tube station.


On the discman today: AM David Toop and Max Eastley Buried Dreams PM Couldn't be bothered to listen to The Wire's 3rd best record of 1994 again. Oh well.

Day Ten - Crystal Palace Station, SE19

I was a bit late this morning, so I took the train from platform 3 instead of my usual platform 1. This is much the nicer bit of Crystal Palace Station , built in 1854 when there was much more traffic coming to the area. As you can see, there used to be more lines, at least two of which will be restored when the East London line of the London Underground is extended to here in 2010 (as the East London Railway. Hmm. So North Londoners will still go on about it "not being a tube". Sigh).

Most services go through the newer part of the station, which is far less grand. I'll take some pictures from there at some point, but it's pretty uninspiring compared to the faded grandeur hinted at here.

On the discman today: AM and PM John Zorn The Big Gundown

Day Nine - Pine Apple Court, SW1

Come six o'clock of an evening in the summer (or pretty much any week day when it's not below freezing and/or chucking it down) this tiny street behind The Colonies pub is full of besuited boozers. Ironically, just behind where I took the photo from is a halfway house for alcoholics, where you'll often see dazed men and women drinking from two-litre bottles of ultra-cheap ultra-strong cider.

Mind you, given the choice between tasteless, hyped-into-popularity Magners and tramp cider, I know I'd go for the Ice White every time.


On the discman today: AM Tim Berne Fulton Street Maul PM Tim Berne Fractured Fairy Tales

Day Eight (a) - Crystal Palace Park, SE19

Took a day's annual leave today - running on empty.

However I did go into town in the afternoon to meet Will, and so took the first part of the usual commute. Arriving at the station a little early I had a chance to walk to the end of the road and take a look at the beginning of the works that will transform Crystal Palace Park. So far they've knocked down the seventies turnstiles for the Athletics Stadium (you can see the floodlights for the stadium in the picture). Early days yet, but from small acorns large cliches grow.

No discman today, as I didn't have to drown out the sound of my fellow commuters' one-sided mobile phone conversations. Mid-afternoon trains are generally an oasis of calm, and if they're not there's usually a quieter carriage you can walk along to.

Day Eight - Platform 12, Victoria Station SW1

This is actually on the commute home, pulling out of Victoria Station. Kids vandalising trains is one of my least favourite things, but it made for an interesting picture.

On the discman today: nothing, as I dropped an earbud-cover before I left the house, making it impossible to fit said bud into my ear. Found it when I got home, you'll be pleased to hear.

Day Seven - Maberley Road, SE19

Last winter they moved the bus stop at the far end of Maberley Road from right in front of a couple of houses to the side of a garden, I suppose to save the occupants of those houses from having people peering in their windows while they waited for the 410.

Pity whoever planned this move didn't realise that the trees in the garden grow all over the pavement in the summer. D'oh! Well done, Transport for London.

On the discman today: AM and PM Shellac Excellent Italian Greyhound

Day Six - Anerley Road, SE19

The twenty-first century's equivalent of "drunk for a penny, dead drunk for tuppence"? I've lived in London for fourteen years and the "six for a fiver" deal has been ubiquitous for all of that time, defying inflation and anti-booze campaigners alike. Perhaps Hogarth had it right, after all.

On the discman today: AM and PM Keith Rowe The Room

Day Five - Petty France, SW1

I was a bit earlier into work than I usually am today as I was running a course (went well, thanks for asking). This meant I caught one of the greatest sights known to man, a pub taking delivery of Youngs beer. The Buckingham Arms is a literal stone's throw away from my office, and yet somehow I manage to avoid dropping in there every night on the way home.

On the discman today: AM and PM Phill Niblock Young Person's Guide to Phill Niblock (original Blast First version)

Day Four - Platform Fifteen, Victoria Station SW1

I travelled to work on this train today. Those of you who have been on Eurostar will know that it's hardly the most luxurious train in the world, but I feel very sorry for the VIPs who went through the Channel Tunnel on one of these, with their low seats where anyone taller than five foot six smashes their knees against each the person opposite them. Or perhaps they were quite comfortable then, only for them to totally refit them when they went into normal service to crush in as many commuters in as possible. Thanks, Southern Railway.

On the discman today: AM - KTL Live at the Luminaire 29/5/07 (audience recording) PM - Faust Live at Corsica Studios 3/6/07 (audience recording)

Day Three - Nine Elms, SW8

The train stopped just in between the Battersea Dogs Home and Battersea Power Station this morning (both just in Nine Elms rather than Battersea, but oh well) and as I stared out the window, nearly at the Thames, I noticed that I could see the Crystal Palace television transmitter on the horizon. And so, if you squint a bit (or open up the large version of this picture), can you.

On the discman today: AM and PM - Loop A Gilded Eternity

Day Two - Victoria St, SW1

Victoria is, like many parts of London, full of contrasts. There's some seriously expensive real estate right up next to Peabody Trust buildings, and posh people walking blithely past the career homeless. There's a couple of homeless ladies that you often see pushing their trolleys around Victoria St, and here's the one I saw this morning, against a backdrop of Cardinal Square, the newest and swankiest office/shop development in the area. The Salvation Army van passing at that moment was just a happy accident...

On the discman today: AM - Jerome Noetinger and Lionel Marchetti Mort Aux Vaches, PM - an interesting demo (no names, no pack drill)

Day One - Anerley Road, SE19

You wonder how an off-licence chain can go bust in binge-drinking Britain, but Unwins did, just in time for Christmas 2005. Eighteen months on, my local branch is still empty - obviously not one of the 200 shops that Thresher bought up.

This stretch of Anerley Road is remarkably lifeless, given its proximity to the station and lots of nice middle-class homes. You'd think someone would want to use the several closed-down premises around here for something other than advertising Billy Smart's Circus.

On the discman today: AM - Gentle Giant The Power and the Glory, PM - Radian TG11

Day Zero - Maberley Road, SE19

It's June and so finally time to throw away your Christmas tree...and your bed. Taken by the allotments just on the Croydon side of the borough border.

(I was actually working from home today, but I went along the first part of my commute route at lunchtime to stretch my legs and get some supplies. Real commute pictures start tomorrow)