St Pancras Station, London

A Victorian masterpiece, the former Midland Grand Hotel, now restored to its full glory as a five star hotel, is extravagantly romantic and breathtakingly beautiful, a sheer red brick fantasy. 

Richard Day's bronze statue The Meeting Place is enticingly suggestive: are they parting or are they reuniting? The tenderness is palpable.  A fitting statue at the entrance to the Eurostar terminal.

John Betjeman's statue stands proud under the railway arches, with the Olympic 2012 rings and the famous St Pancras International clock in the background.  JB, a famous poet and a railway enthusiast, was instrumental in saving St Pancras from demolition in the 1960's.  Such a visionary.

Never knowingly oversold

Outside Reading railway station, in front of a bike shed. 

Home truths

Often we travel hundreds if not thousands of miles to far flung places to sight see, ignoring simple pleasures nearer home.  On the way to Hawley Lake today, the Hawley Church looked a picture in this village post card setting.  The Sony Ericsson camera phone is holding its own.

Camelias in bloom

A burst of golden yellow forsythia

Cherry Blossoms

The blossoms on the cherry tree, against an azure blue sky. My dear Irish friend was waiting for me at the door, "Look, winter has just about shed her grey heavy coat, isn't this a glorious day?  Ireland is playing England today, Six Nations, you know, and I hope they are going to win!" And Ireland did win, beating England 24-8.

Chasing dawn on M25

The M25 orbital, near Heathrow airport, eerily empty at 02:30 hours on a Sunday morning.  The highway lighting, like strings of sparkling gems, guiding the path home.

Spring is a whisker away

It's dull, it's grey, and it's wet, but the signs of spring are nearly bursting upon us. Just look at the budding magnolia. 

Spain Series - Real Alcazar

A jewel box of Mudejar patios and halls, the Real Alcazar at Seville, built in the 14th century and with later monarchs adding their own distinguishing marks, is grandiose, richly decorated, and awe inspiring.

Patio del Yeso, a garden with flower beds and a water channel,

retaining features of the earlier 12th century Almobad Alcazar

Intricate plasterwork by top craftsmen of Granada

Dome made up of carved and gilded interlaced wood

Spain Series - Plaza de Espana

The dazzling Plaza de Espana at Parque Maria Luisa, Seville. Built for the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition, it is a theatrical extravaganza.

Brightly painted Sevillian ceramics from Triana decorated the park in the form of tiled benches, floral urns, and even playful frogs and ducks placed around fountains.

Fantasies

A beautifully restored Jaguar E type, gleaming in luscious red amongst a bevvy of vintage cars.  On the ground floor shown room are TVRs galore, patiently waiting for the boy/girl racers to put their feet down on the gas pedal.

Hmm, lurid fantasy....  But what are they selling exactly?

Unashamedly kitsch.