Tubewhore ([info]tubewhore) wrote,
@ 2007-01-13 13:14:00
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Entry tags:barons court

Baron's Court
Last week I was overtaken by a sudden need for movement, for travel simply for travel's sake. I know why, it's one of my reaction's to grief, and last week was a grieving week. Chose to deal with the restlessness with a spontaneous trip to London thanks to [info]artnouveauho 's generous offer of her flat to crash in. The girl sitting opposite me was fascinated with my crocheting, asking questions about how long it took to learn to do it. Coming up on the train my heart felt bruised and I was distracted and unquiet in myself.

As ever I'd taken solace in clothes, as if costuming myself as some else, I will become someone else, a character who doesn't feel as low as I did. However,just as was pulling into Paddington, the phone rang. It was the chap I'd interviewed with before Christmas - I had by this point of not hearing anything convinced myself that I had not got the job and was extremely worried about making ends met in the coming months - however it was good news! A good start to my few days away to know some financial stability has been secured. My mood still grim, but this was one burden lifted.

On arriving in Paddington dashed across town with baggage for a key exchange and tea with B & P at Westminster, then hauled baggage to flat, where I pretty much dropped everything and ran back out to enjoy the anonymity of the city. Headed over to see [info]velvetdahlia  and buryman. [info]buryman in Acton as it has been an age. We had a slap up feed, courtesy of the local Chinese takeaway which was marvellous and decadent, all added to of course by the company. The problem now though, is having eliminated so many of the inner London stations, all this journeying around town had not added a single new station to the list. The obsessive in me needed to get at least ONE for my day in the Capital, so headed back to South Ken via Baron's Court on the Piccadilly Line. Upstairs Baron's Court is absinthe green Edwardian tiling. These are always my favourite finds. Dressed in pseudo Edwardian clothes I felt I matched the Sherlockian atmosphere.

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I love the completely unnecessary swoop of the bracket, the font styling...all these little design details...yummy! Off course it was late in the evening and no-one there to get a picture of me in the ticket hall. Back on the platform, I accosted a helpful woman who waved the camera in my direction. I could tell from the way she was failing to hold the camera steady that the shots would be useless in the low light levels, but she was having fun, and some of the blurs were quite entertaining...

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She was happily snapping away when her train came in and she dashed off and I took a clearer picture of the signage myself. As I did so, a chap who had been watching the procedings asked if I'd got what I wanted. I explained the project and he happily did me a clearer shot with me in frame with the station name before our Piccadily Line service arrived. We then boarded together, and talked of art as we trundled eastwards. London can be so utterly hostile that these chance encounters with strangers are thrilling.

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[info]cybermuppet
2007-01-13 02:21 pm UTC (link)
I have a feeling that Barons Court is due a refurbishment as the next 3 stations up the line, all of similar vintage, have had one.

Acton Town was in theory having one too, but it didn't appear to have got as far as the platform the last time I went through it. That one will be a challenge because it's a fine example of a Charles Holden designed station with a fair bit of re-inforced concrete that is looking a bit sorry for itself. I should imagine a good restoration should involve removing all of the hideous accretions to the original structure over the intervening 60 years and getting back to the original.

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[info]tubewhore
2007-01-13 02:29 pm UTC (link)
Certainly later on at Great Portland Street there was refurb work going on...it look like they are trying to preserve the tiling and all the old varnish has been stripped from the balustrades - I took plenty of pics of the process.

I just love the ceramics in these old stations. It would be awful if they were completely modernised and it was all stripped out.

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[info]cybermuppet
2007-01-13 02:37 pm UTC (link)
Many tube stations are listed buildings - often including bits of historic interiors.
The ceramics almost always get retained (although often replaced with modern replicas). Apparently the company that originally produced them a hundred years ago is still in business, and retains the patterns and moulds.
Aresenal station is currently undergoing this process at the moment, although quite to my horror they are not reinstating the original station name times (which read 'Gillepsie Road'). The original tiling was so far gone from wear and having holes drilled through it to take cables etc. that they went back to bare plaster and started again.

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[info]tubewhore
2007-01-13 02:55 pm UTC (link)
The ceramics almost always get retained (although often replaced with modern replicas).

That's certainly the case with Hammersmith where chunks of the old stuff were incoporated into the renovation...it gives me great pleasure to hear that the original company are still in operation. Do you know who they are /where they are. I love to vist the factory if at all possible...

Throughtout the day I took many shots of the tiling details over the stations we went to which will get used for some quilting pieces I'm making as part of this project. This whole thing is such a great learning expeirience on several levels - it's making me go to new places (even if so far just nipped in and out) and making me look with new eyes at the built environment around me

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[info]cybermuppet
2007-01-13 09:53 pm UTC (link)
Severe tube geekery warning:

I most probably read about it in Metronet Matters which is the in-house organ of Metronet.

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[info]tubewhore
2007-01-14 09:39 am UTC (link)
hey...geek away...I am picking up a scary amount of knowledge about the tube doing this thing...I already have extremely hairy bus knowledge from the time I work for TfL

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[info]artnouveauho
2007-01-13 05:30 pm UTC (link)
YAAAAY!!!! You got the job!!!!

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[info]tubewhore
2007-01-13 05:45 pm UTC (link)
I dididididididid!!!!! Oh the relief. I owe you a scary amount of tea and buns!

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[info]speedlime
2007-01-14 05:20 am UTC (link)
You got it! Congratulations! YAAAAAAYYYY!!!!

/jumps up and down happily

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[info]tubewhore
2007-01-14 09:39 am UTC (link)
I owe you big amount s otea and crumpet too - roll on DragonCon (although I would love to see you before then, natch)

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[info]laughingmagpie
2007-01-14 06:02 am UTC (link)
Yay! More tubewhore posts :-)

So glad to hear you got the job!

I've used costuming as a sort of 'emotional armour' myself on occasion.

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[info]tubewhore
2007-01-14 09:40 am UTC (link)
oh yes, clothing as masking tactic, or as mood-altering device.

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[info]gothichaven
2007-01-14 07:20 pm UTC (link)
I too know only too well costuming for comfort.

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