86. Brixton

Sunday 26th April 11.15am

If, like me, you grew up in the 80s then your abiding memory of Brixton is probably the riots in the early 80s. I hope that isn't why I've so rarely visited the place. There's a market there which I can't be sure I've ever been to although I definitely went to a gig in the Brixton Academy in the early 90s and came out to find there were police on horses to control the crowds. Goodness knows why as it's not a huge venue and it wasn't that kind of gig. 

Twenty years later it looks less like a battleground and more like every high street in the country, although the day before there'd been trouble at a protest against the gentrification of the area and an estate agent's window got broken. I could see what they mean - as I walked from Clapham, through rows of nice Victorian terraces, you could see them slowly being done up, the windows painted and the gardens tidied, expensive cars in the street outside.

As for the station itself, well it has one of the biggest roundels you're likely to see on the front of it:

I like that, and think they should do it more often.

The station itself is at the end of the Victoria line, but it still has two platforms despite the fact they go in the same direction - the fact that this surprises me shows just how little I know about trains - which does make things simpler.

Wikipedia entry here.

85. Clapham North

Sunday 26th April 10.55am

Firstly an explanation of the wonky photograph - the station has an island platform (the trains run either side of it), which is quite unusual underground - you mostly get them at above ground stations which are less busy - and this one is particularly narrow, so if you stood directly in front of the roundel you wouldn't get the whole thing in (and you might in fact be tempted to take a step back and end up on the track, which would be very bad). I quite liked walking along the platform with it's older signs and generally older feeling, then up the stairs and one end to get out, although I have no recollection of the surface building at all.

Wikipedia entry here.

84. Moorgate

Sunday 26th April 10.40am

I'm not sure I'd have been able to find this part of London before I started obsessively looking at the Tube map as there's nothing there to tempt me to visit. Perhaps that's why I found the station so unmemorable. The surface buildings are overwhelmed by the offices built beside and on top of them, and inside it's all tiled - there's nothing really old or really new about it to distinguish it at all. It's one of those stations whose history (and therefore Wikipedia entry) is more interesting than the station itself.

Wikipedia entry here.

83. Old Street

Sunday 26th April 10.25am

I'd been through this station a few times before I started this blog, enough times to develop a dislike for it. It's one of those that is built under a roundabout so you exit it from all manner of subways, which are confusingly signposted. There are shops down there too and the whole thing just looks run down. Admittedly they've been trying to spruce it up a bit since the area became the place to start up your IT business but they've got a long way to go - the signs on the stairs certainly help but it still looks like it needs a good wash.

I always felt it more accurately reflected the area than the things I was in the area to see - the fancy White Cube Gallery, and the swish Hoxton hotel - whereas the reality of that road is large blocks of flats and fried chicken shops. I like that mix - it's what makes London interesting. What I don't like is this station.

Wikipedia entry here.

82. Heathrow Terminals 1, 2, 3

Thursday 9th April 10.40am

I'm not sure I like the plane symbol in front of the name - it's not like there's another station of the same name but without an airport that you'd mistake it for! It's the reason the station is there in the first place, and it's hard to believe anyone needs a picture of a plane to reassure them.

This is older than terminal 5 (where I'd come from) but I can't say I paid too much attention to it as I passed through it as I'd been travelling for hours and was keen to get home. There was a lift to station level to stop people cluttering up the escalator with suitcases, and then you were through the barriers and into the airport itself. I think there might be another entrance/exit that's more impressive but I couldn't find it.

Wikipedia entry here.

81. Heathrow Terminal 5

Thursday 9th April 10.30am

This was literally one of the last stations I thought I'd get to, mostly because it's been a long time since I needed to be in a big airport and I thought those days were gone, and it's also miles out of London (zone 6!) so it's not like I was ever going to be just passing by. But then I went to New York and flew back to this terminal and needed to get back to terminal 3 where the car was parked - perfect excuse for the Tube!

As you'd probably expect it's all steel and glass, and a touch impersonal with it, but I guess that's only to be expected from something designed to carry enormous amounts of people. Except it doesn't really - the carriage I was in had two people in it.

Wikipedia entry here.

So that's station number 81, which means that I've now been to 30% of the network. Here's what that looks like:

It's just going to get more difficult from now on and I'm going to have to think of reasons to go to places I normally wouldn't venture to - day trip to Morden anyone?