Dickensian England

Living in London and working so close to the haunts of Charles Dickens' characters I figured I better read his writing. Oliver Twist was my first attempt and boy was it dark. Many of the streets mentioned in the book are close to my office in Kings Cross. In fact, our offices are on Pentonville Road which is a primary location in Oliver's twisted life.

It is incredible to imagine that the tiny, twisted side streets that I venture through each week were so dirty and depressing not long ago. Kings Cross is ever-improving and now that the Eurostar is stationed at St. Pancras the area is going into an economic boom. Many of the buildings are recent construction but you can still easily find bits of Dickensian England in the neighborhood.


Roman Polanski seems to have made a film of Oliver Twist - now that seems like an appropriate director. Poster of the film pictured above.

The Opening of St Pancras Station

Two of my favorite buildings in London are located next to each other and just a five minute walk from my office in Kings Cross. They are the British Library and St Pancras Station. Yesterday was the re-opening of St Pancras Station after decades of not being used. It is also the new launch point of Eurostar, the railway that can take you to Paris from London in a blink of an eye. In fact, maybe I'll shoot off at lunch time for a mid-day break in France.

Here are photos from yesterday's opening day.

Tonight I am attending a social entrepreneurship event at the British Library. Perhaps we will learn some French secrets to success?

Inspired to Photograph

I've been inspired to take out my "real" camera and get back into photography. Most of the photos on the blog are with my mobile phone. These are with my "35mm" SLR digital camera. Just starting to exercise my photo muscles again. Here are some shots from today.

Photo 1
British Library with St Pancras station in the background. Eurostar will start departing from this station on 14 November.

Photo 2:

Baker Street tube station.