More distracted by dinosaurs at Waterloo Station last week I popped upstairs on Friday to have a look at the new Battle of Waterloo commemorative plaque unveiled by the Duke of Wellington last week. It is based on the original Battle of Waterloo medal awarded to the combatants.
It's up on the relatively new gallery that was put up over the concourse two years ago. Waterloo is the busiest railway station in Britain, by passenger movements; over 94 million a year. Originally known as Waterloo Bridge Station when it opened in 1848 it became officially known as just Waterloo Station in 1886. Waterloo has always been the railway station I have arrived at in London. Originally when I lived in Staines I would arrive at the platforms that for the Windsor and Reading lines. Six extra platforms were built in 1885 to service the Windsor trains and this station within a station was known as "Khartoum" because of the conflict in the Sudan. Later when I lived in Wimbledon and now today I always travelled into Waterloo. I will be going there a lot more often from Monday week, when I start my new job!
Waterloo used to be the terminus for the Eurostar when it first opened and having the monument might have been an issue for French people arriving if they still arrived there from Paris (Not for Belgians, presumably). Well, probably not, but I'm sure the slightly deluded French Ambassatrix would have kicked up about it.
The next exciting happening at Waterloo is the reopening of the Marks & Spencers food store next week. This closed last July for expansion and renovation and was supposed to reopen in the spring but has been delayed. It was enormously useful for picking up last minute, milk, wine, houmous, pizza, etc on the way home and has been sorely missed by the Legatus. For some reason they are opening a clothes shop on its first floor. I can't think many people will want to buy clothes on a railway station unless it is people going off to or returning from illicit nights away who need new underwear, shirts, blouses etc. Anyway, one other good thing about the M&S shop was it had fantastic air conditioning so when the glassed roofed concourse got really hot in the summer it was an excellent place to cool down.
I hoped to get some painting done today but I had run out of white which limited what I could do. Need to find somewhere I can get Humbrol paint this week!
It's the enamels you use isn't it? 4D Model Shop near Tower Hill (http://www.modelshop.co.uk/) sells them.
ReplyDeleteJust goes to show how long it is since I passed through Waterloo station - the gallery wasn't there on my last visit. I used to go through at least once a month for union meetings/courses/conferences.
Thanks Tamsin. I'm in the City tomorrow so I will see if I can get there! Really frustrating!
DeleteNice to know M&S is still around. I remember them from when I was a kid, though they seem to have departed from colonial shores.
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I remember visiting the one in Toronto but they closed their last stores in Canada in 1999.
DeleteIt's been years since I was last at Waterloo. I commuted to it every day when I started secondary school (before I became a weekly boarder) and then for 2 years at law school. I remember getting very cross when they removed all the waste bins to prevent the IRA leaving bombs in them, but then completely failed to put them back when the IRA stopped doing that sort of thing. And I'll never forget that feeling of dread when you arrive at the top of the escalator from the Tube and you see the concourse full of people and you know you're not going to get home any time soon...
ReplyDeleteThe bin temoval order was down to a.relative of mine. It was only supposed to be for 6 weeks but for some reason they just left it in place...
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