Around London in 80 days
In these uncertain times, I need a lifeline and a horizon so I have — somewhat arbitrarily I’ll admit — set a date. April 1st will be my horizon ; my lifeline will be the 80 days separating me from it.
And as I cannot go around the world right now, I give you A Mad Belgian’s “Around London in 80 Days” : eighty impressions of London, eighty stories, places, thoughts from my experience of this wonderfully mad and maddening city.
Day 6 : Eurostar
Brussels : two hours. Paris : two hours twenty.
I have always loved train stations. Every train station, any train station. Crossed paths, departures, reunions, train journeys, fast landscapes, ephemeral encounters between anonymous travellers. Where are people going? What are they fleeing? Who are they joining?
Brussels : two hours. Paris : two hours twenty.
London has many stations, each one dedicated to a specific part of the country : Victoria for the south-east, Waterloo for the south-west, Euston for the north-west etc. And then there’s St Pancras, the magical station that opens the door to the outside world.
Brussels : two hours. Paris : two hours twenty.
You can’t see the fish when riding it under the sea ? Never mind. The Eurostar is a link between us. Great Britain isn’t really an island anymore (or, as the English would say : “the continent is not isolated anymore”).
Thanks to the Eurostar, I don’t feel so far away from my other lives, my other dreams, my other selves ?
York : three hours. Glasgow : five hours. Brussels : two hours. Paris : two hours twenty.
