The battle of London Bridge

I don't do mornings. At least not wake-up 5.30s for 3 hour commute mornings. I still have terrified flashbacks to when I performed end-customer logistics for the daily dissemination of portable news repositories. The whole notion of alarm clocks is, well, just wrong as one reader might put it.

Today I had to work in Hastings which, by road or rail, is a hefty trek. Going by rail involved changing in London of course and being packed in with my commuting comrades. Or at least it would have done if it had been an hour later: when I started at 6.30 the train was as empty as other readers like their cinemas.

By London Bridge and 7.30 things had got decidedly busier. (7.30, I should still be asleep). Ah, London Bridge again. I haven't commuted out of London Bridge in over 2 years but how familiar it felt. Like visiting an old friend, able to pick up right where you left off, but determined not to overstay your welcome or the extent of your ability to reminisce.

Sure enough the troops left their transports and dutifully marched in close formation in matching uniform. Sure enough here I was going against the tide. As much as I dislike an AM commute into the big smoke there's a part of me that would like to join this band of brothers, that I'm retreating from the true London experience by constantly going in the opposite direction.

Looking around from my platform vantage point it's incredible how much the landscape is changing. The 'MoreLondon' development on the south bank between London Bridge and Tower Bridge continues to swell: a Hilton hotel soon joins the corporate headquarters of large accountancy firms and City Hall.

Interest in the vista is complemented by the usual musical coincidences. Shuffle on the iPod must be more intelligent than mere random. Coming up with the theme for this blog entry Frankie's 'Two Tribes' starts rousingly. As we're reminded that 24 hour surveillance is in operation a Hard-Fi track starts up ('Stars of CCTV' is the album for anyone not on the ball).

An hour and a half later I arrive at 'Battle'. And that's really the station and town name. Sadly no time to take in any sights or explore, I'm stuck with a laptop keeping my legs warm, excel spreadsheets to baffle me and a mobile phone clamped to my ear.