This is the latest in my attempts to chronicle my experiences in the UK.
1.30 pm. My first cross-country train journey ALONE! I'm on my way to Reading, and after four hectic days of assignment-doing and the resultant sleep-deprivation (yes, its one of my most-used terms!), I've managed to make it to Newcastle Station to take the train on time. The train leaves and soon, I've passed Newcastle city, with the houses slowly petering out into the countryside. I see the Angel of the North and Durham as well. Durham castle and cathedral look different from the train - two ancient monoliths surrounded by neatly arranged modern houses, a contrasting but picturesque sight.
Then the houses become fewer, the horizons bigger, the grass more verdant and farmhouses more isolated, reminding me once again why I am so fascinated with this country: it reminds me of a time long ago. Not that it isn't modern, no. Just that it has managed to keep and hold on to its ancientness in today's times - over a thousand years of heritage. I see woods. I see skies bluer than I have ever seen before (even with clouds, even angry grey ones!). And I don't see tall buildings!
First stop Darlington, just half an hour later, and I've already seen so much. I'm sitting in seat 59, and there isn't a man in seat 61 across the aisle, but a young French woman eating a sandwich and watching a movie.I turn to look out of the window again, the scene outside much more interesting. I see clouds.
Its funny how the clouds seem to close to the ground. They're in layers, the fluffy white ones peacefully floating away and the ominous grey ones hanging, almost suspended, above them - looking like they'll come crashing down to the earth any second, flattening the fluffy white ones beneath them. Sometimes the clouds hang in more layers, looking like steps to a place above.
I pass yet another cottage, screened by trees. Tall trees stand at the edges of fields like sentinels guarding the crops. Towns seem to come close and then move farther away as the train swerves along on its tracks. A lone black cloud drifts drifts above and a huge flock of tiny birds looks like a cloud itself. Sheep, lots of them. Occassionally, while passing a town or a village, you can see the spire of a church or a chapel through the houses and the trees. Everything looks serene, calm.
York in a couple of minutes. Ugh! Just saw HUGE industrial chimneys belching out columns of smoke! They look like they're making whole clouds and releasing them into the sky - almost as if the sky and the earth are connected by the twisting column of smoke. I pass more big chimneys, these ones looking like a line of huge empty vases, like forgottem decor under a gloomy sky.
The train pulls into Doncaster station, then out. I pass every shade of autumn possible. Teal-coloured fields. Trees of all hues - dark green, light green, bright green, lime green, yellowing, hay-coloured, orange, red, maroon, rust, brown - a melange of shades, like an artist's pallette.
Newark-Northgate. By now, sleep-deprived mind and body are clamouring for a nap and I doze off. Gratham comes and goes. I come awake as we reach Peterborough. Another hour till London. The landscape is still empty, devoid of the clutter of buildings. In Mumbai, an hour away from the city, you're already well surrounded by the concrete jungle. Stevenage. Next stop King's Cross, London!
Suddenly, a huge, impressive building almost glides into view - Emirates Stadium, home of the Arsenal football club. I'm no football fan, but I remember friends who are and who would have given an arm and a leg to see it, and feel sorry I didn't have time to take a picture for them. Next time guys!
Three hours and three pages from when I started, I'm at Kings Cross. Wanted to go find Platform 9 and 3/4, but have no time. I have to go and brave the London Underground!
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