Waterloo Station
Dear Readers, today was my first trip down to Dorset since Dad died back in March. What a strange day it’s been! From the announcements about face masks at every station by the guard to the signs about Covid on every platform, it’s impossible to forget that we’re in the middle of a pandemic. Even the familiar sights of the route down to Dorchester seemed strange and dream-like. I wanted to take some photos en route and when I uploaded them, I realised how surreal the whole trip had seemed. See what you think!
Outside Waterloo Station
Woodwork at Clapham Junction
Clapham Junction bricks
Social Distancing at Woking
A lack of social distancing at Winchester 🙂
Winchester Bricks
Weather getting worse…
Coming into Southampton station
Southampton Town Hall
Paintwork at Southampton
Getting a bit on the damp side…
Countryside impressions…
New Milton’s lovely flowerbeds
Bournemouth ironwork
Electricity pylon
Bamboo at Pokesdown station. Bet they’re sorry they planted this….
Apples on the platform at Holton Heath
And this is the exact spot where Mum and Dad used to wait on the platform at Moreton to wave me off when I went home after a visit. I’d wave like mad from the carriage, but somehow they never seemed to be able to see me as I went past. And today, as the train pulled out I found myself raising a hand, though what I was saying goodbye to I couldn’t exactly say. Maybe in some parallel universe they’re still there, scanning the carriages and waving just in case I can see them. And I almost could see them, as the train pulled away. 
These pictures say a lot more than they show.
I like this post. Isn’t it funny how one develops a “fresh pair of eyes” after a break in routine? I once used up the end of a reel of film in the office so that I could send off my holiday snaps to the processors. Those were the strangest pictures ever – and provide a record of what is never recorded – the hum drum of my life over many years. I am now expecting a dissertation on regional differences in brick manufacturing….
You might well be right about the brick dissertation 🙂
Clearly a very sentimental journey. Maybe you will repeat it in a few years – just because you can and for old time’s sake. Hopefully things will look a bit different then.
I know sections of this route well, and the scenes recorded in your photos are so familiar, and yet have that other-worldly quality which you identified. I love the “countryside impressions” picture –it captures the fast-changing colours of these days just beyond the autumn equinox.
I felt a jolt of recognition when you described how you could almost see your parents waving from the station platform. Several years ago, we scattered my husband’s parents’ ashes under golden trees on a beautiful November day. As we walked away, I felt compelled to look back – and I could picture the two of them standing under the trees and waving, just as they used to do outside their garden gate in Hampshire, as we set off on our journey back to Cornwall. “Mind how you go,” my mother-in-law used to say.
Nice rumination. The walls are also interesting because of the different bonds (the way the bricks are laid in a pattern) as well as texture, colour & ageing! Clapham wall is typical of English bond: row of headers (the width/end of the brick) alternating with row of stretchers (the length). Winchester wall seems to change from one bond to another if you look closely! It starts off with Flemish bond (alternate header & stretcher on each row) but then goes awry with 3 headers & 2 stretchers in a row!
Thank you! I must do a post on bricks at some point. I’m sure there all kinds of regional variations!