Notebook

Fragments, essays, reading notes and scenes from life.

  • Hidden in London

    Hidden in London

    To Charing Cross, where my friend and I are due to meet for a tour of the Tube station’s disused tunnels with Hidden London. Not wanting to be late, I arrive 45 minutes early and pass the time in the Waterstones at Trafalgar Square. The air outside is cold; I can see my breath.

    A tunnel beneath Trafalgar Square

    I took my first Hidden London tour in October 2016: the lost tunnels of London Euston. My girlfriend and I took in the station’s historical information imparted by the brilliant guides, the vintage advertising posters and, of course, the marvellous tunnels and ventilation shafts.

    I was hooked. I’ve since toured Aldwych and Down Street, with a ride on the Mail Rail at the Postal Museum thrown in for some variety, and now Charing Cross.

    When I get weary of the noise, the order and the restrictions placed on the surface of the city, I long to return to these tunnels.

    A vintage Tube train at Aldwych
    Overlooking a Tube platform at London Euston
    Equipment stored in a tunnel at Euston
  • Shortchanged

    Shortchanged

    I wonder if, years from now, we’ll look back at this time and marvel at how strange it was – the masks and the social distancing, the working from home, the going on furlough or losing your job, the fear of the outside, of what could happen, because nothing like this had ever happened. The isolation, the loneliness, the unimaginable loss. Or will our lives, years from now, be largely the same, so it won’t make sense to dwell on “how things were”? Many restrictions were removed in England on Monday July 19, so-called freedom day. But as cases remain high, it feels like nothing has changed at all.

  • On the road again

    On the road again

    Becoming emotionally attached to a football club is a risky game. They can let you down. They can be mismanaged. They can fail.

    Bolton Wanderers, the football club I’ve supported all my life, nearly failed in 2019. Employees were forced to use food banks because they weren’t paid. The business fell into administration and the club was deducted points, which led to our relegation from League One. It was a devastating fall from grace for a club that once competed in the Premier League and challenged in Europe.

    A lot has happened since that failure. A new owner was found and the club survived. And on Saturday I found myself taking a Tube, train and bus to Crawley to my first Bolton match in too long — not to watch from inside the ground, as Covid restrictions were still in place, but to cheer from the outside with about a dozen fellow Bolton fans, none of whom I knew yet. 

    When Bolton won promotion from League Two on Saturday, we celebrated with the players as they joined us outside at full-time. 

    It’s a risky game but when things go well, it’s a towering feeling.