This week it has been either freezing cold or foggy or both. This somewhat curtails any planned trips using two wheels. However, on Tuesday there was a visit to the dentist in Bath and motorbike is the quickest way into the city and avoids a charge of £5.60 to park the car. Yes, I'd rather risk life and limb or damage to the R1200GSA than pay for parking! True to the British stereotype my teeth aren't the best, held together with lord knows what, my dentist and by necessity engineering marvel decided to extract yet another one. So it is that I leave Bath, with a "gap" and thoughts of engineers. The City of Bristol is not far from Bath and for some reason I headed for Temple Meads Railway Station. Originally designed by the fabulously named and talented Isambard Kingdom Brunel (of Clifton Suspension Bridge fame) in 1841, there I would find people, lines, curves and light to photograph, but most importantly a cup of coffee. Firstly some people doing what we all do at Railway Stations -
Next is the quest to gain entry onto the platforms. Years ago it was necessary to buy a platform ticket, unsure if this was still the case I went to one of the security/ticket inspectors at the automatic barriers and asked. A very kind gentleman allowed me through without a ticket after I announced my interest in the station and the need to take a few photographs, good on him I say -
This is what I love about photography, it leads you to places that you may otherwise not visit and forces you to take notice of your surroundings, to really look. Railway stations, like airports are full of people and offer some wonderful possibilities with available light. I've always liked them, journeys begin and end, to and from who knows where. The train now leaving pictured above had "Dundee" on it's rear, makes you want to just jump on...ok, not without a ticket! Almost 11 million travellers pass through Temple Meads annually and judging by the amount of bicycles taking up most of a platform I imagine the majority of passengers simply dump them there. How anyone finds their bike or if it is still there when they return is anyones guess -
I could have stayed for hours, two things stopped me; Firstly, the anaesthetic from my tooth extraction was wearing off rapidly and I was beginning to feel as though I'd been beaten up. Secondly, the time on my free pass to the platforms was probably up. I made way back to the security barrier, but failed to see my new best friend, they'd changed the guards. I saw a woman who looked friendly and informed her of how I'd got on without a ticket and consequently didn't have one to put through the automatic exit gates. She paused for what seemed five minutes (it wasn't), looked down her nose, eyed me up and down with a rather distasteful look on her face, as though I was something she'd just trodden in and not to be trusted. Eventually I got a "go on then"!
Mind The Gap...
I'm glad I made the effort, despite the jaw ache I enjoyed the ride out on the big BMW and of course managed somehow to tenuously link up Dentists, Engineers, Gaps, Bridge Work....
All images were taken with a Leica M and Noctilux 50mm Lens.
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