Found a new home ..think I'll stay for a while...

The weather did not get much better ...now I am begining to understand why the Brits are so obsessed with talking about the weather ...remember once? when it used to rain in Melbourne, we too used to talk about it all the time.

I negotiated a few tube changes and arrived at Kings Cross/ St Pancras International to meet Gillian for lunch. What an amazing experience - years gone by, I was quite familiar with this station as it was where I often caught the Midland train to Bedford to visit my aunt and uncle. It was a dilapidated, sad and depressing place - probably one of the most run down stations (mainline) in London. well, the transformation has to be seen to be believed.

St Pancras International is truly a 21st-century wonder. In 1877 Sir George Gilbert Scott's single-span iron-and-glass train shed was engineered by William Henry Barlow (1812-1902) and Rowland Mason Ordish (1824-1886), both of whom had worked with Joseph Paxton on the design of the Crystal Palace.

As you walk into St Pancras through brand new gothic doors and enter the station's previously unseen undercroft, with its 800 Victorian iron pillars,check-in points and security controls fill the former storage basement.I rode up the long, silent escalators up to the trains basking beneath Barlow and Ordish's glorious roof. This is the most adventurous and biggest roof of its kind (certainly that I have ever seen) and it has apparently remained so for decades after it was built. It is now painted a sky blue and flooded with daylight from the skylights that lie between the metal. This station, welcomes 1 Km long, 300kph trains, and has a huge cocktail bar The Champagne Bar, a branch of Foyles , a smart Searcy's restaurant and brasserie - The Oyster Bar (I only looked from the outside), and hundreds of coffee bars and boulangeries. The floors are covered in timber and stone rather than boring carpet, there are new gothic carvings, newly cast gothic door handles, and a nine-metre-high sculpture of lovers meeting under the station clock. How could anyone ever have thought of denying the world this engineering aria, this architectural masterpiece.? But, they did try - there was much opposition to the preservation of the building.

When St Pancras was threatened with destruction in 1966, eminent architectural historians - including Nikolaus Pevsner and tireless conservationists, notably John Betjeman - fought a vigorous campaign to shame British Railways and Harold Wilson's governmenmt. Today, a statue of John Betjaman, the poet stands cast in bronze and surrounded by a poem of his on the stonein honour of his heroic deeds. Here are his words:

"And in the shadowless unclouded glare,
Deep blue above us fades to whiteness where,
A misty sealine meets the wash of air ..."

It is - and I think Scott, Barlow, Ordish, Pevsner and Betjeman might all agree, whether you have business in Brussels, a lunch date in Paris or are simply keen to avoid airport hell, whether you are a railway buff, an engineer, curious shopper, architectural historian or a Friday-evening champagne Charlie, or an idle traveller like me, the new-look St Pancras is very likely to suit you. Here is a gothic fairy tale brought up to date, setting a new standard for England's railways, and has brought new life to one of Europe's most compelling buildings.

I met Gillian for lunch and we chose Carluccio's for a Mozarella and Tomato salad and superb coffee - a bit more suitable than the Champagne Bar at this time of day. We bade farewell at the Sheffield express and I headed off to what could become my new home - The British Library.


T he British are rabid collectors of information, artifacts, and antiquities. Many of the world's most important museums are on this small island. They've been cataloging civilization longer than many countries have been in existence. So, why then, is something with a title as prestigious as "The British Library" in a building so modern? Because, amazingly enough,up till this - it used to be little more than a reading room in the British Museum.

The sun came out ...briefly!
This building was constructed in 1998 after more than 20 years of planning, bickering, and partisan shenanigans. Before this building was erected, the millions of books in the collection were scattered around the city in other libraries. Getting them all together in one place is a boon to readers and researchers. The end result is a reddish-brown building that has not yet earned a soft spot in the public's heart. It looks something like one of the mills that used to line the banks of rivers all over Britain, churning out textiles two centuries ago. But now the product is knowledge, and the warehouse of information this building contains is enough to keep people like me here for many years.

And then it poured again ....
My first mission was to obtain a Readers Registration card. After queueing and all the correct protocols and tests/evidence, I am now the proud owner of a British Library Readers Card till end 2010 - I may have to stay.I was here till 7.00 last night and today I am back for more - Galleries, readers rooms, cafes, clean toilets, readers lounge, quiet spaces with free wireless internet access - what more could a girl want. Perhaps 3 months here to finish that PhD!
Dream On ...

Here is a small sample of things I have seen:


The original Magna Carta
Magna Carta is often thought of as the corner-stone of liberty. Four copies of this original grant survive. Two, including this one, are held here at the British Library


The William and Mary seal for the establishment of the East India Trading Company - the facade for expansion of colonialism.
The East India Company was the foundation stone of British colonial expansion in Asia, and was established by royal charter in 1600.

The Codex Sinaiticus
Codex Sinaiticus is one of the most important books in the world. Handwritten well over 1600 years ago, the manuscript contains the Christian Bible in Greek, including the oldest complete copy of the New Testament.

This is the original version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, hand-written by Charles Dodgson for Alice Liddell between 1862 and 1864.




This working draft for one of Virginia Woolf's most admired novels dates from 1924. Originally called 'The Hours', it was published the following year as Mrs Dalloway.
The most surreal experience here was the chance to hear Virginia Woolf's actual voice in an interview from the BBC archives on 'Craftsmanship'. i felt she was in the room with me.

Elgar's 'Enigma Variations on an Original Theme' is one of the most familiar pieces of English musicThis was one of the first works to bring Elgar to public recognition, and was first performed in London in June 1899.

The epic Ramayana has been performed throughout India and South East Asia for at least 2000 years. The earliest written text dates back to 400 AD, and was written by the poet Valmiki who brought together stories, songs and prayers connected to Rama and Sita. The epic's origins are in India and Hinduism, but over the centuries the story has crossed seas and mountains, languages and religions, performance styles and art forms. One of the phenomenons of this epic is its migration around the world, which has led to multiple versions and tellings, each storyteller re-composing the story for each audience. Ramayana is still a living performance tradition today.

Apart from all of this there old maps (Christopher Columbus), The Lindisfarne Gospels, John Lennon's original scribblings of 'Help', Jane Austen's 'Persuasion....and on and on...

The other most appealing aspect of spending time here is the environment - conducive to learning - the way in which one meets other researchers quite spontaneously - great conversations - people from all over the globe - diverse research interests -each with a story to tell - Oh how I would love to stay ... but I'm off to the National Gallery for my last hit of 'art' an exhibition 'From Corot to Monet' ...farewell for now ... this could almost be my last post...perhaps one more!
Bye!