Two Views Of London

The first is a view from the south bank of the Thames, near Tower Bridge, looking past the sculpture to the buildings in the Square Mile (London’s financial district) on the north bank of the Thames.

The second is of the street opposite Liverpool Street station.Every time I see those towering buildings I think of the vision and the intention of the developers, the architects, and the planning authority who granted permission for them to be built.

I see a parallel with the words of the prisoner in Darkness At Noon. He comments on the mentality of the interrogator as someone who saw a man as one million men divided by one million.

That lack of humanity drives the race to the top. A single man is small and irrelevant against buildings like these.

My wife Tamara told me about an article she had read where babies had been shown photos of modern minimalist buildings and of classical buildings.

The babies lost interest in the modern buildings quickly but the older ornate buildings held their interest.

Not surprising really.