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Posted on July 9 2008 by Jag @ 10:44 pm
It’s been AGES since I last posted about Slough. Which for those who don’t know has been the most exciting town in the UK for quite some time now. Unfortunately I only work here, so I only really get to experience the place properly during the occasional lunch break etc. And so, on a lunch-break yesterday I took a walk into the town centre from my office on a mission to buy a cheap telephone “splitter” from the local “pound shop”. But whilst I was out I realised how bright and sunny it was. In total contrast to the few hours earlier when miserable dark clouds unleashed heavy rains on the place.
Slough Town Centre during a break in the weather.
(A kind of surreal picture taken with my cameraphone.) There is something very weird about this photo. It looks like a computer-generated image from a scene in computer simulator game or something similar …
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Route 79 Reflections on a bus journey home |
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| From London: By a British, European, 2nd-Generation Indian. Probably confused - but proud to be them all! Half of my journey to and from work is a 20-30 minute bus ride: London Bus Route 79 - between Alperton in West London and Kingsbury in North West London. I very frequently get pissed-off and frustrated waiting around in the DARK, WET and COLD - waiting for the 79 to turn up. But I have to be eternally grateful for the quality thinking time I get to myself. | ||
are you sure you took this photo?! it looks like an architectural rendering.
love your blog.
Comment kindly left by laura — July 9, 2008 @ 11:36 pm
I’m pretty certain I took this picture on my mobile phone Laura!
I have to agree though that it looks a bit weird …
Thanks!
Comment kindly left by Jag — July 9, 2008 @ 11:42 pm
Slough
Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!
It isn’t fit for humans now,
There isn’t grass to graze a cow.
Swarm over, Death!
Come, bombs and blow to smithereens
Those air -conditioned, bright canteens,
Tinned fruit, tinned meat, tinned milk, tinned beans,
Tinned minds, tinned breath.
Mess up the mess they call a town-
A house for ninety-seven down
And once a week a half a crown
For twenty years.
And get that man with double chin
Who’ll always cheat and always win,
Who washes his repulsive skin
In women’s tears:
And smash his desk of polished oak
And smash his hands so used to stroke
And stop his boring dirty joke
And make him yell.
But spare the bald young clerks who add
The profits of the stinking cad;
It’s not their fault that they are mad,
They’ve tasted Hell.
It’s not their fault they do not know
The birdsong from the radio,
It’s not their fault they often go
To Maidenhead
And talk of sport and makes of cars
In various bogus-Tudor bars
And daren’t look up and see the stars
But belch instead.
In labour-saving homes, with care
Their wives frizz out peroxide hair
And dry it in synthetic air
And paint their nails.
Come, friendly bombs and fall on Slough
To get it ready for the plough.
The cabbages are coming now;
The earth exhales
John Betjeman 1937
Comment kindly left by Bernie — July 11, 2008 @ 8:53 pm
Weird, and as I scrolled past it too quickly I thought the man in the white jacket was on stilts…
maybe I’m suffering from all that mozzarella I’ve been eating…
Comment kindly left by pondlife — July 12, 2008 @ 1:07 pm
…and I’m glad Bernie thought of John Betjeman too….
Comment kindly left by pondlife — July 12, 2008 @ 1:09 pm
Pondlife: too much mozarella can have such effects?!! But U agree he does appear to be floating above the surface of the bizzarely tiled floor I agree …
And thanks Bernie for a reminder of the Betjeman poem. I think it is still fitting of the place. However hard Slough Town Council try …
Comment kindly left by Jag — July 13, 2008 @ 5:35 pm
Exiting is not word associated with Slough, and definitely “most” is completely inappropriate.
If you wonder how people who work there sleep at night – Horlicks. The factory. Need I say more?
Comment kindly left by Sunil — July 31, 2008 @ 11:32 pm
Hi jag – long time no comment! I love the photos you take – but the slough one – the place I used to come from looks surreal… is that the slough I used to live in? lol…. I am now starting to agree with old betjeman…. this part of slough at least could do with removal!!
Comment kindly left by Krissie — December 15, 2008 @ 12:26 pm
Hi Krissie! Glad to hear from you again! Yes, Slough has changed a lot over the years I guess ….
Comment kindly left by Jag — December 16, 2008 @ 4:06 pm
I could tell it wasn’t Second Life,.. no avatars bumping into walls…
Comment kindly left by Paul — January 31, 2009 @ 3:54 pm
[...] More of my Slough in Pictures here: Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 [...]
Pingback kindly left by Route 79 » Beautiful Slough redux — May 2, 2010 @ 8:00 am