Day 1 (Part 1)
Abbey Road – Acton Central - Acton Town
It's a fifteen minute walk from my house in Ealing
to the tube station at Ealing Broadway, which allowed me plenty of time to muse
on the absolute silliness of what I was setting off to do this morning.
I tried to convince myself that I was giving myself
an aim in life, if only for a few weeks. Not a very good aim, it must be said,
and one that ultimately will have very little effect on my well-being or that
of others, but an aim nonetheless. When you are an out of work actor with
nothing to do all day but wait for the "phone calls that never come",
then anything that gets you out of the house has to be a good thing. It's a bit
of exercise if nothing else.
I'm also humming the lyrics of the Beatles song
that gave me my nom de blog:
He's a real nowhere man, sitting in his Nowhere Land,
Making all his nowhere plans, for nobody.
(Well, if this isn't a "nowhere plan",
nothing is)
Doesn't have a point of view, Knows not where he's going to,
(not strictly true, as I know at least 368 places
I'm hoping to go to, but still...)
Isn't he a bit like you and me?
(Hmm - am I like anyone else at this moment? Well,
yes and no - I'm getting on a tube like thousands of others every day, but on
the other hand I'm going to actually stop and look around at all the places on
the tube map, not just whizz through them. Which brings us neatly to...)
Nowhere Man please listen, You don't know what you're missing,
Nowhere Man, the world is at your command!
(Well, let's not get above ourselves.... But the
bit about not knowing what you're missing has a certain resonance don't you
think?)
Anyway, that's all by the by... The point is, I'm off. I feel like Michael Palin or Bill Bryson, setting off on one of their epic journeys of discovery. In fact I’m more like Dave Gorman, setting off to do something rather silly. But hey, he’s not done too badly out of it!
I catch the 10.29am Central Line train and head off eastwards. I’ll need to change at Stratford and get the DLR down a couple of stops to my first destination – Abbey Road (no not that one).
Our driver seems very relaxed, as he wishes “a veeeery good morning to everyone…” and along the way, I resist the temptation to read a book, check my phone, or pick up the Metro, (which seem to be the usual preoccupations) and instead, look out of the window. I know - what was I thinking?!
But actually, of course, a large part of the so called "Underground" network is above the ground. It may not be a spectacular vista - it is in fact mainly the backs of terraced houses - but today for some reason I find it worth looking at. I try not to think too hard about all the stations we pass through, and which I’ll hopefully be visiting at some point in the near future. Instead, I ponder, albeit briefly, a choice I’m going to have to make later on.
Abbey Road (no not that one) is, as I’ve said, on the DLR which is very much east London. Acton, on the other hand, is very much west. It could easily take me the whole morning to do the round trip. After that, I can either call it a day and head home to Ealing, which is also west, or – I can head back across town to Aldgate and Aldgate East. And if I’m doing that, I might as well add another DLR station – All Saints – to the trip. Hmm…
Well, we’ll think about that later.
***
Our laid-back driver sadly leaves us at White City, to be replaced by a driver who is taking no prisoners. (“Mind the doors please, MIND the DOORS - PLEASE!”)
White City is also the point on the western stretch of the Central Line where the Underground trains actually go under the ground for the first time. The view from the windows naturally becomes rather less interesting at this point, so I turn my attention to the other passengers. At this time of day, midweek, there aren’t that many of them, but I notice that a surprisingly large proportion of them are using iPads (five in the carriage I’m in). Perhaps I need to update my earlier thought about reading books or newspapers. Indeed, it seems even the mobile phone has been superseded as the time-killer of choice.
Forty-five minutes later we emerge blinking into the daylight once again, at Stratford tube station. A short walk to the DLR platform, and barely a minute’s wait until the DLR train arrives to take me on to Abbey Road.
***
The first thing passengers see as they alight from the train at Abbey Road (no not that one) is a sign telling tourists that if they’re looking for the other Abbey Road (yes that one) then they’ve come to the wrong place, and the zebra crossing made famous by the Fab Four is on the other side of London. Helpfully, they do then give instructions to get the wayward travellers back on the right track (so to speak).
If, like me, this particular Abbey Road is the one you’re looking for, then heading out of the side entrance to the station leads you almost immediately to a small park-cum-community garden called Abbey Gardens.
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| Abbey Gardens Entrance - complete with 'Honesty Stall' |
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| 'What Will The Harvest Be?' |
The idea is that, unlike a normal allotment (or
rather, set of allotments) where each gardener has his or her own plot of land
to do with as they will, here anyone and everyone can join in and lend a hand
growing the fruit, veg and flowers. There’s also an “Honesty Stall” where
presumably, spare fruit and veg is left, and passers-by leave a donation in
return for a couple of spuds and a carrot.
The back wall has a huge sign that reads “What will
the harvest be?” which today seems rather profound… so, while everyone sensible
is at work, I sit on a bench for a few minutes and enjoy the peace…
Unfortunately, that’s about all that Abbey Road has
to offer. It seems a very industrial area – as indeed is much of the area
surrounding the DLR network. So, pleasant as it is, after fifteen minutes and a
brief pause to take the first Station Photograph for the project scrapbook, I
head back to the station.
 |
| Abbey Road - No, not that one... |
Looking at the other people waiting on the platform,
they don’t appear to care very much.
Oh well… I head back across the city towards my
next destination.
***
On the Central Line train heading back west, I
notice that the woman next to me is writing an essay on her laptop about
something called “Capgras Syndrome”. Apparently it’s a condition in which a
person believes a friend, spouse, parent or other close relative has been
replaced by an identical-looking imposter. That must be a delusion almost
impossible to disprove, surely?
(You see? This may be an utterly pointless
exercise, but it’s an educational
utterly pointless exercise.)
***
Getting off the Central Line at East Acton (oh how
far away the letter ‘E’ seems right now – I’ve barely scratched the surface of
‘A’ and I’ve been to the other side of London and back!) it’s a twenty minute
walk to Acton Central. Along the way, on Churchfield Road, you pass an elegant
looking building bearing the legend “Erected by the Worshipful Company of
Goldsmiths”.
One of the problems with living in London, and only
catching the tube from your usual A to your usual B, is that by doing so, you
will never see the vast majority of interesting things in the other 99% of the
city.
Asking my good friend Mr Google, later on, I find
that the building is in fact a collection of alms houses built in 1811. John
Perryn, an eminent goldsmith of the time, had left the land to the Goldsmiths’
Company in his will.
This unexpected discovery, noticed for the first
time simply because I am taking the time to look around, is (like the gardens
at Abbey Road) the justification for this otherwise absurd project. I’ve driven
along this road hundreds of times before, yet never noticed these alms houses
until today. I’m looking forward to more and more of these little surprises in
the future!
A few minutes later and I’m outside Acton Central
station.
 |
| Acton Central - I didn't go in |
It’s the first of the London Overground stations on
my list. Like the DLR, the Overground network is often considered a poor
relation of the main Underground system. Many people would probably struggle to
name an Overground station at all – well, they don’t really count do they?
Whereas the Marble Arches, Piccadilly Circuses, Baker Streets, and so on are
all very familiar to us, and welcomed as old friends…
It does feel a little like cheating to have both reached the station, and be leaving it, on foot.
I haven’t actually seen the inside of the station at all. However, I remind myself that the point of this journey (if it has one) is to explore bits of London I wouldn’t normally stop and look at, and it is most definitely not a trainspotting type geek-fest! So, having taken the necessary photo of the station signage (even using a word like “signage” gives me a mild shiver of geekery), and feeling a little less guilty – I set off once again and walk to Acton Town.
The twenty minute walk takes me through housing estates and rows of terraced houses, interrupted by the occasional kebab shop or halal butcher, and when I reach the street level entrance to the station, it doesn’t offer much more in the way of enticement.
Of course, I don't expect my underground stations to be full of beauty and wonder, but there is something depressing about the brick and concrete blocks which form the entrances to many stations on the Underground.
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| Acton Town - it's a bit 'block-y' |
I quite like the symmetry of the windows, but that’s about it…
For the weary traveller, the only compensation for such functional greyness must surely be the thought that beyond the grey is a small but satisfying section of the vibrant metropolis just waiting for you to sample its riches. Unfortunately Acton Town hasn't quite got the hang of this. The station is on Gunnersbury Lane, and the local area boasts (or should that be "mentions in an embarrassed undertone"?) various shops including a mini-supermarket, a funeral parlour, a bookmaker's, and a greasy spoon café.
But here again, I’m in for a surprise. It’s lunchtime, and if I’m going to do any more travelling today, I’ll need sustenance. Tucked in among the less salubrious establishments is a newish looking fish and chip restaurant (and I think I do mean restaurant – this is upmarket stuff) called Whitestone & Partners.
I order haddock and chips, and take a table to write up my notes from the morning’s travel. (Get me! Palin better watch his back!)
The little old lady at the table next to me has just finished and, on her way out, declares to the owners that her meal was “the best fish and chips I’ve ever eaten”. This may be over-stating things just a little perhaps – but not, I consider, after tasting my own food a few minutes later, by all that much. This is the sort of fish and chips you journey out of your way to get hold of, and I suspect I’ll be doing just that from now on.
What pleases me more than the delicious food though, is finding the place here at all. How often do we all head like sheep to the ubiquitous "Subway" or "Pret" or "Starbucks", when just around the corner, if we only took the time and trouble to look, we might come across a gem like this. Proof again that we should all pay a little more attention to our surroundings.
***
The excellent fish and chips fortify me enough to make the decision to carry on the journey into the afternoon. This means heading back into town, setting off on the District Line (my third line of the day!) and trying to ignore the utterly uninspiring nature of Acton Town station itself.
I suppose I shouldn’t complain – I mean, no matter how much I may kid myself that I'm on some kind of epic journey; this isn’t the Orient Express we're talking about here. For most people the Underground is simply a means of getting from A to B. It is functional. It is boring. And Acton Town is at an even greater disadvantage than many other stations, which can at least lay claim to a museum or theatre or (if all else fails) a shopping centre, to tempt passengers out of their tubular steel cocoon.
Acton Town's main function is as a junction between the two western branches of the Piccadilly Line, and the Ealing Broadway branch of the District Line. It is, in effect, somewhere you go in order to go somewhere else.
Travellers from the centre of London going to Ealing Broadway will (if they have any sense) come this far on the much faster Piccadilly Line, before slumming it for the last section on the more sedate District Line.
Acton Town is just a brief stop-off point, nothing more.
Not, then, a place that lends itself to Epic Journeys. Ah well - onwards and downwards...
***
Before descending the flight of steps to the platform, however, I realise I need to pay a visit to the public toilet to the right of the ticket hall.
I’m searching for a 20p coin to unlock the door of the gents when it opens in front of me and a youngish bloke emerges and holds the door open, saying, with a cheeky grin:
“You got lucky mate!”
He heads off, and I sneak through the illicitly unlocked door to spend a penny, thoroughly enjoying the knowledge that I am, in fact, 20p up on the deal. I do, however, also allow myself to muse on the fact that “getting lucky” in a public convenience was not an activity I would have imagined myself indulging in before today. If nothing else, this trip is broadening my horizons…
Much relieved (no, not in that way) I settle down on the District Line to Aldgate East.
Phew! What a long post! And I'm only half way through Day 1! Never fear - the story continues in the tomorrow's instalment - Day 1 (Part 2)...
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