I was afforded a ‘gift of time’ the other day when a scheduled meeting was postponed. At the time I was close to the refurbished St Pancras railway station, the home of the high-speed train service since 2009, after the move from Waterloo. It was the first time I had been to the station for many years, and certainly the first time I experienced the sight, first hand, after all the recent work had been completed.
It is an amazing sight too, and such a fantastic testament to the Victorian engineers and builders who created this masterpiece. I have recently been reading a book titled: How England Made The English, by Harry Mount, and it never ceases to surprise me that when our minds our open, seemingly odd facts gather to make sense.
The picture you can see is a small part of one of the many arches that create the massive steel cathedral like ceiling, over what was called the ‘train shed’. Some shed! This was completed in 1868. The colour of these steel arches is light blue, or sky-blue. And seemingly the same colour as they were when originally painted.
The design of the station buildings, and adjacent Midland Hotel, was by Sir George Gilbert Scott. I thought little of this until I came across a comment in the book, which states: “The sky-blue roof colour was suggested by Gilbert Scott – the first person to use the expression ‘sky-blue’, incidentally.”
The coincidence of this remark was eerily timed! I took the picture only a few hours before I read the remark on the colour. In fact, the main reason I took the picture was because the colour combination caught my eye – I had thought what an unusual colour to paint such a sturdy steel structure. By the way, it does look great and as the steel rises skyward to house the fantastic glass ceiling, it all made sense.
Now after my article on ‘out of the box management speak’ I will avoid the tired cliche of ‘blue-sky thinking’. It does not do justice to the amazing building that greets those journeying to London by high-speed train.
The message for me was the more we read, show interest in our surroundings, keep our eyes and ears open, our minds open still further, new light can be cast on fascinating new learning.
A gift of time is so valuable, so do you open your mind to take advantage of this luxury?
My best wishes,
Peter
