How different the world now looks since that icy day in February that I ventured out to St. Thomas’ hospital opposite Westminster and the Houses of Parliament. Those first doses of the Covid-19 vaccination lightened our fear and started the release from lockdown.
Now the sun is shining, the trees are green again and most cheeringly of all, people are back and bustling. That pervasive furtive fear has gone as well. We have hope again, though things have been rough and it’s not over yet.
I don’t often use St James Park underground station and today was my first time back there since that day in February; architect Charles Holden’s station is as elegant as ever but instead of feeling cold and alien, it felt warm and welcoming.
Waiting area outside St. Thomas’ Covid-19 vaccination centre
St. James’s Park (April 2021)
St. James’s Park (February 2021)
St James Park underground station, architect Charles Holden