Some evening pictures from Marseille, on a day when the Mediterranean coast had fine weather but there were storms further in the centre of France.

The massive church of Notre Dame de la Gard looking over the Vieux Port of Marseille (Old Port). A triangle of roofs of modern apartment blocks and refurbished blocks to a design by Haussmann, with the recently completed CMA CGM Tower (33 storeys, architect Zaha Hadid), which claims itself as “an architectural landmark of urban renewal”.

Even more urban renewal is evident in a very concrete way by the numerous tower cranes on the Marseille skyline just now. 

Snap of two of the CrossRail Tunnel Boring Machines parked between Paddington and Royal Oak. The TBMs will bore the tunnels for London's new CrossRail line. They are huge machines, dwarfing the concrete mixer lorry in front; behind the front plate there is a production  line to remove the spoil and line the tunnel. Crossrail will link Paddington with Canary Wharf via Farringdon and is due to open for service in 2017. Crossrail's 21km of new twin-bore tunnels are first major new railway tunnels under London since the Jubilee Line.

My walk to work today in Hammersmith, West London this Monday morning; a very bright clear morning following an exceptionally wet weekend. The trees, bulbs and flowers all showing their spring best.

Just a little snow in London, hardly enough to cover the garden and not enough for snowball fights in the streets;  but quite enough to cause long delays on the M25 and to slow down the tube and Heathrow.