Far from the madding crowd

Occasionally some of are allowed to leave The North to visit London. I always find it quite traumatic:
a) because I go to attend/chair meetings which means I have to spend the day fooling people into believing that I'm A Grown-Up.

b) the sheer number of people and traffic plus the volume of the place makes my head hurt

c) everyone seems to be pulling a small suitcase behind them and appear to be intent on tripping as many people up as possible

However. I have my refuge which is the British Library and if time allows, I pop in to inhale the peace and quiet and reassure myself that we're not falling into an uneducated Hell. Not just yet anyway...

I know its architecture is not to everyone's taste but I love the open space and the way the design creates beautiful shapes and colours, even though the interior is mostly white. It is without doubt, one of my favourite places and I was miffed that a cancelled train, points issues and an overheated axle-box conspired to ensure I only had enough time to dive in and take this photo.

Oh and you get your bags checked when you go in. Faced by the inner workings of a woman's handbag, the male guard today looked confused and just said "anything sharp in there love?" Genius bit of security....