The World of Paranormal Investigations (Cockfosters) - disused tube stations

This tube station is part of the Piccadilly Line (the royal blue one on the maps).  You can tell it's PL because the outside is 'oxblood' in colour.

Strand Station is actually called Aldwych, although when it opened in 1907 it had the former name for all of seven years.  It was never part of the main line, it was merely a spur from Holborn and when replacing the lifts proved too expensive the station was closed in 1994.

In 1908 the eastern tunnel was taken out of use due to lack of demand and in World War One it was used to store paintings from the National Gallery.

Between the wars it was often considered for closure because not enough people used the service, but it managed to hang in there until temporary closure between 1940 and 1946 when, during The Blitz, the tunnels and station were used to store works from art galleries and museums including the Elgin Marbles.  It was from this nugget of history I wrote into PI2 that there were still a few artifacts milling around down there, long forgotten.

I used this location as the home of the undead dead of London, in reality this would not be possible for, unlike most of the disused stations, Aldwych is not mustering away forgotten underground.  If you have seen a film featuring a London underground station - it was probably Aldwych starring as itself or pretending to be another station.  It featured in V for Vendetta, 28 Weeks Later, Atonement and even one of the Superman films!  A few days after I took these photos the station was even used by the emergency services for practice drills in preparation for the Olympics.

So, closed - but not forgotten and certainly not idle!

Olympic Procrastination

I am great at finding excuses not to write and it seems these days there are so many reasons not to.  If I am in the midst of an exciting chapter I can't be torn away from it, but if I've had an enforced break (such as the workload for my day job becomes all consuming) and I am in a 'bridge' chapter it is really hard to get back into it.  

I call a 'bridge' chapter one that doesn't tell much story in itself, but it is an important bridge to other parts of the story.  It is sometimes hard to find the word count and I often doubt the worth of the book at these points.

Today there is another option for procrastination to join the usual (Facebook, Twitter, doing the laundry, washing up, writing a blog, etc, etc) - the Olympics!  Last night my sleepy eyes were glued to the Opening Ceremony and today I just cannot tear myself away from the rowing and swimming heats and the cycling road race.  How is it possible for a human being to cycle 156 miles and still manage a sprint finish?  Amazing.

So now I shall get back to pretending to write whilst most of my attention is given to these amazing athletes of London 2012.  I wonder how long it is before some unconscious aspect of the Olympics slips into PI3?