Saturday 21 April 2018

"It's Cambridge, Jim, But Not As We Know It"


I rode into Cambridge on a brand new train. Looking out of the window it suddenly occurred to me that every building I saw had been constructed within my lifetime and some were very new indeed. I've often wondered just where they stand and which streets lead to them.


As the train halted a voice told me to be sure to take all my personal belongings with me. For a moment I pondered on how you could have belongings that were not personal but my drifting thoughts were interrupted by the same clinical voice telling me that if I saw anything suspicious I should inform a member of station staff. I promised myself that I would.


The automatic turnstile delivered me into the bright sunlight of the busy square which has recently been laid out in front of the station. Buckled reflections sneered back from the huge glass windows. People hurried in all directions and taxis came and went. 


It was mid-morning but cafe tables were occupied by people who had no work to do other than sit in the sun on  red chairs drinking expensive coffee. Nearby a smartly dressed young woman in stiletto heels smoked an e-cigarette.  A little further along green chairs and tables stood unoccupied.


Suddenly I found myself in a strangely empty space with perfect grass where nobody sat, surrounded by rectilinear buildings with plain walls and blank windows. I strolled on towards the newest buildings, pulled on by a magnetic attraction.


I entered effortlessly into their realm but there was something unexplained going on here. Or perhaps wasn't going on. Something was missing. Something was absent. Something had not been included in the plans. I pondered on the discrepancy and was met by silence.


Ah. That was it. Silence. No birdsong. No traffic noise. No children playing. Not even a car radio pumping out relentless beats into the warm summer air. And there was no litter. Lollipop trees stood with their roots imprisoned by concrete. Just a few perfectly parked cars. And no untidy heaps of locked bikes; this is Cambridge, there should at least be that.  Wherever you go in Cambridge there are always bikes. Now this is all "suspicious", but there's no station staff here for me to inform.


Signs quietly informed nobody at all that this was "Residents Parking". Quiet, though firm, and unwelcoming. But no signs to helpfully point the way and no advertising. Definitely no advertising. And very few people, though there were a few items - a plant in a window, a jacket hanging on a balcony chair - that showed there were inhabitants hiding inside.


Two Chinese girls walked together down the steps. One was wearing dainty white headphones, the other stared at a small screen that she held before her. They did not speak to each other although they walked side-by-side. Suddenly one of them laughed at some secret joke, disturbing the carefully controlled equilibrium.


I walked the clean pavements, I raised my camera, considered the angles, balanced the composition and clicked, collecting shapes and colours but not answers. The Chinese girls disappeared into an unmarked door, a plane passed overhead,  then I spotted it. 


This was Cambridge after all.


Take care. 

15 comments:

  1. A very entertaining account! I couldn’t help but a shudder a little at the sterility of those building. It seems as though we have homogenized our cities around the world, and when I think of Cambridge I have visions of cloisters and gables, quadrangles and busy people involved with the esoteric world of academe. And bicycles, yes. Two Chinese girls going into an unmarked door doesn’t quite do it for me.

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  2. A new look for the old place.i enjoy your description of it, John.

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  3. Super photographs and such a good report John. This is very well written stuff.

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  4. To think I might have studied there if I hadn't messed up my A-levels so badly

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  5. Lots of very modern buildings, quite surprising to me as I always think of Cambridge as being full of old colleges, however there's no reason that Cambridge shouldn't have it's quota of modern design.

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  6. ...but not as we know it.

    The title grabbed me! I am a lifelong Trekkie.

    All the new buildings, all the changes...would you recognize your town if you went back in time 200 years? 20? Mine is growing by the minute, though we don't have cool buildings like this!

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  7. Those modern buildings are quite interesting, but I think I prefer the old ones.

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  8. you are right Cambridge I have been there several times but it is so different.

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  9. I used to live quite near to Cambridge and these images, although very interesting and beautifully composed by you, are so alien to the Cambridge that I knew and loved. Similar building projects are being carried out around Oxford too.
    I really enjoyed your narrative. Are these building on the west side of the city? I remember spotting new buildings when we travelled down the M11 after visiting the American War Cemetery.

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    1. No, the buildings you saw are probably the University's new development at Eddington which is the provide accommodation for those who work at the University and its associated institutions. The buildings featured here are part of the redevelopment which is taking place around the railway station and is mainly on land formerly used by the goods yards. If you know Cambridge it's in the Hills Rd Brooklands Ave area. There's also a lot of building going on around Addenbrookes Hospital.

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    2. Thank you - I do know the station and the Hills Road area.
      I actually think that it is a good idea to provide accommodation for people working at the University as property today is so expensive for the younger generations.

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  10. Quite interesting post. I sigh as I look at the brilliantly painted accents. And wonder who would think to renew the very nicely painted accents in 20 or 50 years...supposing these buildings last that long. And then consider the art of the University buildings...which has lasted how many hundreds of years?

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  11. One bicycle doth Cambridge make 😀😀

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  12. They remind us about 'personal belongings' too. I think the only time ever ever hear that word 'belongings' is on trains, but I quite like it. I should try to include it in my conversation some day.

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