2004: Certainly looking like something out of Thunderbirds, and with cracking
skateboarding potential, this mammoth monstrosity has gone up just south of
the river, with another no-expense-spared budget. Who could believe the
termoil that Vauxhall residents and travellers have put up with just so
the idiots-that-be can put up this massive ski slope homage. This has got
to be the ugliest thing yet.
So, they closed of most of one of London's main road arteries, and trampled over the local bus stops, just for this. Well, lets look at it's practical values: Too high to shelter buses, too high for the passengers. Great. Aesthetically, it's a long ugly steel ski slope with what looks like a fifties style american diner car parked underneath. Maybe it will be a hilarious conversation piece for the future. Maybe many a youthful skateboarder will die attempting some record breaking fall from its peak. Maybe some motorcyclist will zoom down from the top of the slope at literally break-neck speed, jump a few buses, and mount the railway line for the 17:45 to Weymouth. Who knows what they had in mind for this mindless contraptions. Who cares? Its a waste of time and space, and it's ruined our traffic intersection for good.
This is one of the busiest junctions, and yet it's been closed by works for years. Messed up, just like mess they've made at Trafalgar Square. And apart from too many advertisement boards, there was nothing wrong with the Vauxhall system. Maybe it was a bit too barren, but then they had demolished just about everything in the region. But now with the rise of the St George development, the area was living again, until this rediculous bus terminal structure was decided upon.
Once upon a time, this area boasted plenty of roadspace, plenty of bus stops, and great tube/rail access. All it needed was more residential, more shops, more life. Now the steel of the terminal blots the landscape.
Like all great carbuncles, it doesnt fit the scenery at all. It's just another bit of cruel urbanisation, soon to be graffiti strewn and polluted by dossers. The perfect waste of money. Was it worth all these years of road closures? The road works for all this have ruined the area for years. Now look what we've been lumbered with... Charles (of London Town)
The London Destruction Website. |