Monday: Spring is sprung(ing), crocuses and London Underground Design

Apparently Spring officially begins on March 1st, so there you go, the new season's begun.  Hurrah!  It's still cold though and I wish I'd worn a longer coat this morning because my poor middle was a little chilly.  Anyway, the crocuses are out and that's great, isn't it?  Here's a picture:

This piece of grass is just around the corner from all of the new streetworks which are currently taking place - I noticed this morning that they've replaced both of the benches which sit alongside the church and Asda.  I have often dubbed these benches 'tramptastic' because they've often got a well-refreshed gentleman (or lady) of the road sitting on them, which is nice for passers by, I'm sure you'll agree?

I have a new book to review, it's called London Underground By Design and although I've only had a little flickette through it so far I can tell that I'll love it.  It contains loads of images including my favourite: cross sections of stations.  I was only saying to my husband, The Duke, yesterday that I'd love to see a cut away image of Bank Station in London because of the sheer complexity of the civil engineering. 

Talking of tubes, which I think I'm entitled to because a) it's my blog and b) it's a geeky one, I ventured the full length eastwards of the Central Line on Saturday afternoon.  "Why did you do that?"  You may inquire and yes, you'd be well within your rights to do so, but hey ho. I journeyed from Tottenham Court Road (which is still very much in transition due to the continuing Crossrail Project) to Epping.  I guess that most parts of suburbia look very similar, but it was nice to see how rural it was.  I've often wanted to travel on the restored Epping to Ongar section of the line because it sounds fascinating and I'm intrigued by closed sections of lines.  Apparently Ongar Station used to house a rare form of scorpions, but I read that years ago and will have to investigate further.