On Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:26:50 -0000, Abigail Brady
wrote:

On Mar 24, 3:56Â*pm, Offramp wrote:
"Charing Cross Station, moreover, is the only true Metropolitan
terminus. [...]"

But does he explain why he excludes Charing Cross from his list of bad
stations?

--
Abi

Yes:

" But Charing Cross dates from before the Norman Conquest. Here Caesar
scorned the advances of Boadicea, who had come to the station to meet him;
and here St. Augustin uttered his famous mot, "Non Angli, sed angeli."

Stay: there is no need to exaggerate. Honestly, Charing Cross is the true
link with Europe, and therefore with history. It understands its dignity
and its destiny; the station officials never forget the story of King
Alfred and the cakes, and are too wrapped in the cares of -- who knows
what? -- to pay any attention to the necessities of would-be travellers.
The speed of the trains is adjusted to that of the Roman Legions: three
miles per hour. And they are always late, in honour of the immortal
Fabius, "qui cunctando restituit rem."

This terminus is swathed in immemorial gloom; it was in one of the
waiting-rooms that James Thomson conceived the idea for his City of
Dreadful Night; but it is still the heart of London, throbbing with a
clear longing towards Paris. A man who goes to Paris from Victoria will
never reach Paris! He will find only the city of the demi-mondaine and the
tourist."


--
Fig