Category Archives: The UK

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A one stop trip on the Elizabeth Line

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Lockdown cracked my London Tube habit. I no longer dive underground as soon as a destination is suggested – I walk. However, just occasionally, I run out of time or get tempted, and it’s usually the Elizabeth Line that does the tempting.

Today I had to travel from Farringdon to Tottenham Court Road. My timings were on the edge by the time I reached Farringdon, so I walked down the two, steep and gleaming escalators to the curve of white tunnel that leads out on to the platform. Wide as a beach this stretched into the distance, everything muted, even the trains. I don’t think I heard a single announcement while I was down there, waiting briefly for the next train to hum in and whisk me on to Tottenham Court Road.

My return journey, a couple of hours later, and a few carrier bags heavier, was just as smooth. And empty. And relaxing.

I think the Elizabeth Line is such an achievement, well worth the 13 years it took to tunnel the 73 miles, east to west. It cost around £19bn which I can’t begin to imagine, but perhaps that’s what you have to pay if you want capacity for around 200 million passengers a year.

Thankfully there were not many of them travelling mid-morning with me today.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023

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We played tennis today … but not like they did

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The Gentlemen’s Singles Final at Wimbledon was on this afternoon – Novak Djokovic, the 36-year-old defending champion from Serbia, played against the 20-year-old Carlos Alcaraz from Spain. Both wanted to win, and both nearly did, but only one could claim the trophy.

The match went to five sets, with the two circling around the court like leopards, their reactions so quick, their bodies so supple, their concentration so intense. To be present, even from a distance, felt a huge privilege. It was like watching an epic duel through Attenborough eyes – two males of the same species, fighting for one prize – domination – their families waiting anxiously behind them. And it wasn’t just any two males, it was the ultimate two, the final pair, the bravest and best, the winners of endless contests to reach this point.

In the end, after over four hours, the victory went to Carlos Alcaraz, the third youngest winner in Wimbledon history. The man who lost, Djokovic, accepted his defeat like a player among players, head high, wearing his wounds lightly, and acknowledging the achievement of the first team to have knocked him from his Wimbldedon centre court pedestal since 2013.

What a moment in tennis.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023

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Hot enough in London today

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The sun was shining, the breeze was cool, and the rain dabbed here and there, but nothing too serious – the perfect day to stroll along the South Bank and then over Millennium Bridge to St Paul’s.

We looked in on the beautiful craft shops on the first floor of the Oxo Tower, and then wandered on past Tate Modern, and the schools out for end of term trips, their uniforms and chat filling the grass beneath the trees. Buskers took up the edges before the airy bridge over the river.

The Morph, dressed ‘in London’ above, was outside the Tourist Information Centre, one of a whole tribe, each dressed differently, who we came across dotted around the City. Their pedestals, and each has one, includes information on Whizz Kids, a charity for young wheelchair users. I’ve just looked them up and I see the Morph tribe are all part of Morph’s Epic Art Adventure.

After lunch near St Paul’s, loving the indoor cool, we only had time for a quick walk around the Smithfield area, looking in on the church of St Bartholomew the Great, then over the Barbican, past the Ironmongers’ Hall, and on, too fast, and too hot, to catch a train from Waterloo.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023