Harmondsworth is a village to the west of London near to where I used to live. I travelled over there to take a picture of the Hillingdon Hospital wall, a cacophony 1960s stained glass madness which captured my imagination as a very small child during a period where I seemed to be spending most of my days. The wall, as feared, has been PFI'd out of existence and its replacement is a rather miserable affair which I shan't dwell on. I'll try and get an old picture of the old Hillingdon Hospital wal though, it really is gorgeous.
But never mind - I trekked off to Harmondsworth on a 223 bus for a walk along the back roads to Harlington, a place where I once lived and enjoyed a great deal. Harlington, Sipson and Harmondsworth are places that time has left alone since the 70s and are all the better for this.
I like the picture - well not so much the quality of the snap, taken on my Nokia 7610,, cos its crap. This was taken on Harmondsworth Lane, not a spit away from Heathrow Airport. Its a quiet, almost country backwater. And yet, half way along it, are these set of traffic lights, which appear to be a fully configured set in that there is potential to control traffic both east-west ad north-south. But why? Firstly, the road going across the road leads to nowhere, unless you count a cornfield as a destination you'd be likely to visit.
Even better is that the traffic lights are turned OFF. The scene reminds me of the Depeche Mode album cover for Music for the Masses which feature red-painted air-raid sirens up the sides of mountains. Not as sinister I guess, but kinda nicely surreal.
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