Monday, October 13, 2008

Up the junction? Nope, down the basin


I had reason to visit Paddington Basin, or Paddington Central as it has been dubbed, just behind Paddington Station (which turns the name into a bit of an oxymoron). While everything was lush and sweet and ticked all the boxes for the ideal corporate location, eg, sushi bar - check; Starbucks - check; anono-corporate hotel - check; Italian restaurant (albeit a chain) - check, I couldn't help but think that I really wouldn't like to work here. I'd rather work here than some industrial estate hellhole or the arse end of Mumbai (I'm sure Mumbai has some areas which look uncannily like Paddington Central/Basin too).

Its just if there is an equivilant of a corporate location of a Stepford Wife, this place is it. Canary Wharf is so brash its beautiful. Where I work on Thames Road, Barking is so ugly, its (almost) beautiful. Whereas this place has the looks of a supermodel, and the personality to go with it. To paraphrase Simply Red, it was was beautiful...but oh so boring. By the way, Simply Red only made two decent records, Money's Too Tight and A New Flame. Just my opinion.

See what you think of the Basin.

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