HFF

The Four Towers from near Plaza de Castilla, at dusk.

Again, I just liked the lines and forms here.

OK, it's another station shot, but I like the lines.

Nuevos Ministerios, Madrid with a bit of blossom too.

On the way to a class I spotted this through a railing / fence. Later checking on Google maps suggests this is the Real Basilica Nuestra Señora de Atocha. Be that as it may, and I have my doubts, I rather liked it!

The original 1919 metro trains (called 'clasicos') restored and on display at Chamartín station on an unused section of track, but they don't seem to be available to view close up. The fences have always been in place and guards patrol whenever I pass by, which is often (and slightly worrying; do they see me coming and think; "Here comes that hooligan Englishman again with his dastardly camera!")? BTW when I first visited Madrid in 1981 to see my sister who had moved here that year, these 'clasicos' were still in circulation and I used them a lot. They were horribly hot and rickety by then. I think they were finally de-commisioned the following year.

Plaza de Castilla, Madrid. Normally filled solid with traffic. I caught a serendipitous phase in the traffic light signalling! Taken whilst waiting for a bus to take me to my next class. The bus stop is round the corner (It is one of 100s of bus stops here, mostly on three levels underground; this is the major transport hub for northern Madrid, but you wouldn't necessarily know it from this position!).

Saint Day, Cornwall. The steeple of the old, disused and now collapsed parish church can be seen on the horizon. In the period 1770 to 1850 this view would have been one of utter devastation and industry with mining for tin, copper and arsenic all happening here. It was called the 'richest square mile in the world'. Then it all suddenly stopped as cheaper labour and mining costs for these minerals were found in South East Asia amongst other places (slave labour in the main). Nothing remains of this previous hive of activity, I'm pleased to say..

Atocha Station, Madrid. I had just alighted form this train and had been travelling on the upper deck.

Atocha Station, Madrid

Príncipe Pío metro and mainline station, Madrid.

A possible couple of lenticular clouds and the snow capped Sierra de Guadarrama just visible.

It's near the 1905 water depository but I don't know its function. I might hazard a guess that it's the tower for a pumping engine house, as at Cornish tin mines. Very late autumn colour.

Panteón des hombres ilustres (Mausoleum of famous men - sorry, no women)

Madrid mainline and metro station. Once the main station for trains to the north and the old name was Estación del Norte. Now a hub for local mainline suburban trains and the Metro.

Saint Day, Cornwall

I use both the main line trains (one seen here rushing through) and the metro (stationary trains seen below) all the time, travelling between classes. I also use the buses and shanks's pony just as often.

Obolisco, or Monumento a los caídos por España, Paseo de Prado, Madrid