It seems like the entirety of London is under construction. Every other corner is dug up, or surrounded with scaffolding, or otherwise impassable. This hole in the ground appeared overnight near Waterloo rail station — who knows what it’s in aid of. The roads in my neighborhood in Croydon have been getting torn up all summer as crumbling Victorian gas pipes are being replaced by plastic ones. Much of the construction work is about upgrading the tube and other transit in time for the Olympics next year. (And I haven’t gone anywhere near any of the actual Olympic venues being built.) I have no doubt that all of the work does in fact need to be done. But damned if the color of London doesn’t seem to be the various nuclear DayGlos of traffic cones and workmen’s safety gear.
