Month: May 2026

My name is only an anagram of toilets

Margate, Kent, England
May 2026
The ‘Hackney hipsters’ lead the way off this busy train from London to the sandy Kent coast at Margate. As we climb up the stairs from the far platform to the station exit ahead of us, we are surrounded by a sea of this season’s trainers, long ankle socks and fine line black tattooed calves under possibly too tight shorts. I feel old.
We pop out of the station ticket hall into the unexpectedly bright sun of a cloudless sky and a wall of noise, petrol fumes and black leather clad motor bike-racing aficionados. Its Margate classic beach racing day and it’s mad busy out there.


It’s another glorious day by the English seaside, but we’re not beachy types, we’re here for lunch and the Turner Gallery; which we last visited in November 2014. Margate has had a big upturn since then and has followed a similar trajectory to where I live in St Leonards-on-Sea further down the coast. Though they’re a similar time from London on the train, Margate has the advantage over St Leonards due to its sandy beaches, hence it’s a popular day trip destination for Londoners, motorcycle-loving or not. I prefer the relative quiet of where I am. It remains a classic English beachside town.


As in St Leonards. there are a number of popular modern cafes and restaurants serving a wide variety of food. We chose a small Vietnamese café on the edge of the old town, I chose a chicken Bánh mì that was just perfect for the day, fresh crisp baguette stuffed with mildly spicy chicken and topped with loads of crispy onions and coriander. It was surprisingly light and fresh. I’m enjoying the vibe and if wine was on the menu I would’ve been content to stay for a bit longer than we do; but the nearby Turner gallery was calling.


And, it’s closed. For two weeks while a new exhibition is hung. The café is open and is selling wine, so we take a glass each and lounge on the deck chairs outside. The sun beats down on us as we watch the world drift by; and sympathise as other potential Turner visitors turn away disappointed.


We haul ourselves out of the too deep chair and walk along the busy sea wall and sea front. Margate has made much better use of the sea wall than St Leonards has with its sea front – the end of the wall is packed with small bars full of people enjoying the sun and the summery beats from a single sound system and, most importantly, toilets. St Leonards has the fabulous and very popular Goat Ledge and a couple of other places offering food and drink on a small section of promenade, but it’s all disjointed and the lack of public toilets makes it less of a destination. Part of me is glad of this and part of me is sad.
Behind the sea wall as the coast stretches away south towards Broadstairs, there is an Antony Gormley sculpture – ‘Another Time’ standing in the sea. One of a hundred similar statues around the UK coast; appropriately found near the large ‘Turner Way’ road sign on the cliff face over a carpark opposite the beach. Turner created a number of his famous paintings on this stretch of coast, claiming it had the best light in the world.


The beach races have certainly brought the fans and the sunny day means loads of visitors are also here to lounge on the beach; though the best beach is closed for the beach racing. With the art gallery closed and bellies full of lunch we decide to head back to the station ahead of the rush and get the train back home. Next time I will plan better.


Dreamland is a theme park and a Margate institution that first opened in 1880. It fell into disrepair in the 1990s and closed for 10 years in the early part of this century while the council worked out what to do with the site that didn’t enrage the local population. It reopened in 2013 and hosts concerts as well as the more traditional seaside theme park fare. The building frontage is fabulous.


Beside a Dreamland fire exit was this fabulous old modded-up scooter. Carefully parked apart from the leather clad ‘rockers’ over the road watching the classic beach motor cycle racing. Like many England beachside towns, Margate was the scene of some ferocious mods v rockers battles in the early 1960s.


Arlington House is a bonus lump of brutalist architecture directly outside Margate station. Opening in 1963, almost right on the seafront, it has long been a controversial addition to Margate and its future remains in doubt.


The station toilet has a fantastic quote from T. S. Eliot on the wall. The poet spent some time writing in the town in 1921 while recovering from what was called at the time, a ‘nervous breakdown’.


With trains running to St Leonards from the Ashford interchange only once an hour it’s a long old journey home, but worth it. Even with not being able to go the gallery it was a good day out.

Brisbane Brutalism

Brisbane, Australia
March 2025

After a few short weeks in New Zealand, I spent about 24 hours in Brisbane on the way to nine days in Delhi and Chandigarh via Hong Kong and then back home to London. I was in Brisbane to see my three children and one of my two grandchildren. It was the first time we’d all been together in many years as I live in England, two of my kids live in Australia; one in Cairns, the other in Darwin and the third lives in Auckland, New Zealand. It was great seeing everyone and we had a nice time together.

With such a short time in town I stayed in a hotel by the airport and caught the train into the city centre. Upon exiting the station I was surprised to find myself standing at the foot of a tall chunk of brutalist concrete magnificence. By mistake it appears I may have stumbled into the brutalist capital of Australia; ooo er!

A small (OK, a large) part of me was disappointed to have such a small amount of time available as this was after all, family day and not (another0 brutalist architecture day.

The Queensland Rail building is, unsurprisingly right outside one of the station entrances, this seems quite a big site, with a few aspects to the buildings, but at this point in the day my focus was getting from the station, through the town centre and across the Brisbane River to the South Bank where I was meeting family.

It was only when I was crossing over the bridge that I realised how much lovely beton brut (raw concrete) was on display, the Brisbane Cultural Centre almost rivals London’s South Bank.

The Cultural Centre was designed by Brisbane architects Robin Gibson and Partners for the Queensland County Council. Construction started in 1976 and was completed in 1985, well in time for the opening of the World’s Fair in 1988. The centre comprises the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), the Queensland Museum, the State Library of Queensland (SLQ), the Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) and the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA).

It’s an interesting to place to walk around, so after the family get together had finished, I spent some time wondering around the free public areas and up and down various stairs.

The Brisbane half marathon event is on tomorrow, so a section of the grounds was closed off to the public as the event site was being set up. This was a bit frustrating to be honest, but it’s how things go when trying to take photos of buildings that were constructed 50 or 60 years ago; it’s usually scaffold in the way. There were some great angles. 

For some reason the Sofitel building reminded me of Ho Chi Min City, or Saigon as it was known prior to the end of the Vietnam War (or the American War of Aggression as the Vietnamese call it.)

Queensland Parliament – which has to be the sexiest parliament building ever. So much concrete and so many angles. It was such a shame I didn’t have the time to try and find a decent angle to get a shot, it being parliament made access ‘problematic’.

I have a newfound appreciation for Brisbane, it’s not a city I love, or even really like. I go there to see family, but maybe next time I will take a bit more time to explore and you never know, I could fall for the place.