MADE IT MA, TOP OF THE WORLD

On occasion I get the chance to see things that most people don’t get to see, inside number 10, Buckingham Palace, the vaults of the Bank of England and a window cleaning box. Ok so that last one does not sound that exciting but when the box is at the top of one of the tallest buildings in Canary Wharf it makes for an impressive view.

I was covering the opening of the Canary Wharf Ice Rink and knew having photographed in previous years it always looks great from above and you don’t get much more elevated than the top of the One Canada Square tower. There is always a moment when the box suspended by very thin looking wires moves out over the side the build where you start to think, is this really a good idea. The man who had kindly stayed late to brave the wind and cold to operate the cradle was however in control. Cold, windy and really high up these things tend to bother me for about 10 seconds once I see a good shot. So once could see the whole a Canary Wharf and O2 lit up like a Christmas tree (tis the season) I was leaning out of the cradle tugging on my harness trying to get the best angle, I would have been a fool to miss it. I hope you agree.

I thought that was the end of my scary experiences for the night, how wrong I was. When I got on the tube home, I tried to adopted the usual tube etiquette of ignoring everyone else but I am just too curious a person for that and I could see from the corner of my eye something was wrong. The girl opposite had a strange look about her, I could not tell what it was, I will give a clue if the eyes are the window the soul this girl had none.

Halloween maybe or maybe the dead have risen and everyone else was too busy looking at the Metro to notice. That’s when things turned ugly everyone in carriage was staring straight at me, only then I realised I had broken the golden rule. I was talking to someone, I had even taken a picture, it was time to get out there the, heights and zombies I can deal with but I had felt the horror of The Commuting Dead.

Commision for TNR Communications.