83. The barometer at Sudbury Town

A lovely touch, this, positioned high up inside Sudbury Town ticket hall.

It’s weathered splendidly* (ho ho), dating from when the station was rebuilt in the early 1930s. I can’t imagine the arrow has been that busy in the intervening years. I forecast that the climate in and around Sudbury Town has and will forever remain cosy and agreeable with occasional Proustian rushes and sentimental sighs.

It is beautifully rendered and brilliantly deployed. Look at how elegantly it rests on that background of clear, cool brickwork. The colour of the face matches that of the ceiling: a gorgeous, calming light blue. It’s only a small detail in a station packed with riches (more of which anon), but commands attention just as much for its style as its novelty.

Facing it across the atrium is a clock, crafted with identical care and elan:

And suitably armed with both the time and the weather, the passenger proceeds onwards, be their journey on foot or by train.

A big hand, please, for two big hands.

*A pun, not a verb. I don’t think we’ve quite reached the point where the English language has started entertaining the likes of “Switch the TV on, dear, they’re just about to weather the forecast.” If you ever said that, you’d be wrong. Although were you to say: “I’m so glad Tomasz Schafernaker has started weathering for the BBC again,” you’d be forgiven.