In a social media post from a few months ago, I listed down some London Underground tube station names which I thought stood out from the lot. One of the places I mentioned was Hatton Cross, a place on the Western edge of the Picadilly Line, located at the doorstep of Heathrow Airport.
Hatton Cross. I'd use it to ID a secret rebel base in some far flung corner of the galaxy- tucked away enough not to be detected even by a certain Lord Vader. Okay, I've been drinking too much of the Star Wars Kool Aid again.
After some Google-ing and Wikipedia-ing, I've discovered that Hatton Cross in the present day is the site of many industrial buildings which carry out services to the nearby Heathrow aviation hub, the busiest in all of Europe. Wikipedia says that Hatton does not have a post office, but has, you guessed it- a Tesco. I've passed Hatton Cross station a couple of times on the Piccadilly Line, but have never actually gone down there to take a look around. To date, the what I know about the location is limited to what I've read online, and what I have gathered from anecdotes from friends (my friends Patricia and Francis lived there for a while, revealing the fact one night as we shared a pint and a couple of stories in a Marylebone pub by saying, "Hey, we'll have to go ahead. We live in Hatton Cross. That's really far from here. You know, Zone 6").
I am inevitably led to compare what I see here, with what we have back home in the Philippines. The international airport in Manila is too close to the city centre, hence, making getting to the airport a real pain. Manila does not have good train and road systems due to poor urban planning (and presumably, due to the lack of funds as a result of countless corruption scandals). It's funny. We have our own "Hatton Crosses" (e.g. Subic, Clark), but no train system that goes through said locations. Seeing the world is quite a spectacle. At the same time, taking your coat and parasol and riding locomotives to strange lands can inevitably lead you to compare what you see with what you have in your backyard. That's when the tears begin to flow. Curious bear feels down once he realizes that he's been eating fake honey.
In the end, I might be hit with welcome surprises, though. We may have a mecha-robot hidden somewhere in Pampanga or Bulacan that I am not aware of. That robot may just be able to save us before it's too late.
Rambling, No Shamblin',
MC
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