A train lies sleeplessly along the side of a restless platform. A low hum resonates methodically from the heart of the animal; a beat to the distant song of early morning traffic and impatient owners.

A hungry crowd is gathering at the platform on which I sit. They stand motionless, soundless, glaring distastefully at the beast. However, despite the apparent lifelessness of the crowd, an anticipation can be felt. I glance at the train departure times, feeling a different type of anticipation, and read the message:

“Stand away from the platform. This train is not scheduled to stop here.”

But it has stopped, resting, waiting. And this crowd, this babble of business ambassadors with expensive tailored hair, and cheap hastily trimmed suits, seem to realise something that the normally polite and perceptive sign programmer has apparently overlooked.

It could be that the train who lies in this sanctuary of medieval decor, is preparing itself for a long, newly trodden journey. It seems to gaze docily at the agitated crowd, and peers peacefully out of this final home; Bournemouth.

I should feel a deep sense of loss, a deep desire not to be torn away from here, ‘toms home town’. I reflect, staring out to the newly constructed landscape which has been menacingly placed into the little cities skyline; a vast castle of cloud, textured and coloured with a garish concrete grey. It stares mockingly at those in its shadow, whilst an engulfing moat of rain and barrage of arrow like wind, has kept this vast over-sized village beneath it at its mercy for the last few weeks.

But it is not this medieval monster which has quelled any emotional ties to this  town; why tiptoes of tears elude my beautiful blues… No, it is simply that I cannot yet comprehend the countless days of coercive adventure awaiting only a weekend away. This is a place that I will miss, months without friends and family. But right now, this reality is not a realisation, indeed still just an imagination.

And so on the platform, this tired, early rising twin, tom and transport, finish their brief reflections and goodbyes to the town, and leave for London and the other side of the world.