Monday, June 25, 2007

Then and (Almost) Now

at Barts 1994
Mad Dog at the square of The Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital, June 1994

at Barts 2006
Mad Dog at the same spot, June 2006: clearly the trees have matured!

Yesterday's post mentioning Barts Hospital induced a few pangs of nostalgia. A year ago to the day I paid a flying visit to my former workplace to attend a conference on avian flu. It was most odd being there as a 'tourist'. Somehow voyeuristic or even slightly surreal. On one coffee break I took the lift (a point of much irritation in the past -remind me to write a few column inches on this) up to my former department -closed since 2003 in a restructuring exercise. The door was locked but I could clearly see through the glass my old office and the lab. It looked the same as the day I left in 2001 and had a Marie Celeste feel. Actually it was quite creepy, even down to the verbina paintwork. Perhaps more accurately it gave the impression of a video game where a doorway, usually back to a previous level, becomes sealed. Definitely a case of life imitating the virtual world...

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