Descriptive writing - Essay Example

Descriptive Writing It is a strangely impersonal place, despite the large number of people either moving purposefully across the con or standing in groups facing the large noticeboard above the turnstiles. Perhaps it is the white marble floor that gives the station its prim and somewhat clinical air. A young mother tucks a blanket around her child, who looks miserable in her trendy, three-wheeled push-chair. For some reason the station always feels colder than the street outside, even though there is a roof some distance above us to keep the worst of the weather out.

There are shops on two sides, open to the public, with no doors or windows, as if to suggest that there is no distinction between shopping and standing around in the station. Indeed so it seems in reality, since most of the customers appear to be just passing the time, gazing at the magazine titles and tourist trinkets with an air of distraction. An old lady struggles to push her suitcase between the aisles until a city gentleman in a sharp suit helps her to reach the checkout. They make an incongruous pair, the businessman and the old lady, who are now chatting amiably in the queue.

He must be six feet four, at least, while she is tiny, craning her neck to speak to him. I wonder what they are talking about, since they surely have very little in common. Perhaps she has a son the same age, or perhaps they are just exchanging pleasantries, as people do, when they meet a stranger in a public place such as this.A melodic jingle sounds, and a female voice announces some delay affecting the London Express. The accent is decidedly Scottish, in keeping with the Edinburgh setting, but at the same time cool and unemotional.

The apology for the delay and the “inconvenience that this may cause” sounds studiously sincere. A moment later the same message, in the same lilting tones, is repeated. This time the stopping service to Dundee is mentioned. It is a tape recording, endlessly repeating the comings and goings of the trains. The disembodied voice is tireless in its efforts to reassure the customers, announcing delays and arrivals, exhorting passengers to look after their luggage, and alerting them to imminent departures.

Three uniformed station workers guard the turnstiles. One of them opens a special gate for the disabled, people with dogs, or the odd passenger who is overloaded with luggage. The other two are just standing there, gazing at the noticeboard with the same vacant expression that the crowds of waiting passengers share. They are mesmerised by the white letters flipping over on the black screen, rearranging themselves into coded messages which cause ripples of movement in the crowds below. Like waves crashing lazily on the shore, the crowds lap at the edge of the concourse, gathering gradually, and then dispersing through the ticket gates.

Forever different, and yet forever the same, the chaotic crowd of humanity shuffles its weary way into a semblance of order and purpose.