UCL + STUDENT LIFE
London vs World Tessa Snelgar (UCL Global Health and Development 2015) explains why the view from Waterloo Bridge is world-beating. Photograph Marcus Ginns
T
he Kinks had it right when they sang about being in paradise in Waterloo Sunset, their famous anthem inspired by the view from Waterloo Bridge. I spent three years in the mid-2000s walking over this bridge every day as I trained to be a midwife. In those rare quiet moments during the night, as brand-new London babies prepared to enter the world, we would gaze out at the bridge and marvel at the view of the Houses of Parliament across the river, smothered in orange light and history. The position on a strategic bend in the river make the views from Waterloo Bridge, of Westminster to the west and the City of London and Canary Wharf to the east, in my opinion, the two finest in London. But it is London’s rich and changing history that makes the view from Waterloo Bridge so poignant 48 U C L P O R T I C O | 2 015 | I S S U E 2
to me. A cathedral dedicated to St Paul has stood at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, for more than 1,400 years. Once king of this skyline, standing on Waterloo Bridge, St Paul’s is now dwarfed by its neighbours. And I think of identity and belonging, as the wonderful multicultural city of today passes by. From the Romans and Saxons to Vikings and Normans, we’ve always been an interesting melange, made up of many. The seasons alter the light and colours throughout the year, and summer sunsets cast ochre light reflections on the glass structures. The Kinks’ "dirty old river" keeps flowing to the sea and, as I stand on the bridge looking out to London, I can truly understand what they meant about being in paradise.