And that's exactly how it happened...

I can tell no lie.

I walked out the house, over the canal and down to the top o' Goldsmith's Row. And d'you know what I saw? A number 394 bus - oh yes I did! Then down along Columbia Road. It was only about 2.30 but the market was already winding down.

As I approached Bishopsgate I could deny it no longer: You could definitely sense the presence of the Broadgate Tower. By 'sense' I do of course mean 'see'. I couldn't smell it. Skyscrapers tend not to smell. If yours does you should probably put it down; kindest thing for the poor beggar. Don't put poor beggars down. I repeat - I do not advocate the putting down of poor beggars. Put down as many rich beggars as you like - bloody charlatans - but not the poor ones. Kindest thing you could do to them is buy them a bap. Or 'beigal' as they're known in these parts. Or in parts of these parts anyway.

Which brings me on to the subject of why shops put up signs warning that shoplifters will be prosecuted. Is that a sensible use of the anti-shoplifting budget???

I noticed a wedge of panelling - glass and some kind of shiny plastic - had been added to the bottom of the Tower. The diamond shaped struts which appear on the artist's impression are external, as opposed to a not dissimilar ribbed effect achieved using internal structures on the Gherkin. A close up view of one of the girders showed that it is indeed rust, and not fireproof paint, which makes them brown. At my sixth-form college the steel reinforced concrete used to bleed rust due to the cracks in the aging concrete allowing rain to seep in. Hideous. I imagine they've taken measures to avert that on the Tower.

Before I do the obilgatory side by side, then and now photographic comparison, one last observation. Which surprised me

The white panelling which was up in early December, which I judeg to be temporary, now looks like being a permanent fixture. The blue arrows, which I think are just a protective scratch proof sheet, are peeled off, and you then get something like this. Which is a turn up for the books!

Now here's a 3 photo montage, late October to mid January. As you can see I fucked up the angle again. Looks like I'm listing, like the Napoli (shameless attempt to grab search engine traffic there. But it's vaguely (very vaguely) relevant as I've mentioned containers before). This time I even made sure I transferred a copy of the relevant photos to my camera, but it wouldn't display them for some reason. I also forgot to take a photo from the other angle. Ah well.