#30 - Up on the roof. I get high in London



The Shard - 72 storeys high and well worth the view.

Coming in at number 30 on my list of things to do before I'm 30 is to go to the top of western Europe's tallest building, The Shard.
With a panoramic view looking out over our capital city for more than 40 miles, it was pretty spectacular. I wanted to share this experience with a close friend who I knew would appreciate the views, the culture and the design of the latest iconic addition to London's skyline. Unfortunately they were all busy, so I went with Garv.

I'm not sure whether this is a sign of age or not, but I'm increasingly finding myself wandering past places and saying things like, 'hmm, nice architecture'. Or I'll comment on things like 'what a lovely sky tonight' and 'now that's a spectacular cloud formation'. Of course I mostly refrain from saying these things out loud - although on the odd occasion it has slipped out, it's been met with the derision it clearly deserves.

I like looking at buildings - I wouldn't say I'm fascinated by them - I'd probably struggle to pick out art-deco from mock-Tudor; but I think I'm at that stage where I can appreciate the more cultured things in life. This, I'm fairly sure, stems from my mom's influence. She's the artist, the actress and generally the creative one of the Angus clan. It's fair to say that despite being the only one of the family not to have gone to university - she's got, by far, more common sense than the rest of us put together.

She tried to pass these traits on to us when we were children but, it's fair to say, she was always facing an uphill battle from day one. She spent many an afternoon when my brothers and I were growing up trying to get us in to artistic and creative things. She must have spent hours picking Play-Doh out of our hair or cleaning up after we'd had the paints out for all of 5 minutes, wreaked havoc, then found something more interesting to do like pick our noses or go on drive-by water pistol shootings with my dad. And it must have been soul destroying for her to see us traipse in, soaking wet and covered in mud, after we cast aside creativity for football. I imagine the smug look of 'there's my boys' on my dad's face must have irked her too.

But in the end I think mom's perseverance may have just paid off. None of us can sing, act or paint - but I think we're finally beginning to appreciate culture. The boring trips to villages like Abbotsbury on our annual Easter holidays to Weymouth, where the highlight was a sticky bun in my uncle Malcolm's café, may have turned out to be worthwhile after all. The years of 'you'll appreciate this sort of thing when you're older' which I readily dismissed as 'grown-ups' being dull, begrudgingly appear to have come true.

And so I thought embracing the culture vulture inside me was a good thing to do. So I decided I'd go to the top of The Shard. It's a spectacular feat of engineering and design which, I'm sure, will stand the test of time. The sky-scraper is 72 storeys high making it the tallest building in western Europe and which has altered London's skyline forever. It dwarfs other iconic landmarks like the London Eye, Big Ben or The Gherkin. It's an interesting thing to look at. I get it - but I understand why some people aren't too keen. But regardless of the differing opinions, one thing I'm sure people will agree on is that the views from the top are spectacular. London's sprawl goes as far as the eye can see. It makes you wonder how they've crammed so many people and so many iconic landmarks into just one city.

My favourite bit? Aside from the breathtaking views over London, I had my own personal tour guide in the form of Lee Garvey who's knowledge of London is pretty damn impressive. Either that or he's made it all up and I've no way of disproving him. Plus, the lift  to the top goes at 6 metres per second - that is some speed! I'm glad I've had the chance to do it - I even genuinely enjoyed spending the time with Garv...not a sentence too many of us have uttered over the years (only kidding your Garv, you're delightful company really). There's another one on my list done...

Today's video - Up On The Roof...but a version you might not have heard before. Enjoy.