Not many people can see Tower Bridge from their office window. But that was one of the pleasures of working in HSBC's old head office at 10 Lower Thames Street in the City of London. (The glass fronted office above.) One morning, I decided to hold a team meeting in the sunshine on the river terrace. But after 15 minutes we decided that sitting in line on a bench wasn't very productive.
Memories of those days came flooding back last Thursday, when I entered the building for the first time since 2002, the year HSBC moved to Canary Wharf. I was meeting a journalist from the Daily Express. It was odd to see signs for 'The Northern & Shell Building' rather than HSBC Holdings. I watched the glass lifts rising 10 floors, recalling my experience trapped in one of them for 90 minutes one spring day. (Coincidentally, a story that featured in the Sunday Express City diary.)
Déjà vu struck when Holly pushed the lift button for the 9th floor. How many times had I done that? We walked into the Express cafe, now occupying the place of HSBC's corporate affairs department. Spooky to look over to where my desk had been. And to glance at the site of the corner office, where we had watched the television news in horror as the events of September 11 2001 unfolded.
It may have been the first time I had been back, but on July 7 2005 I sailed past 10 Lower Thames Street. It was the day of London's terrorist attacks, and I had resorted to the river as the Underground was closed after the attrocities. This was one of the first photos I ever took on a phone.
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