The colours of London are black, blue and grey

If you travel on the London Underground, as I have done frequently for 20 years, you might notice something: from a palette of many different colours, some vibrant and happy, people invariably choose shades of only three: black, blue and grey.

There is nothing to stop people from choosing brighter colours: red, orange, yellow and green coats are available, and many others besides. But these are rejected in favour of tones which match the weather, the buildings and the mood.

The mood is one of tedium. The unpleasantness of being confined in close proximity (nose to nose) with strangers who might be chewing gum, coughing loudly or listening to their music without a care for anybody else. The prospect of travelling to a workplace where office politics count for more than hard work or honesty for the umpteenth time, with no end in sight while the mortgage needs to be paid. The probability of a train jerking to a stop in the tunnel with no explanation of the reason.

It has occurred to me recently that winter in the UK effectively lasts for six months (those being the months from October to March). It’s dull and grey nearly every day and might rain, sleet or snow on any day during these months. In order to complement this weather most citizens of London wear black, blue or grey.

London is afflicted by some of the most hideous architecture known to man. Much of this stands not so many miles from some of the finest architecture mankind has ever created. The only problem is, in clear indication of our decline, the great architecture was built more than 100 years ago (principally during the Victorian era) whereas the monstrosities were erected more far more recently – to be precise, from the 1960s onwards.

It is almost entertaining to consider the name given to the most offensive architecture blighting the skies of London: Brutalism. Brutal to the sensibilities it most certainly is. This architecture was surely designed to be ugly. It is invariably grey, featureless (aside from plain windows) and imposing in a blunt and unrefined manner. It has no redeeming features.

Most people wear clothes to match the buildings. People conform. They even conform in that many pay for painful piercings in places previously considered strange, get irreparable tattoos at the bottom of their backs or adopt liberal leftist views. These are truly paradigms of conformist behaviour posing as the radical.

I took to wearing yellow and orange jeans in my late teens, in an effort to introduce some colour to society. These days I am often in white or cream. It would be nice to see some reds, yellows or greens on the Underground. In Florida they wear such colours to compliment the pastel buildings and the sunlight – but we English are in far more need of them here.