In the run up to Rememberance Sunday, King’s Cross station commemorated the fallen with a giant poppy that sat above the concourse . It was a striking gesture and lit up the station (in fact it seemed to emit a red glow which had a lovely, if premature, Christmassy feel). I use King’s Cross a couple of times a week and I’d come to enjoy the poppy looking down on us.

It’s sad then to report that what happens to all tall poppies has befallen it; the red flower is no longer there. Tall poppies don’t last very long in this country.