As I traverse through Canary Wharf station, engulfed by the domineering structures, a lazy observation I often pander to is, “They all look the same.” However, trading the lens of indifference with a lens of appreciation for imperfection, I reboot the system of cynicism to creation. Cynicism comes easy. It was easy to destroy each other’s sandcastles on a lazy beach day, but painstakingly collecting gooey sand to build them? A stark reminder of how antithetical the two forces are.

Thousands of engineers, architects, and countless iterations of blueprints and site plans built these marvellous structures—brick by brick, glass by glass. The irony of ‘they all look the same’, while I travel in a tube carriage, wherever I look -black trench coats, black backpacks, black shoes—like a child with only one crayon to colour their world. So many diverse personalities, yet we all resorted to the same choice. Free will—where art thou?

Creation always straddles along his friend Change and Canary Wharf encapsulates this dynamism. When I was in my I will marry David Tennant phase, devouring every episode of Doctor Who, I saw One Canada Square make a cameo in an episode where Daleks attack Earth. It looked so different back then that, upon rewatching, I barely recognised it. That was about 15 years ago. These seemingly similar structures—crucibles of transformation—have evolved brick by brick, glass by glass, standing today like freshly cut tofu cubes, cradling us in their fortress of strength.

I like to think of the Citibank building, the HSBC building, and One Canada Square as three children separated at birth. HSBC and Citibank were the street kids who made it despite all odds. But One Canada Square? He is like Kane in Kane and Abel—born into privilege, carrying the burden of proving his worth. Unlike the underdogs, he stood resilient. Many might think he had it easy, but his character and integrity helped him outgrow his two brothers. He supports them, and looks after them. Sometimes, it’s not just about the environment you grow up in or even change itself—it’s about how you respond to it. Change is inevitable, but our approach to it matters far more. (Yes, I plagiarised Thanos again—give me a break, will you?)

Canary Wharf started as a dot on an architect’s plans, a decimal point on a balance sheet, a mark on pipes and steel rods. But look at it today—resilient through the whirlwind of transformation, a sea of buildings with different structures, yet still maintaining symmetry. Different, yet part of a community. Sometimes, change and progress begin as a dot, and before you know it, if you keep jabbing away at dots, you have a whole Lego Town before you. “The only thing that doesn’t change is change itself (stolen from Professor Wei, Shakespeare plagiarised too, okay smarty pants?) 

Before you move on  (or read it after you are done reading my essay), read this two-page children’ story The Dot —stop being one of those snobbish literature grandmas, okay? Just give it a try.

Once you have read The Dot, you realise it was never about the outcome. Change is uncomfortable, and it’s supposed to be. As psychologist Daniel Gilbert reminds us, “Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they are finished.” Change feels unsettling because we expect an outcome—I blame capitalism for that ( Yes, critique me all you like — a Marxist statement while I sit at Level 50, One Canada Square and write this). Standardisation and minimalism make us value the final product while ignoring the effort and iterations that lead to it—the very substance of life.

We are the result of countless DNA iterations—errors in encoding gave us the genes that shape us. And just like fermentation transforms pickles or kimchi, we must learn to trust the process of change. It’s not always marketable, not always glamorous, but if you sit with the discomfort, you open yourself to limitless possibilities–you open yourself up to sandcastles, chocolate house, jelly hybrid-cake house, swirling with intergalactic edible lava, or in my case, a David Tennant themed cake delivered by David Tennant.

For those that are afraid to fall in love with David Tennant —Timestamp to see Canary Wharf in the Video

For my history nerds — History of Canary Wharf