It's the second day of my course today and I start by checking out my work and seeing if I still like it after a good nights sleep. Fortunately I do, so all I have left to work on is the lettering on the back.

When I made my previous medals I took a lot of time over the placement and engraving of the wording, as that suited the pieces. This time however I wanted larger, rougher lettering which looked hacked out or hand-written, or preferably a mix of the two.

I took almost no time to work out the placement and my main preparation was just making sure I was spelling it all ok. Then it was in with the scribe for the basic shaping before moving onto a scribe I'd heated in a flame to further deepen the words and round off their edges.

The rest of the day was spent refining and refining my work whilst chatting, learning and admiring the work of others. It's hard not to lose faith when I look around, but I am happy with what I'm making, so am determined not to be demoralised by all the beauty that surrounds me.

After class I headed off for skating practice and was pleased that my journey took me through Westminster Station. This is a fairly new station, opened in 1999, and I love the brutal architecture. But more than that I love how the station makes me feel.

The mass of concrete, the expanse of grey, the low-level lighting, the almost silent hoardes of people all going in the same direction with their heads down added to the eerie (and seemingly serving no purpose) alcoves in the walls make me feel as though I'm a worker in a future universe. Imagine a less ornate Metropolis mixed with an even gloomier 1984 and you might see what I mean. I also imagine that those alcoves are just waiting for when a huge disaster befalls London. At which point they will surely be called into use for their secretly designed function of storing bodies before being bricked up.

It might sound depressing but I love it. I imagine I'm in that gloomy and sad world and walk slowly and join the crowds with their heads down. Then before I know it I'm outside in London looking at the beautiful Houses of Parliament and I can shake off the make-believe sadness my body has taken on and get on with my day knowing that whatever happens it will be brighter than that.