The Financial Times
Several months ago I boarded one of the new [Eurostar] trains for the first time at Paris’s Gare du Nord and thought the supermarket-style lighting was just a feature of an overzealous boarding procedure designed to get people to their assigned seats swiftly. Maybe the clinical brightness was part of some health and safety measure to assist those with fading eyesight. Or maybe the train manager was fresh to these shiny new vehicles and didn’t know how to adjust the light setting. As I did my best to get comfortable in this cold, flat environment, I rummaged for my sunglasses in my tote, hoping I’d packed them for the journey.