I had a bit of a modern time at lunchtime today. Everybody else at work seems to be on holiday at the moment so, without any moral pressure to go out and eat I had time to wander further afield at lunchtime.

Today I got as far as the Tate Modern and just about had time to look round a few of the galleries at high speed. The whole walk was like being in an alternative reality as it mostly involved being in places where I used to hang around a lot about twenty years ago, but have hardly been to since. With all the building work and changes that have taken place in that time everywhere was new but familiar.

One place I really wanted to see was the building in the photograph. It is right next to the railway line between London Bridge and Waterloo East so I go past it each morning but never manage to get a proper look at it. It really is an impressive site and should look great when its finished.

It is all glass but with a scattering of yellow panels. The top three floors have a much larger footprint than the first six and overhang. Not only that but there is a gap between the two parts of the building and the top three floors look to be on stilts.

One detail I had never seen from the train was how the upper floors have small yellow projections all the way along. Brilliant. No apparent purpose, but they subtly break up what would otherwise just be a geometric box. I know that modern architecture is not everyone’s cup of tea, and that the likes of Prince Charles would have us building all major office buildings from Portland stone, with columned facades and lots of statuary on them, but I like to see buildings which stand out.

Not that brick and stone is always bad. The Tate Modern itself is an awesome building. I used to drink sometimes at the pub next to the old Bankside power station, as it was away from the crowds, and we would sit on the small grass bank and look up at the brick chimney, just dying to get a chance to see what it looked like inside. And now we can go inside.

When I go to the Tate Modern I am possibly more interested in the structure than the exhibits, although I did see a Dali, a couple of Magrittes and a Monet lily painting today. There was no time to indulge in the Frida Kahlo exhibition. But I did spend probably as much time in the old main turbine hall looking at the building as I did in the galleries.

Its the first time I have been there when there has been no major exhibit in the turbine hall. Last time it was the Weather Project and before that it was that big trumpet thing. It was a little disappointing to not have a major exhibit in that space, but a good opportunity to enjoy the space itself. It has a cathedral-like quality that few buildings can achieve, more so than some cathedrals possibly.

Best of all, the place was, again, not very crowded, although outside was a different story. Like the London Eye has done to the riverside near County Hall, the Tate Modern has been a real catalyst for regeneration further East, especially combined with the famous wobbly bridge across to St Pauls. All those previously quiet little short cuts are now crammed with people. What is very evident is the huge increase in places to eat and drink all the way along there, and the amount of business they are doing: a reminder of how much the economy has expanded over the past twenty years.

Tomorrow or next week I might even venture across the river for a change.