Wednesday was a rollercoaster ride for Tony Blair - one moment he was prime minister, the next moment he had resigned, and shorn of the trappings of office, he was soon jostling with passengers at the King's Cross station with his wife Cherie in tow.

He was catching a train to Doncaster in north England, en route to his Sedgefield constituency, where he announced his decision to step down as a member of parliament.

Minutes earlier, he had received an unprecedented standing ovation at the House of Commons. It was a truly humbling experience for a person who was one of the most powerful leaders of the western world for over a decade. Blair seemed to take it all in his stride with a wry smile as he prepared to adjust to life without prime ministerial power.

He drove to King's Cross straight from the Buckingham Palace, past protestors holding placards saying "good riddance". He had left behind the prime minister's official car at the palace and used a simpler vehicle to ferry him across the streets and corridors of power that he had become so used to during his record decade in office.

At King's Cross, passengers had some disbelief in their eyes as Blair and Cherie moved around like ordinary citizens. Some wished him the best in his new incarnation, while others photographed him using their mobile phone cameras.

More was in store as the couple reached Doncaster station. The car that was supposed to fetch them had not turned up. And when a swank BMW drove up the driveway, Blair naturally reached for its door, only to be told that it was a humbler Vauxhall that he had to use.

A passenger at Doncaster, who was aware that Blair met California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on his last official engagement on Tuesday, quipped: "Just as well that The Terminator met the terminated on his last day in office".

Throughout Wednesday, Blair did not interact with journalists who had congregated in large numbers outside 10, Downing Street and on the lawns outside Westminster. Not a few were reminded of the fact that Blair - credited with having turned spin into a fine art - had called the news media a "feral beast" in one of his last public speeches.

His wife, Cherie, summed up the uneasy relationship with the news media when she said to journalists outside 10, Downing Street: "We will not miss you".

As the Blairs drove into the political sunset, British newspapers, blogs and television channels were clogged with various opinions about Blair's legacy and the challenges faced by the new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.