Searching For Jude Bellingham Station
A few years back, I wrote Southgate Expects, during Euro-2020, about the signage at Southgate station during the 2018 World Cup, which I described in Gareth Southgate Station.
So I wondered if anything would be done at Bellingham station in South London, after Jude Bellingham’s exploits in an England shirt, overnight on Sunday.
To get to Bellingham station, you take a train to Sevenoaks from Blackfriars station.
These pictures show views from one of the UK’s most unusual stations, which is on a bridge over the River Thames.
In the last three pictures, Bellingham is shown as Jude Bellingham on the train information display.
Yellow Ladder Coffee – Whitechapel Station
This is a small coffee shop in the interchange level at Whitechapel station.
I didn’t have time for a coffee as I passed through today, but I will in future.
An Olympia Train Spotted At Whitechapel Station
This morning, as I passed through Whitechapel station, I saw a District Line train going to Olympia, in the Westbound District Line platform.
I would assume that the train went along the Southern side of the Circle Line to Earl’s Court and then on the branch to Kensington (Olympia) station.
If District Line trains are now using this route, it would certainly improve the less-than-perfect access by train to the Olympia Exhibition Centre, that I wrote about in Is This The Fastest Way To Olympia?.
There Was Only One Lion Of Vienna, But Fifteen Lions Were Too Much For Mexico, The Crowd And The Officials
One of my earliest memories of football in the 1950s, is the exploits of England centre-forward Nat Lofthouse of Bolton Wanderers.
- I have vague memories of watching the 1953 Matthews Final on our first television, where Lofthouse was on the losing Bolton side.
- I don’t have any memory of the infamous game for England, that gave Lofthouse his nickname.
- But I do remember the controversial 1958 Cup Final between Bolton and Manchester United, which came three months after the Munich disaster. The final was controversial because Lofthouse barged the Manchester United goalkeeper; Harry Gregg into the net for the second goal, in their 2-0 win.
But football was a much tougher game in the 1950s.
The Lion Of Vienna
This except from Lofthouse’s Wikipedia entry, explains how he received his nickname.
On 25 May 1952, Lofthouse earned the title ‘Lion of Vienna’ after scoring his second goal in England’s 3–2 victory over Austria. In doing so he was elbowed in the face, tackled from behind, and finally brought down by the goalkeeper.
I’m afraid some of the tactics of the Mexicans needed more punishment than the officials gave them. And where did the officials conjure up eleven minutes of added time from?
Perhaps Trump had promised a nice holiday in one of his resorts, if they could not stand in the way of a Mexico-USA final, or at least ensure, that England didn’t progress to the quarter-finals.
After all FIFA rescinded a red card for USA’s star forward. Read about this surprising decision in this article on the BBC, which is entitled Red Card System In Disarray Over Trump, Fifa And Balogun Decision.
Thomas Tuchel On The Officials
This article on the Independent is entitled Thomas Tuchel Hits Out At Mexico v England Referee In Furious Rant: ‘Everything Went Against Us’.
Meet The 6×6 Toyota Hilux Built To Tackle Electric Car Fires
The title of this post, is the same as that as this article on Select Car Leasing.
This is the sub-heading.
A car fire is never a good thing, and if the car is electric, the results could be even worse. If it all goes up in flames while the vehicle is in a multi-storey car park, then the consequences could be dire, with limited space available for fire services to control the situation.
This introductory paragraph adds some more details.
Such incidents happen — more than 1,000 cars were destroyed in a fire in Liverpool, while a multi-storey collapsed in Stavanger — so a UK company has converted a Toyota Hilux pickup into a six-wheel EV fire-fighting machine to keep us all safe.
A lot more details are given on the vehicle’s web site, which is called the 6 x 6 HILOAD.
I was alerted to the need for such a vehicle by this article in The Times, which is entitled How Scotland’s New £30k Fire Engines Left Crews Walking To Wildfires.
The pictures on the 6 x 6 HILOAD web site, show a vehicle with a Czechnia registration.
So, I typed “6 x 6 HILOAD Czechnia” into Google AI and received this answer.
The 6×6 Hiload (developed by Prospeed Motorsport) is a custom, six-wheeled conversion of the Toyota Hilux designed specifically for emergency response, particularly targeting electric vehicle (EV) battery fires.In Czechia, the 6×6 Hiload is undergoing trials with Czech Fire & Rescue Services (Hasiči) to test its capabilities in fast-response and confined environments. Key features of the vehicle in action include:
EV Firefighting: It utilizes specialized equipment like the Coldcut Cobra system, which pierces EV battery casings to extinguish fires directly with a minimal amount of water, reducing the risk of thermal runaway.
Low Profile: Standing at less than 1.9 metres tall, it can easily navigate low-clearance urban underground and multi-storey car parks that traditional, larger fire engines cannot access.
High Payload: The custom six-wheel chassis stretches the Hilux and increases its payload capacity to roughly 3,000kg, allowing it to carry heavy fire and rescue equipment without sacrificing off-road mobility.
This chassis will have more uses than a Swiss army knife.
I suspect the Ukrainians could find several uses.
How Is The Testing Of Babies In Italy For Coeliac Disease And Type 1 Diabetes Going?
I asked Google AI the question in the title of this post and received this reply.
Testing babies and children for coeliac disease and type 1 diabetes in Italy is progressing successfully, rooted in groundbreaking legislation. Italy is the first country to pass a national law (Law 130/2023) mandating mass screening for these conditions in children aged 1 to 17.
The pilot project, known as the D1Ce Screen, was rolled out in four key regions: Lombardia, Sardegna, Marche, and Campania. Testing is typically conducted at ages 2, 6, and 10.
Here is how the rollout is progressing based on interim data and reports:
Pilot Study Success: The screening involves a simple capillary (finger-prick) blood draw administered by primary care pediatricians. Participation in the initial phase was high, with over 75% of pediatricians and thousands of children successfully screened.
Higher-Than-Average Positivity Rates: Preliminary data revealed that approximately 2.8% to 2.9% of children tested positive for coeliac-specific antibodies—more than double the global average of 1% to 1.4%. Additionally, around 0.8% of children displayed markers for type 1 diabetes.
Early Detection: The pilot has proven highly effective at identifying asymptomatic or “silent” cases of both conditions early, which is vital for preventing acute complications like Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA) and avoiding the long-term impacts of undiagnosed coeliac disease.
High Public Acceptance: Surveys from the pilot regions indicate that more than 90% of parents are highly willing to have their children screened, though general public awareness of the national program is still being scaled up.
Following these successful pilot rollouts, the government continues to expand the screening program to ensure full, nationwide coverage to protect at-risk children before severe symptoms develop.
Cambridge South Station – 29th June 2026
Today, I went to the new Cambridge South Station and took these pictures.
Note.
- Addenbrooke’s Hospital with the chimneys on the roof, is visible in the first few images as you approach the station.
- There are four through platforms, which as they can accommodate 12-car trains are between 240-260 metres long.
- The station has a solar roof.
- The station has a high degree of finish everywhere.
- The station has a thousand parking spaces for bicycles, but onlt five car parking spaces for blue-badge holders.
- Destinations in a typical day include Birmingham New Street, Brighton, Kings Lynn, London King’s Cross, London Liverpool Street, Norwich, Stansted Airport, Stratford
I suspect, this station, will at least be nominated for the Stirling prize.
An Avenue Of Trees, Cheered Me Up Today
I was feeling a bit down, after the loss of my phone on a train yesterday, as I cam back from Cambridge South station.
After reporting its loss at Liverpool Street station this morning, I thought I might be able to get something I needed at Sainsbury’s in Walthamstow.
To get from Walthamstow Central station to Sainsbury’s I walked along this avenue of trees.
Note.
- It was lovely and cool on a hot day.
- There was a gentle breeze through the trees.
- Halfway along, I chatted to a guy with Indian heritage. He said he liked the trees at Chistmas, when the Council put lights on them.Now surely, that is multiculturalism.
I asked Google AI about the trees and got this reply.
The avenue of mature trees leading from Walthamstow Central Station towards the High Street consists of lime trees. Also locally referred to as Lime Tree Walk, these established trees are well known for soaking up pollution from the adjoining bus and transit areas.
Google AI estimates that the trees are at least a hundred years old.
I believe we should do things like this more often, as it is surely a scientifically-correct way to deal with the pollution of only a few vehicles emitting it.
Out of curiosity, I asked Google AI,”Are we doing research to increase the effectiveness of trees clearing pollution?” and received this reply.
Yes, there is extensive, ongoing scientific research dedicated to increasing the effectiveness of trees at clearing pollution. Studies focus on optimizing urban canopy cover, vegetative barrier design, and microbiome/soil enhancements to maximize both particulate matter (PM) capture and carbon sequestration.
Current research initiatives and findings include:
Vegetative Barriers & Species Traits: Research from the University of Surrey’s Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE) has developed a plant selection framework. By evaluating traits like leaf hairs, canopy density, and seasonal leaf retention, they identify highly effective species (such as silver birch, elder, and yew) to act as physical green barriers that trap particulate matter and filter exhaust.
Tree Spacing & Dispersion: Studies on urban street canyons show that sparse or dense tree spacing can sometimes trap pollutants if the canopy blocks wind flow. However, “medium spacing” (where the gap between trees is roughly equal to the crown diameter) has been proven to optimize both airflow and particle reduction for pedestrians and cyclists.
Soil & Growth Interventions: Studies like the Glandwr Forest Carbon Study by Imperial College London and The Carbon Community are testing methods to boost young tree growth and carbon sequestration using enhanced rock weathering and microbial enrichment.
Cooling & Air Purification Pathways: Recent findings published in Landscape and Urban Planning highlight that trees reduce particulate pollution (PM10) not just by trapping it on leaves, but also through localized cooling. By mitigating extreme heat, trees promote the natural deposition of suspended particles.
It seems that the good citizens of Walthamstow and the nearby forest, probably achieved a result, that was very much in line with modern research.
One Of The Jobs I Did, That I’m Most Proud Of
In the early 1970s, I developed and attempted to market a simultaneous differential equation solving program called SPEED, which stood for Simple Program for the Efficient Evaluations of Differentials or something like that.
It wasn’t very successful, but two companies asked me to write some for them.
- For Time Sharing, I put the central algorithm into their simultaneous differential equation solver to move the program up to the next level.
- WS Atkins, asked me to install it on their computer.
SPEED had a few advantages over typical simultaneous differential equation solvers of the time like IBM/CSMP.
- IBM/CSMP needed at least an IBM 360/50 computer, which I ran it on at ICI in Welwyn Garden City, where I was a general mathematical dogsbody. But SPEED could run on a dial-up line to a time-shared computer like a PDP-10.
- The time-shared computers as used by Time Sharing and WS Atkins, gave the big advantage, that as the size of the computer increased, the size of the problem, that could be tackled in proportion.
- IBM/CSMP and SPEED both had a simple column-oriented report writer, which unsurprisingly ended up in Artemis, which I wrote a few years later.
- I can’t remember, who at ICI gave me the tip, but I used a sophisticated version of the Runga-Kutta algorithm, that everybody used and some probably still do today. The version, I used was called Runga-Kutta-England, where like me England, was a graduate of Liverpool University.
This summary by Google AI described the algorithm.
The England version of the Runge-Kutta method (developed by R. England) is a highly efficient 4th/5th order embedded numerical integration formula. By reusing intermediate slopes across two methods of differing orders, it provides a highly reliable built-in error estimate for adaptive step-size control.
Does anybody still use Runga-Kutta methods? I suspect not!
A breakthrough of sorts came, when WS Atkins asked me to produce a larger system of the SPEED software, that could handle several tens of thousands of equations.
- Atkin’s client was the Water Resources Board and they were modelling the water distribution system for a large part of the UK.
- Prominent in the project was a Dr. David A, Dimeloe and we became friends and had dinner with our wives a couple of times.
- But I never received a copy of the report, that was written or heard any more since about 1975.
- But judging by the fact, that we seem to have adequate supply of water in the UK and problems seem to be all about sewage, politics, management and finance, I feel that David and his team, must have done a good job.
- I was also never asked to fix any bugs in the software.
I did have some trouble getting the money I was owed from the intermediary in the deal, but I eventually retrieved it through the County Court without a solicitor.
Does BYD Stand For Bet On Your Destination?
Today I came back from Walthamstow Sainsbury’s to my home in Hackney, using two BYD electric buses on route W15, a diesel bus on route 488 and a Reliable Routemaster on Route 38.
Both the BYD electric buses stopped short of their final destination.
I also changed early to the 38, so I could have a Diet-Coke in a cafe that looked friendly.
It was!
- As you can see, it was right by a bus stop, where luckily for me, 38 buses called.
- I have written a few posts about the horrid BYD electric buses on route 141, but London shouldn’t be made to suffer an inferior product.
- If Manchester and Leeds can have UK-built buses by Wrightbus, that are delivered as diesel and converted at an appropriate time to zero-carbon, why can’t London and the rest of the country?
London’s fleet of a thousand Routemasters, which were built by Wrightbus, a few years ago, seem to have found a new niche in the world of advertising and I wouldn’t be surprised to see an experimental fleet of zero-carbon Routemasters.
Here’s a few images of Routemaster paint schemes.
I like them. I wonder, if a bus has gone missing to have a special makeover, if England get to the latter stages of the World Cup?
The Anonymous Widower 