Rebuilding King’s Cross
Nearly all of the transport projects for the 2012 Olympics in London are now in place. The last one is the rebuilding of King’s Cross.
The station will be opened fully by 2012.
Dover to St. Pancras by Javelin
Javelin is the code-name for the trains that will be used to shuttle passengers from central London to the Olympic site at Stratford.
You might expect that these trains are still on the drawing board or at best in some factory somewhere being built. But no! They are up and running daily down the High Speed One line and then on to Dover and the Kent Coast.
So what do I think of the Javelins.
They are excellent and when compared to the Eurostars that run to Paris and Brussels, the build quality is better. But of course they are people movers and have no catering, although I thought the leg room might have been better. I also timed the Javelin at over 120 mph.
So will they fulfil their Olympic role of moving people from Stratford to Central London. I timed that part of the trip at about six minutes!
So overwhelmingly they will!
Incidentally, this winter the Eurostars have been having all sorts of troubles with snow. I asked a train conductor, whether the Javelins have had any problems. He said no!
Haiti
Haiti is one of the world’s poorest countries and seems to lurch from crisis to crisis. And now it’s suffered a disastrous earthquake.
I have no personal experience of the island, but I remember meeting a Japanese diplomat on the Galápagos who served there. He found the island wonderful but sometimes very harrowing and dangerous.
So we should support the people of Haiti with appropriate donations. I suspect that the Disasters Emergency Committee, will be bringing it all together, but they haven’t changed their web site yet.
The Anonymous Widower 