Speed Cameras
Here in Suffolk, we don’t have too many speed cameras, but the ones we do have tend to be pretty obvious, so if you get caught, you deserve it.
However we do have Haughley Bends on the A14, which was a notorious accident black-spot near Ipswich with four cameras They have now been removed. There have been few if any accidents since, as a short stretch of dual-carriageway has bypassed the black-spot.
Most cameras are in places with other problems. So is it better to solve the problem, by a new road, a better junction or clear signs, rather than stick a plaster called a speed camera over the problem? The trouble is that a speed camera is a cheap solution.
A guest on Radio 5, said he was in the speed management profession or something similar. So perhaps the sensible replacement of speed cameras, a la Haughley would put him out of business and he could get a real job.
I also think that there should be an Internet-based reporting system for bad driving. Persistent offenders would be warned to behave by letter. People who have used my software, Daisy, to analyse bad driving, have found correlations between bad driving and lack of insurance, tax and MOT.
I should say that I am an impartial observer at present, as I’ve had a stroke. But it won’t me stop travelling by train and bus and writing about it.
Middlesbrough as a Tourist Destination
I enjoyed my day on the Tees and at the football, but really, I do think that Middlesbrough fails on several counts.
- There was no bus map on the Middlebrough web site, or was it just invisible. Perhaps no-one uses buses in the town, as taxis are affordable.
- None of the web sites I viewed mentioned the Tall Ships Race. I would have liked to have gone. But then people said that the race was in Hartlepool and that was across the water.
- Signage to the railway station was poor, but not as bad as some places I’ve visited.
- There was no paper shop open in the station when I left at ten o’clock on the Sunday morning. That is only a small point, but I always like to travel with something to read.
- The football club, the vtown and the area should work together so that visitors enjoy their visit to the full.
Councils have got to realise that visitors are one way are going to make their town or borough prosperous and they have to provide information, as every extra night someone stays is money into local pockets.
But I did enjoy the weekend, all the same.
I hope that the next time, I come to the town, things are better.
The Tees Bridges and Barrage
Although the bridges across the Tees at Middlesbrough, are not as numerous as those across the Tyne at Newcastle, they are more impressive and also include a unique flood protection barrier.
Travelling down the river fropm the mouth pf the River Tees, the bridges are as follows
The Transporter Bridge is one of the most unusual, unique and impressive bridges in England.
Foot Passengers on the Transporter Bridge
On Saturday, the bridge was closed, but they were still allowing foot passengers to cross over in the gondola slung from the bridge. A scene from Billy Elliot was shot in the gondola. So we just took a few photos and moved on.
It could be argued that the Newport Bridge is just as unique as its more famous brother. It is a vertical lift bridge and only one of four in the United Kingdom.
The Newport Lifting Bridge
The bridge is no longer raised, as large ships rarely go past it these days. It must have been a marvellous sight to see it being raised.
The Tees Barrier is many things to different people; a road and foot bridge, a white water canoe slalom course, a flood barrier a barge lock and even a test facility for turbines and a fish ladder to allow salmon to pass upstream.
The Tees Barrage
I liked the barrier a lot. It just shows how if you use your imagination, you can create something that serves a number of purposes well.
The Infinity Bridge was the last one we saw and is a foot and cycle bridge in a very clean design.
The Infinity Bridge
All of these bridges can be visited by just walking. There is a detailed walk on the AA’s web site.
Temenos
Temenos is impressive and towers over everything in the dock area of Middlesbrough, except for the transporter bridge.
Temenos and the Transporter Bridge
I like Temenos and feel that it is beautifully sited and paired with the nearly hundred years old bridge, that is still in full working order, despite what you saw in Auf Weidersehn Pet.
We need more structures like Temenos and the transporter bridge, as I think they make people and especially children think about engineering and how to build things. In recent years London has gained the Millennium bridge and the Hungerford footbridges, Newcastle has the winking bridge, but poor old Ipswich has gained nothing at all. Properly built these types of structures last generations, as so many of our Victorian bridges have shown.
Perhaps after the match, we should have all gone had paid homage at Temenos, which in ancient Greece was a place to worship gods., as the structure is very close to the Riverside Stadium. But I suspect if we’d tried, the Middlesbrough Police wouldn’t have understood the joke. These Middlesbrough fans don’t look too happy as they trudge home in the shadow of Temenos.
Temenos, the Transporter Bridge and Middlesbrough Fans After The Game
I said that Tenemos was impressive, but so was the quality of the water in the dock below. Terry pointed out a salmon, which are nhow comon in the Tees. How many were there, when the bridge was built?
A Weekend in Middlesbrough
As I said in Travels with My Stroke, the first trip outside London would be one to Middlesbrough. Some of my friends thought I was slightly unhinged to be going there, but then you don’t have to be mad or stupid to be an Ipswich supporter, but it does help.
So it was with a certain amount of anticipation, that I boarded the train at Peterborough for the journey to York, where I changed for Middlesbrough. It was a pleasant and uneventful journey that was completed by a short taxi ride to a clean and comfortable B&B called Chadwick Guest House, run by a charming young Sardinian, who had come to the UK to learn English a few years ago and had stayed.
Also staying in the same guest house, were some Town fans from Oslo in Norway, who after the match were going to Exeter for the Carling Cup.
I should say that I was going to be shown round Middlesbrough by a lady, Liz, who subscribes to the coeliac group on the Internet that I moderate, and her husband, Terry.
So on the morning of the match, they showed me around Middlesbrough and gave me lunch. One of the reasons, I’d come was north was to see the new Anish Kapoor installation, Temenos, and the various amazing bridges across the Tees. They have the famous Transporter Bridge, an enormous lifting bridge, a modern stylish footbridge and a barrage to prevent flooding of the town. We even saw some salmon leaping up the salmon ladder past the barrage alongside the canoe slalom course.
It was a very interesting couple of hours before the match and the walks along the Tees are very much to be recommended.
I won’t say too much about the match, except to say my fears and those of the other several hundred travelling fans were not fulfilled.
Perhaps, we should have all gone had paid homage at Temenos, which in ancient Greece was a place to worship gods, after the match., as the structure is very close to the Riverside Stadium, but I suspect if we’d tried, the Middlesbrough Police wouldn’t have understood the joke.
Did I have any regrets about going? Only one! Sunday marked the start of the Tall Ships Race, just over the Tees at Hartlepool. If I’d known about it, I’d have gone. But neither the Middlesbrough Council or Football Club web sites had mentioned this was happening. Instead I took the train back to Bury St. Edmunds in a much more optimistic mood in more ways than one, to the one I’d started out on Friday.
I will return to the Tall Ships Race. Surely, in these times of austerity, we should do everything we can to encourage visitors and make their visits as enjoyable as possible. If just a few Town fans had stayed over to see the unique race, at least they would have had a meal and a few beers to help the local economy.
Remember too, that many football fans are interested in other things. I was in Milan, when Town fans showed how to support the team away in style. It was the first time, I actually had managed to get to see Leonardo’s Last Supper, in the city. One of the guides told me, that she’d never seen so many football fans viewing one of the world’s most famous paintings.
But then Town fans are different and long may it stay that way!
Anyone for a weekend in Scunthorpe?
The Anonymous Widower 