Thoughts on the East London Line
I’ve now had three trips on the East London Line and you can see how it is fitting into the fabric of society in East and South London.
Obviously, there are things still to be done, like the connection at Dalston to avoid the short walk between the two stations. Talking to a policeman at Norwood Junction after the Crystal Palace trip, he said that people aren’t sure yet which station to use for various places. So perhaps, Transport for London need to put up similar route finders on the Overground, as they have on bus stops. This would direct football fans going to Crystal Palace to Norwood Junction for example.
What happens too, if say people from say Liverpool or Manchester arriving at Euston station ask how they get to Crystal Palace for the football or somewhere else in the area served by the East London Line. You could walk to Euston Square and take the Circle Line to Liverpool Street and walk to Shoreditch High Street, the Metropolitan LIne to Whitechapel, or the Northern to London Bridge and the Jubilee to Canada Water. The choice is yours, but not easy for a non-expert. I think this illustrates the problem outlined by the policeman at Norwood Junction; the East London Line needs time for people to get used to how and where it runs.
If I take my example to its logical conclusion, you could ask why people from the north don’t use Watford Junction and possibly Willesden Junction to change to the Overground. You wouldn’t have changed to the old North London Line, but now it’s a very much better and a lot more comfortable than it used to be. So I would feel that we’ll see some developments and changes to make this easier. It would also effectively add capacity to Euston, by removing those, who perhaps wanted to go to Richmond, Islington or South East London from the station.
I’ll end this post by looking at the positives. Everything is clean, the staff seem competent and happy in their work, the trains seem to run to time and as at present there are always staff on the trains, there seems no sign of any trouble.
Perhaps, though my journey back from Norwood Junction on Saturday summed up the line. The train was fairly full, but there were still enough seats for those who wanted one and the train was cool and well-ventilated. It was much better than doing a similar journey on the Underground.
It will be interesting to see how it performs during the Olympics. But at least we know it will probably be there!
Carluccio’s Risotto is Now Gluten-Free
Carluccio’s new gluten free menu has this satatement.
Our risottos are gluten free. We serve a different one every
week, so please see our Specials Board or ask staff for details.
I had a serious and very good chicken and spinach risotto in their Spitalifields branch last night.
The only trouble with Carluccio’s, is that there aren’t enough of them.
Rabbits in the City
I saw these yesterday in Spitalfields.
Rabbits in Spitalfields
I really like to see jokey and frivolous street art! Especially sculpture, as my uncle was a good one!
Beware the Copycat Websites
There would appear to have been a rise in the number of copycat websites that get you to pay for things that should be free or cost a lot less. The story is here on MoneySavingExpert, which is always a good place to check on financial misbehaviour.
So be careful, you are actually getting the right site and not one that doesn’t just have the first paid-for position in Google!
This practice may not exactly be fraud, but surely there is an element of dishonesty here?
Sarah Brown is an Optional Extra at £12,800
I do find it very tasteless when former useless Prime Ministers tote their services as speakers on the after-dinner circuit. Books are one thing, as you have the choice about buying them and they may contain some interesting nuggets, but who’d pay Prudence about £64,000 for a speech. Perhaps, an arse-licker of the first level might, but I prefer to kick arses rather than lick them.
What however got me about this story, was that Sarah Brown is an optional extra at £12,800 and she will present a prize for that! Most of the women, I know would consider this a supreme insult. C would be laughing like a drain at the ludicrous nature of it all!
London Underground and Overground Interchanges
As I have gold older, I’ve tended to avoid some interchanges between lines, as they are either difficult or they make the journey longer. Now after my strokes, I’m a bit more careful, as some stations are a bit claustrophobic and just too busy.
I was also got on this train of thought, by a friend, who has to get King’s Cross and Gerrards Cross regularly. Usually, they end up taking a slow taxi up Marylebone Road. I thought there must be a better way. In some ways it’s a pity that when they built the new Wembley, that they didn’t find some way to connect the Chiltern, Metropolitan and Jubilee Lines in the area, as this would have given access directly from places like Aylesbury and High Wycombe to the City and East London. As yesterday, I had to go to Oxford Circus I did check out the Bakerloo Southbound to Victoria Northbound connection and I think it is up one short escalator, a few steps and then down another escalator. But you wouldn’t do it with a heavy bag!
I think it illustrates how you must get to know your interchanges in London. Here’s a few of the things I like and dislike.
Access to the Northern Line is much slower than the other lines at Kings Cross, now that they have virtually rebuilt the interchange. So I usually avoid it.’
Green Park always seems to be a slow interchange, as you walk for ever.
Bank is not for the faint hearted, especially as there are a lot of works going on at the moment.
In fact these days, I’ll often look for a bus route that does the transfer and perhaps avoids the difficult stations.
A Day at Crystal Palace
Yesterday, I went to see Ipswich play at Crystal Palace. I’m not a fan of South London and until the opening of the East London Line getting to Selhurst Park was never that easy. Here‘s what I said when Town lost last year. You will see that I wasn’t too impressed.
So about midday I arrived at Highbury and Islington and took the North London Line to Dalston Kingsland before a short walk to the impressive new station on the East London Line at Dalston Junction.
Dalston Junction Station
From May next year, this short walk will be avoided as a new stretch of track will connect the North and East London Lines. It will be a good thing, as the pavements are rather crowded and it involves a double-crossing of a busy main road.
I took a Crystal Palace train at Dalston Junction, as I was going to visit the famous park at Chrystal Palace before the match. But fans should normally take a West Croydon train to Norwood Junction for Selhurst Park, as it is closer to the stadium.
Travel on the East London Line and you’ll see what an asset to London, it will become. As we sped southwards, you get superb views pf the East of London and pass places such as the Geffrye Museum that for the serious tourist, who properly explores a city, are a must. As this museum is right on the station at Hoxton and it has a restaurant, it might actually become a popular pit stop on the line. After all with an Oystercard it’s just touch-out and touch-in, whenever you want.
The train started to get filled up at Shoreditch High Street, where there is a ten-minute walking interchange to the main London station at Liverpool Street. Several Ipswich fans joined the train here and I’d got my posse for the expedition to the South.
The other fans had made the mistake of taking a train to Crystal Palace, rather than Norwood Junction. Interestingly, I checked Ipswich’s program for the last home game against Burnley and that gave clear instructions not to go to Crystal Palace. But I had other motives.
Crystal Palace station is one of London’s hidden architectural gems.
East London Line Platforms at Crystal Palace
This the view that greets you as you arrive. Many would say that most football fans are morons, but my travelling companions certainly appreciated what the saw.
The station is equally impressive outside.
Crystal Palace Station
You can’t see it in this view, but there is a glass roof that pays tribute to Joseph Paxton‘s design for the building that gave the area its name.
The Crystal Palace is no longer here now as it burned down in 1936. It must have been some fire, as my mother told me, that they could see the flames from where they lived in North London.
A large park of the park now is taken up by the National Sports Centre, with its swimming pool, running track and training facilities.
Crystal Palace Athletics Track
Nowadays this is the only form of racing that takes place at Crystal Palace, but I can remember as a child watching motor racing from there on the television.
As to the Palace itself, all that is left is some ruined terraces and a few statues.
The Remains of the Crystal Palace
It is all very sad really ands very much echoes the feeling at that other Victorian Pleasure Palace; Alexandra Palace. But before I left, I did have a quick walk round the museum, so perhaps there is hope that this once great park, can regain its place as an important attraction with its views on a clear day all over the city. Especially, now that it is so well connected to the rest of London by the new trains of the East London Line.
I evntually got to Selhurst Park by catching a 157 bus from outside the Park. Due to the traffic chaos outside the ground, it was a comfortable, but slow journey delivering me with just a ten minute walk at the end.
I enjoyed the match especially as Ipswich won, but also because the away fans have now been moved to an area of the ground that gives a better view.
I returned by train from Norwood Junction to Shoreditch High Street, with the journey taking about a third of the time it took last year without the East London Line.
I must say that I enjoyed everything a lot better than last year.
The Anonymous Widower 