The Cambridge Busway Approaches the Station
As I retirned to the station on the top deck of the bus, I was able to get a good view of the busway as it approached the station from the south, alongside the railway lines to London.
Cambridge Busway to the South of the Station
If it ever gets finished it will make getting to Addenbrooke’s from the station a lot easier.
But then they have to finish the bridge, which should have been completed months ago.
More Delays for the Busway
The sign says that there will be delays until well into the New Year!
It’s not just the quality of the planning on this important project that worries me, it’s the attention to detail in the design and the defects that seem to keep arising. As I said before this project was designed for the lawyers.
A Bone Scan at Addenbrooke’s
My gastroenterologist thought that as a coeliac, that I ought to have a bone density scan and I did today. I also decided that it would be easier, if I took the train to Cambridge and then got a bus to the hospital. I could have got someone to drive me, but in some ways there is less hassle if you take a bus, especially, as the stop is in the station forecourt.
I actually arrived early and after being booked in by the receptionist, she advised that I went and had a coffee and returned on the booked time. That shows a high degree of professionalism and confidence that the radiologist can keep to te set schedule.
They’d said if I didn’t want to wear a hospital gown, then I should wear clothes without zips and fastenings. But as I haven’t been warm for a few days, I wore my usual uniform of blue cord trousers, short sleeved shirt, jumper and Jodhpur boots. The radiologist said that would be fine, as all I would have to do is drop my trousers to my knees. I could make a comment about when young ladies say that, but I won’t!
It took perhaps fifteen minutes to do the scan, with the machine moving up and down my lower body. It was completely without any feeling and all I’ve got to do is wait for the results to be assessed.
I think as medicine progresses, we’ll see more and more specialist machines like this, developed with clever software and hopefully operated as many hours of the day as is possible. Assets should always be made to sweat!
About an hour after arriving, I was back at the station waiting for the train home.
The Public Catalogue Foundation
I found a link to this organisation, when I was looking for more details on the art held by various councils, art galleries and museums in Suffolk.
This is their mission statement from their web site.
The Public Catalogue Foundation is a registered charity based in Covent Garden, London. It was set up to photograph and record all oil, acrylic and tempera paintings in publicly owned collections in the UK. This includes works in museums (both on display and in store) as well as paintings in council buildings, universities, hospitals, police stations and fire stations. It is estimated that there are some 200,000 such paintings in the UK. However, at any one time some 80% of these are hidden from public view, being either in storerooms or public buildings in official use.
The aim of The Foundation is to improve public access to these paintings by producing a series of affordable colour catalogues on a county-by-county basis. These will later go online allowing the public free access to the works they own. The benefits to the collections are considerable and include free digital images, improved records, an income stream for painting conservation and education, and improved publicity. These benefits come at no cost to the collections, many of which face severe financial constraints.
They have produced catalogues for most counties in the UK. And they are selling the catalogues for just £15, so that they are affordable.
What a good idea!
Suffolk Art
Suffolk is a county that has been either the birthplace or home to numerous artists; John Constable, John Duval, Thomas Gainsborough, Alfred Munnings, Philip Wilson Steer and George Stubbs, to name some of the more famous. In the present day there is Maggi Hambling. But she is not the only successful woman artist to come from the county. There was the sculptor, Elizabeth Frink and in the seventeenth century, the successful Mary Beale, who was born near Bury St. Edmunds.
There is more on Suffolks public collection of art here.
Baked Haddock with Cheese
I usually cook haddock with tomatoes and onions, but I felt I needed something simple and quick. After searching the Internet I found this recipe.
The ingredients I used were.
- 1 cupful of goats milk
- 1 tablespoon of gluten-free flour
- 50 grms of butter
- 2 or 3 haddock fillets
- 1 cupful of grated cheese.
- salt and pepper to taste
These quantities make enough for perhaps a friend and myself, but as I was hungry, I made it for one.
The method was as follows.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan.
- Add the flour, mix with the butter and when smooth add the milk, salt and pepper.
- When thickened add the grated cheese and stir constantly over a low heat until the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth.
- Meanwhile arrange the haddock fillets in an ovenproof dish and pour the cheese sauce over the top.
- I then baked it in the top of the bottom oven of the AGA for thirty minutes.
George Osbourne Abolishes Child Benefits for High Earners
We had three chidren and when we were hard up, the small amount of child benefit we got helped C make ends meet. But as we could afford to send all of our children to private schools, I don’t think we’d have missed the child benefit, when I became a high earner.
So I think George Osbourne has got it absolutely right. If you have three children, the benefit works out at about £180 per month. In the grand scheme of things if you are earning over £44,000 and living well, it’s just a case of good wine a month or a meal down the pub for two, once a week!
What really gets me is the sight of young and sometimes not-so-young mothers, wheezing as they push the baby around, whilst smoking their ciggies. After all 20 a day is about £180 a month! So if you have three children, you can use your child benefit for the fags!
The Orange Men are on the Up in Liverpool
Blackpool actually play in tangerine, but they heaped a lot of misery on Liverpool yesterday at Anfield.
Liverpool fans were their usual moaning selves on 6-0-6 last night on the radio, but they have to understand that what goes up must eventually come down!
What price can I get about Liverpool being the Leeds United of the 2010s?
A Pointless Strike
The London Underground strike is totally pointless as it is trying to protect booking office staff, who because of the new ticketing systems, have little to do anyway.
Boris hohnson said this.
We need to take account of the fact that some ticket offices are now selling fewer than 10 tickets an hour. We need to liberate staff to get out on to the platforms and concourses where they can be of most use to the travelling public.
I’m afraid that this won’t be the last strike, where new technology is threatening to get rid of jobs or redeploy people.
The Anonymous Widower 