A Newspaper for Twenty Pence
I bought i, the cut down Independent today.
It’s an interesting experiment, but it doesn’t have enough puzzles for my liking.
It’s Only a Small Step for Beccles
There was news today, that the government had put forward funding to create a loop at Beccles, so that the frequency of trains between Lowestoft and Ipswich can be doubled.
This is very much to be welcomed and does it mean that we’ll start to see more developments on East Anglian railways.
We also need some new trains, to replace some of the crap.
Gerard Fiennes and Delia Smith Get Coupled
They were really scraping the barrel for trains tonight from Cambridge to Ipswich tonight, as all they had was two of the one-coach Class 153; Gerard Fiennes and Delia Smith, coupled together. Interestingly, the Class 153s were created by splitting a Class 155 in half. so that was a bit of a waste of time and money.
Gerard Fiennes and Delia Smith at Dullingham
What Would Sir John Have Thought?
This sign was outside the pub named after Sir John Betjeman in St. Pancras Station.
The Last Pub Before Paris
I don’t even know whether Sir John liked a drink or not!
The New Kings Cross Station Takes Shape
Before catching the train back to Suffolk from King’s Cross, this afternoon, I walked between the station and St. Pancras and took this photo of the new station.
King's Cross Takes Shape
Hopefully, it’ll be ready in time for the Olympics. At least though, they’ve filled in the hole left by the Nazis in the Second World War.
The Knife and Shepherdess Walk Police Station
When we lived in the Barbican, C used to help look after a house for female ex-prisoners in Hackney. I can’t remember what exactly happened, but I think I went over to the house one day and removed a rather large knife from one of the residents, who did have a reputation for violence.
Today, I was reminded of this story, when I took a 394 from the Geffrye Museum to the Angel at Islington and it passed up Shepherdess Walk.
The reason was that we were uncertain about what to do with the knife, so in the end I took it round to Shepherdess Walk Police Station and dumped it on the counter. The sergeant was uncertain what to do with it and asked me to take it away. However, when I told him where I’d got it from, he agreed to do something with it.
What he did I do not know, but I did know that there was no trouble at the house C ran!
I wonder what would happen today, if you walked into a police station and dumped a large knife on the counter!
Geffrye Museum
Today I paid a visit to the Geffrye Museum, which is just a short walk from Hoxton Station on the East London Line.
It is a charming museum, which has a succession of interiors of tytpical English houses over the last few centuries.
The museum is well worth a visit.
Peak Restrictions in Children’s Holidays
This half-term it would appear that the restrictions on rerurning on busy trains out of London have been removed. I suppose it’s not a bad idea to make up for the lost revenue because lots of people won’t be commuting.
There were quite a few kids on the trains today, so if it gets them into the habit of travelling by train, it is probably not a bad thing!
The Legacy of Piper Alpha
Piper Alpha was a gas rig that blew up in the North Sea killing 167 people. But it does seem that the disaster has brought in a way of working that is safer and less likelt to cause accidents and leaks. As the United States is trying to decide what to do after Deepwater Horizon, read about what we have done and how others have followed the lead in the Los Angeles Times.
The Anonymous Widower 