The Good News on the Weather
The Times today, has an item entitled, If you thought winter was dull, you were right.
The South East of England suffered its gloomiest winter on record, the Met Office said. The region received 40% fewer hours of sun than usual between December and the end of February. London was particularly grey, with only 98.2 hours of sunshine at Heathrow – its darkest winter since monitoring began in 1957.
In a reversal of the usual winter pattern, the North West was much brighter than usual. Northern Ireland received 223 hours of sunshine, 62% above average, while Scotland was 20% above average. However, those sunny skies were accompanied by high-pressure systems and freezing weather. It was the most brutal early winter since 1890. Temperatures plunged to -21C (-6F) at Altnaharra, Highlands, for example. But while most winters grow colder this one turned warmer and February was remarkably mild.
Another surprise was how dry the season was. Despite the snow, precipitation was 22% below normal. “This is typical of cooler winters, when the weather becomes blocked by high pressure, which brings cold winds but little precipitation,” said Barry Gromett of the Met Office. “Snow doesn’t actually contain as much water as you think; a 10cm snowfall is equivalent to 1cm rain.”
So this is good news for me, as it explains why I’m feeling so lousy. No sun! My cardiologist, who said I needed two weeks in the sun, was right.
Thoughts on Rail Ticketing
Modern Railways this month provokes a lot of thoughts with reasoned articles on the financing of the UK’s rail system and developments in ticketing.
- Ian Walmsley argues in an article called Rail’s Big Chance, that the rising oil price is the biggest opportunity for rail since the steam engine.
- An unsigned article describes how ticketing technology is developing, especially with regard to using bank and credit cards instead of cards like the popular Oyster on the London Underground.
- Chris Stokes goes surfing on the Internet for tickets and says that the companies could do better.
In my view rail is missing a few things and there needs to be a holistic approach to fulfil the objectives for the rail companies and passengers alike.
- The rail companies will want to tempt as many passengers as they can from their cars and keep them.
- The rail companies will definitely want the best cash-flow possible. In one sense this means having trains as full as possible at all times of the week and day. But it also probably means using innovative ways to sell tickets.
- Passengers will want the best value and trains at times to suit their needs. They will also want easy-to-use ticketing systems.
With respect to the first objective, they may be attracting new passengers, but are they trying their hardest to keep them?
Many of these new passengers will be business ones travelling on expenses. These passengers have traditionally been encouraged by loyalty schemes from Green Shield Stamps in the 1960s to Air Miles and airline loyalty schemes now. Their companies pay the travel expenses, but they get the rewards. I know people who live in East Anglia and when they go to Scotland drive to a London Airport to fly with their favourite airline to collect the points, when perhaps driving to Peterborough and taking the train will be quicker and cheaper. The points are more important to them, than their company’s money.
There should be a nationwide rail and possibly tram and bus too, loyalty scheme. Perhaps it should be linked to a credit card, that also doubles as your Railcard, so it will work in London as your Oystercard and in Manchester, Sheffield and Birmingham on the trams. And of course everywhere on the buses!
I know I’d have one like a shot, as it would mean only carrying one card instead of three; credit card, Freedom Pass and Railcard. It would also make accounting for your expenses a lot easier, if you needed to account for everything.
So this move would benefit both rail companies and passengers.
A lot of passengers don’t like the hassle of buying a ticket. Turn up at a station as I did recently at Weybridge at eleven at night and if you are unfamiliar with the line, or if there is no-one around, you may struggle to buy a ticket, when it should be a welcoming experience. Touch-in and touch-out systems like Oyster or Freedom Pass should be the norm all over the country and this will happen almost universally when bank and credit cards can be used.
I also like the idea of bulk buying of tickets in advance. I live in London and have a season ticket at Portman Road to see Ipswich Town. I usually travel First Class these days and on Saturday I always use the same trains and tickets. Since my Freedom Pass arrived, it’s a Second Class Off-Peak Return from Harold Wood to Ipswich and an Upgrade to First Class for the whole journey. I usually buy them from the ticket office, as this cheapest fare is probably a bit complicated for me to buy from a machine. So why can’t I buy these tickets in batches of ten or so and then validate them before I get on the train? I would save time, even if I didn’t get a discount and the rail company would save expenses in the booking office. They’d also have my money in advance and f Town had a bad season, they might even find I didn’t use all the tickets. After all when we buy stamps, we buy them in books of 12 or so and rarely as singles. So why not rail tickets?
Years ago, I ran a company in Ipswich and we sometimes had to send people to London for the day. Inevitably we’d give people a cash advance for the ticket, but it would have been so much easier to give them a ticket, that they validated before travelling.
Bulk buying in advance would benefit a large number of passengers from commuters, who only did a journey perhaps three times a week, to businesses, who needed to send staff at short notice to clients in say London.
The rail industry now has the technology to do all sorts of things for the benefit of both rail companies and passengers alike.
The Pope Sets A Good Moral Example
This was said in this week’s Popbitch.
The Pope, apparently, smokes Marlboro Red
So smoking is OK to give you cancer, but using condoms to stop sexually transmitted diseases is wrong.
But then I did read it in Popbitch, which may mean it’s just a rumour. So if it isn’t true, we might see the Pope suing for defamation.
Now that would be fun!
Paper Bin Bags
I’ve started to use paper bin bags to line my useless bin.
Paper Bin Liners
I got mine from a company called Healthy Planet Bags.
They work pretty well, although I think I’ve bought the wrong size. They are 100% biodegradable too!
But then the bin manufacturer wouldn’t want the bin to fit any bags other than their own expensive ones.
I also think that the best option would be the standard American grocery bag that doubles as a rubbish sack.
Surely someone must sell them in the UK!
Sorting the Wall-Mounted Vegetable Rack
As you’ll see from this photo, I’ve now got a proper wall-mounted vegetable rack courtesy of IKEA.
Wall-Mounted Vegetable Rack
When I bought the Bygel wire basket, I thought it needed to be hung on a rail, but you can take the handle off and screw it directly to the wall. They cost only £1.52 each, but I did need to supply my own screws and washers though.
So it cost a lot less than the one I found from Trovit homes at £229950.
Don’t Smoke in Company Cars in Essex!
According to this story, there is a crack down on those who smoke in company cars in Essex.
Good!
Smoking should be completely banned in all vehicles and at bus stops too!
Gaddafi Gets a Good Kicking
Gaddafi’s attempts to recapture Brega seemed to be a real defeat, as his forces seem to have no stomach for a fight.
Let’s hope he sees sense and gives up.
He could also go to live with his friend Robert Mugabe. They deserve each other. but their unfortunate citizens don’t!
The Glasgow Premier League
Who’d be a real football fan in Scotland, as the system is such, that unless you’re Celtic or Rangers no-one else gets a look in.
They will play each other seven times this year and if the other matches are like last night’s ill-tempered affair, how long will it be, before Scottish football fans turn to other sports or the television set in even greater numbers.
But then Rangers against Celtic is not about football. I live close to the Emirates and do we see any trouble, except for a bit of traffic congestion on match days. So peaceful, well-attended matches can be arranged without either an overwhelming police presence or trouble in the UK. So a few clubs do cause the odd problems, but the troublemakers are usually measured in hundreds at the most. And we rarely get matches in England with three players sent off.
One thing I object to is that the BBC, give Rangers/Celtic matches a lot of coverage on both TV and radio, when often there is a more important match or another sport that would be preferred by most people in the UK. If I want to see a fight, then I’d prefer to watch a decent boxing match.
Lakeside by Train
Jerry never spent any excess time choosing anything when he built this house. Every room is illuminated with a series of cheap wall lights, where you play a game of chance to see which switch is used to turn them on and off.
I had thought I had found a suitable replacement and the company that sells them had an outlet at Lakeside. Or rather in one of the related retail parks within walking distance of the centre.
Fenchurch Street Station
The picture shows the station where I started my journey, Fenchurch Street. I took a train to Chafford Hundred, which is linked directly to the centre by an eclosed bridge.
Lakeside Shopping Centre
This picture is the view from that bridge.
THe bridge led me into the centre into a rather run-down House of Fraser store and it took me a couple of minutes to find my way out and then find a toilet, which seemed to have to be accessed by a lift. And when I got there, the toilet paper was so thin, I almost forced my finger up my backside when I wiped it. But at least I had some decent tissues in my back-pack.
I have a feeling that Lakeside is losing market share and they seemed to be doing a lot to cut costs.
I didn’t enter any shops at the centre and made my getaway as fast as I could to the lighting shop I had intended to visit in the first place.
Escaping from the Lakeside Shopping Centre
As you can see it is not a very good walk on a narrow path alongside the road. I suppose it is designed to keep punters in the centre, when there is quite an attractive lake that might be worth a walk past on the way to the other shops, where I was going. But then if punters walked, they couldn’t be shopping, could they?
Was the walk worth it?
No! The shop didn’t have the lights I wanted and they didn’t even have the Internet, so that I could show them what I wanted. But I don’t think I’ll be spending just short of a hundred pounds on a fitting I’ve never seen!
But at least there was some weak sunshine, as I walked to IKEA to have some lunch and check out a few things. I did buy another couple of racks and jars before I walked back to the station.
And what a walk that was, involving several crossings of a busy dual carriageway without any pedestrian lights. There is plenty of space and surely a few signs to the station would have helped. But then Lakeside is for people with cars and people like me are the enemy, so if I get run over and killed, that’s one less stupid pedestrian.
Was there anything positive about my visit?
Yes! The trains were comfortable, clean and warm! But the station though was bleak, cold and there were few places to sit.
It did think about complaining to Thurrock Council about how pedestrian and cycling-unfriendly and downright dangerous the area was, but they don’t give a direct e-mail address, just a complicated form, which wants all of your details down to the inside leg measurement, so you won’t fill it in fully and they can put it straight in the Deleted Items folder.
When Is It Going To Get Warmer?
I’ve just watched the weather forecast and although it might be sunnier today, it is unlikely that the temperature will make double figures.
But at least my house is warm!
One problem is that I took my warm coat to the laundry because it was so filthy and I haven’t got it back yet.
I don’t think I have ever known such a period of wretched weather in the UK.
The weathergirl on BBC London also appears to be trying to warm, at least the males up, by wearing a short dress with a low neckline, dark tights and high heels.
The Anonymous Widower 