More on the Clutter Around Dalston Junction
I now avoid Dalston Junction as much as I can because of the bad pedestrian routes, as I want to go on my terms and not those of a driver who feels pedestrians are targets to be hit. However today, I wanted to explore an address to the east of the station, so I had no excuse but to try and walk up the Kingsland Road and turn into Dalston Lane.
Pavement Clutter at Dalston Junction
The picture illustrates why I said try and walk. note the several advertising hoardings and the cafe encroaching towards the road.
As it was sunny and I’m feeling better, I was able to get through and then had to cross Dalston Lane and walk down an equally restricted narrow pavement on the north side of that road. There was nowhere to cross until a set of pedestrian lights, well past the station. One point I noticed, was that if you had wanted to take say a 30 bus to Hackney Wick, you’d have to walk some way to the stop and where it was wasn’t at all obvious. In the end I walked south and then used Forest Road to get back to the Kingsland Road. At least I was able to ascertain, that the bus station at Dalston Junction appeared to be complete.
opening the Southern entrance to the station would make things so much better and safer.
The Angel, Islington Is Now Clean and Tidy
This picture shows how islington have cleaned up the Angel.
The New Pavements at the Angel
It must have impressed the BBC as they conducted interviews for BBC Breakfast one day last week on the pavements on the opposite side of the road to this picture.
Just before I took this picture, I had bumped into a person of the female gender, who had just got off the same 38 bus as I had. I won’t call her a young lady, as she’d debussed (does it have one s or two?) and immediately stopped to light up her cigarette. As I was close behind her, I walked straight into her. I apologised profusely, but got a mouthful. Whereupon I told her that she should stop smoking, as it will eventually kill her! Possibly it will be sooner than I think, as she immediately wandered in front of the 38 bus to cross to Islington Green. Luckily for her the driver was paying attention to the lights, which had turned red.
It must be very disheartening for the council, as the pavements were already covered with discarded cigarette ends and chewing gum.
Stupid Calls From the United States
I have my old phone number at my previous house diverted to my mobile phone. It must be very frustrating for the scammers from the United States, who keep rnging me from Delaware, as O2 now properly display their number. so I let them ring and then end the call.
This is a new phenomenon. Until perhaps two weeks ago, these scam calls didn’t give a number, but now they do, so I can treat them with the contempt they deserve. After all, if they are important calls, the caller would probably know my e-mail address, so they’ll do that instead.
It’s funny though that all these calls seem to be from the United States, so is that country, now the new Nigeria?
Industrial Swearing
With all this talk about swearing, brought out by Wayne Rooney, I must repeat this story, which I heard when I worked at ICI in the early 1970s.
ICI had employed their first female instrument engineer. She didn’t suffer any sexism, but she did feel that when she was working with an electrician or fitter on a chemical plant, there was a certain coolness between them.
One day, whilst she was working with an electrician installing an instrument, she dropped something heavy on her foot and did what most of us would do. She swore loudly and very industrially.
The electrician then put his arm round her and said, “Does that mean we can all swear now, madam?”
After Greece and Ireland, It’s Now Portugal!
There is a lot of opposition to bailing out Portugal in the UK. We should always remember wha happened to the British economy when Denis Healey went to the IMF in the 1970s. We got the money we needed, but we had to bring in some very unwelcome policies under IMF supervision.
So shouldn’t the same rules apply to Greece, Ireland and Portugal? Isn’t there an old phrase about the person paying the piper calling the tune?
I’ve just returned from Greece and it is a country in turmoil. But then I’ve hardly ever been to Greece without suffering some form of labour dispute. Because of its history and weather, it has a lot going for it. But a lot of it requires investment in infrastructure for which it doesn’t have the money.
I must ask the question as to whether the money that has been pumped into Greece has been used wisely?
I have had no experience of Ireland in the last few years, but the Irish still seem to find the money to spend on racehorses. They want to renegotiate the bail-out conditions on the one hand and on the other they still have a low rate of Corporation Tax, to which many countries object. So perhaps the most important condition in the bailout of Ireland hasn’t been applied.
In some ways loaning money to Ireland is in our interests, as a lot of it will come back in the purchase of goods and services, as our two countries are very economically entwined. But again we didn’t seem to apply any obvious pressure on Corporation Tax.
With respect to Portugal, which used to be known as our oldest ally, we don’t really have any great economic interests in the country. I suppose the one problem we do have in Portugal and Spain is the large number of ex-pats, who have bought properties there. So if either went bust and we didn’t help, then there might be quite a few votes down the drain.
After all, the only reason we bailed out the stupid people, who put their money in Icelandic banks, was to buy votes.
So on balance we should probably help with Portugal. But only on our terms. After all, if China or the United States was to bail out any country, they wouldn’t do it without a lot of self-interest.
The Anonymous Widower 