The Liberty Stadium
The Liberty Stadium is only a few years old and in my opinion it is one of the better smaller stadia I’ve visited.
Approaching the Liberty Stadium
It is just perhaps a pity that they didn’t build a station to serve the stadium. Especially, as the railway between London and Cardiff to Swansea passes close to the ground.
Outside the Liberty Stadium
You can just see the viaduct carrying the railway behind the stadium.
Inside the stadium looks very similar to the other new stadia like St. Mary’s in Southampton, Leicester City, Doncaster and Coventry.
Inside the Liberty Stadium
But in some ways, the design is better. I did like the fact that disabled supporters were placed on a balcony that extended all round the stadium, with level access to the outside.
Surely this arrangement gives a better view and would be much better in the case of any emergency.
Or is this all just a process of continual developent in our design of new stadia?
Philosophy From An English Queen
If you keep your eyes open, you’ll always find some interesting gems in the most surprising places.
Philosophy From An English Queen
This was on the gate of a chapel in Swansea.
I can’t ever remember hearing the Queen Mother speak, let alone hear her say anything as good as this. I did check the Internet and she is given credit on several web sites, including this one.
Signposting in Swansea
None of the signs in the City Centre pointed me towards the Liberty Stadium.
Comprehensive Signposting in Swansea
But at least they are comprehensive.
I did like this sign though.
Mixed Up Signage in Swansea
Wouldn’t it be so much simpler if all distances and heights were in metric units, rather than both metric and Imperial? I’m assuming that the abbreviation for metres in Welsh is the same as in English, French, German and Italian. As it’s an international standard, I would assume it is.
If ever a sign is going to lead to a truck getting stuck under a bridge it is this one!
Pizza Express in Swansea
I made very little progress in finding a gluten-free restaurant in Swansea, so it had to be a tuna salad with a glass of wine at Pizza Express.
It was a great improvement on my dreadful trip to Coventry, where the waitress had learned her trade by watching Catherine Tate videos. But saying that, Pizza Express in Leeds had been very good too.
Swansea is also a Pizza Express with good views of the old Swansea Castle.
Swansea Castle
The waiter also told me how to find the Liberty Stadium, which wasn’t shown on any direction signs or maps.
Bilingual Signs
I’ve said before that I don’t like bilingual place names. Mainly with concern to Belgium, where they suddenly change language of the signs to the place you are going. In one case it led to a detour of about fifty kilometres.
Take this sign in Cardiff station.
Cardiff or Caerdydd
Surely, it should be in English or Welsh but not both! If the inhabitants of the city want Welsh to be the name, then so be it! An interesting example is London, where although there is a French name for the city, most French of my acquaintance, have used the English form, when speaking to me.
Obviously, where there can be confusion, like this informational sign both common languages are needed.
Bilingual Information Sign
In a few years time incidentally, this sign will be unneccessary as new regulations will mean that toilets will not be able to flush directly onto the track.
High Speed Train to Swansea
I said that I was going to see Ipswich in Swansea yesterday. I had bought a Standard Class ticket out and a First Class back at a total cost of £45.20. I had actually booked six days in advance, so these good prices weren’t the result of very early booking.
The trip takes three hours and is probably one of the longest trips you can do from London easily in a day in a High Speed Train or IC125 both ways. I got six and three quarter hours in Swansea, which was enough time for a wander round the city, have some lunch and see the match.
As to the latter, I’ll not be talking about that!
According to the guy who served me coffee in the buffet, the train out had just been refurbished. It was certainly in very good condition and completely clean. I think it might have been the same train set on return, as it was in an equally pristine state.
So how did Standard and First Clases compare?
According to Ian Walmsley ‘s excellent article in Modern Railways a couple of months ago, he scored 82.1% for First Class and 76.2% for Standard for the IC125.
I’m not going to argue with those figures, although, I actually found the more upright Standard Class seat slightly more comfortable. But then my spine doesn’t curl under correctly and I’ve always found that too soft chairs are less uncomfortable than hard ones. When I used to drive, I found some cars particularly difficult.
My one complaint is that the tray in Standard Class is not big enough to lay the paper out, so I could do the Sudoku.
Small Seatback Tray on an IC125
However, I did get two seats to myself going out, so I could spread sideways a bit.
Perhaps I need a Working Class coach. This would be Standard Class but everybody would get a proper table, just like you originally got, when the trains were built.
I know the new layouts get more people on the trains, but have we really progressed?
As to progress, I did walk through several carriages to get to the buffet. The train was rather busy and there were several of those trolley cases, I hate so much, in the aisles. Despite this, I didn’t have any problems getting to the buffet and getting back carrying the coffee. Compare that with the problems I had on the Pendolino. But then I was running yesterday at 125 mph on a railway built for 60 mph in the Victorian era, in a forty year old train.
If I had the choice, I’d take a High Speed Train or failing that a Mark 3 Carriage anytime I could! When I travel to Ipswich, I always book one of the Norwich trains, as these are made up of Mark 3’s.
When booking on-line, you should be told the type of train you would normally be getting.
Network Rail’s Pigeon Eradicator
This is not what you think it is on the platforms at London Paddington!
Network Rail's Pigeon Eradicator
It has shades of Hancock in The Radio Ham, where he was annoyed with pigeons on his aerials, so he gave them 1,000 volts and a very cheap thrill.
You may think it is to stop the pigeons sitting on the video cameras, but it is a fiendish device to kill them, by giving them a large electric shock. Note how one camera is angled so it can see the pigeons on the spikes. This allowed the charge to be accurately timed. The pigeons are then recycled in the meat pies on the trains from London.
The Anonymous Widower 