The DLR Reaches Stratford International
Today the DLR was opened to Stratford International station. So I went for a ride and took a few pictures.
It is an impressive line.
One thing that it does is to create a step-free route from stations on the North London line to the London City Airport, with a single change at Stratford.
I also joked with one of the staff about tourists coming to Abbey Road station to see the crossing. Nothing surprises her!
Good Riddance To The Sixty Watt Light Bulb!
People have a lot of misplaced love for the old sixty watt light-bulb, as this story on the BBC shows.
It doesn’t bother me, as I won’t have an incandescent bulb in the house because of the safety risk, when they fail. An A & E doctor once told me, that they’d had several people come into hospital after falls, where an incandescent bulb had failed and this had tripped out all the lights, which meant they had fallen over the cat, dog or whatever.
But the lights I hate are those halogen MR16 and GU10 bulbs. There average life span is very short and the light they give out, used to give me headches until I went gluten free. I have a lot of those size of bulb in this house and all have been replaced with LED versions, which are brighter, use less energy and rarely fail.
My real problem in this house is finding some lights to replace some of the awful ones that Jerry installed to boost his profits.
Some Truly Hideous Lights
They really are truly hideous. Some of the lights he used were even worse and when I left them on the front patio for someone to take if they wanted, they didn’t remove one. But they did take a couple of old incandescent bulbs!
Holland & Holland
I believe this is a rather expensive shop in Bruton Street. I was really put off it because a man and a woman, who could have been employees, were having a cough and a drag outside.
Overground Art
I had gone to see the non-opening of the DLR extension to Stratford International this morning and coming back, I came back via Haggerston station, rather than the more usual Dalston Junction station, as I wanted to get a paper on the way home.
It wasn’t the first time I’d used the station, but it was the first time I’d seen this artwork.
The Elliptical Switchback by Tod Hanson at Haggerston Station
And here’s the explanation.
Art Inspired by Edmond Halley
There should be more art like this on the Overground. I wonder what Sir Edmond would have thought!
Gypsies
The BBC phone-in this morning got very heated when they were discussing gypsies.
I lived in the country for forty years and everything you didn’t lock up properly disappeared very quickly. The gypsies always got the blame, whether it was their fault or not. I would say though, that if you wanted to hear a farmer get angry, then just bring up the subject of gypsies.
My late wife, C, was a barrister and she was involved in the divorce of a leader of the gypsy community, who incidentally lived in a 1930s semi-detached house in quite a large town. His attitude to those who claimed they were gypsies, was that many were just criminals taking advantage of rights and our good nature. Incidentally, my wife found him to be a very honourable man, who fully abided with the divorce settlement.
We are on the one hand guilty of labelling a community with the habits of their worst members. But then we’ve done that for years with everybody.
Shopping At Nags Head, Holloway
I was not impressed yesterday, when I went shopping there. Both Marks and Waitrose were empty of things I wanted ans so was the cashpoint at Santander. But they did deduct the money I tried to take out, although it was reversed correctly this morning!
Except for Franchi, I think I’ll give the area a miss in the future.
The Anonymous Widower 