The Anonymous Widower

Why Is The BBC Going To Salford?

I can’t see any good reason and now the Evening Standard is claiming the move is causing marital problems.

I have always thought it a silly move to move a lot of the BBC to Salford.  This is especially silly with respect to programs like BBCBreakfast, which has always got quality guests to grace the sofa.  Are they going to go to Manchester?  Some will of course, but why would a film star in the UK for say a day  to promote a film, waste half of that in travelling to a studio up north?

The only reason I can think for the move is that it is some Machiavellian plot dreamed up by NuLabor to reduce the effectiveness of the BBC. Did Tony Blair instigate this to please his friends in News International? Of course not, but you could make a case for it.

One thing it will do, is lower quality, as the best producers, directors, program makers and presenters have the power to say that they don’t want the hassle and they will be snapped up quickly by other networks. Many of this experienced group are probably at an age when they can retire too, which will make the decision to go a lot easier.

September 28, 2011 Posted by | World | , , , , | Leave a comment

How Times Change

This was posted in the local newsletter.

The Rosemary Branch is looking to borrow a gentleman’s pipe from the 1950s for use a prop for an opera opening tomorrow. If you can help, you will get a couple of free tickets from a grateful Cec at the Rosie.

My father had loads of pipes in the 1950s. The last time I saw anybody smoking a pipe, it was clamped between a Belgian’s teeth as he drove towards me going the wrong way down a Belgian motorway.

September 28, 2011 Posted by | World | , , , | 2 Comments

Scott Overall Does An Ian Thompson

Scott Overall’s performance in the Berlin Marathon would appear to the uninitiated to be a glorious one-off.

But it’s happened before with British athletes in the marathon. Go back thirty years or so and Ian Thompson won the British marathon championship on his debut, when he just made up the team.  He then went on to win two gold medals in major championships.

You could argue that Thompson’s performance was better, in that he won and Overall didn’t. But then today, training methods are better and more scientific and there may well be a lot more to come from Overall.

Let’s hope that Scott Overall is worthy of and fit for selection next year for the London Olympics. If he improves substantially, as he well might, then the marathon could be one of the highlights of the athletics.

I have a feeling a two pound win double of Overall and Radcliffe might just be the bet right now.

We must never underestimate the value of a home venue.  It did wonders for the Spaniards in Barcelona.

September 28, 2011 Posted by | Sport | , | Leave a comment

A Quick Way To London City Airport

London City Airport, in theory should be very easy to use, now that the Docklands Light Railway provides a direct link between Stratford station and the airport.

So today, because I escorted a friend with a heavy case from her offices behind Heals to the airport.

To get to the airport, you need to get on the Docklands Light Railway at some point and from that area on Tottenham Court Road, there are several ways.

  1. Take the Northern line from Goodge Street to Waterloo and then the Jubilee line to Canning Town for the DLR
  2. Walk to Centrepoint and take a 25 bus to Bank for the DLR.
  3. Walk to Tottenham Court Road station and get the Central line to Bank for the DLR.
  4. Walk to Warren Street station and get the Victoria line to Highbury and Islington, where you get the Overground to Stratford for the DLR.
  5. Get a 29 bus to Camden Road for the Overground to Stratfpord and the DLR.

The trouble with these routes are that they sre not particularly-friendly to someone who is mobility challenged. We weren’t that, bus we were wheeling a heavy case.

We thought the 29 route might be a good idea, but we just missed one.  So we took a 73 bus, aiming to use the Underground from disabled-friendly Kings Cross or get another bus to Highbury and Islington station for the Overground to Stratford.

It worked out quite well, as at Kings Cross, a 30 bus, got stuck behind the 73 and we were able to do a quick transfer. We were then able to get to Hghbury and Islington without having to dive into the Underground. We did have a slight problem with the pavements of Islington, but the Stannah got us safely to the Overground. It seems funny to use one of their products on public transport.

The Overground got us quickly to Stratford, where we took the lift into the subway.  My friend rushed into Easfield to the Marks by the station to get some sandwiches and a drink, whilst I sat on a seat in the subway with the dreaded case.

Unfortunately, we’d chosen the wrong lifts from the platform and had ended up in the wrong subway to get the DLR to the airport. But there were  lots of lifts.  Although, I did feel guilty using one small one, that was reserved for buggies and wheelchairs.

The new line is advertised as directly linking Stratford and London City Airport, but at various times of the day, you have to change at Canning Town.

We were of course travelling at one of those times of day without a direct train.

It was a few minutes wait, but the train got us quickly to Canning Town.

However, there is no information at the station on how to transfer and the signage actually points you back to the platform you have just arrived on.

At the minimum Canning Town station needs.

  1. A consolidated train departure board on each platform, telling you when the next few trains are leaving.  Dalston Junction and Highbury and Islington stations have them, so why not Canning Town?
  2. They do have an information booth, but it was unmanned.
  3. The signs to the platform you need could be much better.

It would be nice, if there could be more staff about, as there were lots of people wandering around aimlessly, looking for their trains.

The perfect solution would be for all four destinations of the DLR at the station to have separate platforms.

  1. Stratford and Stratford International.  This is the case.
  2. Bank and the City.  This is the case.
  3. Beckton. Trains can be upstairs or downstairs.
  4. City airport and Woolwich Arsenal.  Again upstairs and downstairs.

I wonder if the politicians, civil servants, accountants and engineers who designed the system, have ever used the DLR and completely misjudged where people would like to go. After all Stratford is a superb rail interchsnge now and gets passengers all over north east London and East Anglia very quickly and easily.

Also, could we please have a departure board for the airport at Canning Town, that tells the truth and is up-to-date.

Before you ask, m y friend got to the airport on time.

September 28, 2011 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Selfish Smoker

I was waiting outside a friend of mine’s offices, when an attractive shop assistant walked out of the back entrance of Heals, bought a coffee in the shop next to me and then crossed the road to where my friend worked and then proceeded to have a fag on the steps in front of the building.

The shop assistant suddenly wasn’t so attractive anymore.  I bet she’ll be a lined old bag when she’s forty, if she continues to be attracted to the dreaded weed.

September 28, 2011 Posted by | World | | Leave a comment

What Do We Do With the Old District/Met/Circle Line Trains?

Last night, I travelled to and from to Upton Park on some of the old D-stock trains. They may be thirty years old and are to be replaced in 2015, but they asren’t fit for the scrap heap yet.  In fact with a bit of a tart-up, they would probably last another twenty years or so, judging by how well most Metro-Cammell trains were built.

Ride to Upminster and back on one and then say that they should be scrapped forthwith. You won’t get the words out, as none of the problems on the line, are the D-stock.

The good burghers of Harrogate, who might or might not live up to that Yorkshire stereotype of being canny have proposed that some of these trains be used between Leeds, Harrogate, Knaresborough and York.

The respected rail commentator, Alan Williams, hasn now weighed in with some south common sense.  It might be Yorkshire common sense to, as I think he lives in Scarborough.

  1. He asks why this system is not being proposed elsewhere, like for the Welsh Valleys.
  2. He also says that it the thinking is very much in line with the McNulty Report. I suppose one could ask, if the civil servants are in-line with it. They probably aren’t as they never travel outside of London, except by air or limousine! It would be interesting to know how many of the top civil servants, who effectively run our railways have travelled in a Pacer.
  3. He says too, that they could use a modern protected third rail system, where the electric rail couldn’t be touched by trespassers. This is used on the DLR in the UK and in many places abroad. Perhaps civil servants would be more impressed with the proposals after a round trip of Europe inspecting systems elsewhere?

We could have a competition, where there was a prize for the most innovative use in a railway context of the D-stock trains.

September 28, 2011 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , | Leave a comment

Cash For Scrap

No wonder we get so much metal thefts with big screen adverts like this at football grounds.

Where to Sell Your Scrap Metal For Cash

I took this picture at West Ham last night!

If I was the Transport Minister, I’d get them banned.

September 28, 2011 Posted by | News, Sport, Transport/Travel | , | 1 Comment