Bob Diamond Has Kept Quiet
In all the pontifications about Stephen Hester of RBS, I can’t find anything that Bob Diamond of Barclays has said.
Perhaps he’s just being sensible or he has not responded to any journalist, who’s asked what he thinks!
could it be a pointer to something? Or if he says nothing, then he won’t have to refute what he said or change his mind.
Under The New Roof at Kings Cross
I popped into Kings Cross today and took these pictures of the new roof over the Western Extension to the station.
Note that a poster says it will open in March 2012.
I didn’t show the most disgusting part of the new station; the smokers surrounding the entrance to the area.
Is Bob Crow Going to the Olympics?
I suspect that if he does go, he won’t be too popular after holding the organisers to ransom over extra payments to his members.
Unless of course Ken wins the London Mayor election and he’ll be a guest of honour, along with a lot of other strange people.
London Bus Myths
When we were kids, there was always a story or myth about a particular London bus route, that ever since one got a direct hit from a German bomb has gone in convoy. I know 38s, seem to run in threes, but I don’t think it was that route.
The myth round here is that 4s have a take your own line approach to getting from one end of their route to the other. This was illustrated today as I saw a 4 going towards the Islington Angel on the Essex Road. I did find though when I got home, that there had been a traffic accident.
There must be many more myths.
Why Don’t The Police Have Fake Tasers?
There’s a whole list of safety issues concering tasers and they are documented here.
Would it not be sensible to create a fake one, that to the untrained eye looked like real one? These could be issued to officers and would be used in a first instance, as one of the Met’s experts has just said, that when most people see a taser, they calm down and give up.
It’ll Be All Change On Buses
I was searching for something else and found this article about hybrid-buses in The Engineer.
One new concept, I’ve not come across before is what is called Flybus, which uses a flywheel as a battery.
I am convinced that hybrid buses are the future, as I have three routes that are partly hybrid near me. From a noise point of view they are so much better for customers and bystanders alike and of course they use a lot less fuel
Alcohol Has Never Been Allowed On US Navy Ships – Wrong!
Anybody who knows anything about warships, knows those in the United States Navy are alcohol-free.
However, may years ago, I met a guy, who in the early-1960s had been an officer on a nuclear submarine in the United States Navy. They had been doing a joint exercise with the Royal Navy and he started the tale by saying that when the two navies work together, if possible all meetings between senior officers are held on Royal Navy ships, as food and drink is better. Especially on November 11th.
After this exercise the submarine went into Portsmouth for a bit of rest and recreation and to replenish supplies, before returning to the United States. The duties of the teller of this tale included getting the provisions. As one can imagine and especially in the early-1960s, lots of things they needed were not available in the naval base at Portsmouth, although they would be now. The only thing for which there wasn’t an obviously an easy substitute was the fresh orange juice. After all, Portsmouth isn’t exactly Florida. So the helpful men of the Senior Service substituted several hundred bottles of beer.
When he got back to the submarine, he was obviously rather nervous and decided to make a clean breast of it to the Captain. After all several members of the crew, if not all, now knew of the beer, so to ditch it would ruin his relationship with them. The Captain warned him not to do it again, said could he try a few bottles and provided he didn’t see any of the beer or anybody the remotest bit intoxicated, he would let the matter rest.
So where did they hide all of these bottles of beer, as you could imagine that secret space is a bit limited on a submarine?
They hid the bottles in the torpedo tubes.
The Anonymous Widower 