It’s Even Cold In India
I like this article from Rahul Tandon on the BBC’s web site.
What is going wrong with the weather?
Understatement From Network Rail
One of my least favourite station is Manchester Victoria, which looks like it was last deep refurbished and cleaned, when its namesake was on the throne. On the Network Rail page about their plans for the station is this classic phrase.
As anyone who has been to Manchester Victoria on a rainy day can tell you, there is a problem with the roof.
But at least something is being done. They state this about the new roof.
The £16m new roof is likely to be made of ETFE (Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene) – the material used at Manchester Piccadilly station, the Eden Project in Cornwall and the swimming pool built for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, known as the Water Cube. ETFE is lighter, cheaper and lets in more light than glass. It’s also self cleaning, making it an ideal material for roofs.
You do wonder if this material could be used in other places to improve buildings at a more affordable cost than traditional methods.
I’ll look forward to using the new Manchester Victoria station in a few years time.
Demolition At London Bridge Station
Work has properly started on the new London Bridge station, as the pictures show.
The bus station is still closed, but according to a guy in the buses information booth, it might be open next Monday. I think he did mean the 11th and he blamed the weight of the Shard for the damage to the sewer that caused the need for closure. He didn’t like the building either, as I don’t!
For more details on the rebuilding of the station, look here on the Network Rail web site.
Stratford Panorama From The Emirates Air-Line
The picture shows the Olympic Park from the Emirates Air-Line cable-car.
Stratford Panorama From The Emirates Air-Line
The mouth of the River Lee is in the foreground.
The Crossrail Spoil Conveyors At The Limmo Site
The pictures show the conveyors to take spoil away from the tunnels being dug from the site on the Limmo peninsular.
The pictures were of course taken from the Emirates Air-Line cable-car.
Canary Wharf From Canning Town Station
One of the best free views of Canary Wharf is from the high level DLR platforms at Canning Town station.
Canary Wharf From Canning Town Station
Canning Town is a good station to start an exploration of the mouth of the River Lee.
How Many Russians Will Fail Dope Tests In Gothenburg?
I’m watching the athletics from Gothenburg at the moment. You do wonder with their record of the previous years, as detailed in this article on the BBC, how many Russians will be caught cheating?
Mincepiration
What a lovely name for a cookery book featured in The Times yesterday. The recipes they showed were all gluten-free or could be made so by using gluten-free flour.
I may not buy the book, but I think I’ll try and find a copy and have a browse.
A year ago, I’d have just bought it on Amazon. But their tax antics and the offensive tee-shirts, they have sold recently, have put me off buying from them.
Mick McCarthy’s Communication Skills
Mick McCarthy has a reputation that befits his breeding of a Yorkshireman, with an Irish father, brought up in Barnsley. In fact the quote in my post on the match yesterday is typical McCarthy with quite a few asterisks.
Obviously, he and Roy Keane, would probably not hit it off, if they were the only two in a lifeboat from a sinking ship and they needed to row as a team to safety.
But in Mick McCarthy’s past, he played for Lyon in France.
So which language does he use to speak to Guirane N’Daw. As the player probably learned his English in Birmingham, it could be an interesting conversation.
The Player Who Lost It And The Match
The match at Portman Road looked like it was going to end up as a hard-fought goal-less draw.
It all turns on an incident in the second half, where Wes Morgan, Leicester’s caption got involved in a couple of altercations with Michael Chopra and then Daryl Murphy. He claimed he had been kicked and elbowed, but all the referee did was book him for protesting. he then made a big mistake and Ipswich scored. Here’s Mick McCarthy on the incident from an article in the East Anglian.
Asked about the incidents leading up to the goal, McCarthy said: “I think first and foremost he (Morgan) blocked Chopra by running across the front of him and then there was a tangle of legs. Whether Chops caught him or not I don’t know.
“That upset the apple cart a bit. I think Chops jumped up with his arms a it at a corner kick, but didn’t make any contact (there was also a coming to with Murphy).
“That would be the last of my worries if I was playing against Chops though. I’d be kicking the ***** out of him and be making sure he didn’t put the ball in the net.
“It got a little bit fractious. There were pushes in both boxes, I’m screaming for fouls, he (Nigel Pearson) is screaming for fouls, there are words between us.
“As a centre-half you have to keep your composure – because that’s what people do. As a centre-half I went out with sole intention to upset the two ******* I was up against, or anyone who came anywhere near me.
“I played against Mick Harford and Tony Cunningham. Their intention was smash me across the nose and upset me.
I was close to the incidents and we didn’t notice anything, but then Chopra was being the professional irritant all day, by harrying for everything.
A big factor in the win was McCarthy’s use of substitutes. He took Chopra off after the first incident with Morgan, to avoid further trouble. This substitution got Daryl Murphy on the pitch. I’ve talked to Murphy and he is very much the articulate Irishman, so was he winding up Morgan? At the death, McCarthy put Andy Drury to effectively keep the ball and stop Leicester from equalising.
It was all a bit different to the match at Leicester in November.
The Anonymous Widower 