The East Beach Cafe At Littlehampton
On my way to Yeovil, I had lunch at the Thomas Heatherwick-designed East Beach Cafe at Littlehampton.
It was a good gluten-free lunch of fish and chips and a glass of wine.
The cafe was very busy too and I suspect on a lovely summer’s, it might be difficult to get a table.
It was also a fair walk to and from the station and as ever the signs could have been better.
I don’t know whether Thomas Heatherwick has ever been to Felixstowe, but the ceiling detail was very like the walls of Charlie Manning’s Amusements in the town.
East London To Yeovil By The Long Way
Yeovil is a long way from London and when I saw the fixture list, I felt it was a game that would be impossible to see.
So when I found out that Thomas Heatherwick had designed a café at Littlehampton, a town I’d never visited, I thought perhaps I could go there on the way and have a decent lunch.
So I booked a ticket to Littlehampton from Clapham Junction and then another from Littlehampton to Yeovil, with changes at Fratton and Salisbury.
I started just after ten and took a Class 378 London Overground train to Clapham Junction.
I just missed a Littlehampton train at Clapham Junction, so I had a cup of hot chocolate on the bridge at Knot Pretzels.
The train I did get to Littlehampton was direct, but it did take an hour and thirty five minutes in a comfortable Class 377. I did walk to the beach at Littlehampton see the café and have lunch.
I just caught my train out of Littlehampton at 15:23, which was the first leg of my journey along the South Coast to Yeovil to Fratton. The train was an elderly but well-refurbished Class 313.
From Fratton it was a First Great Western Class 158, which was going all the way from Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff.
The final leg was a South West Trains Class 159 from Salisbury to Yeovil Junction. I arrived on time at 18:40.
I think this journey shows up our trains in a reasonable light. The journey times are slow not because of slow trains, but because of the frequent stops and complicated route. The journey took three hours seventeen minutes from Littlehampton to Yeovil, but there was only thirty-three minutes wasted in connections.
Although some trains date from the 1980s, there wasn’t anything as bad as the dreaded Pacers that inhabit the North. The services were pretty well-used and except for the short leg from Littlehampton to Fratton, there was a catering trolley on all trains.
Would I do this journey again? I might, but I doubt I’ll ever need to do it. My next trip to the South Coast involves a trip to Brighton, which will be a lot quicker.
I had hoped to take a few pictures, but my camera died at Littlehampton.
A Worrying Report On CFCs And HCFCs
It is being reported that mysterious CFC and HCFC gases have been found in the atmosphere. Here’s the first part of the report.
Scientists have identified four new man-made gases that are contributing to the depletion of the ozone layer.
Two of the gases are accumulating at a rate that is causing concern among researchers.
Worries over the growing ozone hole have seen the production of chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) gases restricted since the mid 1980s.
I have no theory about how these gases got there, as I’m no chemist or environmental scientist.
But I do feel that there are an awful lot of unnecessary drug inhalers powered by HCFCs used in the world.
I don’t mean unnecessary from the medical point of view, although in the 1990s, there were some amazing anomalies in the prescribing of these devices.
Some years ago, I backed a company that went on to produce an inhaler, that used no compressed gases, no batteries or any other noxious or environmentally-unfriendly substance.
It was so impressive that we were brought up at the Montreal Protocol talks, where some delegates tried to get the banning of HCFCs as well. They failed as some countries and Big Pharma didn’t want a ban.
So what happened to our device?
We sold it to Bohringer Ingelheim for a lot of money and it is described on this website.
The Anonymous Widower 