I’ve Just Got My World Cup Beer In
I’ll let the Germans win the beer war in this World Cup. English gluten-free beer seems to be sold out!
I ordered this beer from Beers of Europe.
It’s strange that the Germans can make good gluten-free beer, but can’t generally get the food right!
German coeliacs must live by beer alone!
Where Did It All Go Wronga
This is the title of an article in the Sunday Times about Wonga, which describes how the company is not doing as well as it was and isn’t heading for world domination any more.
The article blames the usual reasons for the decline; bad publicity, hostile politicians and regulators, which is probably partly true.
But I’ll throw in another reason.
Wonga undoubtedly has world class technology as Robert Peston said here.
But as in my time, I’ve been a programmer at the top of my profession, I know that it is difficult to stop competitors imitating what you have done.
So I do wonder if other lenders with a higher moral stance, have got their technical act together, so that they have reduced the size of Wonga’s territory.
It may be now, that if you ask a reputable financial institution, by using similar and possibly better technology than Wonga, the result of your loan application is given earlier. And of course in some of those decisions, lenders will get their loans.
All the fuss about Wonga, may have persuaded people that there are better ways to organise your finances.
So it looks like Wonga’s bubble has been pricked!
Two Other Low Profile Rail Projects
Over the next few years there are a lot of projects being implemented on the UK Rail Network, as I listed here.
But two other projects that few have heard of, will have a significant effect on UK rail services.
Travel in or out of Kings Cross and you don’t realise the work what is going on underneath the lines going into the station.
The two Canal Tunnels are being fitted out, which will allow trains on the Thameslink route to go up the East Coast Main Line to Peterborough and Cambridge. These will probably be the most significant new tunnels to be fitted out and opened in the period between the Channel Tunnel and Crossrail. According to the provisional timetable for Thameslink, eight of the 24 trains each hour in each direction will go to and from the ECML. Of these eight trains, four will go to Cambridge. So many difficult cross-London journeys will become much simpler and will become either direct or will involve just a single change.
But think again!
Twenty-four trains an hour is a train every two and a half minutes between St. Pancras and Blackfriars. And to make matters more difficult, the trains will have to change electrical systems from overhead to third rail or vice-versa halfway through each journey.
How do they do that?
New signalling will be installed and the new Class 700 trains will take advantage of this to maintain the schedule. They will be fitted with ERTMS to aid in this task.
And this leads me to the other hidden project that is going to completely change the UK’s railways.
The project is ERTMS or European Rail Traffic Management System. Network Rails plan is here.
In simple words it means that all conventional signals will be removed from the tracks on the railway and the train drivers will have everything on a screen in the cab. This sounds very similar to the way airline pilots have worked for years.
This is Network Rail’s view of the benefits.
Installing ERTMS across the country as signalling becomes life-expired will save an estimated 40 per cent over conventional systems. Each train will run at an appropriate safe speed, allowing more trains onto the tracks. ERTMS will improve train performance and reduce energy consumption.
As an example of what it will mean, most high speed lines in the UK, will be limited to 140 mph instead of 125. This could mean thirty minutes off the journey time from London to Scotland.
My Thoughts On Uber
There has been a lot of opposition to the taxi-app called Uber around the world, with London taxi-drivers being particularly vocal.
It probably won’t affect me in London, as I’m not a very heavy user of taxis. Usually, I only use them, when late in the evening, I want to get home from a station and I’m tired.
I wouldn’t use Uber though, as I don’t do apps on my mobile phone. So my only worry is that Uber is so successful, black cabs become a rarity and I can’t find one when I need one.
We should also remember that a lot of people are like me and need to sit down to do anything complicated on a smartphone. Which probably means I’ll avoid apps like the plague.
I also avoid signing up to many companies, as they just fill my inbox with spam. I suspect that if I downloaded an app for a bookmaker, I’d constantly be pestered to have a eit. I’m in control, not the company and anybody who thinks otherwise doesn’t get my custom or business. As an example, if there is an alternative to Virgin Trains, I use it if it’s cheaper or more convenient, as Virgin keep sending me junk mail through my letterbox.
I also think that black cabs should trade on their strengths, like their knowledge, their ranks and their general friendliness and jokes.
They also should make it, that all black cabs take bank and credit cards. Last Saturday, I could have had an embarrassing moment, when I took a taxi back from Waterloo. I thought I didn’t have enough cash and the driver didn’t take cards. But luckily, I had another note tucked away in my wallet.
Tottenham Court Road To Be Transformed
It has been announced and reported here, that the Tottenham Court Road area of London is to be transformed. Here’s the first two paragraphs from the BBC article.
Tottenham Court Road will be reserved for buses and bicycles only during daylight hours from Monday to Saturday.
Camden Council wants to make the central London street safer and boost business ahead of the opening of a new Crossrail station in 2018.
I like the idea, but will everybody else?
I’m sure that it won’t be popular with taxi drivers, as how will they drop well-heeled customers at Heals?
I have a feeling that Crossrail and Thameslink could be the key to making this scheme work? I’ve not seen any figures, but how many people will switch to the trains rather than drive in London, when the two railways open around 2018. If the switch is quite substantial, then cars in London will drop and this will speed up the buses.
We live in interesting times.
A Market Named After The Queen
I find it somewhat unusual that the French have named a market after the Queen, as is reported here on the BBC. The French have also brought the Wikipedia entry for the market in line.
We rarely name places after famous people these days, although it did happen in the past. And if we do, it is unlikely to be after a foreign monarch or politician. Prince Charles for example has a cinema in London and a hospital in Merthyr Tydfil, but where is General de Gaulle Square?
In France though there are lots of places named after Kennedy, Churchill and Roosevelt.
There is a list here of everything named after the Queen. On a quick look Canada seems to honoured her more than we have.
I suspect that the Queen wasn’t that bothered one way or the other about the renaming of the market, but she probably accepted the honour with grace.
The Anonymous Widower 