Planning A Home Run From Dubrovnik
I have decided that my next Home Run will be from Dubrovnik. I am not booking it yet, as I have one health issue to clear up first. I also want to get some more of my kitchen done first. So dates look like as follows.
Leave London on July 27th by either easyJet or British Airways.
Return to London on Aug 6th or 7th on a late Eurostar out of Paris. Ipswich are at Brentford on the 8th, so I want to be home before this match.
C and myself only went to Croatia once and that was on a long drive back from the Greek Islands in the 1970s, where we passed through Zagreb. One of C’s phrases was to describe people as grebes for some reason, so I can remember her making comments about the Zagreebians.
So one of the reasons is to get myself more knowledge of Croatia.
I also intend to go to Munich to get a pizza and a beer and to Karlsruhe to have a further look at their large tram-train network or Stadtbahn.
A Possible Itinerary
July 27th – Fly to Dubrovnik – Spend three nights in Dubrovnik
July 30th – Bus to Split – Spend one night in Split
July 31st – Train to Zagreb – Spend two nights in Zagreb
August 2nd – Train to Ljubljana – Spend one night in Ljubljana
August 3rd – Train to Villach and Munich – Spend one night in Munich
August 4th – Train to Karlsruhe – Spend two nights in Karlsruhe
August 6th – Train to Paris and London
Did You Know Sheffield Had A Strassenbahn?
I didn’t either, but if you read this first paragraph of this Wikipedia entry for NET 2012.
Der NET 2012 (Abkürzung für Niederflur Elektrotriebwagen 2012) ist ein Straßenbahntriebwagen, der bei Vossloh für die Verkehrsbetriebe Karlsruhe hergestellt wurde. Der Triebwagen wurde für den Einsatz bei der Straßenbahn Karlsruhe entwickelt und verkehrt dort seit 18. Oktober 2014. Ähnliche Fahrzeuge werden für die Straßenbahn Chemnitz und die Straßenbahn Sheffield hergestellt.
I know it’s in German, but look at the last sentence. It loosely says similar cars will be produced for the Strassenbahn in Chemnitz and Sheffield.
So as I suspected most of technology for the Class 399 tram-train for Sheffield is proven in extensive use on the Karlsruhe Strassenbahn. It would appear that there may even some vehicles that run on both 750 VDC and 16.7 kVAC in Karlsruhe, according to this Wikipedia entry for Karlsruhe Stadtbahn.
The big difference is that the Karlsruhe tram-trains come from Dusseldorf, whereas the Sheffield vehicles are coming from Valencia. But if you look at the Vossloh specifications of the two tram-trains, the German NET 2012 and the British Class 399, they seem to be very similar.
As the first Sheffield tram-train has been unveiled in Valencia, it shouldn’t be long before they are seen on the streets of Sheffield, even if it will be a couple of years before they run to Rotherham.
Monkey Hadley Common
Monkey Hadley Common or Hadley Wood as we called it, was one of the places I used to go regularly as a child with my friend Richard Plumb.
Today, I walked through it with a friend before having some lunch at Cockfosters.
Surprisingly, despite being probably fifty-five years since I’ve been there, some parts had changed little and I could remember everything well.
There was always fishing in Jack’s Lake and that was probably a lot cleaner.
Ofen we would go through the woods to the East Coast Main Line, where we would do the things that boys did in those days, like putting coins on the track, so the trains would flatten them.
Do kids still do that?
The railway incidentally is much changed with electrification and whereas in the 1950s, you saw perhaps one express to and from the North every half-an-hour or so, the trains are much more frequent now.
The Church Where C And Myself Married
These pictures show Christ Church, Cockfosters, where C and myself got married on September the seventh, 1968.
That day is still the only one, where I have entered the church. And it was locked today. If that sounds strange, C had been a Sunday School teacher in the church and we had met the vicar before the wedding, in the vicarage.
One of the church’s claims to fame, is that it was where the Memorial Service for Elvis Presley was held in the UK.
Cockfosters Tube Station
Cockfosters tube station is the terminus of the Piccadilly Line.
It is not the spectacular architectural design of other stations on the line.
As a child, I only used the station occasionally and that was to use the barbers, where I got my hair cut.
Period Details At Arnos Grove Tube Station
The Grade II* Listed Arnos Grove tube station is one of the architectural gems of the Northern Piccadilly Line. Today, as I journeyed to Cockfosters, I got off and looked around, taking these pictures.
In all the years I lived in North London, I don’t think, I ever used the station as a destination.
London’s transport authorities have certainly looked after it well.
Read This Article If You’re With The Big Six Energy Companies
It surprises me how many people are still with the Big Six energy companies.
Anyone stupid enough to still be, should read this article by Stewart Dalby on the Proactive Investors web site.
His experience of changing from British Gas to Good Energy was much the same as mine when I changed from mPower to OVO. The big company used every trick in and out of the book to stop him changing.
The Big Six energy companies are a total disgrace and Stewart’s headline on his article sums up what you do.
Self-help is the only way to beat the Big Six
But remember the paraphrase of the Cat Steven’s song – The First Cut is the Deepest – The First Change is the Toughest
You may need to be extremely patient to get the change you want.
One thing I would always do, is go direct to the company to which you want to change and not use any intermeiate or comparison site. So if you have trouble changing, at least you can test out your new supplier’s customer services and if they’re any good they probably know how to shove a red-hot poker up the big company’s arse.
But once you’ve done it, you will have all the numbers available to do it again. (OVO sent me a single A4 page!) And I very much doubt that a small supplier would be as difficult to change from, as any of the Big Six.
Crossrail’s Shedule Of Improvements For Western Surface Stations.
I’m always looking for this page, which has a schedule of improvident for the station on the Western surface section of Crossrail.So I’ve put the link here, so I can find it.
The page finishes with this summary of the work.
The scope and timing of any work needed at Twyford and Reading stations has yet to be determined.
New station buildings are proposed at Acton Main Line, West Ealing, Southall and Hayes & Harlington stations with new footbridges providing step-free access to the platforms and new bay platforms at West Ealing and Hayes & Harlington. A new footbridge is being built at West Drayton station to provide step-free access to platforms 2-5.
Platforms will be extended at Ealing Broadway, West Ealing, Southall, Hayes & Harlington, West Drayton, Slough and Maidenhead stations. All stations will benefit from new signage, help points, customer information screens and CCTV.
It also gives expected completion dates.
Crossrail’s pages for the North-East and South-East surface sections are not so informative.
My New Cooker Hood Has Arrived
My cooker hood arrived around seven this evening in the most inappropriate and large packaging.
Let’s hope it fits to the wall!
A Flypast Over London
I took these pictures as the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight flew over the City of London today.
The fourth picture shows the area where I was standing on the walkway across the Barbican.
It is a good place to see any flypast that is going over Buckingham Palace, as the pilots use the three distinctive towers to line up for their trip across London. This Google Map shows Central London.
Flypast Route Over London
The Barbican is illustrated by the red arrow and Buckingham Palace is at the bottom left hand corner.
The procedure used by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight was explained, when one of the pilots was the guest of Test Match Special on BBC Radio.
When asked what you do if there is an engine failure, the pilot stated that there is only the Thames.
The Anonymous Widower 