92 Clubs – Day 15 – A Day Off
Because of the need to slow down a bit and the severity of my hay fever, I decided to take the day off.
Rihanna Smokes on Album Cover
I wouldn’t know who Rhanna is! But I certainly don’t want to kow, as she is seen smoking on her new album cover.
What a bad example!
My only satisfaction, is that she is more likely to get the cancer than I am.
News on the Health Lottery
I don’t play any lottery, but I am not in favour of Richard Desmond’s Health Lottery.
So I just wanted to see what others thought and typed Health Lottery into Google News.
So what did I find?
There are a lot of articles about hospices worried that they will lose money. There was this piece from the Yorkshire Post for example. And quite a few more too, in the same vein!
This article in the trade magazine, The Grocer, wasn’t very optimistic about sales for their readers. Good!
The only positive articles I can find are in rags, like the Daily Star and the Daily Express, papers which are owned by Richard Desmond.
But this is balanced by articles in more serious papers.
Let’s hope that the good people of the UK soon realise the real purpose of this lottery, which is a money-making scheme for its owner.
I shall be following this story with interest.
I’m also boycotting shops that sell the tickets for the Health Lottery. As that includes W H Smith, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Tesco and Asda, I now can only do my grocery shopping at Waitrose or Marks and Spencer. I could include the Co-Op, but they don’t have a decent shop near me.
Getting Between Kings Cross/St. Pancras and Euston
London’s three major stations that serve the North and of course the Continent; Kings Cross, St. Pancras and Euston, are all close together on the Euston Road.
The first has been superbly rebuilt, the second is approaching the end of a major redevelopment and they now share probably the best Underground station in London. But Euston is rather isolated from the other two, with several ways to get between them.
- You can take a rather unpleasant walk along the busy Euston Road.
- You can use the Metropolitan or Circle lines, but this means a walk to or from Euston Square at the Euston end.
- You can dive into the Underground and take the Victoria or Northern lines, but it is not step free at the Euston end, and not recommended with a heavy case. Both deep stations are also easy places to get lost or confused.
- Going from Euston to Kings Cross or St. Pancras is quite easy by bus 30, 73, 205 or 476, which you catch in front of Euston station, but the reverse journey means you have to cross Euston Road twice.
- There are of course taxis. But not everyone can afford them.
As I had time to spare at Kings Cross, before I caught my train to Hartlepool, I decided to investigate and found a map which showed there was a fairly simple direct walking route that avoided the pollution and traffic of the Euston Road.
I started by walking through St. Pancras station and exited by the cab rank onto Midland Road, with the intention of going down Brill Place.
Crossing Midland Road
There is a light controlled crossing, but it is rather blocked by badly placed railings and the cab rank. Brill Place, which is the start of the road to Euston is on the left.
Brill Place is flanked on one side by the new Francis Crick Institute and on the right, there is a small pleasant park, which could provide an oasis from the crowds in the stations.
Brill Place
Brill Place itself, is not a grotty dusty road lined by parked cars, but a wide tree-lined avenue that leads on to Phoenix Road.
Towards Pheonix Road
At the end of Phoenix Road, you just cross Eversholt Street on one of the two pedestrian crossings and you walk down the road to Euston station.
The advantages of the route are as follows.
- The route is virtually flat.
- It would be easy trailing quite a large case.
- There are only two major roads to cross and both have light-controlled pedestrian crossings.
- There is the park, which would as I said before, be a better place to eat a packed meal than the station.
- You do pass a few shops and a reasonable-looking pub.
But there are disadvantages.
- The route is not signposted.
- The barriers at the St. Pancras end are wrongly placed.
- The side entrance to Euston station could be better.
So how would I make it better, so that in effect we had one super station for the north.
- I’d start with sign-posting. The posts are there at the St. Pancras end already.
- Perhaps, it should be marked on the ground, as a Kings Cross/St. Pancras to Euston walking route.
- You might even provide some eco-friendly transport along the route, like an electric shuttle bus or bicycle rickshaws.
- A couple of suitably placed Boris bike stations would help too.
- Shops and cafes should be developed along the road. There are some already.
To me though, this is one of those things that will happen. But probably first in a very unofficial way, as how many of those that work in the Francis Crick Institute will commute into Euston and walk there? It won’t be a small number.
It took me about fifteen minutes to do the walk and I just got a 205 bus back to Kings Cross for my train from the front of Euston station.
92 Clubs – The Biggest Problem
This does seem to be the pollen count and my hay fever. Would you believe that the count is High today in Coventry!
But my balance seem to be better. I did complain here about Virgin’s Pendolinos, but now I can walk up and down the moving train with ease.
92 Clubs – Day 7 – Burnley, Burton Albion
As I said in an earlier post, I took the morning easy and just turned up at Euston, bought a ticket and took the 11:30 train to Preston, where I changed for Burnley Manchester Road, which is the nearest station to the Burnley ground, Turf Moor. The walk-up ticket cost me £48.70, as opposed to the £13.85, I’d paid for an advance ticket, for an early train. But of course I couldn’t use that one after my troubles in Bristol! Well that is if I wanted to stay sane, fit and well.
Turf Moor
I arrived at the ground just before two after about 30 minutes walk. The trouble is that the station is on one hill and the ground is on another and the only public transport between the two is a taxi. I’ve said before, that crossing the main road by the station in Welcome to Burnley is not the easiest. I met a lady at the station as I moved on to Leeds, when I left and she agreed.
But the people at the club are very friendly and I got a good welcome there.
Welcome to Burnley FC
The receptionist took the picture, which sums up the club well, and told me about one of their former players who has suffered a serious stroke. My best wishes go out to him and his family.
She also told me, how she and a few friends were having an expedition to Brighton to see Burnley play in December, staying for the weekend nearby. Sadly, I won’t be going to Burnley this season as Ipswich play them on a Tuesday night.
From Burnley, I took the train to Leeds, on my way to Burton Albion. It was in fact three trains and I suffered my first delay of the week as it was a bit of a tortuous journey, where I had to change at both Leeds and Derby. The late train, was the service from Leeds to Derby, which was twenty-two minutes late and that knocked on. I dfo wonder how many tickets are issued between Burnley and Burton Albion
Outside Burton Albion's Pirelli Stadium
The picture sums up Burton, although it wasn’t the club or the twon’s fault. To say it was raining would be an understatement, so I chickened out walking to the ground, as pneumonia would not be something to add to my ailments. The picture was taken by a cheery taxi driver, originally from Wimbledon.
Originally, when this day was planned, I would have moved on to Bury. But walking around Manchester, late at night and in the rain, I decided that to return home would be a better idea. After changing trains at Birmingham, I was in London around ten and asleep in bed, just after eleven.
Prostate Cancer Drug Trial Stopped Early
The headline was the bad news. But it was stopped because it would have been unethical to continue according to this report from the BBC, as the tests were so succssful.
So it was really good news!
I’ve Hardly Ever Slept Like I Did Last Night
I fell asleep on the living room floor at about 17:00. I got up about 20:00 and then went to bed, where I slept some more.
I did get up at about two in the morning for an hour or so, but other than that I slept through until five, when I got up to watch the rugby.
It could be the hay fever drugs. Either they’re sending me to sleep or they’re winning.
Nose Bleeds and Hay Fever
I was travelling on a bus today, when I sneezed so hard that my nose bled. So I had to get off and get some more tissues. The only shop was a Tesco and there was a queue, so I used the quick self-service till. It was difficult as all I wanted was two small packs of tissues and I couldn’t get past one stage because the maschine kept tellimg me to swipe my loyalty card and asking me how many bags I needed.
I don’t do loyalty, unless it’s been earned.
Tesco were lucky that the one bloody tissue I did have was enough to at least stop the blood going all over their floor.
Sunday Times On Strokes
They have a series of articles on strokes today. One in particular talks about the new drugs to replace Warfarin. Information for the article was provided by Boehringer Ingelheim.
So who makes one of the new drugs?
You got it in one!
Am I changing?
No! All the doctors I’ve seen from the stars that appear on TV, to the newly qualified have advised me against them.
The reason is that it took us many years to know all the Warfarin problems. The biggest is actually people getting rather mixed up, as to what is the dose.
Solving that is a managememt problem and doesn’t require a new drug with unknown side-effects.
In the article, it says that with the new drugs, the great advantage is that you take one a day. I have taken the same dose of Warfarin for over a year now and the dose is 5 mg (pink) most days and 4 mg (1 blue and 1 brown) on Saturday and Monday.
What could be simpler?
The Anonymous Widower 