Green Arrow At York
I didn’t know any of the Class V2 were still in existence.
Green Arrow At York
But Green Arrow seemed to be in pretty good condition. I can remember them working out of Kings Cross in the early 1950s to places like Hull and Lincoln.
According to Wikipedia it might be scheduled to be returned to working condition. Although not as glamorous as the A4 Pacifics, it is the sole survivor of a class of locomotive, that proved influential in keeping the railways running during the Second World War.
Miliband Gets The Digger Out
In East London, there is TUCA, which I call London’s University of Hole Digging.
Judging my Ed Miliband’s pronouncement in the last few minutes on his party’s relationship with the Trade Unions, he has certainly done the first part of the course at that University.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to have done part two, where you learn how to get out of hole, you’ve just dug!
Why Is This Page Being Viewed?
The BBC has a list of the ten most viewed pages on its News web site. But this one concerning Andrew Mitchell, dated the 20th October last year is listed as the eighth most viewed page.
Strange!
What Would Fred Perry Have Thought?
As I worked on my computer or drove around the country, I would often have the radio on. I can remember listening to BBC Radios 2 and 5, as they covered Wimbledon in the 1980s and early 1990s, when Fred Perry was one of the summarisers. He was very good and talked eloquently about the sport he loved.
Fred Perry died in 1995, so he never saw Andy Murray, although he may have seen Tim Henman.
I do wonder what his thoughts would have been, if he’d seen Murray’s win yesterday.
Andy Murray Shows The BBC Were Wrong To Move To Manchester
Andy Murray’s win is the lead story on BBC Breakfast, but he can’t appear in the studio with the trophy, to give out a very strong feelgood factor that we all need, as the program comes from Manchester.
If ever that ill-thought out move was exposed as a mistake, it is today. The BBC will have to make-do with a video link from the All-England Club at Wimbledon.
I won’t give odds on one of the BBC’s rival getting Murray and the trophy on air.
Poundland Stops Sales Of Chinese Lanterns
Poundland should be congratulated on this move reported here on the BBC.
I must say, it’s about time especially after the big fire last week.
Room At The Top
The Times today has a big article about how the office space in The Shard has not been letting very well.
If we assume their report is correct, then could this be because, The Shard is not a building that those who live in this great city, don’t generally like the building. I don’t think I’ve actually met anybody who lives here, who has visited the viewing galleries or speaks positively about the building. Admittedly, I’ve met a few from out of town, who have liked the experience.
So does this negative attitude amongst the people of London, put decision makers off renting space in the tower.
Apart from the fact, that it gets into every picture you seem to take of London, with the notable exception of the cable-car, where Canary Wharf is in the way, the biggest problem I have with the building, is that is has questionable aerodynamics. When I end up at London Bridge station and want to get home, I go to the bus station and get a friendly 141 bus to perhaps fifty metres from my house. But on a breezy day, the turbulence around the base of The Shard can be fearsome. So I now take other routes on breezy days!
I suspect, anybody interested in renting space on a windy day, would go elsewhere!
The Shard is a classic case of a designer not making sure all the consequences of his design are covered.
Perhaps the building is only suffering from the same sort of problems as did CentrePoint in the late 1960s, which stood empty for five years on completion.
If Ed Miliband Can’t Run The Labour Party, How Could He Run The Country?
After reading stories like this one about candidate selection in Falkirk, the question in the title of this post has to be asked.
Especually after he has had to call in the Police, to sort the mess out.
Margaret Thatcher Day
The BBC is reporting that some Tory MPs want the August Bank Holiday to be renamed Margaret Thatcher Day in honour of the late former Prime Minister.
I think that not everything about Mrs. Thatcher was either good or bad but even if I was a massive supporter, I would not want to see the renaming.
Renaming the day would set a very dangerous precedent and every interest group would want a day named after their hero, so the arguments would go on ad infinitum, when there are more pressing problems facing the country.
But then most politicians don’t know a bad idea, when they see it!
A Word Calls Up A Storm In Germany
My old German teacher; Frank Stabler, said that the German’s loved words and often joined them together to make long new ones.
But a new word imported into German from American English is causing a bit of a controversy.
The word is shitstorm and it was voted Anglicism of the Year in 2012 by German language experts, as is reported here.
It’s even been used by Angela Merkel, but I don’t think I’ve ever used it!
The Anonymous Widower 