Is Everybody Keeping Calm And Carrying On?
Perhaps, I should have excluded the Welsh from this, as they may be carrying on, but they certainly haven’t kept calm, as the Dragon rampages through France.
I ask this question because since the Brexit vote on June 23rd, there has not been much real news.
There has been no mass redundancies, the financial markets have settled and there have been no pro- or anti-Brexit riots on the streets.
The only real news from the Government was from George Osborne, who made the decision not to balance the budget by 2020.
It’s reported in this article on the BBC, which is entitled Osborne abandons 2020 budget surplus target.
The national media is obsessed with who will be leading the Labour and Tory parties.
I’m actually taking a practical attitude to these elections.
- Who leads the bitterly-divided Labour Party, is about as relevant these days to the UK, as who is the captain of the Mongolian football team.
- When the Tory party is in crisis, a leader usually appears, who although unfancied does at least a competent job for a few years.
The Tory party will still be here in a decade or so, but without the Sword of Europe hanging over it.
As to the Labout Party, who knows? Party members don’t!
We are facing a fascinating remainder of this year, where these important questions will be answered.
- Will Wales win Euro 2016?
- Will Andy Murray win Wimbledon?
- Will Leicester City carry on next season as they did last?
- Will Mo Farah complete a double-double of the five and ten thousand metres?
- Will Chris Froome win a third Tour de France?
- Will the weather improve and the sun break through?
- Will we ever see any electric trains running on the Great Western?
We will just carry on and apply an appropriate demeanour.
After Losing 2-1 Roy Hodgson Resigns, So What Does Corbyn Do After Losing 172-40?
I think one man is honourable,
I’ll let others judge JC!
Vinnie Jones On Lotteries
In today’s Sunday Times, Vinnie Jones is asked about life and money.
One question was “What would you do if you won the lottery jackpot?”
He replied. “I’ve won the lottery of life, which is bigger than any financial lottery.”
I’ll go along with that!
I always feel, I’ve had some very good luck and some extremely crap luck too!
The Future At Shenfield Station
There is an article on Rail Technology Magazine, which describes how Network Rail completed £14.5 million preparations for Crossrail over the bank holiday.
This is one of the comments by Andrew Gault, which describes the operation of Shenfield station after Crossrail opens.
Plus the new new bay platform (Platform 6) at Shenfield is soon to be built and once the new Platform 6 at Shenfield is built and opened then Crossrail Elizabeth Line trains will use Platforms 5 and 6 as a terminus with Platform 4 being used for Abellio Greater Anglia’s Southend Victoria trains to stop on Platform 4 freeing up Platform 3 for Semi-Fast trains and Stopping Commuter trains to Ipswich, Braintree, Colchester, Clacton-on-Sea and Intercity trains passing through Shenfield towards Norwich and Ipswich and yes Shenfield will see more passengers using Crossrail Elizabeth Line once the full service is in operation in late 2019/early 2020 and same with Abbey Wood, Reading, Maidenhead and Heathrow Airport.
Is Mr. Gault indicating that some or all fast Ipswich and Norwich trains will stop at Shenfield?
If he is correct, then it will certainly make getting to Portman Road for Tuesday Night matches a lot easier for me.
Ipswich Town’s title win in 1962 is a bigger underdog tale than Leicester City winning the Premier League
Who said that?
Ray Crawford, who scored thirty-three goals in Ipswich’s title win in 1962, did in this article in the East Anglian Daily Times. Crawford says this.
Town had been in Division Three South when England’s future World Cup-winning manager Sir Alf Ramsey took charge in 1955. There was promotion in ‘57, they were Division Two title winners in ‘61 and top-flight champions the following year. Five players were there throughout the journey.
“Leicester’s is an unbelievable story because it’s come in an era which, sadly, is dominated by money,” said Crawford. “I still think ours was a bigger achievement then theirs though.
“We were a bunch of nobodies who had never been in the top division. Everyone wrote us off. They said we didn’t have enough experience, they said we were lucky to win the Second Division and they said we were favourites to go straight back down. We didn’t have a single international until I was capped (just twice) towards the end of that season.
Ipswich declined after Sir Alf left for England. Under him, Ipswich had played a unique system suited to the players, which is what Sir Alf did to win the World Cup with England. You could argue, that Ranieri has got Leicester to play in a style that suits his players strengths and no other club has really found the answer yet!
I do wonder if Ramsey and Ranieri, who were both defenders, learned their management skills watching from the back, as the forwards wasted chances galore.
As an aside, hoe much would Chelsea or Manchester City pay for a striker, who scored thirty-three goals in a season?
The Leicester Effect On The Elections
Don’t forget that the Tories also play in blue!
The Leicester Effect
One of the readers of this blog, is a US-based Corporate Lawyer, who specialises in doing the legals for US companies, which are often hi-tech companies at the smaller end, who want to have a presence in Europe. Like me, he is widowed and in his sixties, so he started reading this site initially to satisfy his passion for European travel, as he felt we might have similar tastes and interests. Which after meeting a couple of times in London, I can confirm.
A couple of times, he’s asked me to look at particular places, as some of his clients are thinking of going there. I’ve also been sent profiles of some of his clients and asked to recommend a suitable place for them in the UK.
In one case, he asked me to suggest a place for a guy, who was a serious small-boat sailor, who wanted to set up a support office for about twenty, with good access to airports for the US and Europe. His wife was also a financial analyst for a US bank and was intending to work in the City. They felt they needed to be somewhere like Hampshire.
I suggested that they have a look at Ilford because.
- The sailing in Essex is some of the best in the world.
- Offices are plentiful and affordable.
- You’re close to the City and the centre of London.
- In a couple of years time, they’ll be a direct link to Heathrow.
The company now has a support base for Europe in a new office close to Ilford station.
The couple have bought a flat near the Olympic Park in Stratford.
The clincher on their choice, was they both like football and they have got season tickets for West Ham for next year.
I’ve met them a couple of times and don’t regret their decisions at all.
Last night, the US Corporate Lawyer sent me this e-mail.
I keep getting asked by companies about Leicester.
It’s all to do with the soccer and possibly the evil King found in a parking lot.
What do you know about Leicester?
Is it a good place to live and do business?
What are the transport connections to London like?
I shall go this week with my camera.
But who’d have thought a few years ago, that Leicester City would create inward investment into the city?
The Millwall Path
This path wasn’t here, the last time I walked this way. So I had to explore.
It eventually led to South Bermondsey station.
I think that this could become a popular walking route, as it links up to the path I took from Surrey Quays station, that goes to the still-to-br-built New Bermondsey station and on to Queens Road Peckham station.
It would appear that there is the possibility of opening another path through the arches close to the Millwall Path.
This would probably.
- Give good walking and cycling access between the development between the railway lines of the dive-under and South Bermondsey station.
- Open up more uses for the land between and the buildings under the dive-under.
- Create a direct walking route between the Surrey Quays area and Millwall Football Ground.
I think the whole area could make a very good designer shopping outlet or perhaps a high-technology or design cluster, as there are stations at each of the three corners of the site.
It is certainly a site with possibilities!
Arena Specials Make Loss
This is the headline in a news item in the May 2015 Edition of Modern Railways.
It describes how the locomotive-hauled services to Coventry Arena station to serve rugby matches at the nearby stadium have not been a success.
Reading the item in the magazine, makes me think that building this station and providing a match-day service, might not have been properly thought through.
It now looks like an expensive special train hired at a cost of tens of thousands of pounds isn’t the answer.
I don’t think that this station will see reasonable levels of use, until the Coventry to Nuneaton Line is electrified and the shuttle is run by a four-car electrical multiple unit.
Electrification is at least likely to happen, to allow electrically-hauled freight trains to use the route.
There’s No Football In London Today
As today would appear to be the best day for weather this Easter, I thought it might be an idea to go and see some live football.
But there’s not one match in London at all from the National League upwards!
The Anonymous Widower 