A Letter and a Question in The Times
A letter in The Times today asked what is the etiquette about using a mobile phone on a horse and whether it is legal or not.
To me it’s rather stupid unless of course, you have effectively parked your horse quietly at the side of the road. Riding needs both hands a lot of the time to have proper control of the horse, so one outcome of using a phone on a horse, is that you might drop the phone. I’ve never phoned from a horse, but I did try using a camera in Kenya and it wasn’t too successful.
So using a phone, might well cause you to have to dismount, which in any case is not a good idea on a public road. Your phone may also not survive the drop in one piece!
On the question of emergencies whilst on a horse, one thing that is greatly to be desired for a man, is a widdle-proof horse. I can remember a kennel-huntsman, who spent hours with a Fairy Liquid bottle getting the Master’s horse used to water passing by his ears. The Master later said he would never buy another horse off a woman.
Pedestrian Crossings
Before this last stroke, I rarely used the lights, as being a Londoner, jay-walking is a sport to be enjoyed.
But not any more! I now push the button and wait. Usually it works, but twice I’ve been run over by aggressive buggy pushers, just standing there watching the lights changing.
Battersea Power Station
One of the sad sights you see as you approach Victoria is the ruin of Battersea Power Station.
Battersea Power Station
It is such a pity that nothing sensible has been done with such an iconic building, that is actually the largest brick building in Europe!
Racing at Lingfield
As I said in an earlier post, Free As A Lark ran in the 14:20 at Lingfield today.
I took the train from Whittlesford Parkway, changing at Tottenham Hale and Victoria to get the train to Lingfield.
Lingfield Station
From the station it’s just a five minute walk to the racecourse.The ticket cost just £13.80 return with my Senior Railcard. I suspect that there were others using their Railcards for a day-out at Lingfield.
Free As A Lark ran better than last time, but not as well as I’d hoped.
Liverpool Street to Shoreditch High Street
This is a walking connection between the main-line station and the East London Line. I did it today, by walking across to Broadgate and then down the side of the station. It’s still quite long, but it is a better walk than going along Bishopsgate. There is also a convenient light-controlled crossing.
You also get this back view of Liverpool Street Station.
Back View of Liverpool Street Station
Whatever they do in the future, some signs are needed now!
Free As A Lark
She runs in the 14:20 at Lingfield today. I’m going by train from Victoria.
Here’s hoping her luck has turned.
And perhaps even mine!
Plants Have More Rights Than People
In my post on the Isle of Wight, Yarmouth etc., I mentioned the notoriously bad road into Great Yarmouth called the Acle Straight. Remember that Yarmouth is an important port, where the oil and gas and offshore wind farm industries are concerned, so if you were say the boss of an important player in the industry, getting stuck in traffic before going to see the town as a possible supply base , would show how important, the Government think creating jobs in the town is and illustrates the level of support you’ll get.
So I looked up Acle Straight on the Highways Agency web site, to see the progress being made to upgrade this choked and extremely dangerous road.
All they are doing is doing a study to see if they can move the dykes back from the main road to try to improve safety.
Note this paragraph about the purpose of the study.
The trial will cover the relocation of sections of dyke over a distance of about one kilometre along the A47 Acle Straight and is to be used to determine whether species will relocate to dykes constructed further away from the existing carriageway edges. If proven successful the trial dyke relocation may lead to relocation of the roadside dykes and improve the safety for road users. The trial dykes will be regularly monitored over a minimum period of two years.
So there you have it, plants are move important than those who live in Yarmouth, who need a better job or even one at all!
An Alternative to Toll Roads
A report today, says that toll roads are not the answer to Britain’s crowded roads.
But is an alternative here already?
The A14 is one of the UK’s most crowded roads. A lot of the traffic is trucks carrying containers to and from the docks in the Haven Ports (Felixstowe, Harwich and Ipswich).
Over the next two years, Network Rail are upgrading the railway from Felixstowe to the East and West Coast Main Lines, so that large amounts of this traffic can go by rail. Network Rail are also upgrading the rail network to Southampton and other places to put the heavy freight where it belongs and the traffic figures are now showing that rail is carrying more freight traffic of this type than a few years ago.
The problem is that rail needs depots to transfer the containers for the final collection or delivery and planning permission for these is often difficult to get, due to local opposition from those same people, who will benefit from less freight traffic on the roads.
We may not have space in this country for a new motorway, but there is often space to fit in another rail track or two alongside an existing line.
The Isle of Wight, Great Yarmouth, Hastings and Morecambe
I am going to Portsmouth to see Ipswich on the 11th of this month to see Ipswich play. I thought that I might take the ferry and see the Isle of wight. but after reading Bronwen Maddox’s article in The Times today, I don’t think I’ll bother.
She says that the Isle is rather run down and virtually cut off from the rest of the UK, just like the other towns in the heading of this post. All places share higher unemployment than the rest of the country and have a run-down feel.
She says that the solution to the Isle of Wight’s problem is a bridge, just as all the other towns could do with transport connections to the rest of the UK to attract industry, jobs and tourists. I know the route to Yarmouth well and is it not only sib-standard, but very dangerous. upgrade it or perhaps the railway that runs alongside it and you might improve one of the worse unemployment blackspots in Southern England. I also drove to Hastings once. Never again!
These are the infrastructure projects that we must start. I even suspect that some might even be financed by the reduction in benefits, when the jobs are created.
Apologies to South West Trains
in the post, where I outlined how I could get to Portsmouth on September 11th, I assumed that I would no longer be allowed to break my journey at Micheldever, as I have done many times in the past, due to the new barriers.
But after a reply from South West Trains, I now know that I was making the wrong assumption.
Here’s what they said.
I can confirm that a break of journey is valid on tickets for travel between London Waterloo and Fratton. Customers wishing to break their journey must ensure that they only travel to a station that is along a valid route for their ticket and that they only travel on times and dates that their ticket is valid for.
I can confirm that as Micheldever is between London Waterloo and Fratton, you will be able to break your journey at this station.
Customers may find at times that their ticket will not automatically let them through barriers at an intermediate station. If this happens, please show your ticket to the member of staff operating the barriers at the station in question so that they can let you through.
So it would appear that the old rules are still in place.
I shall now probably buy a Day Return from Whittlesford Parkway to Fratton. It looks like it’ll cost me £28.
The Anonymous Widower 