A Friend Across the Ether
i’m lying in bed listening to BBC radio 5 live through the internet. I hope the BBC realises how important a good worldwide feed of the their internet radio staitons is to people like me.
Feeling a little better
i’m actually writing this on the computer attsched to the hospital bed. So if it’s crap I apologise.
The care is excellent and I’ve had umpteen CT scsns. Chinese food makes excellent hospital, but then I knew that because when C. had our first child in the middlesex in London, there was a lady from the chinese legation in London who had her baby at the same time and she had her food brought in and shared it with everyone else.
The food is all gluten free.
Of All the Hotels in all the World
There are some luxuries in my life that I will never forego.
One is to stay in the Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong when I am in the territory. They always treat you so well.
This is the view from my room.
View from my Room at Night
One of the most stunning parts of the room is the bathroom, which is all marble and glass.
A Bathroom in the Mandarin Oriental
Note the central basin with a swivelling mirror. They even supply four bathrobes; two warm ones and two in silk!
But you don’t go to the Mandarin Oriental for the facilities. It is for the staff. They aren’t just good, but they must be the best in the world.
As you know I’m a coeliac and they took care to note this and provided me with a proper Chinese translation, so that I would not be glutened in a restaurant. More of that later.
But the hotel is expensive. On the other hand, if you are in Hong Kong and want to savour the hospitality of the Mandarin, just go into the Captain’s Bar by reception and have a drink. The prices are about the same as a reasonable hotel anywhere.
The Rivetted Wing
This picture of the wing of the 747 shows the rivets that hold it together.
747 Wing
By the way, the upturned end of the wing is an aerodynamic device to increase efficiency.
If you are on Airbus as opposed to a Boeing, you’ll see differences.
For a start the Airbus uses a different end to a wing in that they have more of a sideways delta at the end.
But the main difference is that Airbus glue their wings, whilst Boeing use rivets.
Glue? You might ask.
But they have doing it for years. In fact the technology was first started by de Havilland and was applied very successfully to the Mosquito of World War II fame. They then applied it to the Comet and Trident airliners before using it on all Airbus wings.
The advantage is that glue carries the loads between the parts of the wing continuously, whereas with rivets the stresses are carried only at points, which have been weakened by the rivet holes. This means that it should be possible to have a lighter wing for the same strength with glue.
Some technologies may seem strange, but don’t ignore them if they work.
The Same Old Map
I’ve been flying long distances in 747s for a long time. In fact the second time we flew the Atlantic in 1974 or so, it was in a 707.
But for as long as I can remember the moving maps have been the same.#
Moving Map on a 747
It either shows that no-one has come up with a better system yet or that good software never dies.
Travelling with Time to Spare
Since I’ve had the stroke, I try to make things easier for myself.
Take yesterday, as I had to get to Heathrow for BA 027 that left at 21:25, I decided that it would be a good idea to get my taxi to drop me at Whittlesford to catch the 16:30 train for Tottenham Hale. There it was to be the Victoria Line and Piccadilly Line to the airport for about an eighty-minute ride with just one walk across the platform at Finsbury Park.
But two things happened.
I forget to take my driving licence and we had to go back. It was only a delay of about five minutes, but it made things tight.
And then the automatic machine at the station wouldn’t serve me any suitable ticket. What I wanted was an open return with my Senior railcard. In the end I settled on a single to Tottenham Hale. I know in the cost of the this trip, it is a small thing, but if you do look after the pennies, you can afford to do the bits where the style is worth it!
I’d been on the train for a couple of minutes, when I noticed the train was going to Broxbourne. Weird! Then I found out the lines were down and it would be a bus from Broxbourne to Cheshunt.
Oh! Well!
I still had plenty of time. But then we waited and waited outside Harlow for well over half-an-hour after a bit of a crawl from just before Bishops Stortford. I was starting to get worried. I do seem to worry more, but perhaps it’s just worried about being worried and stressed. Perhaps, I should try Yoga!
We got to Harlow about six and I saw a taxi and asked the driver to take me to the Tube. I had thought about Redbridge or Walthamstow, but he suggested rightly that Epping would be better.
And so I had a marathon ride from one end of the Tube network to the other with just a change from the Central Line to the Piccadilly Line at Holborn. I was safely in Heathrow at eight-fifteen after an hour and three quarters and forty stations. Note that this isn’t far out from the formula of two minutes a station and fibve minutes for a change.
I wish though that I’d missed the first train. I would have found out what had happened and the taxi could have taken me to Cambridge, where I could have gone to Kings Cross at speed.
But I didn’t! In the end nothing really happened except more stress than I wanted, which could have been avoided by better thought on my part and better information on that of National Express.
Heathrow Express or Not
From where I live, Heathrow Airport is not the easiest place to get to. If I was going for a week or so, I’d leave my car with the valet parking and drive. C and I once went by bus from Newmarket and that was fine, except that they are every two hours. When will they learn that to get people to use public transport, you need a decent frequency.
I will take the train from Whittlesford and then the Victoria Line into London. But instead of taking the tube to Paddington, I’ll do a cross-platform change to the Piccadilly Line at Finsbury Park and go straight to the airport. London Transport say it is 20 minutes slower than the Heathrow Express, but it won’t involve any humping of baggage up and down steps.
MTR Tickets in Hong Kong
The MTR is Hong Kong’s version of the London Underground. Some things are similar like their Octopus Card and our Oyster.
The reason that I stated the latter, is that I have just bought my Tourist Ticket for Hong Kong on-line. It gives me two airport journeys and three days travel in the territory. I collect it at the Airport and then just use it!
Incidentally, getting an Oyster for use in London, doesn’t appear to be so simple. If it isn’t, then it should be.
Victoria Line Delay
Yesterday, I left Selfridges about five with the intention of getting to Blackhorse Road by five-thirty and home in time to see England play South Africa in the Twenty20 World Cup.
But I hadn’t bargained on the signalling problems that happened at Seven Sisters, that effectively meant that no trains could run through.
Now one of the things that works on public transport in London is that there are a lot of different ways to get from A to C, even if doesn’t mean going by B.
Eventually we gave up at Euston, where we had sat for about five minutes. The driver had told us to try to find alternative routes, but to get to the further parts of the Victoria Line is not easy. Especially as the Circle Line to Liverpool Street was shut as it was being upgraded. Why Liverpool Street? You can get a Chingford train to St. James Street in Walthamstow.
I was talking to an Aussie, who wanted to get to Pickett’s Lock, where he had planted his tent for about three pounds a day. That must be the cheapest bed in London, although these days it must be pretty cold. But then he was going walking near Inverness and was wearing shorts on quite a cold day. I was actually wearing a T-shirt under my shirt!
So we legged it and immediately caught a Northern Line train to Kings Cross St. Pancras. A long walk through that station brought us to the Piccadilly Line, where we immediately caught a train towards Finsbury Park, where the aim was to see if we could get a bus towards Seven Sisters and Blackhorse Road. Or in fact rejoin the Victoria Line, but that now not running at all.
It was there that I made my first mistake. All the world and his wife seemed to have the same idea and masses were scrambling towards the exit and the buses.
So it was back down to the Piccadilly Line and back on the next train to Manor House.
We were in luck and a few minutes later we were on a 279 bus to Tottenham Hale for myself and all the way to Edmonton Green for my travelling companion. He would be exactly where he wanted to be and I would be a short bus ride away from the Lotus Elan at Blackhorse Road. Note that buses are so much better today, now that they actually tell you where they are going!
It was all very complicated, but at least I had a someone pleasant to talk to. I arrived about forty minutes later than I would have done directly by tube.
Incidentally, one thing that was very good was the attitude of London Transport staff. My companion’s tickets didn’t work the barriers as his was just a simple return, but they just waved him through.
The whole journey could have been one hell of a lot worse!
Around the World in 33 Days – Nause!
I have been booking hotels and find some parts of the process very tedious.
For instance, why do I have to have a loyalty card to get a discount? I’m staying in I think about three different groups, so I’d need to have a wallet full of plastic. For what! Probably nothing, as I’ll never stay there again.
Also some hotels don’t publish a local direct number. So if they don’t, I try to avoid staying there!
If Amazon and Marks and Spencer can get a one click buying stategy for the Internet, surely some global hotel booking site can do the same. The trouble is that you won’t find the really good hotels on global sites.
Still I’ll just grin and bear it.
The Anonymous Widower 