There Are Three Clocks At Piccadilly Circus Station
Piccadilly Circus station, must be the one with most clocks in the booking office and ticket checking area.
There Are Three Clocks At Piccadilly Circus Station
The oicture shows the one by the booking office.
One of the staff told me it is for heritage reasons.
A Brompton Bicycle At West Brompton
I just had to take this photo.
A Brompton Bicycle At West Brompton
It’s probably not the first that has been taken.
Arriva And Stagecoach
This morning, I used buses from both these companies. In fact it was one from the first and three from the second.
What a difference though in the greeting, as I clocked in with my Freedom Pass. All except one of the Stagecoach drivers were stony faced, whereas the other two gave me a big smile and/or a grin in response to my thanks for getting on the bus.
It does seem though that the Arriva drivers are the more welcoming.
Long may London’s buses be on the whole, a friendly place for tourists and residents alike!
Dealing With Late Trains
Last night after the Yeovil match, there was a spot of bother on the trains at Ipswich. A freight train had broken down and the knock on meant that all of the other trains were delayed and cancelled.
I’d just missed the 21:43 back to London and the next one, which was the 22:23 had been cancelled. So I had to wait nearly an hour until the 22:43 arrived. Thankfully on time! It was on time at Liverpool Street, despite having to make two extra stops.
GreaterAnglia dealt well with the problem and there were staff everywhere. The only place I didn’t see any staff was on the train, but that didn’t of course matter.
Because of the delays getting to Sudbury from Ipswich was difficult and GreaterAnglia were providing extra transport from Colchester to get people home.
So their response was excellent and totally at the other end of the spectrum to what I got from Deutsche Nahn at Osnabruck.
Does Good Rail Infrastructure Attract Investment?
I ask this question after reading this article in Global Rail News about the opening of the new Kings Cross Square in a few days time.
This paragraph in the article also caught my eye.
It’s not only the station that is undergoing a makeover. The area around King’s Cross is also undergoing a major regeneration – a project that will soon see Google build its new European headquarters beside one of the capital’s most famous stations.
So if we had left Kings Cross as it was or just cleaned it up, would Google and others be hastening to the area?
I doubt it!
Will Birmingham New Street, Leeds, Derby and Reading stations, which have all been or are being substantially rebuilt have the same effect?
We need a lot more kingscrossification!
In Six Days Tourists And The Posh Get New Buses for London
On the 21st of September, route 11 gets converted to New Buses for London.
This to me, is a good choice of route, as it runs along the very crowded Kings Road. So perhaps it might tempt people to hop on and off to get up and down the road, rather than use the Chelsea tractor.
But the newbusification of the route will not be popular with the tour bus operators, if this statement from the route’s Wikipedia entry is correct.
The journey from the top deck is a cheap means of sightseeing in London.
I don’t think bendy buses ever had any attractions for visitors to London.
I shall be there on Saturday.
A Pair Of Ipswich Liths
I took these pictures in Ipswich today.
It certainly is the way to go with on street navigation for walkers.
Can a city afford to be left out of this revolution?
Sweden’s Mammals – Would I Go Again?
It is now a few days since I returned from my trip to see Sweden’s mammals, and it is time to pause for reflection.
Although, I ask the question of whether I would go again in this post, I actually don’t think, I would do the exact same trip again, as I’ve done it once and the only disappointment was that the bears and the wolves were on holiday too.
So I might go just to see bears or wolves and Sweden would be one of the places I would look at. After all, it’s a country, where things are done correctly, the food and accommodation, I had on the trip was very good and overall, it was all well organised.
Overall, I enjoyed it immensely and don’t regret going one bit in any way.
I said on the first night on the boat looking for beavers, that we would get some surprises and things wouldn’t turn out as expected.
Obviously, the problems with the bears and the wolves was one surprise, but as someone who lived in the countryside for forty years, I know how unpredictable animals and birds can be.
But we also had two very positive surprises; the ants and the magnificent skies.
If I was organising the tours, I would make sure that these were explained better.
But then as in all things, it is attention to detail that counts.
I have a feeling that this tour and others like it will get more popular, as surely Norway and Sweden, are the one place close to the UK, where you can see large wild animals. It’s also an ideal short break.
I think coupled with visits to Stockholm and Oslo at either end, it could be part of a fuller exploration of Scandinavia for everybody.
THe tour I took was organised by Marcus Eldh of Wild Sweden and I booked it through Naturetrek in the UK.
All of the posts can be accessed by clicking this link.
A Wet Night In Islington
I needed supper last night and although I had food in the fridge, I went to Pizza Express at the Angel.
The great advantage is that the bus stop is right outside the restaurant.
So although, the rain was amazing, I didn’t get too wet.
The gluten-free pizza was good too!
The Anonymous Widower 