The Joy Of Not Driving
There was this report on the BBC tonight. It says that over the last three years, there has not been a single day, when there wasn’t a closure of the M25. In fact, it’s worse than that, as this paragraph shows.
In fact, the Highways Agency does not even know when it last managed a day when the road was not shut in some way or other.
I’m very glad, I don’t drive.
I haven’t taken as many enjoyable trips by train, like the one to Birmingham last week, as the weather has been so bad, it’s been better to stay at home.
Would You Trust Italian Engineering?
The British Grand Prix was a bit of a farce today, as several drivers suffered tyre failures as the BBC reports.
Now Italians may be good at some things like food, parties and calendars, but it does seem that their engineering companies aren’t up to their past high standards at the moment. After all, I did report on the quality of products from AnsaldoBreda here.
I suspect that just as they have with their economy and their politics, there is a lot of rethinking to do.
I Don’t Want Another Card
I am trying to declutter my life.
I Don’t Want Another Card
So the one thing, I don’t want is another card. In fact these days, I don’t bother with loyalty cards. If I don’t get decent service, I go elsewhere. Shops, restaurants, train operators and airports, have to earn my loyalty.
If I look at Heathrow, I might go out from there if I could use Terminal 5, as there is a decent gluten-free restaurant there.
And The Balloon Came Too!
It would appear that balloons are allowed on the Emirates Air Line.
In some ways, I always follow instances of balloons on public transport, as at Liverpool University in the 1960s, they were banned on the buses in the city.
I wonder if they still are!
Do I Look Decrepit?
When I’m carrying my shopping back from the Angel on the bus, I sometimes get offered a seat, but usually I choose my bus with plenty of empty space.
Yesterday though, I was getting a 141 towards London Bridge, when I was offered a seat by a lady who was probably ten years older than me!
She was also wearing a burkha, which made be a bit embarrassed. Especially, as there were plenty of empty seats towards the back of the bus.
As I’ve said before, everybody is getting very polite on London’s buses!
The incident also got me thinking about why London buses seem to a more polite place, than others like Cambridge, where I’ve ridden the buses quite a few times.
I put it down to one of three things.
London’s buses always have at least two doors, which has two major affects. It separates those getting into the bus from those getting out and it also tends to keep low-life away from the driver. This calms down everybody!
The drivers seem to like a comment and often quip something back, adding to the positive side of the travel experience. I do wonder too, that because of London’s excellent mapping, that drivers do a lot less to sort out lost souls, so they have time to be pleasant.
And then of course London buses are painted bright red! Is it a warning to behave?
A Train Builder With Form
I have been following the farce of the Fyra trains between Brussels and Amsterdam with interest. Modern Railways this month, gives a very full account of the problems and the big row between the Dutch and the Belgians and the Italian company; AnsaldoBreda who built the V250 trains. These trains were incidentally called Albatross by the makers.
I’ve just been reading about AnsaldoBreda on Wikipedia. It says this about the problems the company has had with an order for IC4 trains for Denmark.
Delivery of 83 IC4 trainsets for the Danish State Railways DSB was originally planned for 2003-2006. As of March 2013, 22 trainsets have still not been delivered,[52] On 2 July 2012, the DSB announced that the Transportation Authority had approved Denmark’s railway operator to put back into operation the fleet of 37 IC4s which had been withdrawn from service in November 2011. In December 2011, it was reported that one of the missing IC4 trainsets planned for delivery in Denmark was found in Libya. Reportedly, AnsaldoBreda and then Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi gave Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi the trainset as a present on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Gaddafi’s revolution in 2009.
I suppose now, it doesn’t work, as there is sand in the bogies!
No wonder the Dutch and the Belgians bought a load of dud trains, that go bunga bunga!
Incidentally, I was led to look up AnsaldoBreda by looking at the progress of the Midland Metro extension to Birmingham New Street station. I found that the same Italian company had sold a load of dodgy trams to the Brummies. The details are here.
Walking In Birmingham
I knew where I was going today, as I was going to Carluccio’s in Brindley Place. The new station entrances actually made it easier, as it seemed to me, that there wasn’t such an uphill climb, as the station seemed to slope in the right direction.
But I didn’t see a map anywhere! So if you are a first time visitor, what do you do? I know the station isn’t complete but surely in the main shopping centre, there should be something to help, non-Brummies! i suppose in some ways, you get spoilt in London, which can be almost over-mapped at times.
I have also started to not where a watch, as it irritates my arm and shoulder. And I didn’t see a clock anywhere!
Birmingham needs to implement its own version of Legible London.
But like two door buses, most cities don’t like to even trial something that works well in London.
The Anonymous Widower 