Someone Who Doesn’t Like The New Bus for London
Yesterday, I met someone, who doesn’t like the New Bus for London. He was a bus controller at a main station, where there was a bit of chaos because of the diversions due to the Remembrance Day Parade.
He said they were unreliable, with particular problems with the air-conditioning. As they are a new product this is probably to be expected. And I do know that the air conditioning was rather a difficult thing to design and fit.
On the other hand, passengers and staff with direct experience of the New Buses for London, all seem to love them.
Fuel And Energy Prices
I had a stroke two years ago and being unable to drive, I moved from my large house in deepest Suffolk to the centre of London. My new house is fully insulated and my fuel bills have gone through the floor.
Some of those moaning at costs, should look at their lifestyles. Why should I subsidise the 4×4’s and heat-inefficient houses of others?
An Infuriating Website
I’ve just booked a couple of Eurostar tickets.
It is rather an infuriating web site.
1. I have used it many times before and it wouldn’t let me login using my normal profile.
2. I thought I might have got the password wrong, but then it kept asking me to type my e-mail address, despite it being the right one.
3. When I created a new profile, I made the odd mistake and had to type in things again.
4. It also made me type in a city, when all I need is a house number, a road name, London and a post code.
5. Printing out the details was five pages.
The First Metric Railway In The UK
I just found this small piece of trivia on the Wikipedia entry for the Tyne and Wear Metro.
The Tyne and Wear Metro was the first railway in the UK to operate using the metric system; all its speeds and distances are stated in metric units only.
Do you think I should tell UKIP?
The Friendly Bus
New Buses for London get little criticism, except from those on the left, who think Boris should be running a whelk stall.
I travelled to the Angel today and wanted to get a 30, so I could go for breakfast at Carluccio’s. As I was waiting I got talking to a mother, with two young children, who were waiting for a 38. She said that her kids liked the new buses and often waited for one.
Does this mean that these buses are creating a whole new generation of bus travellers, just like the original Routemaster did in the 1960s. Let’s hope so, as we all know what is the greenest way to travel. And in cities like London, buses are often quicker from point to point.
After breakfast, whilst walking to Waitrose, a New Bus passed and I thought I’d go to the bigger shop at the Brunswick Centre. So I jumped on at the lights. After a couple of stops, several of us were sharing bus stories of our childhood with the driver/conductor.
Only New Buses for London get people talking like this.
A Trip To Barkingside
From its Wikipedia entry Barkingside station seems to be a rather nice one. It says this.
Barkingside station is a “Grade II” listed building, marking it as a structure of architectural significance. Probably designed under the direction of W. N. Ashbee, the GER architect, it is dominated by a substantial brick building, surmounted by a cupola. The interior is notable for the fine hammerbeam roof to the ticket hall. Both platforms retain the ornate canopies with the “GER” initials still visible in the bracketry.
So I went to have a look.
There doesn’t seem to be much near to the station though and I couldn’t even get a coffee. But it is a rather charming little station. The only thing it needs to make it better is roaring coal fires in the waiting rooms.
Football Grounds Of Clubs Who’ve Won A European Or UEFA Cup
This is another idea, that might be easier. Only clubs, that have won the European Cup, Champions League, Cup Winners Cup or UEFA Cup qualify.
Aberdeen
Amsterdam – Ajax
Anderlecht
Barcelona
Belgrade – Red Star
birmingham – Aston Villa
Bremen – Werder
Bratislava – Slovan
Bucharest – Steaua
Donetsk – Shaktar
Dortmund – Borussia
Eindhoven – PSV
Florence – Fiorentina
Frankfurt – Eintract
Gelsenkirchen – Schalke
Genoa – Sampdoria
Glasgow – Celtic and Rangers
Gottenburg
Hamburg
Ipswich
Istanbul – Galatasary
Kiev – Dynamo
Leverkusen – Bayer
Lisbon – Benfica and Sporting
Liverpool – Everton and Liverpool
London – Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United
Madrid – Athletico and Real Madrid
Magdeburg
Manchester – City and United
Marseille
Mechelen
Milan – AC and Internazionale
Monchengladbach – Borussia
Moscow – CSKA
Munich – Bayern
Naples – Napoli
Notts Forest
Oporto – Porto
Paris – PSG
Parma
Rome – Lazio
Rotterdam – Feyenoord
St. Petersburg – Zenit
Seville
Stuttgart
Tbilisi
Turin – Juventus
Villarreal
Valencia
Zragoza – Real
I got all of these from this list in Wikipedia.
European Capitals Alphabetically
I’m just playing for another trip. These are the capitals of the countries either in or contained within the EU
1. Amsterdam – The Netherlands
2. Andorra la Vella – Andorra
3. Athens – Greece
4. Berlin – Germany
5. Bern – Switzerland
6. Bratislava – Slovakia
7. Brussels – Belgium
8. Bucharest – Romania
9. Budapest – Hungary
10. Copenhagen – Denmark
11. Dublin – Ireland
12. Helsinki – Finland
13. Lisbon – Portugal
14. Ljubljana – Slovenia
15. London – UK
16. Luxembourg – Luxembourg
17. Madrid – Spain
18. Monaco – Monaco
19. Nicosia – Cyprus
20. Oslo – Norway
21. Paris – France
22. Prague – Czech Republic
23. Riga – Latvia
24. Rome – Italy
25. San Marino – San Marino
26. Sofia – Bulgaria
27. Stockholm – Sweden
28. Tallinn – Estonia
29. Vaduz – Liechtenstein
30. Valletta – Malta
31. Vatican City – Vatican City
32. Vienna – Austria
33. Vilnius – Lithuania
34. Warsaw – Poland
It doesn’t look like it is a trip that can be done within a month, as few journeys are short.
Questions.
1. Should I go to all the little countries like Andorra?
2. Should Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh be included? If we add Edinburgh do we have to add Barcelona.
3. Should the former Yugoslavian states and Albania be included? I think some are difficult by train.
4. Do I fly?
A Stylish Clock At London Bridge
This clock is in the new bus station at London Bridge station.
A Stylish Clock At London Bridge
We need more of these at important bus stops.
Meeting A Friend At Kings Cross
On Monday, I met a friend, who was travelling from Edinburgh to her daughter’s in Buckinghamshire. A few years ago, this would have been difficult, but now we met and walked into St. Pancras for supper before taking a taxi to Marylebone.
The pictures show the new ticket hall.
We could have ate in any number of places in King’s Cross, including the excellent Leon, whereas a few years ago, it would have just been sandwiches.
The one problem with meeting someone is that as the arrivals area is not finished yet, there is no obvious place to wait. But that will hopefully be sorted when the 1960s extension has been consigned to the dustbin.
London has two of the finest stations in the world sitting side-by-side on Euston Road. It all makes Euston, which is just up the road even more of a dump.
One of the ironies of all of this rebuilding, is that in ten years time, I suspect I’ll think that King’s Cross will be the better station, as it is growing into a superb fusion of the old and the modern. But then I always have a soft spot for Kings Cross as I can remember the A4 Gresley Pacifics in the station. These must be the most iconic steam engines ever produced in the UK.
The Anonymous Widower 