A Stupid Tourist
I was getting a Circle line train at Monument station, yesterday, when I was approached by an English-speaking tourist, who asked if the Ealing Broadway train at the platform went to Camden Town. I told her that she should walk up the platform and take a Northern line train. As I left a couple of minutes later on a train to Notting Hill Gate, she was still standing there asking the same question and I suspect getting the same answer.
All I can assume, is that she’d never been to a city with more than one train line and therefore she believed that all trains used the same platforms.
The London Underground may be a bit daunting, but staff and passengers will generally give you the correct advice.
What Do We Do With The Henry Moore?
Tower Hamlets council have a problem about what to do with a Henry Moore sculpture that they own. It’s all here on the BBC.
In some ways, the problem has been brought on, by the success of public statues. Look at most big stations these days and they have large sculptures. St. Pancras has two. So there are a lot of them about and because many are made from valuable bronze, they are just too tempting for thieves. But I’ve never heard of one being nicked in even a moderately-sized railway station, as the security is just too high. Or even it actually isn’t high, railway stations tend to be busy places with a good mobile phone signal and someone would probably call the police.
So perhaps, one of the first places to place a valuable statue is in a suitable railway station. but there are only four stations in Tower Hamlets. Only Shoreditch High Street station would probably be large enough. But it would probably be impossible to place a very heavy sculpture now, the station is built.
So it’s a real problem.
A practical idea might be to keep it indoors in a special museum, paid for by the money, that would otherwise be used for insurance. I have a feeling that some of the famous statues in Florence and other places in Italy have been moved indoors, not to protect them from vandals and thieves but the weather. This happened to Michaelangelo’s statue of David.
But whatever happens, we must make sure it is not stolen and melted down.
Roger Ford Was Right
For years in Modern Railways, Roger Ford has been questioning statistics and information from the Department of Transport. It emerged today, that three civil servants got their sums wrong and cost taxpayers a total of £40 million, over the Virgin Trains/First Group row about the West Coast Main line.
It is another failure of the Department, that in many peoples’ view, finds trains a rather historical method of transport.
Thpse involved have only been suspended. They should have been fired. But then I suspect they have all got a First from Oxford. If they’d got a Third in engineering from Sheffield or Exeter, they’d have got the sums right.
The Civil Service needs an Admiral Byng moment.
Back To London In Comfort
I came back to London in a Class 442, branded as a Gatwick Express, although it only stopped at East Croydon and Clapham Junction before Victoria.
Back To London In Comfort
The Class 442 could be considered an unusual design as it is just a series of legendary Mk. 3 coaches, with electric power underneath. They may be slower than an InterCity 125, but they still hold the world speed record for third-rail electric trains at 108 mph.
I took the train all the way to Victoria, but when London Overground opens to Clapham Junction on December 9th, I’ll be able to use that line to get to Dalston Junction.
I suspect, it will be whatever has the best connections.
By Bus To The Amex Stadium
It wasn’t the easiest to find the bus at first, as there didn’t appear to be any information. In the end I struck lucky, with a bit of phone guidance from my son, who used to live in the city. But getting off left me on a busy dual carriageway with the stadium on the other side of the road.
By Bus To The Amex Stadium
It’s on cold rainy nights that bus information systems like London and a few other places have, come into their own, as you know which stop to get out.
Eventually, I found my way in, by the time-honoured method of finding the walking crowd and following them.
I could have got a train, as my match ticket, included a free bus or train ticket from Brighton, but that would have meant walking back to the station.
But getting to the Amex, is infinitely better that getting to some stadia I’ve visited.
Brighton Names The Buses
I’ve said before that buses should be named. Brighton does it!
Brighton Names The Buses
This may be different too, but it’s a brave attempt at a livery that gives you information.
Brighton Has A Bicycle Problem
Or at least as far as I’m concerned it does!
Brighton Has A Bicycle Problem
I don’t bump into them now, as my eyesight is better. But I used to.
Pavements should be pleasant places to walk, not obstacle courses.
The DLR Seats Are Back
They took some of them away for the Olympics. but they are back now.
The DLR Seats Are Back
So that’s one promise that was kept.
The Hydraulic Accumulator Tower From The DLR
I took these pictures of the Hydraulic Accumulator Tower yesterday to compliment those I took from the ground at Open House.
I was on the eastbound platform at Limehouse station, except for the close-up, where I was in the front of a train.
One of the problems with the DLR these days, is that it is too popular with site-seers and sometimes getting the front seats to take pictures can be almost impossible.
The Anonymous Widower 