Boris’s Plot To Get Londoners Fit!
A few days ago, at the Angel, I came out of the Tube station and after picking up my paper, I needed any of a 30, 38 or 56 bus to get myself home.
I was crossing the road, when I became aware of people running in all directions, including down the middle of and across the road. Luckily the lights were with us, so I followed the force.
The rushing was all because a New Bus for London, running on the 38 route had appeared and was waiting to get on the stop to suck in its load of passengers.
I got on at the rear platform and sat immediately and safely in one of the rear facing seats by the platform, just as the bus moved away.
This morning returning from the Angel after a coffee and doing some shopping, I followed a rather puffing much younger man onto the bus.
I then remarked to the driver that these buses seemed to be a plot to get Londoners fit.
She laughed and didn’t disagree.
The Car Can Wait, I’ve Got Something Better To Do
According to news reports, like this one in the Standard, shares of Haynes popular car manuals have slumped.
And supposedly it’s all because of Fifty Shades of Grey!
So are men reading the book, attempting to write better ones or doing important research in the garage?
Or have women found better ways of distracting men, from adjusting their big-ends?
The truth will come out when a student publishes their doctorate on the effect of the book! It will probably a lot more interesting than the novel.
Corsets On The Underground
I saw this advert a couple of times on the London Underground today.
Corsets On The Underground
Incidentally, I’ve never read the original book or seen any of the various films. You have to ask how Eve Sinclair collaborated with Charlotte Bronte.
The Future’s Bright, The Future’s Orange
The London Overground is starting to show its true colours and design philosophy. I took these pictures at Camden Road station today.
In some way the designs differ to those at Crystal Palace station, but then that station is a Grade 2 Listed building and bright orange would not have been an authentic choice.
The Rail Bridge At Primrose Hill
These pictures show the rail bridge at Primrose Hill.
It is now pedestrianised, but it wasn’t in 1970, when I used to walk across it twice to get to and from work.
There may well be development here, as some plans would mean adding the former Primrose Hill station, which used to be under this bridge, to a rerouted North London line. Wikipedia says this.
It has been proposed to re-open Primrose Hill station by bringing the short stretch of line between South Hampstead and Camden Road stations back into the regular passenger service by incorporating it into the London Overground network.
From this passenger’s point-of-view, it would be a good thing, but it is only part of a bigger plan, that might be needed to get the freight through London.
Car Insurance To Be Investigated
Does it bother me? Of course not! It wouldn’t have bothered me, if I had a car, as I didn’t ever make due to my own driving. It’s all here on the BBC.
But then the real problem about car insurance, is all the small time racketeers like accident claims solicitors, car repairers and other crooks, who ambulance chase any accident or incident.
It should be made a criminal offence to pay commission to any of these leeches.
A Real Station With A Real Cafe – On The Overground!
I’d heard that London Overground had done something special at Crystal Palace. So I went and had a look.
It’s not finished yet and it can only get better and better, as lifts and other features are added.
So is it special? I think so, but I’m a grumpy old pensioner, who gets to the station free. The food was good too!
Take the kids and go there and have a walk in one of London’s most unusual parks and then have a snack or more in the Brown and Green Cafe.
They’ve even got a children’s menu without chips!
The one thing I didn’t like was the orange roundel on the station building. Surely, a Grade II Listed building deserves better!
It will also be interesting to see how use of the booking hall develops. It is a display space, that cries out for something better than run of the mill retail. As the current architectural display shows, it could be used for exhibitions.
But of course don’t go to Crystal Palace station, expecting a short walk to Crystal Palace Football Club. For them, you take the train to Norwood Junction station.
Thinking about Crystal Palace station, London Overground has now created its first true destination station. By that, I mean one where you go because of what is in the station itself, to perhaps meet someone for business or pleasure. St. Pancras is perhaps the best example, but others like Waterloo, Liverpool Lime Street, Liverpool Street and perhaps Norwich Thorpe are getting that way.
December the 9th Is Dalston to Clapham Day
Howard Smith, the CEO for London Rail at Transport for London has let the cat out of the bag in this interview. Here’s some of what he said.
London Railways invested about £3 billion between 2005 and 2011. That’s gone into the East London Line, North London Line upgrade, new trains, the creation of the Overground, all the investment in stations that went into the Overground, creating what from the December 9 when East London Line Phase 2 opens will be the Orbital Network.
December the 9th is a Sunday by the way. Judging by what I saw last Sunday, it would appear that much of it could open now. But it’s only eleven weeks.
I Picked Up A Fallen Woman Last Night
Not one of Gladstone’s Ladies of the Night, but a young Estonian, who’d had a pedal failure on her bike last night, and virtually ended up in the road in front of a bus.
It could be that someone had made that mistake of forcing a right hand thread nut on the side, where you need a left hand thread.
It’s a common mistake. I did it in the 1950s and I still remembered.
The Anonymous Widower 