How Little Possessions Matter!
Melanie Reid, who is one of my favourite columnists, has a piece today in The Times about how little possessions matter to her now, after breaking her back in a horse riding accident. It is one of her best, but then most are and that’s why she was last year’s Newspaper columnist of the year.
She talks about how possessions and what she calls stuff have lost their significance to her. I would also say that since the loss of my wife and son to cancer and my stroke, there’s one thing that matters to me above all. And that is my brain. If one pair of shoes is more comfortable than another, then they are better.
I used to love driving and now all my cars have gone. But then I have no intention of driving again. But then too many idiots can drive, but how many have taken a train all the way to Nice and back as I have. And how many have wangled their way into the cab of an HST between Edinburgh and Inverness.
I got the latter because of my most treasured possession and something I won’t gve away; my brain. It may not be perfect, but at least all the memory and creative bits are still there.
Melanie finishes her piece about how when being searched for a flight, she started to feel the hands of the security guard and says that things are still happening. A similar thing happened to me, when a young lady pushed her supermarket basket into my left leg and apologised. I said she needn’t, as I had felt it and that was good for my left leg. So we laughed about it and carried on queuing. Perhaps, I should have asked her out for a drink, but that would be pushing my luck. The next time it happens I will.
Let’s hope she’s brown eyed and haired, as I lived with a blue-eyed blonde for forty years, and a change would be nice.
Olympic Walking Routes
Yet again last night, I feel victim to the badly laid out walking routes away from Olympic sites.
From the Olympic park, they always assume you want to get away on the Jubilee line to the centre of London, so late at night they always ban you from going to Stratford, where they funnel everybody across the bridge to the station. As I want the Overground out of Stratford, it’s very difficult for me. They want everybody to walk to West Ham. It’s probably quicker and easier to get to Dalston from Welwyn Garden City, than it is from West Ham.
Let’s face it, the Jubilee line is about as useful to me, as a chocolate teapot.
In the end last night, I walked to Eaton Manor Gate and then found I just missed the W15 bus, I needed to get to Hackney Central for any number of welcoming buses home. I should have taken the Victoria Gate and walked through the park for a 277 or 30. But hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I had a similar problem at ExCel trying to get to the cable-car, where you had to walk twice the length of the Excel building to get going in the right direction. Wasn’t the Emirates Air-Line supposed to be an important part of the Olympic transport network?
I can only assume that Olympic travel routes were drawn up by someone who doesn’t walk or use a bus and probably lives in Houston. They certainly didn’t bring the 488 bus into their thinking, despite the fact that Transport for London said they extended the route to Dalston for Olympic purposes.
They certainly made it difficult for those who live close to the stadium and just a couple of Overground or Underground stops away difficult.
Why I Won’t Drive Again!
I now suspect that in a couple of years, my eyesight might be good enough to drive again.
But I’m pretty certain that I won’t!
Given my medical history, suppose I was to hit a child and kill them, when even the impeccable witnesses said it was not my fault, would I really want to have to go through any legal process, from perhaps vindictive parents. Especially, if it came out, I’d had a serious stroke and been stopped from driving for medical reasons.
What worries me, is that there are many out there with worse medical problems than me, who still drive. As it was I could be dead now, if this morning I’d gone by the pedestrian lights near me, as an idiot in a blue Nissan Micra went up the clear inside lane at about sixty with the lights on red to go straight over. What a wanker! His medical problem was in his head. Why I hadn’t stepped out I do not know! But who cares? I just didn’t! I suspect I heard him.
Thinking about it, he must have gone straight over the crossing seventy metres or so before the lights at speed. I just wish I’d got his number.
Victoria Park To The Olympic Park
I took these pictures as I walked yesterday.
It certainly is an easy way to go. I met a family, who had taken the Overground from Kew to Hackney Wick and were going into the Olympics, by the same way.
Again these pictures are dominated by the flowers.
To The Olympics The Back Way
Yesterday, I went to the Olympics to see the morning’s athletics.
I didn’t go the normal way, but took a 30 bus from where I live to the northern side of Victoria Park and then walked. It was about half past seven and the big red taxi wasn’t exactly full.
A Big Red Taxi To The Olympics
The front seats at the top were of course taken. This way I pass C’s bus stop.
C’s Bus Stop
Although she wasn’t Cecelia but Celia, her maiden name was Roads. I wonder how many people have their own bus stop!
I got off at Wick Lane and then it was a walk through Victoria Park to the Greenway Gate of the Olympic Park. The pictures for this are shown in a separate gallery post.
The Emirates Air-Line Passes Half Million Passengers
It’s only been six weeks, but the Emirates Air-line has hit the half-million passenger target. That’s an average of over 11,000 a day. There’s more about the story here.
It seems to me, that whatever you think about the cable-car, passenger are voting to use it with their Oyster cards. Those half-million journeys will have a revenue of at least £4.8 million, unless of course lots of passengers are buying ten trips at £1.60 a time.
Sochi 2014 Advertises On London Buses
I caught this advert for the Winter Olympics in 2014 at Sochi on a 56 bus.
Sochi 2014 Advertises On London Buses
No offence to the Russians and I did enjoy a day trip to Moscow once, but I won’t be going.
Skiing is just not my scene, except on the television.
The ExCel Blows Hot And Cold
I went to the ExCel yesterday afternoon, to watch the table-tennis.
The sport was fine, but that could not be said for the venue. I was nearly passing out from the heat and left early. I then had to walk the full length of the venue and then back on the outside to get to the cable-car, as I didn’t want to be in the crush on the DLR. Although in the end, I didn’t use the cable-car and took the DLR to Bank, as it wasn’t as crowded as after the boxing. I did meet a guy who’d been in the fencing and he said that was freezing. So it looks like the ExCel should look at its heating and cooling system. A Royal Engineer also told me, he’d felt it was hot in the Excel and he’d just come back from Afghanistan.
Millennium and Wembley Stadiums Compared
I’m not comparing anything, but their use for football, as I’ve experienced both in the last few days.
I’d say Wembley is very Jaguar, whereas the much less expediently-built stadium in Cardiff is more Audi, with more concrete and wood and less marble.
On the other hand, the sight lines in Cardiff, may even be better to those at Wembley. You also seem to closer to the action. I wonder, if this is because it is a much squarer stadium than Wembley. Only an architect with experience of sports grounds would know.
Food in both stadia is the usual gluten-rich junk, but then as the Millennium Stadium is in the centre of Cardiff, anybody who like me is choosy with his food will eat off-stadium. That is not really an option at Wembley, so I always eat before I leave home or in the centre of London.
The Millennium Stadium does lose on access to the trains, whereas Wembley has improved greatly in the last ten years. I believe Cardiff Central station is being rebuilt, so hopefully, better access will come. But a nearly three hour wait for a train to London is unacceptable, even if First Great Western were their usual helpful self, even handing out bottled water.
Are The Ghosts Of Long-Dead Steam Engines Powering Great Britain On?
As a ten-year-old or so, I used to bunk the engine sheds in East London to collect the numbers of the steam engines stabled there at the motive power depot. It was a massive place, as the number of engines needed to power services into East Anglia and Essex was very large. Many were being scrapped, as electrification of the suburban lines out of Liverpool Street continued.
Much of the site was cleared for HS1, the link to the Channel Tunnel from St. Pancras, but much of the area ended up a derelict site, supporting large numbers of businesses.
But it was here in Stratford, that the Olympic site was created.
So are the ghosts of those long-dead steam engines powering Great Britain on?
The Anonymous Widower 