My Place in The Sun
I was in The Sun yesterday, just under Pippa Middleton at the bottom of page 29. Under the headine, He Choos He Scores, it said the following.
Londoner James Miller, 64, will use trains and buses to visit 92 Football League grounds in alphabetical order in 29 days.
Not strictly true, as I’m allowing myself the 31 days of October, but they obviously didn’t have any more space.
C once appeared on page 3 in The Sun. A case involving a saucy farmer, where she was defending the two women, who attacked him, was published many years ago.
The Shelf Life of M & S Gluten Free Sandwiches
On My 92 Clubs trip, I shall be relying heavily on Marks and Spencer’s gluten-free sandwiches. In their Upper Street branch on Sunday, I saw an egg & tomato salad sandwich reduced to £1.25. The Sell/Use By Date was the 18th of September, as this picture shows.
A Reduced Marks & Spencer Gluten-Free Sandwich
I decided to put them in my fridge and see what they tasted like after a few days.
I eventually had them for my lunch yesterday, the 20th, and they were as delicious as they usually are.
I shall be checking the store every time, I go to the Angel. After all, where can you get a wholesome gluten-free snack for £1.25?
Another Train Delay
Last night when I went to Ipswich, the trains were delayed because of someone being hit by a train at Romford. One member of staff thought it was a suicide. From the traffic reports during thye day, I also got the impression, there had been another suicide in West London.
We didn’t get this number of suicides on the train lines, when it was easier to buy drugs in the chemist to take a fatal overdose. So you stop it one way and then people change their tactics.
C once did the divorce for a paramedic, who used to climb under the trains to get people out, after they had jumped in front of a tube train. Often they didn’t succeed in their aim and just lost both of their legs.
Let’s face it, some have worried that I might commit suicide after the last few years I’ve had.
But whilst I can still carry on, I will.
There might come a time, when I am in so much pain, that suicide might be a better option for some. But I suspect, I’ll still carry on, as after all, when the lights go out, there is nothing there at all!
A South African Joke
The British tell Irish jokes, the Dutch tell some about Belgium and all the friends I’ve ever had from Zimbabwe have told jokes about stupid South Africans, usually of Boer ancestry.
Here‘s a true story about some South Africans who went to New Zealand for the rugby. Instead of booking a hotel in Eastbourne, a suburb of Wellington, they booked one in Eastbourne, by the sea in Sussex.
I suppose it could have been worse. There’s another Eastbourne in County Durham, wghich is even further away. They could have watched the athletics yesterday and the Great North Run today, though.
The New 73 Bus Introduction
It seems to have gone well. I can’t also find any reports of passengers getting annoyed at the demise of seventy-free bendy bus.
I incidentally use the route a lot more, as it appears to be faster from places like Oxford Street. I wonder if any anorak has measured that!
The Crush at Westfield Stratford City
It was a waste of time taking the train to the new shopping centre.
I walked out of the Overground station up the stairs and after walking past the masses of smokers, lined up outside the centre, I entered the centre, avoiding one of the doors, which was constantly being opened by a four or five-year-old constantly pressing the disabled door-opening button. He was having great fun smashing the door into people standing outside.
I did at least know where I was going and attempted to walk through to Waitrose at the other end. I don’t think, I’ve been in a crush like that for some years and that was probably at Wembley for the play-off final against Barnsley in 2000. But the football crowd was better behaved and I should say better controlled and it didn’t contain lots of children, buggies and especially aggressive youths, who were determined to get through at any cost.
Eventually, I did get to Waitrose, but decided that I didn’t really want to go through that crush again with my shopping, so I decided to just have a look round John Lewis.
I was astounded to see, two children on scooters in the shop. Some people must be mad.
I then gave up and decided that the best bet would be to get to Stratford International and take the DLR from there. It was a very wet walk around the outside of the centre. as there was no shelter.
At the station, I met a policeman and told him how dangerous it had been in there. He whole-heartedly agreed.
I must admit I did get a train to the main station at Stratford from where I took the Central Line back to Liverpool Street. After a walk, I did get a bus, but then this was delayed due to an accident on the New North Road.
This must be regarded as the least successful shopping trip, I’ve ever done.
A Very Wet Hackney Central
I decided yesterday to go to Eastfield, as I needed some food from the Waitrose there. I also wanted to check the availability of some other goods in the shopping centre.
As I do, I took the 38 bus and changed to the North London Line at Hackney Central. This picture taken from the top deck of the bus shows the closeness of Hackney Downs and Central stations.
Looking Towards Hackney Central Station
The bridge in front is the line into Hackney Downs and you can just see Mare Street, where the entrance to Hackney Central is located in the distance about fifty metres to the left of the traffic lights.
In the sort of weather we were having yesterday, the station is inadequate, as this picture shows.
Hackney Central In The Wet
There really does need to be more shelter on the platform.
I think these two pictures illustrate how a properly built Hackney Junction would be of real benefit to the community.
The Infrastructure’s The Star
On the one hand I watching athletics on the BBC in the centre of Newcastle amongst all of the bridges and the iconic buildings. It’s called the Great North City Games.
On the other hand, I’ve just had an e-mail describing the Sound Tracks Festival in East London, which is taking place at three main venues and you get between them on the East London line. Someone has remarked that it’s quicker to get between stages, using the train, that walking through the mud at Glastonbury. And of course there’ll be acoustic acts, including bands and a harpist on the connecting trains. I wonder what the Brunels would have said, if they’d known that their Thames Tunnel, would be transporting mobile concert halls between the two sides of the river.
We now have some fantastic pieces of infrastructure, both new and old and we should be imaginative about how we use them.
Consumers Are Lazy When It Comes To Saving Energy
I diidn’t say this, Chris Huhne did and it’s the lead story on the front page of The Times.
But it’s true!
- The first thing I did with this house was to get rid of most of the high consumption bulbs. For a start I had 17 of those awful halogen downlights, that make better short life room heaters, than lights. The LEDs I used were a straight replacement.
- I searched for electricity and gas companies that gave me a good deal.
- But my biggest saving was selling my car and using public transport. That is not for everyone, but surely many families could make do with one less vehicle.
It’s not difficult, but people always find an excuse not to save money. And then moan about it.
The Anonymous Widower 