Bus Information Signs
We need a lot more of these.
Bus Information Sign
And hopefully, you’ll be able to check them on the Internet. That way, I wouldn’t have to leave the house in the rain, unless I knew a bus was turning up in a few minutes.
Apparently improvements and more signs are on the way.
Electric Cars are Coming
Well at least in the car park halfway between my house and Dalston Junction station, there is a charging station.
Pod Point in Bentley Road Car Park, Dalston
It’s called a Pod Point and it looks from the web site that the company has some interesting ideas.
A Real Honeymoon from Hell
This is documented in The Times today. A couple called Svanström had to endure.
- The blizzard of the century in Munich
- A monsoon in Bali
- Bushfires in Perth
- Floods in Queensland
- The EArthquake in Christchurch
- The earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
C and I had a dreadful honeymoon and we suvived. according to the report, these Swedes are still getting along well.
An Offer From a Financial Advisor I Couldn’t Refuse
My finacial advisor came round last night. They are not your normal one, as they turned up in Lycra in all the gear, as they’d come from the City by bicycle.
I said that I’d like to get back on a bike again after my stroke and would they help. He said he could do better than that, as he had a tandem!
Pedestrian Flows Around Dalston Junction Station
Getting into and out of Dalston Junction Station is a very dangerous exercise for pedestrians.
I live to the south east of the station and usually cross the busy Kingsland Road at the pedestrian lights about a hundred metres short of the junction with Dalston Lane and the Balls Pond Road. I then walk past the still closed southern entrance to the station and walk up the rather narrow pavement on the eastern side of the road, round the corner and into the north entrance to the station. I have to walk perhaps another fifty metres and due to various works outside the shops there, it always seems that I have to walk in the main road.
One other thing on this route is the number of unofficial pavement obstructions.
Unofficial Pavement Obstructions
Six months ago, they would have caused me a real problem, but with the sun and the improvement in my eyesight, they’re almost good practice for me. And certainly, they’re not as intrusive as the obstacles in Athens.
Coming home, I reverse the process and it is usually a tiny bit easier, as I suspect it’s usually later in the day and there are less pedestrians about. Until a couple of weeks ago, if I was feeling rather lazy, I would often catch a convenient bus for a couple of stops along the Balls Pond Road to save walking.
Closed Pavement at Dalston Junction Station
But this second method is no longer available as due to road works and no pavement, the bus stop has been moved two hundred metres back on Dalston Lane. Incidentally, it is impossible to walk to the stop from the station, due to barriers being in place. To do so, you have to cross Dalston Lane twice and there are no safe crossing points.
The problem was illustrated yesterday in a very graphic manner. I had shown a friend around Victoria Park and we had taken a bus back from there to Dalston Junction station so that they e could take the East London Line south to where her car was parked at Canary Wharf, by changing at Shadwell to the DLR. We ended up walking inside the anti-pedestrian barriers as it was the only way to get to the station. There were several women and couples with children in buggies and at one point one couple virtually had to walk in the middle of Dalston Lane to get past the obstructions. I did think about doing the double crossing of Dalston Lane, but that is easier said than done.
At the entrance to the station, there is a notice saying that the pavement to the east of Dalston Junction station will be closed for 16 weeks from March 14th.
Last night, as I returned from Canary Wharf, there was a passenger with a heavy case completely bemused about where to go as she left the north entrance to Dalston Junction station. So she was young and fit, but she was yet another pedestrian ready to join the queue of those who will get knocked over in this dangerous area.
I hate to say this but someone will get seriously hurt or even killed, unless something is done to rectify the various problems in this busy area for pedestrians.
The Closed Southern Entrance to Dalston Junction Station
One solution would be to open the southern entrance to the station now. This would have major benefits, even if pedestrians were channelled through temporary barriers.
1. People like me, who need to walk to and from the station from the south and south-west would be completely removed from the congested streets. As it is, if I want to go south on the East London Line and the weather is good, I often cut across to Haggerston station.
2. If you needed to take a bus north from Dalston Junction, then you could cross the Kingsland Road at the pedestrian lights and then use any of a number of buses going north.
3. Those going west on a bus would find it easier to get to the stop on the Balls Pond Road, as after crossing at the pedestrian lights, they’d be able to walk up the relatively uncluttered western side of the Kingsland Road.
So would opening the southern entrance be feasible. I suspect yes, but Transport for London are waiting for everything to be finished. The lights all seem to be working and the station entrance appers to be finished.
So why isn’t this entrance open?
It would relieve the pressure at the northern entrance, but that won’t be completely safe until they reopen the pavement along Dalston Lane.
If nothing is done, there is going to be a serious pedestrian accident here.
The Biggest Hole in London!
The pictures show the hole being created for the new Crossrail station at Canary Wharf.
Is it the UK’s first underwater station?
Pendolino Sway
I felt a bit queasy going back and had difficulty walking down the train to the toilet.
But I’m OK this morning, so I guess I was just a bit tired and it was all due to the tilting and swaying of the Pendolino.
Towneley Park and Hall
I think we’re all going to hearing more about Towneley Hall, as it is again being used as the location for the new series of the BBC’s Antiques Master.
Eric Knowles has described it as a hidden gem and I won’t argue with that.
Towneley Hall
I walked to the Park from the town centre and spent an enjoyable couple of hours there. I had an excellent coffee in the cafe and explored the house and its art gallery. It was just a pity that they charge non-Burnley residents for entry to the house. Some gluten-free food would have been welcome to. There was some baked potatoes, but I wasn’t sure of the fillings. There was also some nice-looking home-made cakes, so why not some chocolate ones, as some of the traditional recipes don’t use wheat flour.
I then walked down the hill to Turf Moor for the match.
Towneley Park
Since my visit, I’ve looked at maps and the Internet and have found that the Hall used to have its own station. Obvious;ly, reopening the station is not on, but perhaps a trail from the station to the park vaguely following the route of the railway might be an idea. It might also be fairly level, so an easier walk than the one I took by my circuitous route. It would also be safer, separate from the traffic and with a nice down hill run into the town. I suspect too, that it would have good panoramic views over Burnley. I took this picture as I walked down to the town from the station.
Walking Down into Burnley
But the view would be better, if you were higher up, as the direct route might well be. It certainly wouldn’t be as boring as walking along a busy dual carriageway.
Welcome to Burnley
I arrived at Manchester Road station in the town at 10:30 and the station is in effect an unmanned halt with shelters, like say Newmarket or Dullingham, which I used to use quite a bit in Suffolk.
However it differs from the two Suffolk stations in a couple of important ways. There are no information screens giving details of arriving trains and there is no local maps. Those in Suffolk, actually carry advertising for things like local hotels and taxi companies.
There were a couple of police in the station car park, but as they were from Manchester and not local, and were probably there to observe any stray carrots going to Blackburn. So they weren’t much use on directions.
I knew that Towneley Park, my intended destination, was close to the Turf Moor and after walking down the hill, I found a sign to Burnley FC, so I walked in that direction. This picture shows just how dangerous it was, as I needed to cross two dual-carriageways without even a rudimentary form of crossing.
Pedestrian Unfriendly Burnley
I know I’m just one old man, who’s had a stroke, but I’m still reasonably nimble and usually not in a hurry, so I can wait for a gap in the traffic. But so often, roundabouts and dual-carriageways are real barriers to pedestrians and judging by the flowers you occasionally see on railings, others have not been so lucky.
But the pedestrian access to Manchester Road station is a disgrace and there is a definite need for a light-controlled crossing or an underpass to get across the main road at the station. I think that it might be possible to put an underpass in alongside the railway.
To be fair to Burnley Council, they are thinking about improving accessibility in the town, as this page shows.
I did finally reach the bus station, where I found a bus map, which gave details of where I needed to go to get to Towneley Park.
Carrots on the Train North
Yesterday, I went to see Ipswich play at Burnley and took the 7:30 Virgin train from Euston, changing at Preston.
I was surprised to see a large police presence on the station at Preston and as I had arrived there on time at the early time for football fans of 9:38, it seemed rather odd, unless Preston were playing one of the usual suspects in a lunchtime derby.
On asking one of the many police on the station, I was told it was members or should that be carrots of the English Defence League going to a protest in Blackburn.
There was no trouble on the train and they all got off at Blackburn and the carriage was rather empty as we crossed to Burnley.
I don’t like those who hate others and I’m rather glad that the EDL protest passed without any serious trouble. But that protest was rather put in proportion by the murder of a Catholic policeman by probable Republican terrorists in Northern Ireland.
The Anonymous Widower 