UKAS Visit Day
Yesterday, as I walked up Brownlow Hill to the University. I saw this sign outside the Victoria Building.
UKAS Visit Day at Liverpool University
It was all so different, when I went in 1965. I was accepted by the university with no interview and the first time I went to the city was the day I arrived by train after a four and a half hour train journey from London and had to haul my heavy suitcase up the hill to get a bus to my digs.
Yesterday, as I did the same walk, I reflected on how far I’d come in those 46 years. The Catholic Cathedral was now of course finished and new buildings were lining Brownlow Hill.
And there was a welcoming notice on the doors of the Electrical Engineering building!
Welcome Sign
I liked that! C would have been proud.
Ken Dodd and Bessie Braddock
Lime Street station hosts one of the more unusual street sculptures in the UK on the station concourse. It commemorates two local heroes; Ken Dodd and Bessie Braddock.
Ken Dodd and Bessie Braddock
I have never seen Ken Dodd perform, although if I’d gone to university a year earlier, I would have seen his legendary performance at the Students Union in Panto Week, where he told jokes for several hours. Panto Week was a uniquely Liverpool University name for their Rag Week. It was so named because the students used to block book the last night of the pantomine in the Liverpool Empire. That tradition had died out before I went to the University, but it was still part of University life and raised money for charity. There is an account of Panto Week in 1936 here.
In State in First Class
There’s just me in First Class on this late Virgin train.
But do I care? Of course not, as I can really spread out.
Incidentally, Standard Class up to Liverpool and First Class back, cost just under £46 in total.
So I can’t complain.
The Indiscrete Celebrity
The First Class Lounge at Lime Street was empty, when someone I thought familiar entered.
Immediately, they sat down, their phone rang and they proceeded to give their e-mail address to someone at the other end of the call.
It was then obvious, who they were.
Perhaps, they thought I was engrossed in my computer and it didn’t matter. But I heard the e-mail address and it might be something they’d have preferred to keep secret.
I have found the person on the web and I now know that I heard it correctly. So my hearing isn’t as bad as I have been thinking!
In this case it didn’t really matter, as the serious thinker doesn’t hide their identity on the web. But how many Z-List Celebrities have complained about harrassment because they’ve inadvertently given their e-mail address or mobile phone number to all and sundry?
East Coast’s New Menu
On my trip to Leeds on Saturday, I was able to look at East Coast‘s new menu.
I didn’t actually eat anything on the train, except for an EatNakd bar I took with me, as I had good breakfast before I left and knew I was going to be having a sensible lunch before the football.
However, the menu now has a couple of gluten-free items marked as such. One was a lamb shank, which I do like although last time I tried it, my hand wasn’t up to eating it. It’s got better in the last few months, so I suspect, it might be better.
If I had wanted to have one on the way home, I wouldn’t have been able, as there was no chef on the train. Sadly none of the snacky offerings were gluten free, although there was a chicken korma, which probably was gluten-free, but wasn’t marked as such.
But Leeds is only a two and a half hour journey and as there are restaurants at both ends, it is not the most important route for catering, as far as I’m concerned.
London’s Bendy Buses Are a Dangerous Joke
Yesterday on my way to Kings Cross, I was nearly run down because of a 73 bendy bus. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the fact that I’d just got off it, it might have been closer. It blocked the junction by Kings Cross, because it was just too long to get round the corner and then everybody jumped the lights to get through. I was crossing on the green in all this mayhem, but pulled back to safety well out of the way. As I wasn’t in a hurry, I decided to be safe rather than sorry.
Thinking about it afterwards, the bus might have been blocking drivers views of the lights, so they thought it safe to carry on. A standard double-ecker with a smaller footprint would have been able to get round the corner and allow the lights to be clearly seen.
And then today, as I was coming back from the Angel, another 73 bendy was causing a traffic jam as it struggled to pass another of its ilk at Essex Road station.
They are just too long for London’s streets. If you don’t believe me read this from the Evening Standard.
I just can’t wait until the 3rd September this year, when according to Wikipedia, they will be replaced by a mixture of hybrid and diesel buses. The seventy-free will only be missed by fare dodgers.
Another Reason Why It’s Dumb to Have a Smart Phone!
I picked this up in the Sunday Times, but it’s reported here in detail on the BBC. Basically use your smart phone abroad in some countries and you’ll get a bill bigger than the holiday you’re having.
I’ll stick to my Nokia 6310i.
Buses Outside London
Most London double-deck buses have a separate entrance and exit.
This means that those leaving the bus, don’t get in the way of those getting in. It also makes it a lot easier for wheelchair access and those with children in buggies. I don’t travel on buses outside London very often, but find negotiating the obstacle course of suitcases and buggies to get to the front door somewhat tiresome. In Cambridge for example, I will walk if I can, rather than use the bus.
So if a double xit bus is so much better and as I think speeds up public transport, why do so many buses not have a centre exit.
Single Entrance/Edit Bus in Leeds
Here’s a bus from Leeds yesterday.
I suppose it’s all down to costs!
Walking Around Leeds
I took these pictures as I walked round the city before the match.
There was also a very comprehensive Henry Moore exhibition in the Art Gallery, which I wished I’d been able to explore fully.
A Day in Leeds
Yesterday, I went to Leeds to see Ipswich play at Elland Road. I took the train from King’s Cross at 8:10 and arrived in the city on time just after 10:30, three cups of free coffee later.
In my view Leeds is a much superior city to Manchester, as like Liverpool, it is fairly compact and you can get most places on foot from the train station.
The station now has improved and is now near to what I would call a destination station.
The last time I came, the roof was going up and now it is complete.
The New Roof at Leeds Station
Is this roof the only complete modern station covering to match the great Victorian structures at St. Pancras, King’s Cross, Raddington and Lime Street in Liverpool?
I met an old Metier colleague and her daughter in the city and after lunch, we went to the ground to see the match.
Leeds United have a reputaion for being unwelcoming, but this was the firast away seating that had a proper Welcome Sign.
Welcome Sign at Elland Road
It should also be said that they were very accommodating in adjusting the tickets, so that I could sit with my friends.
The match wasn’t the most exciting but Town deserved their point and it was good to see Kieron Dyer in an Ipswich shirt again.
The Anonymous Widower 