Exploring Tilbury Riverside
The idea was simple. I would walk from Tilbury Town station to the site of the former Tilbury Riverside station and have a look at the London Cruise Terminal and Tilbury Fort, before taking a ferry to Gravesend to come home.
But things didn’t quite work out as planned, as although I had a good walk in the wind to river, that wind was so bad the ferries had got themselves cancelled.
But I did find a nice place with a welcoming pub to go to in better weather!
The area does need a bit of improvement.
- The London Cruise Terminal looks as welcoming as a prison from the outside.
- Connections to Tilbury Town station are simple and spasmodic.
- Tilbury Fort certainly needed some more information.
- The chimneys behind the Fort are those of the Tilbury B power station, which burns biomass.
- The Ferry Terminal to Gravesend was also short of information. Especially, something like an electronic Next Ferry Indicator.
- There needs to be extension of the pedestrian routes.
- It would also help, if the trucks kept to the speed limit.
But most importantly, the area would get more visitors if Tilbury Riverside station was still being used.
Failing that a decent cycle route, with bicycle hire stations at either end.
An Alternative Source Of Celias
It would appear that Waitrose are no longer stocking Celia gluten-free lager.
As I can’t live without them, I went to the Celia web site and searched for an alternative supplier near me.
I found Harvest E8, just up the road from Dalston Kingsland station.
It certainly is a well-stocked organic shop.
Narrow Pavements In Dalston
I’m not a lover of this development in Kingsland High Street, but now that it is nearing completion, one problem stands out!
The pavements are so very narrow.
Will two double-buggy pushers be able to pass?
Islamic Scumbags
I watched Andrew Neil’s carefully-crafted monologue on the BBC last night, in which he referred to Islamic State as Islamic Scumbags.
It was a brave and very right thing to do and I hope there are no repercussions.
But his monologue was in the great tradition of the BBC, that started in the 1960s, with That Was The Week That Was or TW3.
It was on late and as I needed to get up early to deliver newspapers, I usually went to bed and my father would wake me and call me down to watch the program.
Perhaps the most moving program was the one they did after the assassination of President Kennedy, which contained none of the usual copious amounts of satire.
We should treat the so-called Islamic State with the contempt they deserve and strong words and biting humour are the weapons we should use!
Good Riddance To Coal-Fired Power Stations
This article on the BBC is entitled UK’s coal plants to be phased out within 10 years. This is said.
The UK’s remaining coal-fired power stations will be shut by 2025 with their use restricted by 2023, Energy Secretary Amber Rudd has proposed.
Ms Rudd wants more gas-fired stations to be built since relying on “polluting” coal is “perverse”.
Because coal is pure carbon, when it burns, if produces carbon dioxide.
On the other hand, natural gas, is a mixture of hydrogen and methane, which is a compound of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atons. So when it burns, it produces a lot of the combustion product of hydrogen, which is water.
I think to get the same amount of heat or produce a given amount of electricity, natural gas creates about half the amount of carbon dioxide, than coal does.
There is another advantage of using gas to generate electricity. You can have small power stations generating electricity, where it is needed.
An interesting small gas-powered power station is the Bunhill Energy Centre in Islington, which is used to generate electricity and heat for some of the Council’s buildings. Phase 2 of this project will capture waste heat from the London Underground and a large electricity sub-station, that will be used to heat more buildings.
These cogeneration systems will become more numerous. For instance, if you had say a large detached house in the country, you might use solar panels or a wind turbine, backed by a microCHP system for dark or still days.
We shouldn’t underestimate, the skill of engineers to design electricity combined heat and power systems matched to all the different markets.
There will come a time, where many of us will generate the electricity we need, either by ourselves or perhaps in a local co-operative. We could even sell the surplus back to the grid.
I will not predict what a system will look like, but it will heat your house and provide you with the electricity you need.
The one thing, I will predict that coal will not have any use for the generation of electricity.
My Useless John Lewis Credit Card Statement
I recently bought a winter coat in Marks and Spencer. The zip has gone, so I want to find the store, where I bought it, as I use several of the large ones in London regularly. I probably bought it with my John Lewis credit card, so all I need to find is a transaction at over a £100 for Marks and Spencer to get a date and store.
But I can only get the last statement as a spreadsheet, which just gives dates, values and not the store. It’s not even formatted to the sort of level, that a child of six could program.
Quite frankly it’s utter crap!
Unlike with Amex, which gives you everything you need to trace purchases, in an easy-to-read clickable format.
Do John Lewis expect me to keep paper copies of all my purchases?
Paper is so Nineteenth Century!
Corbyn Not Happy With Shoot-To-Kill
This article on the BBC web site is entitled Jeremy Corbyn ‘not happy’ with shoot-to-kill policy.
What would this mean for armed police officers, who came across a group of Islamic State terrorists murdering people in a theatre?
- They could offer themselves up as human shields.
- They could wait until the attackers ran out of bullets and arrest them.
- They could call Corbyn and ask him to negotiate.
Jeremy Corbyn’s thought processes are useless against the nutters of Islamic State.
Walking From Haggerston Station To Mare Street
I did this walk as the area from East of Haggerston Road through London Fields is going to be traffic calmed, as described in this page on the Hackney Council website.
This report in the Hackney Citizen is entitled London Fields residents clash over car-cutting measures. This is said.
Residents are at loggerheads over council proposals for a car-free zone to the west of London Fields.
During the three-month trial period, due to begin in January, Middleton Road and surrounding streets will be blocked off to motorists, allowing cyclists and pedestrians to travel freely down Middleton Road.
Residents will still be permitted motor access to all streets.
Nothing is as difficult as getting the correct mix of traffic. They also provided this map.
Car-Free Route Through London Fields
So I took a lot of pictures as I walked.
My observations.
- It was a charming walk, through fairly wide streets with lots of trees. Hackney is no crime-ridden wasteland!
- There was no sign of any traffic calming.
- The area has a high level of cycling. I suppose being flat helps.
- There were a few cases of traffic rushing about.
- Stonebridge Gardens is being upgraded with a new design.
I remember the area from the 1970s, when C ran a short life house for ex-prisoners, just off Mare Street. You could say the area has improved, without too much drastic change. This Google Map shows the area, where I walked.
Haggerston To London Fields
Haggerston station is on the East London Line at the West (left) and London Fields station on the Lea Valley Line is to the right of the green space that is London Fields, with its fifty metre heated outdoor pool. Mare Street is the A107 running down the map to the right of the railway.
I live just a few hundred metres from the top left corner of the map.
It will be interesting to repeat this walk, when the traffic calming is complete and they’ve finished painting the bridge.
A Lesson In Traffic Management
On Friday, next door got low water pressure. So now we have a chicane around the hole that Thames Water have dug, whilst they look for the problem!
My road certainly seems quieter, as traffic could be much less and slower.
Perhaps Thames Water and National Grid, should be asked to dig holes in rat runs as a traffic-calming measure!
It’s Only Cash Or Contactless Credit Card For Me!
I had a chat with a solicitor, I met on a train yesterday about credit card fraud. I said that I try to use my contactless card if possible and get mildly annoyed if a company expects me to enter my pin for a purchase of about a tenner.
She agreed and said she had been involved in formulating the legal basis of the payments policy of a large retailer. She made some interesting points.
- Fraud on contactless cards seems to be lower than predicted. We both added a caveat of Not Yet!
- Some retailers have reported a strong move from cash to contactless cards.
- Research has shown, that people keep contactless cards very safe, in a place like a deep pocket, to avoid accidental transactions.
I also said that a policeman had told me, that stolen contactless cards aren’t often used in a contactless manner. She said that thirty quid isn’t worth getting caught for, when there’s a bent shop where you can make thousands.
I said that, I once used my ordinary card in a branch of a well-known franchise to purchase an SD card. The lady, who served me, was a Muslim from her dress and when my card didn’t work in the machine, she told me that she’d used the wrong one. So she asked me to put my card in another. Which I did and the purchase was completed.
Within a few hours my card had been cloned and some expensive purchases were made. My companion confirmed it was a trick beloved of small shops and garages.
So I had been conned by a simple sleight-of-hand! Did the money end up with Islamic State? Probably not, but you do wonder!
I now only use cash or contactless credit card for my smaller purchases.
I also now rarely use small shops, unless I’ve known them for some time. And I certainly wouldn’t use a credit card without it being contactless.
The Anonymous Widower 