Christmas, Bloody Christmas
Oh! How I hate Christmas!
I shall have lunch with my son and his friends.
On the other hand, it doesn’t cost me much. I will buy just three presents and a couple of good bottles of wine for Christmas lunch.
I can’t even get to the football on Boxing Day, as there are no trains and I can’t drive.
I think this could be my worst Christmas ever!
Let’s ban it!
After all, the only people who like it are children and I don’t know any of them!
Christmas has never been the same, since you could go down Spurs on Christmas morning to see the match and then come home to a late Christmas lunch!
And now it appears the Underground will be on strike on Boxing Day! They were last year and that was a day to forget. It incidentally looks to be the same argument about triple pay and a day off as well.
The sooner we take the numan element out of the trains the better.
Katie Hopkins on Mrs. Thatcher
Katie Hopkins was on BBC Breakfast this morning, talking about the High Street. I didn’t agree with everything she said, but as she talked a fair bit of sense, I checked her blog out. I particularly liked this piece about Mrs. Thatcher, although she did miss out any mention of Denis, who after my lunch in 1981, I always believed was the mentor behind the power.
Improving the High Street
I have two High Streets close to me, Upper Street at the Angel in Islington and the Kingsland Road in Dalston.
I would use them more, but the trouble with both of them, is that they are just too cluttered to navigate easily.
At the Angel the problem is chuggers, who always want to stop me. I just make sure, I don’t give to the charities they promote. On the Kingsland Road it’s the endless boards put up to block the pavements by the various money and pound shops.
I’m sure more people would go to the various High Streets in this country, if it was easier to walk between the places you want to go. Because of this, when I go to either the Angel or the Kingsland Road, I usually go to visit a specific place like Waitrose or the station and usually plan my walking route carefully, so I avoid the main road.
It is also interesting to compare the centre of Liverpool, with say Oxford Street. The former is pedestrianised and it is a joy to walk around with no traffic, whereas the second is a nightmare and no wonder it’s such a dump, with just a few good shops, like John Lewis, Selfridges and M & S, standing out from the dross.
I can’t remember the last time, I bought anything in Oxford Street, except at those stores!
Yesterday, Oxford Street had been blocked off and effectively pedestrianised and it was so much better.
An RF Bus and the Wombles
The only obstruction was this RF or Regal Four bus and the Wombles.
I didn’t actually buy anything though.
On the subject of buses, which are very important in getting people to the shops, at The Angel, they have two big lay-bys on either side of the road, which accommodate the bus stops. So if I’m going to say Waitrose, it’s just get off the 38, 56 or 73 bus, walk across the road on a light-controlled crossing and then I’ve just a few metres from the shop. Going home, I don’t even have to cross the road and just walk down a few steps to the bus stop. The system works well and could probably be implemented in many places. But then they’ve lost a few car parking spaces. But then how many normal unselfish people drive in Islington?
They could certainly improve the bus access and walking routes on the Kingsland Road, which would probably improve the interchange between the two Dalston stations.
The problem in both these High Streets, is that they can be improved, but usually the motorist is the one to be inconvenienced. I should say, that in both places, there are car parks, close to the High Streets.
The Ladykillers
I went to see The Ladykillers last night.
Shaftesbury Avenue is very easy for me, as I just got on a 38 bus all the way. Although, I did think of walking the last kilometre or so, as the traffic was so bad, as all the world and his wife, seemed to be driving into the West End.
The play was really worth seeing, with one of the most spectacular and innovative sets, I’ve ever seen in the theatre. The story and script stuck very much to that of the film, although with a few modern changes. I hadn’t realised before but the original very English screenplay had been written by an American, William Rose, who dreamt the whole thing and then wrote it down with the help of his wife, when he awoke. He later went on to write Guess Who’s coming to Dinner?
IKEA’s Non-Delivery Service – Part 2
I posted this about a delivery, I’m expecting from IKEA on the 15th November.
Today, I received an e-mail from them telling me that they had unilaterally put back the delivery to the 17th of December. It is not convenient, and I have e-mailed them to say that it isn’t.
I have a feeling this is a saga that will run and run.
Note that I originally placed the order on the 7th of November and they said then that the product will be delivered on the 17th of November.
The ArcelorMittal Orbit Is Now At Full Height
I took this picture of the ArcelorMittal Orbit on Saturday from the train to Ipswich.
The ArcelorMittal Orbit at Full Height
I think it’s now at its full height.
Where is the Printing at the Science Museum?
They used to have a Wharfedale and an Original Heidelberg plattern. But there’s nothing now!
Considering that letterpress printing was the greatest information revolution of all time, it is very sad.
But then I’m biased as my father was a printer.
The UK needs a comprehensive printing museum.
Hidden Heroes At The Science Museum
I went to see Hidden Heroes at the Science Museum yesterday. It was quite an interesting little exhibition documenting the stories behind a selection of everyday objects.
As you would expect most of the items shown, had been invented or designed in the major industrial countries like the UK, the United States, Germany, France and Sweden.
But what was surprising was that only one had been designed or invented by a woman. and that was the coffee filter, which was invented by a German housewife called Melitta Bentz. Could it be that she was fed up with her family’s comments on her bad coffee?
In some ways it’s strange, but one of Britain’s most successful and well-known female engineers of the mid-twentieth century, Tilly Shilling, made her name in the field of getting liquids to flow properly. She designed a device, which meant that the Merlin engines in Spitfires and Hurricanes could perform negative-G manoeuvres and thus not be shot down by German fighters.
Another Reason To Hate Junk Mail
I hate it even more now, as when I came home yesterday, my letter box was stuffed with rubbish, so much so, that I couldn’t open the box to get it out.
Luckily by tearing it up on the outside, I was able to release it enough to clear it all.
And I have a message on the door saying, that I don’t want junk mail.
Roof Clutter
This house is near to where I live.
Roof Clutter
There has been a lot of controversy about whether the solar panels they have installed should be allowed. You can just about see them. But surely the real eyesores are the television aerials, satellite dish and the overhead wires to bring in the phone lines!
The Anonymous Widower 