Avoid Changing At Bank
For some time now, changing from one tube line to another at Bank has been something to avoid according to Transport for London.
I have advised people coming to see me to change at Bank onto a 76, 21 or 141 bus to go north to Dalston. But now CrossRail works and putting in a new water main seem to mean that finding a bus at certain times at Bank, is like looking for a needle in the proverbial haystack.
Coming back from Oxford Circus at around four this afternoon, took me nearly an hour, when normally in the rush hour, I can do it on a 73 bus in about thirty-five minutes.
So where were the seventy-frees this afternoon? Stuck in the jams at Bond Street caused by Sunday afternoon shoppers and the CrossRail works at Bond Street. I couldn’t tak the Victoria line to Highbury and Islington, as that was closed for engineering work.
The problems will sort themselves out in the next few weeks, as the summer will be over and a lot of the weekend engineering work will be suspended until the Christmas period.
It is now though, that one of the major faults of the Overground is starting to show itself. And that is the lack of a link to the Central line in the east of London. You have to remember too, that the Central line is actually under Shoreditch High Street station. But then the cost of a new tube station there would probably have doubled the cost of the East London line.
I suppose the planners felt that when CrossRail is finished, then this will solve the problem with the interchange at Whitechapel.
A Wonderful Phrase – Meretriciously Obscurantist Techno Tosh
Roger Ford in Modern Railways today used this phrase to describe a letter written from Theresa Villiers about the new IEP train or SET (Super Express Train).
At the end of his article there is this paragraph entitled, Official VTAC figures for SET.
When you need reiable technical details you want an engineer on the job. So I am indebted to my Hitachi chum, Koji Agatsuma, who sent me Network Rail’s official Variable Track Access Charges (VTAC) for the Super Express Train just as this column was going to press.
With the driving pantograph car coming in at 10.95p per vehicle mile and the motored car with underfloor diesel engine costing 13.05p, the total VYAC for a nine-car bi-mode would be £1.07 per mile. So how did the DfT (Department for Transport) get £1.13 per mile for the five car bi-mode?
I would assume that civil servants and politicians can’t do arithmetic. I once met a senior advisor in the Treasury. He lived alone in a terraced house in Surbiton, couldn’t drive, ride a bicycle or swim and had as much real experience of British life, as the man on the Pyongyang omnibus. But he had got a first class degree from Oxford!
An Interview With David Linley
There was a wonderful interview with David Linley in the magazine section of The Times yesterday.
It is much more about design and making things than anything else. I like these quotes.
- Design doesn’t have to be expensive.
- Simple engineering stands the test of time.
- London is the best city in the world.
- You can decorate construction but never construct decoration.
- The ability to be observant is very important.
Everybody who aspires to design or make anything should read the article.
How About An Electronic Message Badge?
There are certain things that really annoy me as I walk around London and other places. I usually just want to get about my business in the quickest way possible.
- Perhaps the biggest annoyance, especially at the Angel is chuggers or charity muggers. I support various charities, but I won’t support one that uses chuggers. Many incidentally are ones, that C or myself have supported in the past. I don’t support them now! I can’t be the only person who feels this way and I do wonder whether using chuggers has proved unprofitable for some charities.
- And then there are shops, like W H Smith,that constantly offer me offers I don’t want. Most seem to be for chocolate based snacks or fast food, that I can’t eat as I’m a coeliac. Some assistants are so persistent, I only seem to be able to shut them up by being rude.
- The real annoyance are obese smokers, who block the pavement with their vile habit, thus forcing me into the road.
It strikes me that I coud have an electronic display on my shoulder perhaps controlled by a simple device in my pocket. It would display an appropriate message. For the three examples I have given, the message might be.
- I never give any money to anybody who approaches me on the street.
- I am a coeliac. Please don’t offer me foods that will make me ill.
- My son died of a smoking related cancer. Your behaviour disgusts me.
Obviously, you would make sure that the messages were not offensive or preached violence.
But it could be also be used for advertising or information such as.
- I am an electrician with good references. Contact me on 07xx-xxxxxx.
- Next week is Victoria Park Carnival. A free day for all the family.
- I’m getting off this train at Scunthorpe. I must be mad.
- We are sorry your train was delayed. There was a suicide at Finsbury Park.
The last comment illustrates how the display could be used in crowds to impart information and give answers. I was at Portman Road to see Ipswich Town today, and I feel information badges would be of use in crowd control. Today for instance, there were a lot of messages over the PA, asking supporters in some blocks of the stadium to take a different route out after the match. Stewards badges could have displayed the message.
Obviously as the messages would be under control of the wearer or their employer, either through wi-fi, Bluetooth, SMS or directly, appropriate messages could be displayed quickly as required.
The National Cafe at the National Gallery
I had a good lunch with a friend at the National Cafe at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square.
They were quite happy to check the menu and modify it accordingly to make what I ate gluten-free.
Getting Home From IKEA
The trip back from IKEA with the things I’d bought, was the second easiest ever. The easiest was when my son brought me in his car, but as he only has a proper mini, that isn’t easy, if I have bought a lot.
IKEA provided me with a large minicab with a cheery and helpful driver from Edmonton to Dalston for just a score. As to get what I’d bought delivered after an Internet shop would have been more, I’ll count that as value.
Virgin’s Bare-Faced Cheek!
Today’s Evening Standard ia wrapped in an advert for Virgin Media. Many were just tearing it off and using it as litter.
But the thing I objected to was this on the back.
Our repair team won’t take your money.
Well not directly, but if you haven’t got a landline because of a fault, and you have to use a more expensive mobile phone, isn’t that costing you money.
Hopefully, I’ll have got rid of the shower in a few weeks.
I have submitted a complaint to the ASA.
This was my description of the complaint.
The advert contains the wording “our repair team won’t take your money.”
About the 1st of August my landline with Virgin Media failed. I have used my mobile phone to make several calls to them to try to get it fixed. They did once. but it failed a couple of days later.
So their repair team, hasn’t taken my money directly, but in practice I have been charged quite a bit in trying to get an adequate response from Virgin Media. I have done what any sane man, who has lost his wife and son to cancer would do and cancelled. I have a feeling that my anger is so great that it caused Richard Branson’s house on Necker to burn down. I am of course sorry if it did, as I wish him, his family or his companies no harm, other than what they are due because they have offended against various codes.
Let’s see what happens.
An Ideal Present For Your NuLabor Friends
I saw this lamp in John Lewis yesterday.
I wonder if Tony Blair did a deal over the naming rights!
P.G. Wodehouse Was A Traitor
My father hated P.G. Wodehouse with a vengeance because of his broadcasts for the Nazis in the Second World War. We didn’t have any of his books in the house.
More has just been released from MI5 files as reported here in the Guardian.
I would follow my father and have nothing to do with any of Wodehouse’s books and can’t even say now, I’d go out of my way to watch a film, play or TV series of any of his books.
Remember my father was very involved with anti-Fascism protests before the war and active on the left wing of the Conservative party. He was also present at the Battle of Cable Street, when the East End stopped Mosley from marching.
My father could also do a mean impersonation of Lord Haw-Haw. But then I’ve never met anybody who didn’t feel that he wasn’t one of the funniest things of the war.
Not Big Sellers
If I want to get rid of anything that might be useful to someone, I just put it on the front patio with a note saying it’s alright to take it. But not these lights!
A Box of Useless Lights
They’re obviously too awful for even the grottiest cellar, attic or garden shed. They were of course installed in this house by Jerry, who never missed a chsnce to use crap, where quality was specified.
Although I must say someone did rumage through and take all the tungsten light bulbs.
The Anonymous Widower 