Is The Forth Bridge Scotland’s Best Loved Landmark?
Not my words, but those of Network Rail on a web site describing their plans for the Forth Rail Bridge, called The Forth Bridge Experience.
If the experience is as well thought out as the web site, they might be on to something.
After all if Tower Bridge in London can have an experience, why not the Forth Bridge!
Thinking about it though, recognisable landmarks in Scotland, that are recognisable to non-Scots, are thin on the ground.
I think if I go back to before I first visited Scotland in 1965, I would suspect that the Forth Rail Bridge would have been the only landmark I could recognise.
Suffolk Shows The Value Of Improving Train Services
The East Suffolk line from Ipswich to Lowestoft is one of those train lines, that British Rail would have liked to close in the 1960s and 1970s. Everything was simplified and a lot of the line was made single-track.
Then a year ago, they introduced a loop at Beccles and an hourly service between the two biggest towns in East Suffolk.
The result has been an 11.5% increase in passengers as is reported here. Here’s the first paragraph.
It was a record setting year as passenger numbers of the East Suffolk Line hit an all time high in 2013. A record 653,000 journeys were made on the line between Ipswich and Lowestoft last year, an 11.5% increase on 2012. Compared to 2009 / 2010 that number is up by 60%.
We’re not talking massive sums on improving the line, but it shows that if you provide a better train service, it’ll get used, as I found out earlier this week on the Settle and Carlisle.
Russia’s Biggest Problem
A few years ago, I read a book called PeopleQuake, which talked about how some countries like Russia have a birthrate that is not enough to sustain the population. Apparently, in Russia, the women didn’t want to have children, as the men might not be there to be a good father.
This article illustrates the problem with Russian men and their drinking and other bad habits. Here’s the first paragraph.
The high number of early deaths in Russia is mainly due to people drinking too much alcohol, particularly vodka, research suggests.
PeopleQuake reckoned that putting the drunk; Boris Yeltsin in charge, was the real problem, as he reversed all of the previous reforms, that were aimed at cutting down on cheap vodka.
The BBC article says this.
In 1985, the then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev drastically cut vodka production and did not allow it to be sold before lunch-time.
Researchers say alcohol consumption fell by around a quarter when the restrictions came in, and so did overall death rates. Then, when communism collapsed, people started drinking more again and the death rates also rose.
So what is Putin doing about improving Russian society? Spending billions on the Sochi games and clamping down on those, who don’t fit the Russian stereotype!
You could also argue, that he doesn’t have a good grasp of foreign policy!
It’s Not April The First!
This story about exploding cows in Germany is straight out of the Guardian’s list of April Fool Jokes. There is a serious side though, as the article says!
Cows are believed to emit up to 500 litres of methane – a potent greenhouse gas – each per day.
Perhaps we should link all cows to the gas grid or have a cow in the kitchen connected to the cooker.
My INR For January 2014
As January is now finished, I can show a graph of my daily INR tests for January 2014.
My INR For January 2014
The average INR for the month was 2.6 with a standard deviation of 0.2. This is well within the range of 2 to 3 and just above the target of 2.5.
I’m using a simple algorithm of 4 mg. normally, with 3 mg. if the INR is above or equal to 2.8 and 5 mg, if it is below or equal to 2.2.
It would be interesting to see if the results with the switch limits set to 2.1 and 2.9, or if a little bit of integral control were to be introduced. As with all control systems, getting everything stable always needs a bit of fine tuning.
An Inadvertent Inuendo
Caitlin Moran in The Times on Friday does her Celebrity Watch, which I generally read, as it lets me find out who the inconsequential idiots, like Justin Bieber, that constantly pollute news bulletins, actually are.
Today, she marks David Cameron down, because of an interview about his musical taste. She reveals that despite his profile, he still manages to sneak into gigs, like that of Swedish act; First Aid Kit at the O2 Shepherds Bush.
Caitlin has now got the phrase. “Cameron’s back entrance to the Bush” stuck in her mind.
Spam Purporting To Come From DFS
I’ve just had one of those spam e-mails looking for agents, that says it has come from DFS.
It might have come from DFS in somewhere else, but it had all the hallmarks of fraud and may have started its journey in Paraguay.
So beware!
This Won’t Happen To Me!
This story is one of those, where you wonder how the driver managed to wreck the house opposite. As usual they seem to be claiming the automatic transmission malfunctioned. They rarely do! But as the old joke says, the nut behind the steering wheel is the most dangerous part of a car.
I doubt it’ll happen to me on either side, as I don’t drive and there is no house with a sloping driveway opposite. To make it even more difficult for a kamikaze driver, my kitchen is at the back on the first floor. I suppose they could go down the mews and jump the car over the house at the back of my garden.
It doesn’t give in the article, any details on the driver, but it does seem to me, that whatever happens, they should be made to take a thorough test before driving again. Next time their automatic transmission mulfunctions, a child could be the victim.
The Royston Crow gives more detyails here. Isn’t that a wonderful name for a local paper!
My IKEA Furniture Now Has Some Brass Knobs!
My house has a theme of dark black-brown steel beams fitted together with brass fittings.
Dark Steel And Brass Bolts
When I bought the house, it still had Jerry’s gold-painted steel bolts, which I have replaced with real brass ones. Even if some might be just be real bolts glued into Jerry’s crude holes.
So when I bought some of IKEA’s Expedit boxes, which are just the right colour for the beams, I was disappointed that they only come with natural aluminium knobs.
IKEA’s Aluminium Knobs
So it was off to Birmingham by train to visit Honeyglen Anodising in Sparkbrook to see what they could do. I’ve now got the trial batch and here’s one in place.
Expedit With Brass Knobs
I’ve now got to get all the others together and send them off to Birmingham. I am getting them in a pretty standard brass colour, but there are more details here of the colours available.
Clapham Uncommon
This company was featured on the BBC London News. It concerns the growing of speciality vegetables and herbs in one of the deep level air-raid shelters under Clapham. Wikipedia says this about the shelters.
Each shelter consists of a pair of parallel tunnels 16 feet 6 inches (5.03 m) in diameter and 1,200 feet (370 m) long. Each tunnel is subdivided into two decks, and each shelter was designed to hold up to 8,000 people.
So they’re quite large! And there’s eight of them in total! But some have already been used for other purposes!
The Anonymous Widower 