Hackney On The Rise
BBC Radio 5 asks this morning about views on the economy. I sent them this text.
Three years ago, I retired to Dalston after a stroke stopped me driving. Every month the area gets better and a lot is down to the London Overground, which takes people to jobs, shopping and leisure activities. It shows how investment in transport can improve the lot for us all! Next year Tottenham gets the overground. We live in interesting times.
So has the Overground really improved things?
I first rode the Overground towards the Olympic Park in July 2010, before I moved here in December of that year. Since that first short run, the system has expanded. but gone are the dingy stationsa, dirty trains and lack of staff of the pre-Overground era. The Class 378 trains, started as three cars, but as they couldn’t handle the demand, they were lengthened to four cars and now they’re going to five. Have we ever built a railway, for which much-need extra capacity can be provided so easily?
But the capacity is needed, as more and more people use the line contributing to the affluence and well-being of the areas it serves, like Hackney.
You could call the Overground a rebranding exercise, but that would be unfair. Give a railway line, better clean stations, reliable frequent trains, visible staff and a simple ticketing system and the passengers will arrive. Visitors will also come and bring prosperity to an area.
London will use the Overground to run trains on the Lea Valley Lines to Tottenham, Enfield, Cheshunt and Chingford. North East London will surely be on the up.
One of the great things about the way the Overground is implemented, as effectively a rebuilt, resignalled and fully-staffed train line first with a deep clear of trains and stations and Oyster ticketing, means that the concept can be brought in, in affordable stages.
I suspect that the Lea Valley lines have a good enough line and signalling for a few years, so it’ll be the grotty and unstaffed stations, and the ticketing, that get the most attention at first. As new Cl;ass 378 trains are delivered, they can of course be run in combination with the ageing Class 315 trains on the lines at present, as their bigger brother, the Class 379 does already. Dripping new trains in surely gives passengers hope that something is happening to improve their dismal line.
With a grand project like Crossrail, you only see the improvement, when the line opens. With the Overground, the upgrade is continuous and now the London boroughs seem to be getting involved in the development of the stations, many of which are on prime sites.
I suspect that the way the Overground has been implemented could be applied to various train lines around the country. The Cambridge to Ipswich line, which I know well could benefit, especially if the main line was electrified for freight and the various councils got involved, to facilitate the development of the stations. Bury St. Edmunds station, is a classic, where a good architect could create a mixed housing and commercial development that did justice to the town.
I believe that if you get the railway right, then the investment and development around stations will follow.
Birdstrike On An Electric Locomotive
It would appear that whatever bird this Class 90 hit, didn’t have much of a chance.
Birdstrike On A Class 90
But then none of us would, if hit by 84.5 tonnes of electric locomotive.
Winning Over The Anti-Frackers
Edmund Marshall is a retired MP. In a letter to the Times today, he talks of his part in the Zetland County Council Act 1973 and the effect of the Act, on the Shetland Islands. This is talked about here on the Scottish Government web site, with this paragraph being the most relevant.
Closer to home, we have an example of the way in which one local community – Shetland – was able to accrue a legacy for its future on the back of oil and gas exploration. Shetland Islands Council showed foresight in securing via, primarily, the Zetland County Council Act 1974 a lasting revenue stream for the benefit of the islands from the development of the Sullom Voe terminal. The result of this Act and subsequent contractual negotiations is that Shetland today has a lasting legacy of around £216m. 7 This figure is over and above the funds contained in the Shetland Reserve Fund, administered by Shetland Islands Council.
30. The Shetland Charitable Trust, established in 1974 to manage the income stream accrued to Shetland, today provides funding to a number of charitable organisations and projects where there is a clear benefit to the Shetland community. Over the years, the Trust has made a contribution to creating a modern, positive and healthy community in Shetland. Shetland Charitable Trust’s financial strength has also given it the power to establish joint venture projects to move into the renewable energy generation market.
Dr. Marshall finishes his letter, by saying that fracking could be dealt with by similar provisions.
It would lead to some rather heated arguments in some councils, as to whether to accept the fracker’s shilling. It is a choice about whether you want lower Council Tax and new community facilities, or fracking.
I very doubt that a similar Act will happen in the greater UK, as payments like this really get the Treasury’s ire. I’m surprised that they allowed the Shetlands to get this independent finance! Perhaps none of the Treasury’s mandarins had been north of Watford and Shetlands meant Rockall to them.
Diversion By The Black Triangle
I heard this on the BBC Radio 5 traffic reports.
Is the Black Triangle anything like the Bermuda Triangle?
A Development We Don’t Need
The BBC has just shown non-working images of a stun-gun amart phone case. There’s more here. This is the first bit.
Add-ons that turn smartphones into Star Trek-like tricorder medical diagnostic kits, Predator-style thermal vision cameras and even electric “stun guns” are being promoted at the Consumer Electronics Show.
They did say that these stun-gun smart phone cases would be illegal in the UK! But tell that to the gangs! It’ll become a must have accessory!
This development of the humble phone, is one of the sickest and pointless things, I’ve seen in some time. But of course, it appears to be legal in the United States.
I have found the company on the Internet. How long before you can buy a smart-phone case like this from their web site and have it shipped across the Atlantic?
The Daily Mail has te full story and gives a lot more detail than I would, in this report.
Hollande Gets On His Motorbike
Traditionally in the UK, there is a joke about infidelity and men getting on a bicycle.
But French presidents do it differently and use a motorbike driven by a chauffeur., according to this article on the BBC web site. Here’s the relevant bit.
The pictures purportedly show the pair arriving separately. Mr Hollande, wearing a helmet, is on a motorbike driven by a chauffeur.
It looks like it’s one law for the leaders and one law for the plebs.
I wonder what is the French colloquialism for “Beware the scorned woman!” or in Hollande’s case “Beware the scorned women!”
The Smoking Shelter At Liverpool Street Station
It isn’t that, but it seems to be used as such. There were a couple of people puffing away, in it, as I walked past.
I’m not sure if the artist intended the sculpture be used the way it was this morning. Incidentally, Richard Serra, who designed this sculpture called Fulcrum, also designed a lot of those, I didn’t warm to in Bilbao.
Spitalfields For A Gluten-Free Meal
As I found at Nottingham recently, restaurants that can do a good gluten-free mea, tend to cluster. I’ve eaten in three places in Spitalfields; Carluccio’s. Leon and Pizza Express, but a new one called Canteen has opened.
Canteen In Spitalfields
All gluten-free meals are marked and they also state.
Other dishes can be made gluten-free on request.
Why don’t a lot more restaurants say that, as I know from experience many good chefs can make food gluten free.
The Spitfire Gate At Spitalfields Market
I spotted this as I walked into Spitalfields Market today.
The Spitfire Gate At Spitalfields Market
The Internet provides the answer as to why a gate is named after Spitfire W3311. This article contains this extract.
The gate is called Spitfire Mk.Vb W3311 Gate because the Spitalfields fruit and veg traders clubbed together to buy a Spitfire fighter plane in World War II. They named it ‘Fruitation’.
London is full of little stories like this! But I suspect others are too, although London seems to mark them more!
Cycling Superhighway On Cable Street
Cycling Superhighway, CS3, on Cable Street, seems to be very safely laid out.
As there wasn’t much traffic in the area, I think I’ll give it a try, by taking a tain to Shadwell. As this map shows, it’s pretty straight too.
The Anonymous Widower 