My Easiest Championship Ground To Travel To
Yesterday, Ipswich Town played at Charlton. It is a very easy ground to get to, as I just get a bus to London Bridge and then take a train to the station at Charlton. It’s then just a short walk to The Valley.
In fact, this ease of access was one of the problems of my viewing of the match, as Ipswich fans bought every seat possible. The seats at Charlton may be in good condition, but it really is one of the most cramped away areas in the country. QPR used to be worse, but it had improved this season.
I was next to the staircase and hardly got any view of the match at all in the first half, as the two guys in front of me were six footers and never sat down. One even stood on the stairs effectively blocking any view of the goal to my right, just fifteen metres or so away. It did get better in the second half, as some didn’t return after half time and I was able to stand in front of an empty seat the other side of the stairs.
So it was not a good viewing experience! The technology exists, so that you can choose your seat and see the view. Eventually, this will be used in all grounds in the Premier League and the Championship.
But at least we won by a Tommy Smith goal. Although, with average luck, we should have scored a couple more before the game really got going.
I was home before six. Except for the three grounds near me; The Emirates, White Hart Lane and Brisbane Road, this must be the only ground, where, I can do that!
I do think next time I go to The Valley and the match is likely to be full, I’ll get a hospitality package early.
Dalston Junction As An Interchange On The London Overground
Last night, I came back to Dalston Junction from Highbury and Islington, on an Overground train with a friend, who was going on to Anerley in the Deep South.
They needed a West Croydon train and were going to pick one up at Canada Water later on.
I’ve remarked about interchanges on the London Overground before in this post, but I’ve never investigated Dalson Junction, as I usually get on the Overground there, rather than chsnge trains.
I hadn’t realised that to get on a West Croydon train at Dalston Junction, you always go to Platform 3, which is alongside Platform 4, where the trains from Highbury and Islington arrive.
So it has been laid out to make things easy.
Trains going south, start at the following places.
West Croydon – Platform 3 at Dalston Junction
Crystal Palace – Platform 1 at Highbury and Islington
Clapham Junction – Platform 2 at Highbury and Islington
Five Months Of Daily INR Testing
I’ve now been testing my INR using my Coaguchek device for five months now.
INR August-November 2013
I’ve missed very few days.
Nothing worries me about the results, but suppose you were testing every two weeks or so, you might start to get the impression your INR results were not what they should be.
I’ve now got enough data to start doing some serious analysis.
An Offer For An Ipswich Town Fan Based In London
I am attempting to see every Ipswich Town League and Cup match this season.
So far it has gone very well and I haven’t missed one, although some it could be said were eminently missable.
The problem match is the Boxing Day match at Doncaster, where there are no trains on that day.
Today though, I have bought two tickets for the match. One ticket is for myself, and the other will be for anyone who gives me a lift to and from the match.
A New Bus for London Gets Lost
My Google Alert for “New Bus for London” picked up this story from Ipswich in the local evening paper. Here’s the first paragraph.
People in Ipswich will have the chance to travel around the town on a new London bus this week.
I’ve looked up the free Ipswich shuttle bus, on which the New Bus for London is running and the details are here. Effectively, it runs around the town centre linking the various shopping areas and car parks.
It is an idea that many towns and cities could use. In fact I think Ipswich had such a route in the 1970s and Liverpool certainly did until the infamous 1960s bus strike.
If you are going to have such a free bus route, what better bus than a New Bus for London is there for the job. It’s very low emission, the access for the disabled and buggies is excellent and with three doors and an open platform, it loads and unloads quickly. If it’s free, you don’t even have to bother with a fare collection and a conductor, although it probably helps to have someone to organise the passengers in busy times.
There are some excellent photos here on David Warren’s Flickr Photostream.
I Meet An Ipswich Town Cockney
On the 38 bus coming back from the Angel, I was approached by another Ipswich Town fan. As usual in this sort of weather, I was wearing an appropriate woolly hat.
He told me he’d been born in the Royal Free Hospital in the Liverpool Road, which probably makes him a genuine Cockney, according to this map.
His parents had then moved to Suffolk.
I’m not, but how many Town fans are genuine Cockneys? For various reasons like the closure of Central London maternity units, very few genuine Cockneys are born these days.
I’ve Finally Got A Washing Machine In A Convenient Place
Ever since I’ve lived in this house, the washing machine has been perched on a crude shelf beside the boiler. You can get a glimpse of the installation here. It was impossible to get anything in or out of it without giving yourself a bang on the head or getting your hand trapped in the cupboard door.
So now the washing machine is in the garage and my excellent plumber has threaded the pipework through the floor.
Note the Sanivite to pump the water away. What surprised me about this device, was that it will pump grey water five metres vertically and fifty metres horizontally. So it might be ideal, if you want to put a sink in the shed at the bottom of the garden! Other devices from the same company, will cope with toilets!
One good thing was that the plumber found that the infamous Jerry had installed the underfloor heating correctly.
Obviously, I do have a scar in the tiling after the installation, but when the hall is finished, it will be carpeted.
Microsoft Outlook Is Full Of Bugs
I would be annoyed with myself, if I’d written software with as many bugs as Microsoft Outlook.
What is driving me hairless at the moment is trying to send the e-mail address, telephone numbers and physical address of a sick friend, to those in my address book who know him. I’m using a vcf format Business Card.
Unfortunately, since I first sent his address by this method a couple of years ago, the entry has changed, as my friend has moved.
But Outlook persists in sending the old details. Do I have to delete the entry and reenter everything?
That to me is a triple-X rated bug.
A Silly Mistake Whilst Shopping
I needed to buy something from a well-known company.
However, because what I wanted was a little off the web site, in that I needed a special part, I ordered it by telephone.
The money was deducted from my credit card and I knew delivery would take a couple of weeks.
Yesterday, as I still hadn’t had the product, I phoned the company and they said the courier had been unable to deliver my goods.
It then turned out that two digits in my address had been reversed in the address used in their computer system. But the credit card details had obviously been entered correctly.
This to me says, that companies need to get their on-line businesses as comprehensive as possible.
For instance, with this special order, they need a form, where you enter your details and your requirements, so hopefully these go straight into the company’s system. Even, if it’s just a cut and paste.
Crossrail’s Green Credentials
I found this article on a web site called Blue and Green Tomorrow.
It also looks to be a web site, with lots of interesting articles about green issues and sustainability.
The Anonymous Widower 