Knock HS2 And It Might Go Away
I’m not a great supporter of HS2, but this story on the BBC, being spun as how it will damage other areas of the UK, is pure scaremongering and very bad journalism.
The areas, they say could be worst affected are Aberdeenshire, Norfolk, Dundee and Cardiff. On the television this morning they’re adding in Bristol and Cambridge.
Putting in Norfolk is a strange one, as obviously HS2 spending will also hurt Devon and Cornwall. These areas though will hopefully get improvement in the next few years, but this will come from using better train technology on upgraded lines.
West Norfolk for instance will be linked into the Thameslink system and electrifying and straightening the main routes across East Anglia and Ely to Norwich, would improve the area a great deal. A lot of this will happen, whether or not HS2 is built.
Devon and Cornwall is more problematical due to the geography and the scenery, but I suspect that Plymouth and Penzance will be a lot closer to London, when the electrification and new trains being planned for the Great Western Main Line are completed and delivered.
The Aberdeen and Dundee areas north of Edinburgh will always be badly served from the Scottish capital, until you build a new bridge or tunnel over the Forth of Firth. I can’t see anybody leading a campaign to replace the iconic Forth Bridge.
Cardiff and Bristol are interesting ones, as courtesy of Brunel, electrification and new trains, they will get their own HSW before HS2 is even started, at the current rate of progress. Once the Severn Tunnel is sorted, it would seem that services between the English and Welsh capitals could be around two and a half hours or even less. Having just been through the very problematic Simplon Tunnel at high speed,which is almost as old as that under the Severn, I’m certain, that a few world class engineers and tunnellers can sort out the bottleneck on the railway to Wales.
To suggest that Cambridge will be hurt by HS2, is like suggesting that the London Underground, will be hurt by Crossrail. Cambridge has recently seen an improvement of the line to London and in a few years, it will be connected to Thameslink, giving it better access to London and areas south of the Thames.
I suspect, that the overpaid BBC hack, who started this story, wants to kill HS2, as he lives in an area affected by the proposed route.
Or could, the journalist be fed-up with having to go from his home in the South East to his place of work in Manchester, so he might be very anti-train.
The BBC article is in any case unattributed.
And of course, remember it’s a much better story, if it destroys something!
The Damage To The Overground
Judging by these pictures I took, the train crash on the 15th caused quite a bit of damage.
You do wonder what would have happened if the container had fallen into the park below during the day. Luckily the wall held it on the track. But it did happen at three in the morning.
Let’s hope this accident is not a foretaste of the future, when a lot more freight trains from London Gateway will be using the North London Line.
There doesn’t seem to be any news about when the line will reopen.
A Car Is Not A Luxury, It’s A Necessity
Danny Alexander has just said this on television.
In my view, after not driving for three years and going everywhere by public transport, a car is a complete pain in the arse. And when you give up your car and stop driving, it’s a total change for the better.
Fall Out From A Train Crash
On the fifteenth of October, there was a train derailment at Camden Road on the North London Line. It still hasn’t been fixed fully yet, as the train brought the overhead wiring down in a very difficult place.
It’s reported here in the Camden New Journal. Some of the comments are priceless and fairly paranoid and speculate about it being a nuclear fuel train. It was actually, a load of containers going from Birmingham to Felixstowe.
Probably the good news is that this derailment has caused great inconvenience to freight train operators and they will be thinking harder about using the direct routes via Nuneaton and Peterborough, thus avoiding sending freight trains through Central London. This will of course get easier once the Bacon Factory Curve is complete at Ipswich.
What Do Arnold Schwarzenegger, Pete Sampras, Carl Jung And Roy Hodgson Have In Common?
I could also throw in Magic Johnson, Esther Williams, Lucille Ball and Albert Hitchcock.
So Roy is the only football manager there, but they are a successful group of individuals.
And they’re all quetzals or those born under the sign of Leo in the Chinese year of the pig. I don’t believe in astrology, but I read a book linking the various threads of the beliefs together some years ago and they described Leo pigs as blessed and a 100% pure pork.
Sometimes when I look at my life, I certainly feel I have been very lucky and have made the best of at times of a very dodgy and difficult set of cards.
The same could be said for Roy Hodgson, who took over the poisoned challenge of the England job and has now got us to the World Cup Finals in Brazil.
But then you underestimate the strength of character of a Leo pig at your peril!
I should know, as Roy is just seven days older than myself!
A Card For A Coeliac?
I saw this poster at Scribbler in Liverpool Street station.
A Card For A Coeliac?
The caption says “gluten free, dairy free, fat free, I love this champagne diet.”
She certainly looks good on what she’s on!
I bought one for a friend!
Around The Barbican
After my visit to the Cheapside Hoard, I walked across the Barbican to do some shopping at the Waitrose there.
I can’t resist taking pictures of the iconic buildings, where C and myself brought up our young family.
Note the elegant public lift to the podium, which enables a corner to be cut off.
The Cheapside Hoard
This exhibition of the Cheapside Hoard at the Museum of London, is one of the most amazing I’ve ever seen. Here’s the first paragraph from their web site.
This October, the Museum of London will open a major new exhibition investigating the secrets of the Cheapside Hoard. This extraordinary and priceless treasure of late 16th and early 17th century jewels and gemstones – displayed in its entirety for the first time in over a century – was discovered in 1912, buried in a cellar on Cheapside in the City of London.
Not only are the jewels and other exhibits fabulous, the display is wonderful and it really gives the period a very different perspective.
I became a friend of the museum for just thirty pounds a year, but even if you queue up, you wouldn’t have to have waited long.
Anybody who visits London until the 27th April next year, should give the exhibition a visit.
Back From Palermo By Train
I arrived back safely from Palermo last night and I’ll be posting the details of the trip over the next few days. The posts will be dated as they happened.
I should say though, that I travelled on eight trains in the seven days, since I left on the eighth of this month.
Other than the choosing of the wrong hotel in Naples, I made only one big mistake; I travelled with an out-of-date guide, which made Naples, Genoa and Turin difficult.
This link will give all the posts, when they’ve all been written.
Notes On The Louvre
At places in the museum, there are a series of notes, giving details of the museum itself.
Notes On The Louvre
It is a good idea, that some museums in the UK could copy.
The Anonymous Widower 