London Buses May Go Cashless
According to reports like this one on the BBC, it looks like London buses may go cashless.
There have been a few comments that the usual suspects are against this, as it may hurt the poor and the vulnerable, but I don’t think it will create too many problems after the first few months, especially if publicity and the technology was cranked up a bit.
I do remember though, a conversation on a Manchester bus, with an off-duty driver and union representative. He felt that their single-door buses where the low-life gathered around the driver and tried to steal his money were very inferior to two-door buses. he would have loved a cashless system.
I’ve just done a small calculation. There are six million riders on each weekday on London’s buses and working on a figure for today that one per cent of riders buy a ticket with cash, that means that 60,000 riders a day buy paper tickets. as there are 250 weekdays in a year, that means there are fifteen million tickets sold each year.
The cost of collecting the cash is given as £24 million a year, so it would almost appear that some of those without tickets could be issued with a free get-you-home ticket. Transport for London are saying they might bring in the Hong Kong system, where an expired card is good for one journey.
I do think though that if the decision was made to go cashless, as the no-cash day approached most people would do something about getting a ticket like Oyster.
i do suspect though that there will be a few objectors, who would not countenance any ticket like Oyster, that enabled them to be tracked,
Will The Banks Actually Allow This?
It is being reported in the Telegraph, that the government is thinking about allowing peer-to-peer lenders to be funded by ISAs.
I suppose it will be very good news for those who invest in ISAs, but it will be bad news for banks, as they will be losing one of their ways of selling low-interest rubbish products to their customers. The only way, they could get a piece of the action, would be for a bank to get into bed with a peer-to-peer lender. But the likes of Zopa and their peers, probably have enough financial friends to set up a way to sell ISAs and give the banks even more of a kicking.
After all, how many of those on the Dalston omnibus would trust a banker with anything but small change.
I suspect George Osborn is going to get an enormous amount of lobbying to stop this well-thought out scheme.
Hold tight George! Our savings are dependent on you not giving in to the wunch,
An Explorer And His Cat
They had a news item on BBC London today about a statue to Matthew Flinders being erected at Euston, which is where he is buried.
I did know a bit about Flinders, but I was puzzled to see that he is being shown with a cat. This story on Wikipedia tells the tale of the cat, Trim.
There aren’t many cats, who have their own page on Wikipedia and even fewer who appear with their master (?) in statues.
It’s Just Not Good Enough!
On Sunday morning, I heard a guy called the Casual Hopper on BBC Radio 5. As he was raising money for a reputable cancer-related charity, I thought I might send him a donation.
So I logged in to his Just Giving page and donated, using my John Lewis Partnership card. I got an acknowledgement from Just Giving, as expected. However, a few minutes later, I got a message from them saying that the payment had been rejected. Now as I’d just paid my credit card bill, I knew that I was some thousands of pounds below my credit card limit.
I then attempted to login to my Partnership card account and found the problem. Their system was down and I couldn’t log in.
I have managed to login this morning, but there is no trace of the payment to the Casual Hopper. In fact, there is no trace of any payments made by the account and I used the card twice yesterday in Sainsburys and Waitrose.
If we can use our cards on a 24-hour basis, surely we ought to be able to see the information in a likewise manner.
After all, if I missed a payment, they’d be on me like a ton of bricks.
It’s just not good enough!
Especially, as it’s caused grief and extra work to a whole series of people like the Casual Hopper, Just Giving and of course myself.
The Tallest Timber Residential Structure In The World
You’d have thought that this would be somewhere like Japan, Scandinavia or perhaps Canada, but despite it’s name, the Stadthaus is in Murray Grove in the London Borough of Hackney.
Wikipedia says this about the building.
It is thought to be the tallest timber residential structure in the world.It was designed in collaboration between architects Waugh Thistleton, structural engineers Techniker, and timber panel manufacturer KLH.
Stadthaus is the first high-density housing building to be built from pre-fabricated cross-laminated timber panels. It is the first building in the world of this height to construct not only load-bearing walls and floor slabs but also stair and lift cores entirely from timber.
I like it and it shows how modern buildings don’t have to be constructed using traditional methods. It was also constructed in just 49 weeks and residents moved in ahead of schedule.
So as we need more housing and we need it quickly, perhaps we should build more houses and flats using these methods.
Art At The Bus Stop
My local bus stop has got the treatment from Art Everywhere.
Art At The Bus Stop
I think, I’ll go and find the original some time next week.
Is Gluten-Free Beer Illegal In Italy?
I have puzzled for some time, why there is no Italian gluten-free beer, as if Germany with their strict brewing regulations can have one, surely can most countries.
So I searched Google using “birra senza glutine” and found this Italian site. It says this about a beer called Beautiful Elena.
Beautiful Elena : Italian craft beer derived from rice. By law in Italy can not be called beer, because this name is reserved only to beverages that contain barley or barley malt, then find it on the shelves labeled “rice drink alcohol.”
So it looks like many of the gluten-free beers we have couldn’t be brewed in Italy. But they can sell other countries’ products.
A Very Different Gluten-Free Beer
Most beers these days are light in colour, but this Dark G-Free from St. Peter’s Brewery in Suffolk is very much like an old-fashioned brown ale.
A Very Different Gluten-Free Beer
It was rather nice and very different to all other gluten-free beers I’ve tasted.
Until further notice, I shall make sure, I’ve always got a few of these in my cupboard.
I bought mine from Beers of Europe.
A Restricted View Seat At Loftus Road
My seat at Loftus Road was marked Restricted View, but it wasn’t too bad.
A Restricted View Seat At Loftus Road
In fact, the experience was a lot better than last time I came. QPR seemed to have bought some paint and repaired the seats.
The End Of Television As I Knew It!
On the way to see Ipswich at QPR yesterday, I walked past the old BBC Television Centre at the White City.
The End Of Television As I Knew It!
It is all rather sad to see such an iconic building on the way down!
The Anonymous Widower 