Coca-Cola Vanilla Is Back
According to the adverts, Coca-Cola Vanilla is back.
Coca-Cola Vanilla Is Back
I don’t think I ever noticed it had gone. I drunk it once and I’ve tasted better urine.
But seeing it’s on the buses, it probably means it’s got the same popularity as this film.
A Low-Powered Bank
Banks can’t even get their electricity right!
I took these pictures of Lloyds TSB at The Angel.
They were suggesting you went to their branch in Kings Cross. But there must have been six operating cash machines and four banks within crawling distance of this branch.
Perhaps the episode shows how little we miss a particular branch. After all, there wasn’t a queue of angry customers outside, waiting to cash cheques.
So perhaps, if the branch closed permanently, it wouldn’t be missed. except of course, by the staff who work there.
Bikinis On The Buses
H & M seemed to have moved their adverts this year from bus shelters to the buses themselves.
Bikinis On The Buses
I suppose, it’s more difficult to spray out adverts on the sides of buses. Last year a lot of their adverts were defaced.
She Who Must Be Obeyed
Lord Young is the only person, who works at Number 10, other than the Prime Minister, who has his own office, according to an article in The Times today. I like the last paragraph. Asked if he will retire, as he is 81, this is his reply.
Never, until She herself calls me from upstairs. I am convinced it must be a woman upstairs as women are doing everything. You must remember that I have been married 57 years to the same wife. I’ve worked for Margaret Thatcher. I know who my bosses are.
I agree with him, although I’ve never worked for a female boss, but I was married for forty years.
Odd Stories On The BBC
Perhaps because it is Saturday, four of the most read stories on the BBC, are a bit odd or offbeat.
Thermal invisibility cloak in first demonstration
North Korea’s silent football matches
Turning a scandal into a ‘-gate’
Fake airline pilot ‘landed planes at Gatwick’
Although the science behind the first, may find applications in cooling electronics and I wouldn’t like to be flown by a fake pilot.
Music On The East London Line
Today, it’s the Soundtracks Festival, with live musical acts on the East London Line, from midday to midnight.
This paragraph is from their poster.
Catch our live performances on the trains – from musicians, actors and even
via your smartphone. Train drivers will be announcing the next live act
rather than looming delays as you are entertained on your journey from
one venue to the next.
Think London Transport is boring? Then youʼve never been to Sound Tracks.
Note how Transport for London (TfL) is called London Transport. Most Londoners refer to it that way. The only time, I use the other form is when I use TFL in Google to find their site.
Do any other rail lines have their own music or even drama festivals?
Co-op Bank Debt Is Rated Junk
This report, says that the Co-op Bank‘s debt isn’t very highly rated.
I wouldn’t know whether it is going bust or not, but because of its political leanings and links to the Labour Party, I bet that management of the bank, wish that George Osborne wasn’t Chancellor.
What I find strange about the bank, is that why some of my left-leaning friends, who support Labour, bank with other banks, like Lloyds, Barclays or HSBC.
The Man In The White Suit
This film is on BBC2 tomorrow. The BBC has labelled it as B/W. surely, it’s mainly white!
Boris Gets Everywhere
Boris Johnson is to open a new Wrightbus factory to make chassis for the New Bus for London. This is a paragraph in the report.
Each bus costs around £354,500 and has an estimated lifespan of 14 years.
I don’t have any doubts on the cost, as that is probably an official or contractual figure.
It’s the fourteen years, that I think is wrong. Just look at some of the trains we have in this country. Take the Class 455 that works out of Waterloo to the south west of London. They were built in the early 1980s and Wikipedia has this paragraph about a recent refurbishment. Included is this sentence.
This refurbishment was so comprehensive that many passengers thought the refurbished units were new trains.
Who’s to say that in five years time or so, that New Buses for London will be refurbished and will continue to serve for many more years. London Underground used to do this type of operation with old-style Routemasters at Aldenham Works.
If you look at the design of the New Bus for London, it is very much a series of modules and components bolted together with a small diesel and the other motive power components distributed around the bus. For example, the battery is under front staircase and the electric motors in the rear wheel hubs. All of this makes continuous refurbishment and improvement a realisable prospect. In fact, I read somewhere recently, that LT1, the first New Bus for London, is off the road at the moment, as it is being upgraded to production standard. I must admit, I haven’t seen it lately, but I only note the numbers, when I pass one and I generally only do that a couple of times a day at a maximum.
I wouldn’t be surprised if these buses outlive me.
The Anonymous Widower 