The Anonymous Widower

The World At Greenwich

I took these pictures of the cruise ship; The World at Greenwich.

It would be good to see it go downriver from somewhere like Barrier Park.

May 2, 2013 Posted by | Transport/Travel, World | , | Leave a comment

The World From The Emirates Air-Line

I had actually gone over the cable-car to see if I could get a good picture of the cruise liner; The World. This was the best I got.

The World From The Emirates Air-Line

The World From The Emirates Air-Line

It has been reported that Greenwich is going to get a new berth for cruise ships, which will be nearer to the cable-car.

May 2, 2013 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , | Leave a comment

The Emirates Air-Line Wasn’t Very Busy

Early this morning, I went over the Emirates Air-Line

The Emirates Air-Line Wasn't Very Busy

The Emirates Air-Line Wasn’t Very Busy

The picture shows the queues at Royal Victoria.

On the other hand the view was one of the best.

The O2 Arena And Canary Wharf

The O2 Arena And Canary Wharf

Note that the Shard is missing.

May 2, 2013 Posted by | World | , , | Leave a comment

A German Barbecue

I saw this tent by Exmouth Market.

A German Barbecue

A German Barbecue

After my experiences in Munich lately, I went to investigate and he could have fed me something tasty and gluten-free.

But he was from Cologne!

May 2, 2013 Posted by | Food | | Leave a comment

Do Smokers Want To Give Up?

At Dalston Junction station, I was approached by a man, who asked if I had a lighter.

I said I was sorry, but I didn’t smoke.

He then said thanks and said that I was probably a lot healthier than him.

Little did he know!

i hope the conversation pushes him to give up!

May 2, 2013 Posted by | Health | | Leave a comment

Are New Buses for London Female Friendly?

It may be just coincidence  but on a New Bus for London from the Angel on Tuesday evening, except for the two driver/conductors and myself, everybody downstairs was female.

May 2, 2013 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , | Leave a comment

David Aaronovitch Blames Journalists Over MMR

In a hard hitting opinion in The Times today, he effectively blames journalists for stoking up the MMR fiasco. Here’s the final paragraph.

The MMR scare was the fault of journalists of all stripes. With honourable exceptions, notably Brian Deer, hacks combined to mislead the public, and now those same journalists want to deny responsibility for it. They shouldn’t be allowed to. Forget phone hacking and paparazzi, MMR is the Hillsborough of my profession.

We need quality journalism in the UK, not scare and celebrity stories that sell papers to the gullible.

May 2, 2013 Posted by | Health, News | | 1 Comment

Another Serious Problem In The Gulf

This story on the BBC’s web site, looks like a severe problem that is going to happen in the Gulf States.

It would appear no-one has died in these high-rise fires, but it strikes me after reading the article, that regulations and building materials aren’t what we would expect in Europe or North America.

A few years ago, I went to Dubai and the number of residential towers going up was amazing.  But how many of them are  fire traps?

We’ve had the some problems with tower blocks in this country, like the fire at Lakanal House in 2009, but hopefully we’ve not sed too much dangerous cladding.  The only tower block, I’ve lived in was Cromwell Tower in the Barbican, which was built in concrete to a very high standard in the 1960s. You felt very safe in that building.

Typing “Barbican Fire” into Google, just gives you this relevant link and that’s about an event, where the City of London Fire Brigade and showing children how to be aware of fire.

My only quesion, is do fire brigades do enough of that sort of thing.

May 2, 2013 Posted by | World | , , | Leave a comment

Justice Gets Attacked In Marion, Indiana

This is a rather funny story, about  a drone that went AWOL.

May 1, 2013 Posted by | News, World | , | Leave a comment

Do We Need More Runways In The South East?

This old chestnut keeps coming round and the London Assembly has produced a report, as is discussed in the Standard. Here’s the first few paragraphs.

The Government’s claim that the South-East faces an aviation capacity crisis was thrown into doubt today after an influential report suggested London has enough runways already.

The London Assembly study found the capital’s airports are currently underused with two — Luton and Stansted — having around half of their runway slots free.

Even Heathrow, at 99 per cent runway capacity, could fly an additional 20 million passengers a year if larger aircraft were used, it claimed.

To test their premise, that London has enough space, let’s look at Gatwick.  Two years ago, I flew out of Gatwick to Greece.  Read what I wrote in this blog. The last statement was.

Let’s face it, if I fly again, I’m not going out of Gatwick.

But in spite of that, I did use the airport to go to Budapest, where I had an excellent meal at Jamie’s Italian.

Gatwick seems to have improved immensely in the last couple of years, since the change of ownership, and it’s all been done by lots of small steps.  The other thing that helps me is the direct link from Dalston Junction to Clapham Junction.

I’m going out to Geneva on the 17th and it’ll be interesting to see how it goes. On every trip, Gatwick seems to get better.

May 1, 2013 Posted by | Food, Transport/Travel | , , , | Leave a comment