Eros Is Busy In The Sun
Today was sunny and the crowds were gathering on Eros.
Eros Is Busy In The Sun
Let’s hope the weather tries to stay this way.
Crossrail Looks To Yorkshire
Crossrail has made an appeal for firms in Yorkshire and Humberside to become suppliers to Europe’s biggest construction project. It’s all reported here in the Yorkshire Post.
I did write a post about Custom House station, which is being built in Sheffield and transported to London and installed on site. That sounds like a clever and affordable way to create stations.
Illegal Cigarettes On The Rise
According to this article in the Metro, the amount of illegal cigarettes smoked has risen by a third and is now costing the Exchequer about £2 billion pounds a year.
Perhaps, we should make it a criminal offence to smoke illegally smuggled cigarettes.
The European Extremely Large Telescope
It may sound it like it was named by Blackadder, but the European Extremely Large Telescope has just been backed by the Government.
I’m all for this level of support for science, provided it’s done correctly.
Many might think that it is a pity the telescope is to be built in Chile, but then the weather and atmosphere there is so much better. The biggest telescope in the UK; the Isaac Newton Telescope was actually moved from Sussex to the Canary Islands for this reason.
I suppose the name isn’t as good as that for the proposed Overwhelmingly Large Telescope, which wasn’t built, as it was probably too difficult.
Got A Migraine, Have Sex!
Research from the the University of Munster in Germany has shown that sex may be a better cure for migraine than painkillers. It’s all here in Her Majesty’s Daily Telegraph.
I wonder what Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells thinks of this?
Incidentally, I used to get the odd migraine, until I was diagnosed as a coeliac and went gluten-free.
Huddersfield Station Completed The Set For Me!
It wasn’t my visit a couple of weeks ago, but when I visited all football grounds in alphabetical order in 2011, but Huddersfield station was the last of the six Grade One Listed stations still used for trains that I visited.
The others are Bristol Temple Meads, Kings Cross, Newcastle, Paddington and St. Pancras.
The combined list of Grade Two Listed stations and Grade Two* Listed stations is an odd mix. It contains six stations, I’ve either lived near or used regularly; Cambridge, Cockfosters, Felixstowe, Liverpool Lime Street, Oakwood and Southgate.
But the list also includes Bury St. Edmunds, which matches the Abbey ruins and the truly awful Harlow Town.
More Trouble For NatWorst
Just when you thought, the constituent banks of the Royal Bank of UK Taxpayers might be getting a bit better, this story comes along.
The jewellery may only be worth £20,000 or so, but would you trust NatWorst with anything of value?
I wouldn’t! But then I have nothing of value, that I would miss!
The Long And Short Arms Of The Law
I suspect this picture shown in the Mirror and The Times, will make its way round the world.
The story is already in the Australian under the headline, “Big Police Guard Over Queen” and on this other Australian site with a picture.
I’m even a couple of centimetres or so taller than the shorter policeman. And I’m not that tall!
I suppose though the story is one of those classic page fillers with a good feel and an excellent picture, for which newspapers and web sites are always looking.
It’s Even Cold In India
I like this article from Rahul Tandon on the BBC’s web site.
What is going wrong with the weather?
Understatement From Network Rail
One of my least favourite station is Manchester Victoria, which looks like it was last deep refurbished and cleaned, when its namesake was on the throne. On the Network Rail page about their plans for the station is this classic phrase.
As anyone who has been to Manchester Victoria on a rainy day can tell you, there is a problem with the roof.
But at least something is being done. They state this about the new roof.
The £16m new roof is likely to be made of ETFE (Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene) – the material used at Manchester Piccadilly station, the Eden Project in Cornwall and the swimming pool built for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, known as the Water Cube. ETFE is lighter, cheaper and lets in more light than glass. It’s also self cleaning, making it an ideal material for roofs.
You do wonder if this material could be used in other places to improve buildings at a more affordable cost than traditional methods.
I’ll look forward to using the new Manchester Victoria station in a few years time.
The Anonymous Widower 