The Shutting Of My Local Fire Station
My local fire station at Kingsland is slated to be closed. As can be expected there is now a vigorous campaign to save it.
In London, we’ve had closures of hospitals and A & E units, but here in this part of the capital, there doesn’t seem to have been a backlash against that. I have two large newly-rebuilt hospitals at the Royal London and UCLH, which are just a very simple journey away. And in the other direction there’s Homerton, of which I have one small good experience. Talking to local people, I’ve never heard a complaint about hospital healthcare in this area. So the reorganisation may have worked well, despite the partial closure of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, which we used to use, when we lived in the Barbican.
Obviously, there have been a few glitches, but now that GP surgeries are bigger and much more capable, I don’t think that anybody is saying that the changes have not been positive. The planning of the changes obviously used all of the data to get the balance right.
The coverage and number of stations of the London Fire Brigade has probably changed little since I used to live in North London as a child.
These days though, you rarely see a fire engine. I think I can remember just one or two since I moved here two years ago. I’d love to see the data for how many call-outs there have been in London over the years. I suspect that the pattern has changed dramatically with more serious fires in high buildings and road accidents. After all high buildings and badly driven high-performance cars have become more common.
So does the London Fire Brigade fit the threats it faces?
I suspect not, as too much it is based on an historic map, when house and generally small fires were a lot more numerous. But now that many more houses and premises have smoke detection systems, the tragic domestic fires have been reduced. We still get them I know, but isn’t it about time, that premises had to have a fire inspection, every few years or so.
The trouble is that the man on the Dalston Omnibus, doesn’t generally believe what politicians tell them. So we get a stand off, which in the end doesn’t change anything.
The full data from all of the London Fire Brigade should be published, to see where the service needs to be changed. some of the decisions prompted by the data, will be unpalatable to some, but what we want is a better fire Service, not one designed on London’s structure of many years ago.
I doubt we’ll see the data made available, as it might point to a different decision.
Get Your Horseburgers From The Supermarket
This story is not really about how horse and pig meat ended up in beefburgers. It’s probably more about the rubbish that gets put into cheap meat products, to keep the price acceptable to the supermarkets. After all, we may not generally eat horses, but they are generally well looked after and are unliely to give you any disease, which might not be true of some of the rubbish.
I rarely buy meat and meat products, where the provenance is not obvious. That doesn’t necessarily mean I always buy organic, although I often do, but I would always by a product, that was fully described. I wouldn’t buy a meat pie or something similar, if it was too cheap, as then the profit will be the same, so the quality will have suffered.
And Now The LidoLine
I found this article in the Guardian, whilst looking for something else.
It proposes a linear swimming pool along the Regent’s Canal.
C might have liked it. But it’s not for me!
Traffic In The New Kings Road
I’d gone to Chelsea to check out the traffic in one of the most congested areas of London and also to look at a box junction dubbed Moneybox by the Daily Mail in this article. These are the pictures I took.
I noticed several things that make this area so bad for traffic.
1. I’d actually got off the bus and walked because it was quicker. I wonder how many people don’t use the buses because it’s quicker to drive. By comparison here just north of the Angel, I would suspect the buses are quicker.
2. Note the number of large heavy good vehicles in the road. what are they doing here at lunchtime on a Tuesday. again to compare to the Angel, you do see some going through, but not as many as I did today.
3. You will notice in some of pictures, that trucks and vans are parked at the side of the road. some may be doing deliveries, but one van just had a couple of guys in it, eating their lunch.
I suppose there is just too much traffic and you can understand, why Ken introduced a Congestion Charge in the area.
It’s a severe problem and luckily, it doesn’t affect me, unless I go to the area on a bus.
Boris Gets A Statue
Boris Johnson’s father, Stanley unveiled a statue called Boris yesterday. But it is a large polar bear in front of Peter Jones in no way connected to the Mayor of London.
There’s more about the statue here.
I liked it and would vote for Boris to stay.
I doubt a lady who got on the bus towards Wandsworth would though, as she was wearing a fur coat.
Strutt And Parker Opens A Florist
I photographed this stall outside Sloane Square station.
Strutt And Parker Opens A Florist
Times must be hard for estate agents!
It’s All Go At Custom House Station
I returned to Custom House station today, to see if anything had started.
There did seem to be a fair bit going on. but no parts of the new station seemed to have arrived.
And what was the shark doing? I suppose the river isn’t far away.
On the other hand, the pub opposite; The Barge, seemed to have all the architectural merit of the average Australian dunny. Some buildings have to be sacrificed in the name of progress.
Vermilion And Other Developments At Canning Town
Canning Town is on the up literally.
Vermilion and the other developments are just a stone’s throw from the excellent station, which I visited earlier.
You will notice Vermilion really stands out in pictures like these taken from the Emirates air-line.
Sculpture At The Building Design Centre, Islington
This piece of large art has turned up outside the Building Design Centre in Islington.
Sculpture At The Building Design Centre, Islington
It’s certainly not as understandable as the bouncy bus.
But what is it? I’m not impressed.
The Bread Man Cometh
The pub next door, has its bread delivered.
But as the pictures show, not in the usual way, but then if you can eat real bread E5 Bakehouse doesn’t seem to do usual!
The Anonymous Widower 