What I Miss Least About Driving
People ask me, what I miss most and least about driving. The least question is easy. Take tonight, there has been a bad accident on the M25 and the road is closed. Rarely does this happen on public transport although today got a but trying coming back from Chelsea. But I was sitting comfortably on the bus, letting the driver do the worrying.
As to the miss most question, I think only about twice in the last two years, have I needed a car and in one case a friend drove me and in the other I took a limo.
The Telegraph Has A Go At A UKIP Candidate
Winston McKenzie, a UKIP candidate in the Croydon North by-election is reported to have said, that adoption by same sex couples is child abuse. The report is not in a gay publication, but here in Her Majesty’s Daily Telegraph.
LloydsTSB Move Customers Without Their Permission
I choose the organisation I bank with, not politicians or bloated bureaucrats from Brussels. So LloydsTSB is totally out of order to move customers to a new bank as reported here.
I suspect a good proportion of those moved will create a stink. UKIP must be rubbing its hands with glee.
You might also argue, that you have few rights when your bank is taken over by another. I used to bank with the Woolwich, which was taken over by Barclays, who I don’t care for. So I moved to Nationwide.
On the subject of Barclays, I used to work with a guy, who had a T-shirt complete with the Basrclay’s eagle, that said “Bank With Warclays”
Who’d Want To Live In Chelsea?
I wanted to go to a shop called Mr.Resistor in Parson’s Green. Hopefully, they’d be able to provide me with lights that solved my lighting problems. Sadly the light that might have solved the problem was out of stock, so I decided to come home. I had gone by taking a bus to Liverpool Street station, then the Central line to Notting Hill station for the District line to my destination, which was close to Parson’s Green station. The problem had been the bus, as all of the traffic in the City was gridlocked. Possibly because of the Crossrail works.
So instead of retracing my steps, I thought about getting a bus to perhaps South Kensington, where I could get some lunch at Carluccio’s. I really don’t like taking pot luck in an area I don’t know, as getting glutened isn’t fun! I did find a bus stop, with a choice of just one bus; a 22 to Piccadilly Circus. At least it was going in the right direction, but then it got stuck in traffic, due to all the tractors and white vans. Kingsland High Street may not have the glamour of the King’s Road, but at least the traffic keeps moving. In the end, I dived into the Piccadilly line at Knightsbridge station and took a train to Holborn, where I got a friendly 38 bus to the Angel. I just had time to grab my supper and some sandwiches from Marks and Spencer before I had to come home to catch an appointment.
Chelsea may have advantages, but I certainly didn’t see any today. Get past Piccadilly Circus and the traffic frees up, you’ve got the Underground and lots more bus routes. But then I suppose those in Chelsea and the surrounding areas of London don’t believe in public transport and clog up the roads with their tractors. It’s significant to me, that Kensington and Chelsea is one of the London boroughs in greatest opposition to the new London sewer. Could it be that the councillors are getting so many complaints about where to park during the construction?
On the other hand, this trip showed how Crossrail 2 or the Chelsea to Hackney line is badly needed. But do the residents of Chelsea want it constructed given the problems Crossrail is causing in the City. Parson’s Green station is incidentally pencilled in, as a station on the new line.
Next time, I go that way, I’ll take the Overground to West Brompton station and then change to the District line.
Greece’s Final Bailout?
I don’t expect so!
But they got one yesterday, as the BBC reports.
Will we ever sort Greece out?
In some ways all we’re doing with Greece, is like giving an alcoholic a bottle of Scotch a day.
Until the Greeks change their habits and accept their lifestyle will have to change, we’ll have to keep bailing them out.
In some ways, the key to a country’s future is its education system. According to this report on the BBC, the UK system ranks sixth in the world. We could obviously do better, but on looking at the full table, Greece is ranked 34.
Why Does It Always Rain On Mondays?
As it’s Monday, the cafe opposite; Eggs Milk Butter, was closed today.
Why Does It Always Rain On Mondays?
So there was no popping across to get a coffee. I just had to take a walk in the rain.
I Thought Network SouthEast Had Died
This sign lives on at Essex Road station.
I Thought Network SouthEast Had Died
Network SouthEast officially ceased to exist when the running of trains were privatised in the early 1980s.
Although the dirt on this rail, was probably of an earlier vintage.
The Dirtiest Hand-Rail In London
It certainly needed a good wash.
Why Can’t I Shop In One Store?
Sainsburys and Waitrose are side-by-side at the Angel, but as the picture shows, I have to shop in both.
Why Can’t I Shop In One Store?
This Waitrose doesn’t sell any decent gluten-free bread, whereas their store a mile or so at Highbury Corner does. So before going to Waitrose, I had to get the bread from Sainsburys.
I Have A Real Wet Room
The picture shows the floor of my en-suite shower.
I Have A Real Wet Room
It is Jerry at his best and it shows how the water flows from the shower area to the rest of the room. It also shows why I must put shoes on to go to the toilet.
Zopa Hits A Quarter Of A Billion
Zopa are reporting on their web site, that they have now lent out over a quarter of a billion pounds. That may seem a lot of money, but consider that ING have pulled four times that amount out of lending in the UK in this year alone. But every little helps.
You can make an estimate of Zopa’s income, by starting with one per cent charged on all loans. So that looks like £2,500,000. And to that you can add about a £100 for each successful loan.
But this is probably a lot less than Barclays or another big bank, would make by lending a quarter of a billion.
So possibly Zopa is really only an irritant in the hide of the big banks.
On the other hand, Zopa is a company that lives without the cost structure that any bank feels it must have.
So if they ignore Zopa, the banks will live to regret it. But they won’t live very long in their current bloated and top-heavy forms.
The reason is simple. Zopa’s financial model appeals to both lenders and borrowers and is very simple. So all the discontent, that many feel about the banks, has found a home.
My only worry about Zopa is that politicians legislate against social lending to protect their shareholdings in LloydsTSB and RBS.
The Anonymous Widower 