Europe’s Largest Man-Made Nature Reserve
If you dig a big hole, you get a lot of earth and rubbish to dispose of. CrossRail is digging two of the biggest tunnels in the world and have not only done a proper archaeological job, but have come up with an innovative solution to the spoil disposal. It is being shipped to Wallasea Island to create a whole new nature reserve. There’s a BBC report on the operation here. You can also see CrossRail’s press release, which has a lot of pictures.
Crossrail And The Stepney City Farm
CrossRail is Europe’s largest construction project and the tunnels have a terrible job to squeeze through underneath the City. One problem is where the two eastern branches of the tunnel join under Stepney City Farm. I visited the area in March and described it in this post. It would appear now that the new buildings at the farm have been completed, according to this press release.
CrossRail are now building a large underground cavern to allow the tunnelling machines to pass through and eventually contain the railway junction.
Meeting At Waterloo
In a post a couple of weeks ago, I said that the clock at Waterloo was no longer the meeting place of choice it once was, due to the new balcony with all its shops and cafes. These pictures taken on Sunday, show even less people than the previous post.
The cafes weren’t that busy, but people did seem to be meeting on the balcony.
Has Sir John Got It Right Again?
It must be sometime in the mid-1990s, when I saw John Major give a speech and take questions in the Cambridge Chief Executives Club. He gave his views on Black Wednesday, Kosovo and the Euro amongst other topics. To say it was impressive at the time, would be an understatement, as most of the things he said would happen did.
So the fact that Sir John is now saying the worst might be over, may in itself be indicative of the fact that it is! He spoke on the Andrew Marr show this morning and this is an extract.
Recovery begins from the darkest moment. I’m not certain, but I think we have passed the darkest moment.
There are some oddities in the figures at the moment: Why in the depths of this recession is employment growing? Why is industrial production going up? Why has the stock market risen?
“There are things happening out there that will become apparent and we don’t quite know why or how. My guess – and this is something a minister can’t say but I can – is that in due course we will find that we passed the bottom.
The first time was twenty years ago and no-one believed him. Let’s hope this time, that the voters do! But then voters always vote for those who promises them the most.
I think, I’ll form the Pie-In-The-Sky Party!
No-one will pay any Income tax but companies will may 70% Corporation Tax. There will be absolutely no immigration and the NHS will be free, with no prescription charges to all those living here. Oh! And there will be no more subsidies for trains, but we’ll build motorways everywhere, where we can drive cars, that will not have any Road Tax and severely reduced fuel taxes.
At least with all the cars, we’ll be able to drive ourselves to Hell in comfort.
Does A Gluten-Free Diet Help Your Hair?
My last hairdresser always said that my hair grew very fast and in fact for a sixty-five-year-old man, I have a pretty good head of hair.
But what got me thinking was that yesterday The Times showed a list of the best dressed older people. What stood out was their compliments for Katherine, the Duchess of Kent. They said of her that potentially she has the best hair in the Royal Family (including Kate Middleton’s, yes).
And she is 79! It is well-known that she is a coeliac, so it can be assumed that like me she sticks to her gluten-free diet.
I posted this on a coeliac list on the Internet and others said that there could be a connection from personal experience.
Over the past forty years, I’ve had a lot to do with flat race jockeys.
Obviously, to keep their weight down, they eat frugally and the typical gluten-rich snacks, beloved of the general population, are probably never eaten. I remember one meal with Michael Roberts, where he ate baked salmon and peas, followed by some fruit.
But you’ll rarely find a flat race jockey, without a full head of hair! And many are riding well into their forties. The best hair on the current crop of top jockeys must be on Hayley Turner. But then she’s a woman. And a coeliac!
And then we could look at people like Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and others, whose diet is mainly rice-based. They generally seem to my untrained eye to have better hair as they get older, than the average Caucasian.
I do wonder if there is a serious link here. It probably isn’t to coeliac disease, but the diet may be the key. After all, Nottingham University have shown that coeliacs, who stick to the gluten-free diet, have a twenty-five percent less chance of getting cancer. Why this is, no-one knows, but it could just be that a healthy diet, which looks after your gut, gets the maximum amount of good vitamins and minerals into your body.
Duchess Pictures Row Goes From French Farce To An Irish One
It would appear from what I’ve read and heard on the radio, that both in France and Ireland the reason for publishing was to try to prop up rapidly dwindling circulations. According to a well-know media commentator, one of the most likely outcomes in Ireland, as both the owners have disowned a unilateral decision of an editor is that a hundred jobs might be lost.
I think that the Duke and Duchess have been a bit slow here. The damage has been done and nothing will repair it. But a substantial donation to his favourite charities might help.
I also think they’ll be also be more careful where they sunbathe.
Network Rail Ruins My Autumn Football
Living in London, I need to use the trains to get to home matches at Ipswich. But this autumn, it would appear that we have replacement buses on most match days.
It’s not the going that the problem, as I can go via Cambridge or Bury St. Edmunds and have lunch in the Carluccio’s there before the match and then get the train over. It’s coming home, as I don’t want to spend a couple of hours, whilst an elderly bus shows me the delights of the environs of Billericay. It supposedly only takes about forty minutes longer, but then I like a comfortable Mk. 3 coach.
So how bad is it? These are the dates with disruptions.
Sept 22 – Charlton – A possible disaster, if it’s a bad tempered match. At least most Charlton fans are fairly human.
Sep 29 – Barnsley Away
Oct 6 – Cardiff – It’s on Sky, so like many I probably won’t be going.
Oct 13 – No match
Oct 20 – Hull Away
Oct 27 – Sheff Wed – I’ll avoid this, as there could be quite a few away fans on the train and buses.
Nov 3 – Birmingham Away
Nov 10 – Burnley – Should be OK
Nov 17 – Leicester Away
Nov 24 – Peterborough – Should be OK
Dec 8 – Millwall – They must be joking about this one. A few Ipswich fans on coaches full of Millwall ones.
Dec 15 – Leeds Away
At least though it doesn’t appear that Ipswich and Norwich fans will be travelling on the same day.
But given the problems that Tuesday night matches have for many people, it is all a big disappointment!
The Jubilee line Cancels My Plans
This morning, I had intended to take the Overground to Canada Water and from there take the Jubilee line to Waterloo for a wander round the South Bank.
But just before Whitechapel, the driver announced that the Jubilee line had broken down.
So I took the Metropolitan line to Liverpool Street before getting a bus home.
Why is it every time, I try to take the Jubilee line, it decides to go AWOL?
I’m surprised it held up during the Olympics. Or was it because, most people know it’s rather unreliable, they didn’t take a chance.
Bison to Bedlam or How To Make Friends
CrossRail is the biggest project in Europe and sometimes I get annoyed with it, as the works in the City around Liverpool Street do cause a lot of diversions to the 21 and141 buses I use to get to a lot of places. Sometimes, I call the project AngryRail as that’s how it makes me feel.
But they know the problems they are causing and they do their best to mitigate them, be it by green walls or other means.
I have just received an e-mail from the company about the staging of their pop-up exhibition; Bison to Bedlam for a month in October.
They are giving talks on the Wednesdays and offering prizes for visitors.
Prize 1:
A Young Friends pass from the British Museum – includes annual YF Membership (the child receives magazines, a birthday card etc), two tickets to sleepover in the museum, two tickets to attend an activity event organised at the museum.
Prize 2:
An annual family membership card that covers entry into the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, the Banqueting House Kensington Palace and Kew Palace.
They don’t seem to me to be bad prizes.
My only worry about the exhibition is that if the numbers who turned up at the pop-up version is anything to go by, is a month long enough?
When they have completed the railway, and collected a lot more valuable finds, they all need to be properly displayed, together with displays about the engineering. Perhaps there should be a CrossRail museum at Whitechapel?
What I Need Is A Chip Hoe Or Hook!
I have always liked fried new potatoes. Earlier in the week, I boiled a small packet of Charlottes and fried the remains with my supper tonight.
I’ve always had difficulty turning them in the pan. C used to use a slice and a fork, but that method needs two good hands. And I only have one! So I’ve tended to rely on making sure that only firm chips go in the pan and then using a bit of tossing to turn them.
What I Need Is A Chip Hoe Or Hook!
It was whilst I was frying them tonight, that I felt that a miniature hoe, as used in gardening might do the trick. Obviously, the shape of the end would be the key to a good design. Effectively, it would just lift the chip to see it was cooked on the underside and then flip it. A simple hook in an appropriate material might do the trick.
I am reminded of a very old joke.
A visitor was being shown around a monastery. He came across this monk with a large pile of potatoes, which he was peeling and cutting into pieces, before dropping them into a large saucepan of boiling fat.
The visitor smiled and said to the monk. “You must be a chip monk!”
He got an immediate reply. “No! I’m a friar!”
The Anonymous Widower 