Hastings Police Fail To Get Rid Of Dodgy Mobile Phones
I found this story in The Times today, but they got it from this page in the Hastings Observer.
Apparently, the police left marked mobile phones in bars and clubs, to attempt to find those nicking them in Hastings and St. Leonards. Unfortunately, every one was handed straight in to staff.
There are two possible explanations.
Perhaps people in the two towns are more honest than the police think.
Or the criminals in the area are brighter than they’re supposed to be and know a marked mobile phone, when they see one.
Are Carluccio’s Putting In Extra Seats For The Torch Relay?
Carluccio’s in Upper Street in Islington is covered in scaffolding, as this picture shows.
Are Carluccio’s Putting In Extra Seats For The Torch Relay?
As the Olympic Torch Relay passes their restaurant on the 26th of July at around 08:20, are they putting in extra seats to take advantage of the expected crowds?
LOCOG Float In A New Pitch
I took this picture from the Emirates Air-Line today.
LOCOG Float In A New Pitch
Are LOCOG, the Olympic organisers, floating in a new pitch for one of the events?
Or perhaps it’s for one of the demonstration sports; overwater British bulldog. In this verion pushing contestants into the river is allowed.
The First Gig on the Emirates Air-Line
I know it was a stunt by The Sun newspaper, but surely Newton Faulkner‘s gig set new heights in music.
Next thing someone might perform a few magic tricks or perhaps take a flea circus for a ride.
One of the Only Gluten-Free Snacks At Eastfield
As I’ve said before Eastfield, or Westfield Stratford City as the developers prefer, is a place where gluten-free food for lunch or dinner is difficult to find.
This is all I could find, other than loaves in Waitrose and Marks and Spencer.
One of the Only Gluten-Free Snacks At Eastfield
Even Starbucks only had the usual excellent brownie and a cheese and coleslaw sandwich. And I just think coleslaw is food for German rabbits.
Returning to the Marks sandwich, what do you do if you’re Jewish or Muslim and fancy something substantial?
I suppose we could always live on Starbucks brownies for a few hours, but the lack of choice does really put me off going to Eastfield.
Rules For Athletes At The Games
There used to be a whole set of rules for visitors to London, mainly made up by Gerard Hoffnung. The only one I can remember is the one, that said that all brothels had a blue light outside of them.
Some of his rules and those who have parodied him are very appropriate for the Olympics.
- Have you tried the famous echo in the reading room of the British Museum?
- Winston Churchill’s favourite branch of Starbucks was the one in New Oxford Street, because he considered it to have the cleanest toilets
- All buses are actually like taxis, and the driver is legally obliged to take you wherever you demand. All you have to do is climb on and declare where you wish to be taken in a loud voice.
- It is important to shake hands with everyone in your train compartment.
If you type Gerard Hofnung into Google, lots of more inappropriate suggestions will be found.
I did find one for hurdlers and high jumpers, that it was OK to jump the barriers at Underground stations. On the other hand, after what happened to Jean Charles de Menezes, I wouldn’t try it.
Verified By Visa Revisited
I have moaned about this crap before.
I have been fighting it for a couple of hours and in the end I managed to buy two extra Olympic tickets. Can the reason that so many people find buying these tickets difficult is you must use a Visa card and you can’t fight your way through this awful system?
I have just written to my credit card company, saying that after the Olympics, they can put their Visa card in a place where it will hurt.
Today I was adding a new password all the time and then when I tried it the next it was rejected, so I had to start again. Surely entering a new password every time you use the card is the most insecure way to use a credit card on line.
It might well be that the US version of this system works because everybody uses the last four digits of their Social Security Number. In the UK no-one knows theirs and anyway it ends in a letter. So perhaps the problem is that the system has not been properly rewritten for the UK.
Anyway it’s crap!
The Athletes Have Arrived
The Olympic Village is now open and athletes and officials are now arriving and moving into their homes for the duration of the Olympics.
I went twice through Stratford today.
The first time, I took the train DLR from Stratford International to the Emirates Air-Line and the only Olympic person I saw was a lost G4S security guard trying to get to Star Lane station. She was Swedish in her mid-twenties or so. So much for jobs for local people!
In the evening, I walked through the Eastfield shopping centre and there were a few athletes about, buying a few things they’d forgotten.
As I took the Central line back to Bank for a bus home, I started to think what might have been.
C and I liked our sport and especially the equestrian disciplines. We had also planned that we would be retiring to London and whether we would have done so by now, I do not know. But I suspect not, as politicians had made the stud virtually unsaleable.
But I’m here now. And alone!
So in some ways, I’m rather sad, but then there are athletes ready to give that lift that I need, just like Chris Brasher, Chris Chataway, Derek Ibbotson and Bruce Tulloh have in the 1950s. I always had a soft spot for Tulloh, who wasn’t the biggest and often ran barefoot. I’ll rerember seeing his victory in Belgrade that I watched on black and white television as long as I live.
On A Clear Day You Can See For Miles
I took these pictures on the Emirates Air-Line on Sunday.
It just shows how far you can see if the weather is good. The Mittal Orbit on the Olympic Park stands out. It is quite easy to pick out Wembley Stadium towards the North West
The Anonymous Widower 