The Unwelcoming Face of Addison Lee
I’ve never used a mini-cab in London, as usually when I need a taxi, I’m in a place where I can flag an empty black cab down. I also live close to the route back to the City, that is usually taken by black cabs. So when it is raining and say I need a black cab for the theatre, it’s only a few seconds before one appears.
So I doubt I would ever need one of the forthright John Griffin’s mini-cabs from Addison Lee.
A few days ago, he was urging his drivers to use bus lanes. As a very regular bus user, I am against this and am pleased to see that Transport for London is taking action according to this report.
Now he has had a go against cyclists. Again it is reported on the BBC. The comments here are mild compared to some sites I’ve looked at.
As some of their mini-cabs sometimes hang around my area, I had thought about possibly using them. But not now! How could I be sure, that I would get what I paid for?
I also find mini-cabs and some may be from Addison Lee a nuisance in the West End, when I’m trying to get my bus home from the theatre. Some tend to block the pavements and junctions, when they are waiting for their passengers.
I would not be bothered if wardens decided to clamp down on this illegal practice.
So I’ll stick to the reliable 38 bus and the occasional black cab.
RSPB and Wind Farms
The RSPB is usually to be found on the list of those organisations lined up against a wind farm.
But now they are oputting up a wind farm on their headquarters site.
Can they have it both ways? It would appear they can!
I’m not a fan of wind power, as I believe there are much better methods like using tides creatively.
Lord Sugar Doesn’t Back Ken For London Mayor
Lord Sugar is supposed to be a Labour Peer. But here are his words for Ken Livingstone as reported in the Telegraph.
The Labour peer defied Ed Miliband by telling his 1.8 million followers on Twitter to reject the party’s official candidate.
The intervention could amount to a breach of party rules and is likely to damage the Labour campaign.
“I don’t care if Ed Miliband is backing Livingstone,” Lord Sugar wrote. “I seriously suggest NO ONE votes for Livingstone in the Mayoral elections.”
He added that the contest between the Conservative, Boris Johnson, and Mr Livingstone was a “real issue”. “Livingstone must NOT get in.”
Not very supportive.
Two Pleased Ladies and a Happy Driver
Yesterday afternoon, I took a New Bus for London from Islington Green to the Balls Pond Road. Because of the time of day and the weather, there were only about six people on the lower deck of the bus.
In front of me, were two ladies of a certain age and I asked them what they thought of the new bus. They said, that they had so much space and seemed very pleased with it.
I then moved to the back and asked the driver/conductor, what the bus was like to drive. He said he was happy with it, although the acceleration was a bit lively.
So perhaps they should be called Halley’s Comets after Edmond Halley, one of Hackney’s most famous citizens.
The Louvre Does A Liverpool
The Times today reports, that the Louvre is opening a branch museum in Lens. It suggests this might have been inspired by the success of the Tate Liverpool.
I suspect though that the French will charge in Lens, whereas, the only charge in Liverpool is for special exhibitions or in the excellent restaurant.
From Ballymena With Love
According to this article in the Ballymena Times, the New Bus for London will feature in the new James Bond film, Skyfall.
The bus is set to feature in an action scene set in Trafalgar Square involving the 007 spy, played by Daniel Craig.
Surely, the designer of the bus, didn’t envisage it to be James Bond’s latest transport.
It does however mean that there is a lot of scope for film and book titles.
On the Hackney Express is the obvious one, as the buses at present go to Hackney Central on route 38.
Putting The Stiletto In Deep
The wives of ambassadors, have an image, which probably owes a lot to the Ferroro Rocher adverts of a few years ago.
But now the wife of the German Ambassador to the UN, Huberta von Voss-Wittig and her British counterpart, Sheila Lyall Grant have made a video that apopeakls to Asma Assad to get her husband to stop the violence in Syria.
The video is shown in this report in the Guardian.
To say it doesn’t lack punch would be an understatement!
The sad thing though is that it will probably have no effect.
The Scandal of the European Court of Justice
I’m not talking about any judgements, as that is for the court to decide.
But they have just said, that they have a waiting list of 150,000 cases. That is a true scandal.
I think in some jurisdictions, which might include Scotland, there is a time limit, before which a criminal case must be started, if the defendant is in custody. If it isn’t then the defendant is released.
We need more thinking like that!
Olympic Tickets
Everybody has had their views on the problems with Olympic tickets.
The difficulty in obtaining tickets depends on many factors.
The first thing, is that the various stadia are probably not quite large enough. But they were designed around the number of tickets sold at previous Games and of course within the more limited budget available for these Games.
I think too, that people like corporate sponsors are taking too many of the prime tickets. But again, because of the straightened times we are in, we need the sponsors to keep the costs down.
But the biggest problem we have an immense number of people who can get to the Games. Obviously, there are all those, who can get to London for the day, but we have to include all of those, who have a friend or relative in the city. Let’s say you are Austrian and your daughter works in London. With both the Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee, this summer, what better time to come and spend some time in the greatest city in the world, even if you have to sleep on the sofa or even the floor.
Many of these people, like the Irish, the Scandinavians and some of the smaller European Union countries will never get to host the Olympics in their lifetime, and as they have a right to buy tickets, then why will they not come?
So London is probably the most convenient city to hold the Olympics. The only European ones that come near are Paris and Berlin. The next city, Rio di Janeiro may be a fabulous city, but it’s not exactly easy to get to. just like Beijing and Sydney.
We’re all suffering from excess demand and not enough tickets.
If the Olympics had gone to Paris, the same problem would have happened.
Beccles Station and the Start of the Construction of the Loop
On the way to football at Ipswich, I went via Beccles station, to see how the loop is progressing.
As you can see, there hasn’t been much done yet.
I hope that they improve the station as well as the track. I was there just after a very rainy morning and there was only one dry place to sit; a small patch of low concrete wall. Passengers started turning up about half-an-hour before the train and a couple were quite a bit older than me. There wasn’t even a pub or a cafe nearby.
I’ve been to quite a few unmanned stations in East Anglia, but Beccles must surely be one of the worst, if not the worst!
The Anonymous Widower 