I Thought Germans Obeyed Orders
This German trucker, obviously didn’t, as the signs said he shouldn’t cross the Forth Road road bridge.
Who Drank All the Beer?
Police in North London have arrested several fellons in possession of about 1,000 beer kegs according to this report.
The report doesn’t say whether the kegs were empty or not, but the police are looking for a several overweight men, who are very drunk.
Only In The United States Could Speaking French be a Disadvantage
According to this account on the BBC’s web site, Mitt Romney is being denounced for being able to speak French and actually doing it in public.
I think we have a rather different attitude in Europe, as although we argue with the French many of our politicians have used French when talking publicly in France. Although, we do make a joke of it between us. As two old friends would. Apparently, the French version of Allo Allo deliberately used bad French as a joke, even more than the English version did with Officer Crabtree being a deliberate parody of Edward Heath.
Remember too, the Queen speaks reasonable French, as this article attests.
We now live in a world, where many more people are bilingual, as their parents were immigrants. So the US has a large proportion of Spanish speakers and we have quite a lot of speakers of many other languages.
But go back to 1900 and has anything changed. Yiddish and German would have been heard in many places in London and New York for a start.
But now, only in America would the ability to speak a foreign language be considered to be a handicap for a politician!
Older Footballers
With the return to action of Thierry Henry and Paul Scholes in the last few days, I can remember seeing some older footballers playing at the top level in the 1950s and 1960s.
John Charles – Although he was in the twilight of his career, I must have seen him in 1962 at Tottenham. He would have been in his early thirties at the time.
Stanley Matthews – He played for Stoke in the early 1960s and when I saw him at Tottenham, he must have been nearly 50 and still playing at the top level.
We’ve also had quite a few goalkeepers, who have still be playing at 40.
But to me, the greatest of these older footballers was Danny Blanchflower.
He was an outstanding player and captain, who completely bossed the game. He was also someone blessed with the gift of the Blarney Stone.
His finest moment for Spurs, was probably, when at 36 he lifted the European Cup-Winners Cup in 1962.
If he has a modern counterpart it is David Beckham.
He has been asked to keep himself available for the Olympic football.
It may be wishful thinking, but I don’t rule out Beckham playing in the final. Just like Blanchflower, he has the skill to provide the ammunition and on-field coaching to others, who can do all the hard work.
The Coldest Station on the Underground
Whilst I was being let in to Elephant and Castle station to get north of the river, I was joking with the barrier staff, that it was cold, but it wasn’t as cold as Oakwood station, which is one I knew well as a child. I did say that if you ever were offered a transfer there then don’t accept, as on a cold day like today, it’s always freezing.
With the wind in the east at Oakwood it gets particularly cold, as the wind blows all the way from Siberia. In fact, if you were to fly level due east from the station, the first land you hit is the Urals. It all probably explains how our house there, at 73 Sussex Way, was so cold and regularly had sheets of ice on the windows in the winter.
Apparently, there used to be a plaque in the station about the height and the Urals, but I couldn’t find it, when I visited.
My Freedom Pass Failed South of the River
I’ve indicated before that London has always been two cities; my side of the North and the other side of the South.
Now I’ve got nothing against those who live south of the river and in fact some of my friends live there, but it’s a different country. It’s nothing new, as my father said that the two sides didn’t agree on anything before the Second World War. I blame it on Arsenal’s move from south of the river to Highbury. It was almost as bad as Wimbledon going to Milton Keynes.
But that still doesn’t explain, why my Freedom Pass wasn’t accepted at Elephant and Castle, either coming out or going in. However, in both cases, the helpful staff let me through.
Do the barriers read your DNA and if it’s from the North, you’re barred? We should be told!
Why Is The Jubilee Line Always Delayed?
Or it seems to be when I go near it!
This morning I went to Elephant and Castle and passing through Monument, an announcement said that all lines on the Underground were running well except for the Jubilee.
It always seems to be like that. Could it be, that as it was built to be finished by the Millennium for the do of the great-and-good at the Doom, that it wasn’t done properly? Or was it NuLabor couldn’t afford the bribe to keep the workers on the job, so they left out a few important wires?
As it was, today it didn’t matter, as I took the Bakerloo from Embankment. But it was still suffering delays, when I came back!
In Search of Strata
If you look south from the river, you’ll see a curious building with what look like three clock faces. The building is called Strata London and today I went to Elephant and Castle to have a closer look at it.
Unfortunately the sun was in the wrong direction and the pictures aren’t the best.
The clocks are actually wind turbines. Although there are doubts about their effectiveness. Wikipedia says this.
Strata SE1 is one of the first buildings in the world to incorporate wind turbines within its structure. The three nine-metre wind turbines at the top of the building are rated at 19 kW each and are anticipated to produce 50MWh of electricity per year. They are expected to generate sufficient energy to provide power for the common areas of the building (8% of the energy needs of the building), although questions about their real efficiency will remain unanswered until the completion of two years of comprehensive wind data analysis.
Having lived on the 11th floor of one of the towers in the Barbican, I’m not sure that this building would be as nice a place to live.
An Insult In My Recycling Bin
Thursday is recycyling day and I didn’t bother to get my recycling bin in. So someone put a present in it.
An Insult In My Recycling Bin
It was a half-eaten steak pie. Is this a deliberate insult as obviously the junk food isn’t gluten-free? They could have put it in my wheelie bin for general rubbish, as that was actually next to the other bin. But they would have had to lift the lid!
If we assume it wasn’t a deliberate insult, it just goes to show that those eating junk food have few manners and feel it is their right to throw the remains anywhere.
It’s a pity that the pie didn’t have a name on it, as I would have someone to sue, if I felt the effort worthwhile.
Property Prices In London
I was surprised to read this article in the Evening Standard.
Property prices may be flat elsewhere, but it seems they’re holding up in my part of London. Am I bothered?
The Anonymous Widower 