Two Proper Cups of Tea
The picture shows the two cups of tea we bought at the Markfield Museum.
Two Proper Cups of Tea
They had lots of things to eat, but not much that was gluten-free. The cafe also has free wi-fi, which is a must these days and seems to be in any pub or cafe worth visiting.
The Markfield Beam Engine
The Markfield Beam Engine sits in a park in Tottenham with a cafe and a rose garden.
It is well worth a visit.
G4S Tags Offender’s False Leg
I like this story.
The offender’s surname was Lowcock, so perhaps G4S should have realised he wasn’t your normal customer.
Perhaps they should tag criminals round the neck, with an electronic sign on the front, detailing their offences!
Bicycle Helmets
I don’t like them for myself, just as I don’t like wearing a helmet when I ride a horse.
In Halfords on Friday, the manager said that bicycle helmets will soon be compulsory.
I am changing my mind, but not for myself. I get a bit fed up with kids and some older ones riding on the pavements in and out of the pedestrians. Most seem not to be wearing helmets. So perhaps on the spot fines would drive them off the pavements, as it’s not cool to be a nuisance with a helmet on.
The funny thing is that on paths shared by cyclists and walkers, like the Regent’s Canal, there doesn’t seem to be the same problem.
Nimbys and Bananas
An eminent professor of engineering at a top level university has just told me about the term Banana or Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything. Or perhaps Near Anyone.
There are a lot more here in the Wikipedia definition of Nimby.
All of these people are usually members of the Council for the Fossilisation of Rural England.
I of course prefer a scientifically correct approach.
We Should Let al Megrahi Die in Peace
I’ve just heard the father of one of the Lockerbie victims say this on the BBC. He is right, as Megrahi does really seem to be close to death according to this typical report among many. After all as the victim’s father said, Gaddafi has killed a lot more of his own people than the number that died in the PanAm jet at Lockerbie.
However, we shouldn’t let up though on finding out who was ultimately responsible for Lockerbie. It is all too convenient to put the blame on Gaddafi, who surely will soon be dead, as I can’t see him being captured alive or escaping to a safe haven. And if he did the latter, he has made enemies, who would not hestitate to assasinate him.
After I saw Lockerbie: Unfinished Business at the Gilded Balloon last year in Edinburgh, I posted this. I stand by every word I said.
A Wanted Extra
I needed a new bag for my tennis things. As real tennis rackets aren’t the normal shape, a lot of bags don’t work. However, I found this one at Wigmore Sports, just behind John Lewis, which fitted the bill well.
A New Tennis Bag and a Wanted Extra
For display purposes they’d padded it with an old shoe box. As I have to post a pair of shoes, I’ve just sold on eBay, I was pleased to take it home with me.
I would certainly recommend the shop to anyone.
We Thought That Ipswich Town Couldn’t Defend
After Ipswich Town’s fiascos against Southampton and Peterborough, I thought that things couldn’t get worse. Ipswich certainly improved against Leeds, but then today their defence was seriously out underperformed by both Spurs and Arsenal.
I think I’ll wear my Ipswich hat tomorrow.
Avoid Changing At Bank
For some time now, changing from one tube line to another at Bank has been something to avoid according to Transport for London.
I have advised people coming to see me to change at Bank onto a 76, 21 or 141 bus to go north to Dalston. But now CrossRail works and putting in a new water main seem to mean that finding a bus at certain times at Bank, is like looking for a needle in the proverbial haystack.
Coming back from Oxford Circus at around four this afternoon, took me nearly an hour, when normally in the rush hour, I can do it on a 73 bus in about thirty-five minutes.
So where were the seventy-frees this afternoon? Stuck in the jams at Bond Street caused by Sunday afternoon shoppers and the CrossRail works at Bond Street. I couldn’t tak the Victoria line to Highbury and Islington, as that was closed for engineering work.
The problems will sort themselves out in the next few weeks, as the summer will be over and a lot of the weekend engineering work will be suspended until the Christmas period.
It is now though, that one of the major faults of the Overground is starting to show itself. And that is the lack of a link to the Central line in the east of London. You have to remember too, that the Central line is actually under Shoreditch High Street station. But then the cost of a new tube station there would probably have doubled the cost of the East London line.
I suppose the planners felt that when CrossRail is finished, then this will solve the problem with the interchange at Whitechapel.
A Wonderful Phrase – Meretriciously Obscurantist Techno Tosh
Roger Ford in Modern Railways today used this phrase to describe a letter written from Theresa Villiers about the new IEP train or SET (Super Express Train).
At the end of his article there is this paragraph entitled, Official VTAC figures for SET.
When you need reiable technical details you want an engineer on the job. So I am indebted to my Hitachi chum, Koji Agatsuma, who sent me Network Rail’s official Variable Track Access Charges (VTAC) for the Super Express Train just as this column was going to press.
With the driving pantograph car coming in at 10.95p per vehicle mile and the motored car with underfloor diesel engine costing 13.05p, the total VYAC for a nine-car bi-mode would be £1.07 per mile. So how did the DfT (Department for Transport) get £1.13 per mile for the five car bi-mode?
I would assume that civil servants and politicians can’t do arithmetic. I once met a senior advisor in the Treasury. He lived alone in a terraced house in Surbiton, couldn’t drive, ride a bicycle or swim and had as much real experience of British life, as the man on the Pyongyang omnibus. But he had got a first class degree from Oxford!
The Anonymous Widower 