Paddington Bakerloo Line Link Project, London
The title of this post is the same as that of this page on the Institute Of Civil Engineering web site.
The page contains a video presentation of the building of the Paddington Bakerloo Line Link, that will connect the Bakerloo Line to Crossrail sometime next year.
If you think the golden age of British improvised tunnelling finished with the end of World War Two, with the likes of the Wooden Horse and the Great Escape, then think again.
- A redundant Royal Mail building stars as the cookhouse, where the tunnel starts under the floor.
- The old Rail Mail tunnel, doubles for the sewers.
- Sections were dug by hand.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see more pedestrian tunnels dug with all the ingenuity of this one.
South Australia Launches AU$50 Million Fund For Grid-Scale Energy Storage
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Energy Storage News.
This is the first paragraph.
In order to address intermittency in its grid, the South Australian Government has introduced a AU$50 million (US$36 million) Grid Scale Storage Fund (GSSF) to help accelerate the deployment of new large energy storage projects, including pumped hydro, hydrogen, gas storage, solar thermal, bioenergy and battery storage.
It is a must-read article, which shows the way progressive governments are thinking.
Contactless Payments For Food In Marks And Spencer
I have been using contactless bank cards to buy my food in Marks and Spencer for about sixteen months now.
I started making a note of my spending this way, as I wanted to check that this method of payment was secure.
It is!
What has dropped out of my research is that the average price of an item over those sixteen months, has been a couple of pence over two pounds.
So now, I usually only buy fifteen items, so that I’m just below the contactless payment limit.
- If it’s a couple of pounds over, I just drop a couple of pound coins in from my pocket, before using the card.
- As it happens fifteen items always fit in my reusable bag, which I stow in my manbag.
- I haven’t bought a new bag for a year and rarely pay 5p. for a plastic one.
The self-imposed fifteen item limit has certainly speeded up my shopping.
I wonder if other chains have the same item cost!
Environmentally-Friendly Dry Cleaning
In the late-1960s, when I worked for ICI, the company was very worried about the effect of dry-cleaning chemicals on the health of workers and was constantly looking for better chemicals.
I suspect as that was fifty years ago, that the dry-cleaning process itself is very much more envionmentally friendly.
But look at these trousers, that I have just brought back from the dry cleaners.
There are two things wrong with the packaging.
The awful wire coat hangers, which are a nuisance to deal with and go straight in the bin.
The plastic wrapping over the top, which I assume is not recyclable.
Years ago in Suffolk, we had a man who collected and returned our bed linen from the laundry, once a week. I can’t remember the company, but I hope they’re still going, as they did an excellent service.
They then started doing dry cleaning and they gave you the choice of having it on hangers or neatly folded in tissue paper.
I remember we chose the latter, as it was so much more convenient.
C would then put things that needed a hanger on proper wooden ones.
With the worries around plastic getting into the oceans, surely we should stop this needless wrapping of dry cleaning with plastic and fold things neatly in tissue paper!
I look forward to seeing a dry-cleaners, that says that we don’t use plastic!
Is London Going To Get A Christmas Present From Michael Bloomberg?
I took this picture in June of the fire doors that connect to the new station entrance under the Bloomberg building from the travelator, the connecting tunnel and the Waterloo and City Line platforms.
I took this picture today.
It looks like the entrance is nearer to completion.
I did ask a station-man and he thought it would open in a couple of weeks.
Excellent Tiling At Moorgate Station
These pictures show the renewed tiling on the Northern Line platforms and tunnels at Moorgate station, as the station gets ready for Crossrail.
My only thought is that compared to some London Underground tiling, is that it is rather unadventurous.
Over Four Units Of Beer
This picture shows nineteen bottles of Marks and Spencer’s Southwold Pale Ale, which is only 0.5% alcohol.
But it is brewed by Adnams in Suffolk.
I have been drinking adnams beer for over fifty years.
It should be said that you’d need to drink sixteen bottles to get to the four unit of alcohol limit for males.
I couldn’t manage eight litres of water.
I shall keep raiding Marks and Spencer in Finsbury Pavement to make sure I have enough for Christmas.
I’ve Finally Found A Small Wooden Spoon
I have finally found the answer to the question I asked in Where Are The Small Cooking Spoons?.
In that post I said this.
My mother had a very small wooden cooking spoon about twelve or so centimetres long. It was ideal for warming baked beans or making scrambled eggs in a non-stick milk saucepan.
Her’s had suffered an accident and I can remember that one side was slightly burned, but it was still usable. And absolutely the eight size!
I’ve been looking for over fifty years since I left home and not found one yet!
Yesterday, I found one in the Borough Kitchen in Borough Market.
They also had a smaller one.
Climate Change: Report Warns Of Growing Impact On US Life
The title of this post is the same as this article on the BBC.
This is the first paragraph
Unchecked climate change will cost the US hundreds of billions of dollars and damage human health and quality of life, a US government report warns.
So what is Donald Trump’s reaction?
This is another paragraph.
During a blast of icy weather in Washington this week, Donald Trump tweeted, “whatever happened to global warming?”
The sooner he has to leave the US Presidency to someone with an unprejudiced brain, that understands how things actually work, the better!
Major Overhaul Of One Of Country’s Longest Tunnels Sees Delays Fall By A Fifth
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Rail Technology Magazine.
This is the first two paragraphs.
A major refurbishment of Sevenoaks tunnel has seen a 20% reduction in delays and halved journey times for passengers, even as the £21m infrastructure renewal nears completion.
One of the longest tunnels in southern England, Sevenoaks has been given a major overhaul which has included replacing thousands of sleepers, laying several miles of news track, and installing new drainage systems.
Sevenoaks tunnel is a single-bore tunnel, double-track tunnel about two miles long.
Obviously, this refurbishment has been worthwhile.
I do wonder how many other schemes, that are stuck in Network Rail’s pipeline would show similar improvements in the quality of the service?
The Anonymous Widower 