Meandering Through The Snow
Today, I wanted to do two things.
First, I was going to Broadway Market to track down an old friend of C’s, who I knew had a relative with a shop there.
And then I was intending to go to a restaurant called Pappagone in Stroud Green Road to have lunch with an old friend.
I intended to get to Broadway Market by taking a 236 bus direct from Newington Green, just up the road from my house. As you an see, it was snowy, but the conditions weren’t too difficult.
Newington Green In The Snow
The 236 is rather an untypical London bus, as it more like a country bus, that meanders around various communities as it goes on its way. It was full and comfortable an d got me safely to Broadway Market, although it probably took longer than normal due to the weather.
I didn’t find C’s friend, but I met a man who knew her and gave him my card before returning to the bus to take it all the way to its terminus at Finsbury Park station. but the stop was closed due to roadworks and I couldn’t get to the next one, before the 236 bus arrived. Then a 394 bus arrived going the other way and I decided it was better to take this to Angel station. I didn’t get that far, as the roads were slightly blocked and I then swapped to a 271 to take me to Highbury and Islington station, which would enable me to take one stop to Finsbury Park station. From there I intended to walk up Stroud Green Road
If it all sounds complicated, you have to remember that South Hackney is mainly densely packed buildings, with few main roads. Hence the meandering routes of the buses.
It might have been better, if the Chelsea Hackney line had been built after the Jubilee line as was originally planned. But not that much better, as there is no direct Underground connection between Angel and Highbury and Islington stations.
At Finsbury Park station my troubles weren’t over, as there was no staff about to tell me how to get out in Stroud Green Road and the sign had been obscured by a notice board. I also had the disadvantage, in that although I’ve changed trains at the station many times, I’ve never emerged above ground there. Eventually, i found my way and walked up the road to Pappagone.
Up Stroud Green Road In The Snow
The weather wasn’t too bad, but I could have taken a bus up the hill if I’d needed to.
I had some very good gluten-free pasta at the restaurant and after a couple of hours or so, we took the 210 bus to Archway, where she went home and I took the Underground.
A quick change at Angel station onto a 38 bus and I was on the last leg home.
This trip illustrates how London or in fact any other city with a decent public transport system generally copes well with snow, as you can change your plans according to circumstances.
I always remember as a child, that the buses then, didn’t perform as well as the modern ones, which have most of the weight over the driving wheels and better tyres to boot. I saw a couple of New Buses for London and they seemed to be coping well, but strangely they had more snow on the roof, despite it being more curvy than the older buses. Perhaps the roof is better insulated!
Eskimos
It was so cold today, that I joked to one of the driver/conductors on the 38 bus, that they were outsourcing them with Eskimos.
But seriously, on The One Show tonight, a doctor said that Eskimos shake their hands to keep them warm. I shall be trying it, if this weather persists.
I have heard from my friend in The Netherlands, that it could be as low as -13°C in Rotterdam with quite a bit of snow on the ground.
Hopefully, it won’t get that cold here tonight.
Step-Free Access To The Underground
Coming back from Kings Cross station tonight, I took the indirect route using the Circle line to Moorgate station and then getting a 141 bus from just outside the station to just round the corner from my house.
The reason was that I had a heavy parcel of bedding, I’d bought in John Lewis and my normal change to the bus home at either Angel or Highbury and Islington stations would have meant crossing a major road.
Although I’m not in any way disabled, sometimes I do find that my left hand is a bit gammy and it is better to take an easier route, with escalators, lifts or right-handed staircases. For this reason, I know a lot of the best routes to get around London.
As I went through the gate at Kings Cross, the staff were chatting about step-free access and how difficult it will be to put in at some stations. I said that I think we’ll be finding some innovative engineering solutions used in some stations.
I know that inclined lifts are going to be used on Crossrail, but when I got home I found that at Greenford station, London Underground is going to get its first inclined lift. There’s more here on the Crossrail web site.
I think we’ll see a lot more of these, especially at stations, where there are three escalator positions, but the middle one has never been installed to save money.
The great advantage of inclined lifts is that in these stations, they can be installed without any digging or disruption to the station during the installation process.
I also think that buses have a large part to play in step free access.
As I said, I often plot my routes around London to avoid difficult stations or interchanges. For instance, I don’t change at Green Park station, as although it has lifts and is step free, you can walk miles between trains. Kings Cross too, is a bit of an Underground maze. Often though, the best route is to go to an easier station and then get a bus.
But not all stations have easy access from the trains to the buses and vice-versa like London Bridge, Euston and Victoria.
It may improve the lot of passengers and especially those who are disabled to improve the bus/Tube interface, as it will mean that some difficult stations can be bypassed.
I want lots more step free access to stations, but lets see if we can have innovative and more affordable solutions, that allow more stations to be given the full treatment.
Traffic In The New Kings Road
I’d gone to Chelsea to check out the traffic in one of the most congested areas of London and also to look at a box junction dubbed Moneybox by the Daily Mail in this article. These are the pictures I took.
I noticed several things that make this area so bad for traffic.
1. I’d actually got off the bus and walked because it was quicker. I wonder how many people don’t use the buses because it’s quicker to drive. By comparison here just north of the Angel, I would suspect the buses are quicker.
2. Note the number of large heavy good vehicles in the road. what are they doing here at lunchtime on a Tuesday. again to compare to the Angel, you do see some going through, but not as many as I did today.
3. You will notice in some of pictures, that trucks and vans are parked at the side of the road. some may be doing deliveries, but one van just had a couple of guys in it, eating their lunch.
I suppose there is just too much traffic and you can understand, why Ken introduced a Congestion Charge in the area.
It’s a severe problem and luckily, it doesn’t affect me, unless I go to the area on a bus.
One Of London’s Step-Free Bus Stops
The picture shows one of London’s new step-free bus stops.
One Of London’s Step-Free Bus Stops
The stop was also changed from a Request stop to a Compulsory one.
They may make it easier to get on and off a bus, but in some ways because they stick out, it does seem that getting a clear view round the parked cars to see approaching buses is more difficult.
Who Is Burt?
The caption on the travel news on BBC London this morning said.
London Bridge bus station is closed due to burts water main.
Who is this Burt? And why does he own an important water main?
To Notting Hill For a Pizza
As a coeliac, I don’t get to eat pizza very often. In fact the last time, I ate one, was in Naples in 2009. But that was rather special in that the restaurant was one of the best in that wonderful city in Italy.
Otto Pizza is a short walk from Notting Hill Gate station. I found it on the web last night, after I felt that after seeing the poster in La Porchetta, that I ought to have found gluten-free pizza in the over two years, that I’ve lived in London.
So this lunchtime, I took the Underground to Notting Hill Gate station and then got a 328 bus to outside the restaurant at the Artesian Road stop. Not only did I have a delicious double-flavour pizza, I had a gluten-free beer as well.
The only problem was that streams of Wonga-encrusted buses kept stopping outside.
In fact in one short period of time, of the eight buses that stopped, five had adverts for the barely-legal loan shark. And of the three that didn’t, one was a half-size bus and the other was still an advertising virgin, unmarked by commerce.
As to the unusual pancetta and sprout pizza, it was something I liked a lot. But C, would have really turned up her nose at the Grapes of the Devil.
This is a restaurant that deserves to succeed big time, if only because it doesn’t follow the rule book laid down by big chains.
I Didn’t Get On The iBus
I let this bus go when I got to the stop.
I Didn’t Get On The iBus
I don’t like it’s up front advertising especially for Apple products, but I was talking to a guy with an adorable ten week old baby in his arms. Anyway with 38 buses, you only have to wait a minute or so for another one. And when it did turn up, it was a New Bus for London. These are now saying that they accept credit cards.
Credit Cards On The Buses
Who needs a car, when personal transport is so frequent. It did seem to me though, that with all that advertising the iBus was rather slower than the new bus I was on.
The Slow iBus
I’m always reminded of the joke about how you make an Apple computer go faster. You drop it from a taller building.
The New Buses for London seem to be faster over a distance than the standard ones. I think partly it’s due to the hybrid drive, which gives good acceleration, but also as passengers seem to get on and off a lot quicker.
London’s Boxing Day Nightmare
I asked for luck as I set out for Charlton and more or less achieved my objective in that I got to the match without trouble. After taking my pictures at Kings Cross, I took a 205 bus towards Bow, with the intention of getting the DLR to Lewisham. I wasn’t sure of where the bus went, so I changed at Mile End to a 277 bus and picked up the DLR for Lewisham at Westferry station.
The Reliable DLR
As ever the DLR did its bit, but then it doesn’t have drivers, who have to have a party on Boxing Day.
I changed at Lewisham to a 380 bus, which meandered through Blackheath and other green parts of Greenwich to The Valley.
Meandering Through Blackheath
It must be one of the smallest buses operated in London.
A Small Bus
But I suppose, it does have the advantage, that any hooligans arrested at The Valley can be sent directly to jail.
The nightmare started after the match, which was characterised by a first half display by Charlton, that was almost as bad of that by Ipswich at Leicester.
Normally, to get to The Valley, you take a train to Charlton station next to the ground from central London. But it was Boxing Day, so the trains weren’t running. The Underground wasn’t running either as the drivers weren’t, but in getting to Charlton, it’s not much use.
So I was left to struggle home on the buses.
And struggle I did, as they were rather overcrowded to say the least.
It took me three hours to get to the Angel, as I had to change twice at Lewisham and Bank. The second change wasn’t the best, as due to the delay, I needed the toilet, so I took the first bus that came and had a pit-stop at Carluccio’s in Upper Street. At least, I got a bus home virtually immediately.
If we are going to have Sales in the shops and a full sporting program on Boxing Day, wouldn’t it be a good idea to have a full bus, train and Underground service, albeit with a reduced frequency.
Roll on driver-less trains like the DLR. I know it’s not as simple as some think, but as a control engineer, I know that trains can be without drivers, provided there is a train captain, like on the DLR.
Avoiding The Rain
I went to the football at Ipswich yesterday and the rain was so bad, I didn’t feel like walking to the bus stop to get a 141 bus to Liverpool Street station.
So I walked to the closest stop and got a 56 bus to the Angel. It wasn’t any better there.
A Very Wet Angel
But at least I got there in the dry and was able to walk into the Underground, to get a train to Liverpool Street with one change at Moorgate station. Normally, I’d have walked from Moorgate, but it was just that wet.
Coming back, the weather was just as bad, so I used an unusual route to keep dry. I took a Metropolitan line train to Barbican station and caught another 56 back to my house.
At least the rain seemed to have abated slightly in Ipswich, but the game wasn’t a good one. There were so many mistakes and I suspect precise control was difficult. So many simple passes were missed by both sides. Perhaps football yesterday was summed up by the result at Peterborough, where the home side beat Bolton by five goals to four.
