An Excursion South Of The Sewer
I ventured well past the big sewer this morning, travelling underneath it on the Overground, through the Thames Tunnel to New Cross Gate station. The other side though, was far from dry.
Rain and Few Bus Shelters South of the Sewer
You can tell too, it’s South London, as the bus stops don’t generally have shelters. It also always rains, when I go there.
My destination was the cafe called With Jam and Bread.
With Jam and Bread in Lee Green
It was good and the gluten-free orange, chocolate and almond cake, I had with my coffee was excellent.
From my point of view, the cafe has another advatange. It has its own bus stop both ways, so is easy to get to.
A New Bus for London Reflected In The Angel Building
I took this picture yesterday from a New Bus for London.
A New Bus For London Reflected In The Angel Building
The Angel Building was nominated for the Stirling Prize in 2011.
The Totally Flat Floor Of A New Bus For London
As someone who travels on buses a lot, all buses should be like this on the lower deck.
The Totally Flat Floor Of A New Bus For London
The picture was taken from the back looking forward.
I think only the New Bus for London has such a flat floor. The conductor told me, it makes things a lot easier for both himself and the passengers.
Incidentally, I had to run and catch this bus. In the end I jumped onto the rear platform after a forty metre sprint. Not bad for a sixty-five year old after a stroke, with a dicky heart.
try doing that on any other bus.
Buses For The Chinese
The bus route 88 is surely an ideal one for the Chinese, who are very superstitious about eights.
We even had a winner at Nottingham on the 8th of August, 1988. The horse, Golden Panda was named after a Chinese restaurant, owned by a friend from Hong Kong.
We dined out cheaply on that win for many years.
IPPR Says Fuel Prices Should Rise
The IPPR is reported to be saying that fuel prices should rise, much to the dismay of motorists. It’s all here in the Telegraph.
I don’t care what happens to fuel prices personally, as I don’t have a car and I get my public transport in the London area free.
But I’ve always felt that fuel prices are too low, as this increases consumption, which increases global warming. It also reduces the pressure for vehicle manufacturers to make more fuel-efficient vehicles.
Concerning the latter, I have a lot of hybrid-buses near me, including of course, the New Bus for London. All of these hybrid buses deliver much higher lower fuel consumption and in addition, quantities of black smoke and noise.
Rises in fuel prices would improve our vehicles in other ways.
The Best Restaurant For Coeliacs In The UK
For my birthday yesterday, my son took me to Arbutus in Soho for dinner with a couple of friends.
It was the usual high standard and everything was immaculate as usual.
I must have been a dozen times or so now, including twice for lunch this year and it never fails to delight with some unusual ways of cooking. Last night I had peas in a puree with roast vegetables as a starter, followed by rabbit, which was one of C’s favourites. The rabbit was accompanied with a little cottage pie in a ramekin dish, containing the vegetables and some small pieces of meat, probably from the legs of the rabbit. Now that is a simple idea for a dinner party, where the main dish is say a leg of lamb. In which case you’d use some lamb mince in the pies.
I’ve said that this is the best restaurant for coeliacs in the UK and it may well be. But there are few restaurants in the world, that do gluten-free food as well as Arbutus.
Arbutus isn’t cheap, but for a special occasion, say before seeing a show in Shaftesbury Avenue to celebrate a wedding anniversary, it must be unrivalled. C and I went a couple of times after seeing a matinee on a Saturday.
One thing they do is sell all the wines in 25ml. carafes. This cuts the cost and if you’re incompatible in terms of wine with your partner, like I am with my teetotal son, you can indulge your taste.
The restaurant is also very easy for me, as I just get a 38 bus to Chinatown and walk up Frith Street. Sadly last night Transport for London, didn’t provide one of their New Buses for London. I shall be complaining!
The Ladies Who Bus
Three retired ladies are using their Freedom Passes to travel every London bus riute from end-to-end in numerical order. The project is described here on the BBC’s web site.
And I thought I was mad visiting all the 92 football and Premier League clubs in alphabetical order.
The Angel Was Like A Morgue
I went up to the Angel as I usually do and it was like a morgue. There was only myself and one other in the queue in Starbucks and I got my preferred window seat. I didn’t see anything worth photographing for the blog.
Waitrose was empty too and I think the staff were lonely, as many talked to me, whilst they were stacking shelves and looking for items.
There weren’t any chuggers or smokers outside the shopping centre!
And of course the bus was virtually empty coming home.
Perhaps, some big event has finished and everybody has left. The bus doing press-ups has gone too!
This Bus Is Beautiful
Coming home from the Angel late this afternoon, as I was getting on one of the New Buses for London, an attractive black lady of about thirty or so, approached the driver, leaned over so he could hear and said “I just had to tell you, but this bus is beautiful!”
How many times has such a statement been said about a humble bus?
A Comedy Turn At Highbury Corner
I went up to the new littleWaitrose at Highbury Corner this afternoon. No problems in the shopping and in fact the shop is better than its medium sized sister at Islington, as the gluten-free selection is better and the self-service tills are easier to use.
Catching the 277 bus home, I was treated to one of the funniest comedy drunk acts in quite a few years. An obese lady, probably about fifty, with hair died a bright purple, was trying to board a bus. The stream of invective would have outshone a navvy, who had just dropped a sledge-hammer on their foot. When I arrived the lady driver of the bus, opened the door and let me in. she seemed totally unmoved at the invective and smiled widely, when I said thanks for waiting for me. In the end, the drunk was left on the pavement, still screaming loudly, much to the amusement of passengers.
One of the great advantages of Routemasters and their predecessors, was that the conductor could give a signal for the driver to leave quickly. I’ve actually seen a conductor do this, when a drunk was balanced on the rear platform and then give a small push, to make sure the drunk toppled into the road. Health and safety would stop such extreme measures these days.
