Getting the Hang of IKEA
I need to order a washer/dryer as the current setup is tedious, slow and a bit difficult with the clothes washer in the hall cupboard with the boiler and the dryer in the garage. Every time I transfer clothes in and out, I seem to bump my head somewhere or lose socks on the floor.
After my experiences with John Lewis and Dixons, I thought the best thing to do was go and see the various washer/dryers on offer at Currys at Tottenham Hale. Quite frankly I wasn’t impressed, as they are all large and I just want a smaller one, as anything other than my smalls and towels goes to the excellent laundry. I also wanted to get a prescription, so Tottenham Hale was a good cjoice as there is a Boots there. It’s also just a bus ride to Highbury Corner and then three stops on the Victoria line.
I did notice one disadvantage of not driving at Tottenham Hale.
Where's the crossing?
This was the drive-in lane to Burger King. So if you want to get fat, eat lots of gluten and die before your time, you might take a pedestrian with bad eyesight with you, if you drive to get your burgers.
From Tottenham Hale I took the 192 bus to IKEA, as I needed a couple of bits for the kitchen. I also bought an assortment of picture hooks in a box. But the surprise was lunch, which was a bottle of Belvoir ginger beer and some gravadlax. All gluten-free of course. So I’m now finding IKEA a lot more friendly.
It was then back on the 192 and then the Victoria line to Seven Sisters, where I took a bus to Stoke Newington to pick up some paintings I’ve had framed, including one of my mother, by her brother from A & B Framing.
A & B Framing, Stoke Newington
I’ll admit I did struggle home with the framing and the stuff from IKEA. But I did make it and my mother and her cousin and sister-in-law are now reunited on the wall in my living room.
Cousins Reunited
Judging by the date on the drawing, my mother, who is on the left, was around four at the time. The caption is explained by the fact that my uncle, Leslie, married his first cousin, Gladys.
Traffic Chaos at the Angel
I said on Saturday that I got very wet in the chaos at Highbury Corner due to road works disrupting the buses.
Today I went shopping at Waitrose at the Angel and getting there on a 38 bus from my previous call in Clerkenwell, I was held up by traffic jams caused by the extensive road works all over the area.
Afterwards, as I’d got a lot to bring home, I decided to take a taxi. the lady driver had to go all through the backstreets to get me home. Someone had told her, that Islington still has money to spend from the 2010-11 budget and are doing as much work as is possible before the deadline.
I certainly will be avoiding the Angel for the next week or so, unless I can do it on foot or by the Underground.
It’s funny, but in all my years, I’ve never hailed a black cab driven by a lady.
If this is true, it sounds like their project management skills are in line with the Cambridge Busway and the Edinburgh Tram.
More Readings of Noise on Buses
A few days ago, I measured the noise on one of the conventional buses that run on the 43 route. It gave a rest reading of 57 dBA and a full speed one of 87 dBA.
Since then I’ve taken a few more readings.
141 – Volvo Hybrid 55/86
141 – Volvo Conventional 61/80
277 – Dennis Conventional 52/85
73 – Mercedes Bendy 67/83
In all cases I was sitting at the back by the engine on the lower deck.
It does seem that they are fairly similar with the hybrid being slightly quieter.
If you search the Internet for London bus noise, you’ll find this chat about the noise outside the Volvo buses that run on the 76 route. Over the last few days, the route has received a batch of new Volvo hybrid buses. So does it pay to complain about bus noise in London?
A Problem With Buses
Today, they decided to dig up the road at Highbury Corner and it created a bit of chaos on the way back from Waitrose on the Holloway Road. If I can for this journey I use a 393 and then swap to a 277 or a 30 for the last bit.
But the trouble was that the stop to do the change was closed because of the hole-digging and I got taken off into the depths of Highbury. So in the end I had to walk home in the pouring rain.
On the other hand, I wasn’t stuck in the jams caused by the works.
The Last of the Bendy Buses
The 73 bus route is one of the last to run the bendy buses, that seem so unloved except by fare dodgers.
An Unloved Bendy Bus at the Angel
The 73s are scheduled to be replaced by mainly hybrid double-deck buses by the end of the year.
Surprising Barnsley
Some of the places I’ve visited on my travels like Scunthorpe and Middlesbrough could not be described as places that make the most of what they’ve got.
What I would find, as I went north on my train from St. Pancras, I did not know.
I actually travelled north with three young Millwall supporters, who were supporting their team at Sheffield. When I said, that I’d had a stroke, one of them said his brother had too. At just 16 too! So we can’t all be too careful, can we?
But the Interchange station at Barnsley was a surprise.
Barnsley Interchange
Very often, stations are badly designed and in the wrong place in the town, with poor interchanges to other modes of transport.
Cambridge is a classic example, in that it’s some way from the city centre, the buses to get aren’t obvious and also for the amount of trains that call at it, it isn’t big enough. I suspect too, that the ill-fated busway will have a terrible interchange, when surely one of the reasons for the busway, should have been to get passengers to the trains. But trains and buses operate under different budgets and compete with each other, when they should be complimentary.
There is no such problem in Barnsley in that the station lies alongside the town centre and contains not only the train station, but the bus station as well. The football ground, Oakwell, is a ten minute walk the other way.
Barnsley Signs
Signage, as so often could be better and more numerous, but then it’s difficult to miss Oakwell. But at least in Barnsley the signage is there, which can’t be said for Edinburgh, which is supposed to be a tourist destination.
You actually walk up a hill to the ground and then approach it downhill, through what is a grassed car park.
Walking Down to Oakwell
In some ways the approach is more like one you find at small non-league stadia, rather than one that incoprates 23,000 spectators.
The football was a bit disappointing in that Ipswich gave away a winning lead in the last minute.
But all-in-all, it was a good day out! I felt especially good as I walked up the hill towards the station without a hint of being out of breath. Perhaps it was the sun, that we’d enjoyed all day.
Living on a 30 Bus
One of my friends has commented that I always seem to be on a 30 bus. It’s just that it’s so useful to get to and from the Angel, Islington, Kings Cross, St. Pancras, Euston and the Selfridges end of Oxford Street, especially as the stop is just around the corner and has one of those displays which tell which buses will arrive soon.
Yesterday on my trip to see Ipswich at Barnsley, the journey didn’t start with a small step, but it started and finished on a 30 bus.
A 30 bus was involved in the London bombings and 13 passengers tragically died in Tavistock Square. But it isn’t the only tragedy connected with the route.
Memorial Garden at Highbury Corner
This picture shows the memorial garden at Highbury Corner. The plaque commemorates the 26 people who died in a V1 attack on June 27th, 1944.
But the route isn’t all about sadness, as at Islington Green, you pass the statue of Hugh Myddelton, one of those who shaped our city.
Statue of Hugh Myddelton on Islington Green
Every time, you use water in the city, there is a chance that some of that water has arrived courtesy of the New River; Myddelton’s project from the early seventeenth century that transformed London’s water supply.
From the Angel, I then travelled down Pentonville Road to Kings Cross, getting off just before the station and crossing the maze of roads into Kings Cross.
Arriving at Kings Cross on a 30 Bus
Hopefully, when they create the new public square in front of King’s Cross station they’ll make this pedestrian access a lot better.
At least though work inside the station seems to be progressing well, with the pedestrian bridge and the associated lifts seeming to be taking shape under a newly restored roof.
Coming home too, I was lucky in that I walked through the station after buying a Cod Mornay for my supper from Marks and Spencer in St. Pancras and had to wait just two minutes before a 30 bus appeared to take me home.
My Noise Meter on a 43 Bus
I’ve just tried out my new noise meter on a 43 bus.
A Mini Noise Meter from CPC
It gave a reading of 57 at idle and 87 when going as fast as traffic allowed on the Holloway Road. I was sitting at the back over the engine.
The bus is probably typical of many in London, but I’ll be trying a few of the more ones in the next few days.
Islington to the M25 By Public Transport
I had to go back to Suffolk to pick some bits and pieces up and thought that the easiest way to do this was to get to Cockfosters Station, which is just a few minutes from Junction 24 on the M25.
So I took the 141 bus to Manor House taking a few pictures and a video on the way, where I got the Piccadilly Line to Cockfosters.
The journey from the Balls Pond Road took just 35 minutes and that included a delay of two minutes at Arnos Grove station, where they changed drivers. I could even have got a bus to the M25 from Cockfosters.
As I was running early, I did make a detour at Southgate Station to take a few pictures.
The station has been sympathetically restored and still contains many of the Art Deco features. It is still very much as it was, when I used to use it to go to Minchenden Grammar School in the early 1950s and late 1960s.
I also seem to remember reading somewhere, that the ticket barriers can be removed, so that the station can be used for period film and TV productions. Parts of the film, The End of the Affair were shot in the station.
I just think that Southgate Station sums up everything that was so good about the designs of London Transport before the Second World War. It was designed as a bus/tube interchange and still fulfils that function, with style and panache.
Southgate Station was one of the buildings created by the archtect, Charles Holden. If he had been of any other nationality, than British, he would be one of the most famous architects in the world. But he was a modest man, who twice declined a knighthood. On the other hand, his buildings speak eloquently of the quality and beauty of his work.
How to turn a Nokia 6310i Into A Smarter Phone
People laugh at me because I don’t have a smart phone like an iPhone. But then apparently Elton John doesn’t even have any mobile phone.
But then my Nokia 6310i can send and receive text messages, tweet and even send and receive normal phone calls to anybody with a number. That last bit is really cool. Or is it Koool? Who cares anyway? The only thing it doesn’t have is an automatic reject of calls that are trying to cheat me out of money in various ways. But no-one has a phone that does that! Yet! But hopefully, it will come in the next 100 years or so.
I’ve had my 6310i eleven or twelve years now and even now, I find new features that I am starting to use. I’ve known about it for some time, but now I’m using the to-do-list feature to make notes as I ride around London, often at the front on the top deck of a bus. Try doing that in a car!
As the phone stores quite a few text messages, when I have information I might need on the move, I just text it to my phone using LiquidDrop. I’ve just picked up my tickets for Barnsley and I’ve texted the itinerary to the phone for Saturday. No hated piece of paper to take, but I suspect W H Smug, will try and load me up. Perhaps, I’ll buy my Saturday paper in M&S or on the way to St. Pancras.
So the 6310i is getting to be a smarter phone. This is what everyone wants! I once said, “Computers make good slaves, but very bad masters!” That applies to phones as well. And especially mobile ones.
The Anonymous Widower 