The Emirates Air-Line Passes Half Million Passengers
It’s only been six weeks, but the Emirates Air-line has hit the half-million passenger target. That’s an average of over 11,000 a day. There’s more about the story here.
It seems to me, that whatever you think about the cable-car, passenger are voting to use it with their Oyster cards. Those half-million journeys will have a revenue of at least £4.8 million, unless of course lots of passengers are buying ten trips at £1.60 a time.
The ExCel Blows Hot And Cold
I went to the ExCel yesterday afternoon, to watch the table-tennis.
The sport was fine, but that could not be said for the venue. I was nearly passing out from the heat and left early. I then had to walk the full length of the venue and then back on the outside to get to the cable-car, as I didn’t want to be in the crush on the DLR. Although in the end, I didn’t use the cable-car and took the DLR to Bank, as it wasn’t as crowded as after the boxing. I did meet a guy who’d been in the fencing and he said that was freezing. So it looks like the ExCel should look at its heating and cooling system. A Royal Engineer also told me, he’d felt it was hot in the Excel and he’d just come back from Afghanistan.
The Emirates Air-Line Was Quiet
It was the quietest I’d seen the Emirates Air-Line, since I started crossing it every Sunday morning, with the possible exception of when it was raining.
I had a gondola to myself, but as the weather was good with no wind, there was no sway. The more in a gondola, the better they seem to ride.
My Usual Sunday Circuit
For four Sundays now, I’ve done a circuitous route to Canary Wharf, using the DLR, the Emirates Air-Line and the Jubilee line. Although today was the second competition day in the Olympics, I did it again today. These pictures were taken on the way to Royal Victoria Docks station for the cable-car.
it’s one of best parts of the DLR for photography and I sat on the south or right side of the train looking towards Canary Wharf and the Dome.
LOCOG Float In A New Pitch
I took this picture from the Emirates Air-Line today.
LOCOG Float In A New Pitch
Are LOCOG, the Olympic organisers, floating in a new pitch for one of the events?
Or perhaps it’s for one of the demonstration sports; overwater British bulldog. In this verion pushing contestants into the river is allowed.
The First Gig on the Emirates Air-Line
I know it was a stunt by The Sun newspaper, but surely Newton Faulkner‘s gig set new heights in music.
Next thing someone might perform a few magic tricks or perhaps take a flea circus for a ride.
On A Clear Day You Can See For Miles
I took these pictures on the Emirates Air-Line on Sunday.
It just shows how far you can see if the weather is good. The Mittal Orbit on the Olympic Park stands out. It is quite easy to pick out Wembley Stadium towards the North West
Talking up Defiencies
They’ve just had a very one-sided phone-in on BBC Radio 5, with virtually an hour of the dismal Jimmies and Jennies complaining about all the inadequacies.
We’ve just had a volunteer complaining, that they are not being given car parking on the Olympic Park. It sounds to me, that they should have been turned down as a volunteer.
Let’s face it, if you don’t like the conditions, don’t volunteer.
We should be celebrating what we got right.
My field is project management and we should be celebrating the fact that all of the venues and transport links have been constructed on time and generally on budget.
Remember the Olympic Park is built in a marsh and with all the bad weather we’ve been having lately, that has not only caused construction problems, but made the design of the park difficult. Luckily, the main site of the Games is by the River Lea and Joseph Bazalette‘s massive Northern Outfall Sewer, so hopefully we’ll cope, with water and sewage.
I’ve watched the plans unfold and East London has improved beyond all expectations.
When we won the bid the London Overground from New Cross to Dalston and from Stratford to Richmond only partly existed as a set of travelling urinals. now it is a modern railway with new trains, signalling and completely renewed track. The East London Line deserves five stars in its own right, as it was built through Brunel’s Thames Tunnel of 1840 and under the Kingsland Road, without breaking anything.
As the icing, London has now got its magnificent cable-car, which will be the fun legacy of the games.
And now the phone-in is talking about the failure of the O2 mobile phone network. My Nokia 6310i works well on O2 at the moment.
I Didn’t Have A Bad Weekend
It could have been better, if Murray had won, instead of lost to Federer, but I doubt there is any player, who on his best form could have beaten Federer on Sunday. But as Jeff Tarango predicted, the roof issue was against Murray.
But then we did have the wonderful victory of Marray and Neilsen winning the Mens Doubles.
We did at least thrash the Aussies again, during breaks in the rain at Chester-le-Street.
I did enjoy the cable-car in the rain too.
And especially, the pop-up museum about Crossrail and the archaeology.
But otherwise I was just reading the papers, feeding myself and watching television.
At least we have the Olympics coming up.
A Morning Trip In The Rain
I’ve been there many times in my past, both as a child and as a parent.
It’s raining, cats, dogs and hippopotami and all of the things to do indoors have been done to death. So this morning, I decided to see what the new Emirates Air-Line is like in the heavy rain.
I took my usual route to the Northern terminal at Royal Victoria DLR station, by taking a bus and a tube to Bank station and then getting the faithful Docklands Light Railway. Is there a railway anywhere in the world, that was built as on-the-cheap as the DLR, that has morphed so successfully from an ugly duckling into a swan? Or possibly in the DLR’s case to a whole game of swans.
Even on the short trip from Bank to Royal Victoria, there is much to see, like the expensive yachts, housing and offices, the many spires of the East End and mud flats, factories and construction of the River Lea. It is a trip that delights most children.
I took these pictures on the way to Royal Victoria, during the crossing and then at North Greenwich.
Afterwards, I took the Jubilee line to Canary Wharf for a late Full Italian breakfast at Carluccio’s.
So was it a worthwhile trip? And would it be with young children?
- I only got wet walking between Royal Victoria DLR station and the cable-car and between the cable-car and North Greenwich tube station.
- The queues were less than last Sunday and marginally worse at North Greenwich. Is that because there’s parking on the South bank of the river.
- The view from the gondola wasn’t too bad at all. Is the glass treated with a water repellant?
So on balance, a trip in the rain, may even have an advantage in that the crowds are smaller and you don’t have to wait.
The Anonymous Widower 