A Trip To Spandau
This morning I have taken the U7 line to Spandau Rathaus and explored the town.
I am actually writing this in a pleasant coffee house called Croissant, where I have enjoyed a mug of cappuccino and a chocolate brownie, that was marked gluten-free.
According to my guide book, there are things to see at Spandau, but it was just too cold for a full explore.
I shall soon be leaving to visit the Olympic Stadium.
Angelina Jolie Gene Testing For All?
The title of this post is the same as this article on the BBC.
This is said.
Testing all women for the “Angelina Jolie gene”, even if not considered at risk, would prevent cancers, save lives and is cost effective, say doctors.
Having lived for forty years with my wife, who suffered breast cancer and then a few years later died from a squamous cell carcinoma of the heart, I know a lot about the emotional problems of cancer.
Many cancers and other diseases, like my coeliac disease, can be found in our genes.
Our youngest son died of pancreatic cancer, which was probably not helped by his smoking and poor eating and health habits.
If he had been a coeliac, which could have been likely because of my genes, that wouldn’t have helped either! But he wouldn’t be tested!
Speaking for myself, my life might have been very different, if I had been genetically tested as a child!
In the future, genetic testing will become much more the norm, as doctors, researchers, scientists and engineers will reduce the cost of doing a full genetic test.
The BBC article also says this.
The study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, estimated the impact of screening all 27 million women over 30 in the UK.
They said it would:
- prevent 64,500 more breast cancers
- prevent 17,500 more ovarian cancers
- save 12,300 more lives
The study also said mass screening would be cost-effective for the health service.
But why stop at breast and ovarian cancer?
I feel strongly, that anybody likely to be a coeliac, should be tested at birth.
Keeping to a gluten-free diet, is getting easier every year and research at institutions like Nottingham University has shown, that coeliacs on a gluten-free diet are significantly less likely to get cancer, than the general population.
The Return Of The Best Gluten-Free Sandwich From A Supermarket
Marks and Spencer do very good gluten-free sandwiches. In my experience, the only better gluten-free sandwiches I have had, have been in a couple of dedicated gluten-free shops, where the sandwich has been made in front of me.
This was my lunch today, bassed on a gluten-free egg sandwich, that has been brought back after about five years.
Incidentally, I suspect that egg seems to have a complimentary taste with good gluten-free bread.
I’ve also had excellent gluten-free egg sandwiches in several places including the Tate Britain, Tate Modern and Cafe Northcote in Blackburn cathedral.
Belfast – A City Of Water And Bridges
I took these pictures as I walked from my hotel in the Titantic Quarter to Belfast City Centre to get some supper.
It wasn’t a difficult walk, although it was rather cold.
I ended up having a very enjoyable gluten-free supper in Made in Belfast, which is close to the City Hall.
The Reliability Of Online Reviews
Wake Up To Money this morning on BBC Radio 5 was talking about the reliability of on-line reviews.
So I sent in the following text.
As a coeliac, I find if I type “gluten free restaurant” with the city I’m in, I find somewhere good. Perhaps coeliacs don’t want to drop their peers in it!
It wasn’t read out directly, but someone else had said the same thing and the two messages were combined.
The method has certainly found me some very good gluten-free meals.
Gluten-Free In Virgin First Class From Carlisle!
Crisps and a banana!
That is just not good enough!
But it was aerved with a smile!
The Ultimate Gluten-Free Product
This morning, I bought a new gluten-free product from Marks and Spencer.
It may only be a humble seeded brown roll, but I think they have pitched it right for the market.
I ate one for lunch with one of their smoked salmon parcels.
I have tasted other gluten-free rolls that were slightly better, but none came anywhere near the 50 pence, I paid at The Angel.
I suspect, I’ll regularly use one for my lunch with an appropriate filling.
I called it the ultimate gluten-free product, as it is precisely targeted at the market.
- I would expect, that the taste is acceptable to most people; coeliacs or not!
- It is in a sealed packet with a Use-By Date of the 1st of September, which is four days from today.
- You don’t have the waste of a loaf, which gets thrown away half eaten after a few days.
- It would be ideal to buy, if you’re going to a party, in case the host doesn’t have a clue about gluten-free bread.
- It would also be ideal, if you’re hosting the party and know that perhaps two out of twenty are gluten-free.
- You could even pack a couple in hand-baggage, if you’re going abroad for a weekend and aren’t sure of the hotel.
- I’ve stayed in a couple of excellent B&Bs, who would have found this product very useful.
At just fifty pence a time, you could even feed them to the birds or make breadcrumbs , if some are left over.
I’m certain at that price, M&S won’t make much direct money out of the product.
But if it takes off, how many will the product attract to the gluten-free section, who will then buy other products?
A Low-Alcohol Beer With Flavour
I was buying my usual gluten-free IPA in Marks and Spencer in Islington, when I saw this beer next to it.
This beer is just 0.25 units for a half litre bottle.
It also has flavour, as it is brewed by Adnams.
But the amazing thing was I had no adverse to the beer despite being coeliac, although I’ve never claimed to be a serious one.
Waterloo Upgrade August 2017 – Walking Between Wandsworth Common And Clapham Junction Stations
These pictures show my walk this morning.
These are my thoughts on the various things I saw! Or in some cases didn’t!
Wandsworth Common Station
Wandsworth Common station is a curious station in some ways, as it certainly wouldn’t be built in the middle of Wandsworth Common in these conservation-minded days.
It also has an eleven trains per hour (tph) frequency to the next stations; Balham and Clapham Junction. Some trains take as little as two or three minutes.
Passenger numbers in 2015-16 at the three stations are as follows.
- Balham – 10,115,000
- Wandsworth Common – 1,690,000
- Clapham Junction – 32,282,000
Wandsworth Common station would appear to be just an overflow station to take pressure from the other two much busier stations.
In the Gibbs Report, one of the things that Chris Gibbs says is that there are too many Off Peak services.
Surely four or six tph stopping at Wandsworth Common station is enough, given that there’s only 24 parking spaces and bus stops are 450 yards away.
Currently, there are six tph between Victoria and West Croydon stations and all stop at Wandsworth Common station, with the fastest journeys taking thirty two minutes.
There are also six tph between Wandsworth Common and Norbury.
Surely on both these services stops can be eliminated, which would save a couple of minutes per stop.
Timing the trains for something like a Class 377 train and using a more efficient stopping pattern, might reduce timings between Victoria and West Croydon to under thirty minutes, which must help Southern to run a better service.
But would the good burghers of Wandsworth allow the simplification, even if it became a faster service?
The Cat’s Back Bridge
The Cat’s Back Bridge is a pedestrian bridge across the railway to the North of Wandsworth Common station.
The replacement of this bridge is described in this article on Rail Engineer, which is entitled A Trio Of Southern Bridges.
The article has some clear before and after pictures taken from the railway.
Wandsworth Seems An Information-Free Borough
Walking from the bridge to Clapham Junction station might have been quicker, if there had been some maps or information.
Perhaps, Wandsworth doesn’t welcome walkers!
At least I found a couple of helpful policemen!
Breakfast At Revolution
I had a hearty gluten-free breakfast at a bar-restaurant called Revolution in Clapham.
Incidentally, Clapham surprised me with the quality of the shops.
There were also a couple of interesting cafes, including one that was gluten-free and vegan called Without.
Clapham Junction Station And The Waterloo Upgrade
Again there was a lack of information.
Plenty of helpful Customer Service personnel were in attendance at the station, but some better signage was needed, for those unfamiliar with the station.
Conclusion
Wandsworth Council need to get their act together with regard to information.
I live in Hackney and the maps are so much better!
The Spanish Like Their Beer
I took these pictures in Spain
I actually drunk four or possibly five different varieties of gluten-free beer in my week in the country.
I was also surprised to see gluten-free Brewdog and beer from St. Peter’s in El Cortes Ingles.
The Anonymous Widower 