Good News For Thurrock
C occasionally used to make appearances in the County Court at Grays, which is part of Thurrock. She used to say it wasn’t the best part of Essex and I’ve heard people say there is only one near-World Class buildimg in the town, and that is the disused State cinema.
But today, it has been announced that the station at Stanford-le-Hope is getting a big makeover, courtesy of London Gateway. It’s all here in the Thurrock Gazette.
Were The Pilgrim Fathers From Essex?
This story started in the Times yesterday and was repeated here in the Telegraph, which throws Grimsby into the mix.
So you can take your pick from any of a number of places!
The choice is yours!
Man Attacked By Rogue Beach Hut
The title of this post is my take on this story.
It’s definitely something that could end up on Have I Got News for You.
Cricket At The Olympic Stadium
It was reported on the BBC London News last night, that Essex County Cricket Club are negotiating to play their Twenty20 games at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford in East London.
This is a brilliant idea, as if they get the marketing and ticketing right, I’m sure that they’ll get a whole load of new people to go to the cricket.
Remember, as we saw in New Zealand recently, you can play the Twenty20 version of the game in a rugby or football stadium with a drop-in wicket.
Imagine too, England against Australia at Twenty20 with 70,000 supporters looking on. Now that will be some game!
It will happen, if for no other reason, there is no other way in the UK, to get that number of people to one of the greatest and longest rivalries in world sport.
To The Hague And Back
On Tuesday, I took the Eurostar to see a friend in The Hague. This is a picture of me, eating a gluten-free breakfast in Premium Economy on Eurostar.
Eating A Gluten-Free Breakfast On Eurostar
I know it is only a snack, but it is nice to get something if you’re a coeliac and need gluten-free food.
I had orange juice, yoghurt, as much tea as I wanted, some Dove Farms biscuits, gluten-free bread, butter and a small pot of Tiptree jam.
This leg of the journey cost me £107. That may seem a lot, especially as I could have flown to Brussels on BA for £59, if I’d have booked earlier. But I would doubt, I’d have got such a nice breakfast and I would then have to get to and from the two airports at Heathrow and Brussels.
I actually booked a few days ago, but Standard Premier, always seems to be the same price of £107. I could have travelled in Standard for less at less than forty pounds or to any Belgian station for just £44. Standard Premier to any Belgian station is £116. For many travelling to the southern parts of the Netherlands, that will be a good option, as you can go to Antwerp and travel on from there. You’ll also get to see the triple decker station.
If you’re on an evening train, I’ve usually found the dinner and free wine to be excellent.
I had booked a connection in Brussels, that gave me over three hours in the Belgian capital, so I had time to do two things. One was to take an excursion to get some lunch and the other was to see if I could get a ticket on the InterCity train to The Hague.
I tried the Information, and the guy there said that the train had been discontinued. He did offer me a local train, that went via changes at Antwerp and Rosendaal, but I didn’t want to go on a mystery tour of the Low Countries. There were no machines to try out, so I decided to stop being a nuisance and use my ticket on the Fyra high-speed train to Rotterdam. Incidentally, there does seem to be a few teething problems with the organisation at Brussels, with Eurostar and Thalys up one end of the station and the Fyra at the other. They also changed the platform about fifteen or so minutes before the train departed. The carriage numbers are a bit confusing too, if you’ve been used to the old British Rail system of A-K and First generally towards London. Sometimes, I think the EU should lay down a few standards that would help us all.
Fyra Arrives At Rotterdam
The picture shows the train after arrival at Rotterdam.
The train is a typical boring train, where in Standard Class, you get comfortable seats with only minimal leg-room. It was no more comfortable than the Mk 3 coach, I ride in to Ipswich. But one thing that was disconcerting was that there were quite a few thumps coming from the suspension. My neighbour on the train; a Greek physicist, said that that was common. Incidentally, she’d paid the same €22, that I had for my ticket. It was just a sheet of A4 paper. More on this later.
I then took the local train to Den Haag HS station. I stood all the way, as I was talking to a Swiss lady with a Canadian accent, who worked for Rotterdam police.
I actually arrived earlier than I’d expected, as the Den Haag train I got was an earlier connection, so I had a look round the station, as the next day, I would be getting a ticket from there to Schipol for my flight home. I did find an automatic ticket machine, but it only took debit cards and not even cash. I couldn’t find the ticket office either.
Going home, I was dropped at Den Haag Centraal station and the machines were the same; debit card only. After a twenty minute queue at the ticket office, I eventually used cash to buy a ticket to Schipol to take my flight to the jewel of the Essex coast; Southend. If the Dutch are serious about attracting visitors, they need to look at their ticket machines.
The take-off time was 18:00, but we left early and at 18:05 or sixty-five minutes later because of the time difference, I was on the train towards Liverpool Street. I was sitting watching the television with a cup of tea soon soon after seven.
That six o’clock easyJet flight is certainly the fastest way to get back from Schipol to East and Central London, if you have no baggage, as they always seem to be early at Southend. It also cost me less than forty pounds for the ticket and I had a nourishing gluten-free tomato soup on the journey. Not to Eurostar’s standard but who could serve a meal properly in less than forty minutes. I even got an apology from the stewardess about the soup, as she couldn’t give it enough of a stir. But there were other passengers to serve!
Europe’s Largest Man-Made Nature Reserve
If you dig a big hole, you get a lot of earth and rubbish to dispose of. CrossRail is digging two of the biggest tunnels in the world and have not only done a proper archaeological job, but have come up with an innovative solution to the spoil disposal. It is being shipped to Wallasea Island to create a whole new nature reserve. There’s a BBC report on the operation here. You can also see CrossRail’s press release, which has a lot of pictures.
Only In Essex!
Everywhere else uses guard dogs, but in Essex they do things in a more secure way and use guard cats. Perhaps, that is the reason, why a lion is now on the loose in the county near St. Osyth. One must have escaped or snapped his chain!
But then the brave boys in blue from the Essex Constabulary can handle a lion. After all, they get enough practice in some of the towns every Friday night.
Japanese Swimmers Train In Basildon
On the London BBC News, they showed the Japanese Swimming Team greeting the Olympic Torch Relay in Basildon, where they are training before the Olympics. The story about how they chose Basildon is here on the BBC.
I wonder what the Japanese are making of Basilson and have they worked out the humour behind the Essex Girl jokes. I wonder if Japan has a similar set of jokes about girls from an area of the country!
Beware The Essex Girl
This story in the Daily Mail, shows that not all Essex Girls live up to their stereotype of being thick and have liking for Ford Capris, sex, fake tan, silicon breast implants, booze and white stilettos in no particular order.
Certainly, Georgina Blackwell doesn’t follow the stereotype. although, she is trained as a beautician.
I remember in the early days of BBC Breakfast television, they had a female legal expert, with long bleached blonde hair, a job at one of the job law firms, a penchant for very short skirts and an accent forged in Dagenham.
I think she was too much for Northern inferiorities, so she was quietly dropped.
Chelmsford Becomes A City
It has just been announced that Chelmsford is to become a city.
It’s funny but the football club has always been Chelmsford City.
The Anonymous Widower 