Fourth of July Tomorrow
Remember it’s Darrell’s Day tomorrow.
If Nathanial Darrell and his brave band of Marines hadn’t repelled the UK’s last attempted invasion, we’d all now be wearing clogs!
40 Out and 34 In!
Changing trains at Ipswich gave me a chance to see how rail freight works at first hand.
I have commented before about how the amount of container traffic on the A14 appears to have dropped. The reverse seemed to have happened at Ipswich, where within minutes a 40 box train went towards London and a 34-box train went the other way towards Felixstowe. When I used to catch trains to London from Ipswich, you might see the odd small train, but not ones as large as these.
There was also a lot of shunting about going on at in the sidings towards Norwich, as engines attached themselves to the other end of the train to get to and from the Felixstowe branch. All this will be a thing of the past, when the Bacon Factory Curve is built to take trains directly between Stowmarket and Felixstowe.
The engine sidings by the station, were also full of Class 66, 70 and 90 locomotives waiting for trains.
I do think this is all moving in the right direction.
A First Train Trip to and from Felixstowe
Despite living in the town for some years in the early 1960s, I think today was my first trip to the town by train. And also my first trip away.
I used to take my bike to Felixstowe by train from Liverpool Street, but I always got out at Ipswich and cycled the last twenty or so kilometres.
Today I had to go to the dentist in Felixstowe and as I can’t drive, I took a taxi to Dullingham and then took a train to Ipswich before changing for Felixstowe, arriving just under two hours after I left the first station. I was about forty minutes in the dentist and I was able to catch a suitable return train. Some don’t just connect, so you spend nearly two hours in Ipswich. But I only had to wait 45 minutes, so a coffee was able to fill the time.
Felixstowe station today, is little more than a halt at the end of the branch line in the car park of a shopping centre. But it has been converted out of the old station reasonably sympathetically.
Where Have All the Hitch-Hikers Gone?
A letter in The TImes today asks this question and even ponders where drivers carrying trade plates have gone.
When I drove, I always gave people lifts and so did C.
In fact we were of an age, where many more people hitched than have ever since. In one case, C and I actually htched to London from Liverpool to tell her parents, that we were going to get married. Little thanks we got for being up-front and honest, as I was accussed if getting her pregnant. Not that she was as we just got married in time before she was! Or else it was a very long pregnancy!
But I used to enjoy hitching and I must admit, I’ve thought about it lately, as public transport is so bad round here. But then public transport was always bad in East Anglia and I can remember that you had to have a car as as eighteen-year-old as there were no buses or trains from Felixstowe to anywhere interesting. I suppose there were ones that got you there, but the last bus into the town was about seven in the evening.
But even in those days of the 1960s, hitching was not very productive in East Anglia and I can remember spending a whole day getting from the M1 to Felixstowe. Or on another occassion, when C was a mother’s help in the summer before we married in Norfolk with the Wright family, having to hitch or almost walk back to Felixstowe from Hingham.
But these days, there is usually some form of transport, so people don’t give lifts as they feel you must be some sort of low life to hitch. And because no one gives lifts, no-one tries!
Boxing Clever
Boxing Clever is the title of two articles in September’s edition of Modern Railways magazine. They detail the works being done to upgrade the major freight lines of Felixstowe to Nuneaton and Southampton to Birmingham, so that they can take the larger 9 ft 6 in high containers (boxes) from the ports to and from industrial centres. In times of austerity and climate change, it is interesting to see how these projects which will cut out hundreds of thousands of lorry journeys are being carried out and managed using some very innovative solutions. So much so,m that it appears that the second project might be £10m under its £70.7m budget.
It is an example of very good project management and shows how by spending money wisely to remove freight bottle-necks is to the good of us all. You could argue for instance that Felixstowe to Nuneaton enhancement might be the equivalent of adding extra capacity to the A14, which is a road, that really can’t be widened too easily, as the Orwell bridge was only built for two lanes each way.
I particularly liked the way that the 1847 Southampton Tunnel was made larger. Rather than use the traditional approach and closing the tunnel for two to three months, as they did when they upgraded Ipswich Tunnel, they did it a track at a time closing for only three weekends and over Christmas 2009, saving a year on the project.
It is my belief that we can save a lot of money on infrastructure projects, like roads, railways, hospitals ands schools by thinking things through with a great deal more innovation, enterprise and by borrowing good and proven ideas and methods from other countries and industries.
Tourism Will Increase by 60%
This report was on the Press Association web site.
The value of tourism to the UK economy is set to rise by more than 60% to £188 billion by 2020, according to a report.
The number of jobs supported by tourism is predicted to increase by 264,000 to 2.89 million in the next 10 years, the report commissioned by VisitBritain added.
The amount of spending per year by overseas residents is likely to almost double from £16 billion now to £31 billion in 2020.
It is all good news, but are places like Middlesbrough ready for it. In my travels recently, London, East Suffolk and Newcastle certainly are.
Tomorrow is Darrell’s Day
The 4th of July means a lot to Americans, but it also means a lot to us here in Suffolk, as on that day in 1667, Nathaniel Darrell and his brave marines at Landguard Fort near Felixstowe, repulsed the last attempted invasion of the United Kingdom.
If he hadn’t been successful, we might all be speaking Dutch!
Landguard Fort
Felixstowe was the last place in the UK, to be invaded by foreign forces, when the Dutch tried to capture Landguard Fort in 1667. They failed due to the efforts of Nathaniel Darrell. That is why the 2nd of July is Darrell’s Day in Suffolk.
It is a place well worth a visit with a reasonable entry charge, lots of things to see and an excellent audio commentary.
I also found it a good place to try out my waling and climbing skills after a stroke. In only a couple of places did I need a helping hand.
A Visit to the Dentist
I must have known my dentist for nearly forty years. I first met him at a dinner party, we hosted at our old house in Debach. I seem to remember he came with a solicitor friend of C’s. But I’m not sure and it could have been that C was one of his patients, but then she wouldn’t have invited her dentist to dinner.
C must have gone to him for well over thirty years and I went back about five years ago, when my dentist retired and I couldn’t find another one.
Since the stroke, I’d had a very sore mouth and I felt that as I was going to the hygenist anyway, that a visit to the dentist might not be a bad idea.
It was, as he gave me a clean bill of health and felt that there were no problems. He thought that to visit your dentist after a stroke is not a bad idea, as negatives from professionals who know you, tick another problem off the list. He also advised staying off tomatoes and spices if you’re on Warfarin, as if you bite your tongue, it can be painful.
I’ve certainly felt better today, with clean teeth and a mouth that is less sore. It was a visit worth doing.
A Walk at Felixstowe Ferry
Afterwards we had a pleasant walk in the sun along the sea wall towards the golf course and the Martello Towers.
There are some more pictures of Felixstowe Ferry here, taken in worse weather.
The Anonymous Widower 