How To Build A Fake House
They were putting this up as I walked past this morning.
I went back last night to take a few more pictures and spoke to the contractor. He told me, it will look like the surrounding houses when it’s finished and that Hackney Council were very co-operative.
We don’t have too many eye-sores around here, but I’ve seen places in London and other cities, where a house in say a terrace is well past its renovate-by-date and surely this technique might be a much more affordable way to create a new house.
It will be interesting to see what it looks like when it’s finished.
Have Google Lost The Plot?
This morning, the BBC is running a story about revamping the West Hackney Burial Ground.
I’m not sure whether you would describe Dalston as West Hackney, but it struck me that it could be near where I live. If it is, then it would be worth a visit for before and after photos.
So I typed West Hackney Burial Ground into Google Maps and got a load of useless information and adverts for places around Hackney including Jury’s Inn Hotel halfway between the Angel and King’s Cross. If I were to score the information I got, to give it zero out of ten would be generous.
Google seems to be getting less useful as the years go by, as it concentrates too much on making money and inventions such as driverless cars. Incidentally, I could probably drive the latter, but here in London, I prefer the big red taxis.
Can The Posh In Pimlico And Hampstead Count?
Tom Edwards on the BBC was reporting, that the Hackney 8 are now running without tail-gunners, as to have two different buses on the same route, might confuse the passengers. So they shut the rear door to make it simpler!
But here in Hackney, when it matters we can count to three and generally have a few fingers to spare. I was on a New Bus for London last night and everybody was behaving as they should and the driver was opening the rear door to ease passengers off and on the bus. I didn’t see any problems! So to the good people of Hackney a selection of buses, just adds to life’s rich pageant.
What we’d really like is a few more New Buses for London, preferably with some wannabee comedians as tail-gunners!
Hackney Shows The Way To Go
Hackney seems to be embracing the new Legible London with vigour.
I spotted these two of their taller, narrower signs in Shoreditch High Street, last night.
I didn’t need them last night, as I knew where I was going, but in that very-visited part of Hackney, they are very welcome.
The Hackney Eight Lose Their Tail-Gunners
The New Buses for London on route 38, or the Hackney 8, are now running without conductors or as I call them tail-gunners.
I came back on one from the Angel tonight, and the driver was opening and closing all three doors. The bus was about half-full and evetybody seemed to be using the bus as they should.
But then those that use the 38 buses, seem on the whole to be a sensible bunch.
Have I Shortened My Life By Moving?
Accotrding to the new Longer Lives web site, I have moved from a healthy area, St. Edmundsbury to an unhealthy one, Hackney.
But then my lifestyle has hardly changed!
I did end up in hospital last year, but then the heating system in this house had something to do with it.
My I Love De Beauvoir Bag
I’ve just got this I Love De Beauvoir bag.
My I Love De Beauvoir Bag
My only problem with it is the dreadful self checkouts in Waitrose at the Angel, as it refuses to sit on the tiny shelf.
I got mine from the De Beauvoir Association.
A Pattern For New Buses for London Is Starting To Emerge
Next month on the 22nd, London bus route 24, gets the New Bus for London. Route 24 has always been a high-profile route and was the first to have the new RML Routemasters in the late 1960s. So it wasn’t a surprise to me, that this route through the homes of the chattering classes, was the first to be wholly converted. The route has a peak requirement of 26 buses according to Wikipedia.
Now it has been announced that Route 11, will be the next to be upgraded to new buses from September 21st. According to the report 25 buses will be used to replace a current requirement of 26. This reduction is probably to be expected as anybody who uses Route 38 regularly as I do, knows that over a distance, they are faster than their normal cousins, as they spend less time at stops. More than once, I’ve noticed four or more 38’s indicated on the display at a bus stop and when they arrive, it’s the New Bus for London leading the convoy.
Will the introduction on Route 11 lead to complaints as they are going down one of the most congested roads in London; Kings Road, Chelsea? On the other hand, it is just the sort of road, where the hop-on and hop-off facility of the buses will come into its own. Hopefully, it’ll entice a few of Chelsea’s residents out of their tractors. It’ll be interesting to read about how the buses are received on Route 11.
Both Route 24 and 11, have a peak requirement of about 25 buses, so as 600 of these buses are expected to be delivered in the next few years, that means they’ll run on 24 routes, if they go in batches of 25.
The more you look at it, the more the introduction of the eight prototype buses on Route 38, was a well-thought out trial to find out how they would be received by the public and how they would perform.
For a start, the terminus at Hackney Central is close to their depot at Ash Grove, so if a bus went AWOL, it could easily be replaced in service by one of the other normal buses on the route. In fact, I’ve not heard of any rumours of serious problems with these buses, although I did see one broken down in the Essex Road. One apparently, also got white-vanned up the backside.
Route 38, is a very cosmopolitan route, with every type of person using the buses, as it goes through both some expensive housing and some big estates, not known for being genteel. So they would get feedback from all sorts and I suspect they have.
Route 38 is also one, with lots of varied traffic conditions, from routes that tend to be pretty clear for a lot of the day, to the congestion of the West End.
I think they have only one major problem, and that is that if Transport for London decided to redeploy the Hackney 8, there would be a lot of protests.
I believe that to use some of the six hundred New Buses for London to fully upgrade Route 38, could be one of the positive things that could be done to give a stimulus to Hackney.
The Sun Is Out In De Beauvoir Square
I took this picture yesterday morning, as I walked through the are to my doctor’s for a B12 injection.
The Sun Is Out In De Beauvoir Square
Last year, at this time of the year, there would be a lot more colour and leaves around. It really has been a bad winter.
Although, it was good to see the gardeners setting up the garden for Spring.
I don’t think many would associate this quiet and pleasant square with the inner London borough of Hackney. But then Hackney is one of the inner boroughs with most green spaces.
Britain Is Becoming Less Violent
According to this report on the BBC about a report from the Institute for Economics and Peace, Britain is becoming a less violent place.
On the other hand, you do get different perceptions from talking to people. Several times, when I say to someone, as I did last Saturday, that I live in Hackney, there is a general view that it is an area with crime and rioting all the time, and a generally low standard of living.
Since, I’ve moved to this area, I’ve not seen anything the least bit violent, an aggressive dog or anything to worry about. There was the tragic incident round the corner, where a young girl was run over by a hit-and-run driver, but she got off a bus and ran behind it to cross the road without looking, despite the fact, there is a light-controlled crossing a few metres away. I don’t think we can put that down to the area, as this sort of incident happens everywhere.
I think there has been one case of housebreaking in the area, where someone went out and left a window open. There was certainly more petty thieving when I lived in rural Suffolk, than this area of Hackney.
The only crime, that appears to be common, is the con artists, who come up with all sorts of non-violent scams. I think, the fake gold ring trick, has been tried on me, about four times in the last year, but only once in the local area. Another time was actually outside Selfridges.
But then, there have always been scammers and let’s face it the Internet is full of them!
The Anonymous Widower 