When Will It Ever End?
They’re at it again digging up the pavement on Southgate Road in Hackney
Note.
- This time the bus-stop I regularly use is shut!
- There were no signs up, that this work would be going on.
- At least the guys seem to be doing a good job.
Over the last six months, we’ve had water, telecoms and pavement layers digging everything up. Sometimes, I feel trapped as all the bus stops are closed.
There hasn’t been as much work on the Islington side of the road, but then you can always tell when you cross the border between plebeian Hackney and posh Islington, as the pavements get worse.
I’ve only fallen over twice on the street since my stroke and both times it was in Islington.
Recycling In Islington
I took these pictures by the bus stop round the corner from my house.
It is often as bad as this and it is regularly cleaned up by the street cleaners.
There are people for whatever reason, put their rubbish by the litter and then the foxes sort through it looking for scraps of food.
Someone said on the radio, that it is caused by illegal sub-lets, as these tenants are told not to use the normal rubbish system, as it draws attention.
So their idea of recycling, is to get others to sort it!
Chaos In The Balls Pond Road
This article in The Times is called High Court Deals Blow To Expansion Of Cycle Lanes And Wider Pavements.
This was the first paragraph.
Road closures designed to boost walking and cycling could face legal challenges after a judge declared that a big expansion of the plans was “unlawful”.
A challenge to the often ill-thought out improvements from black-cab drovers has been successful.
My experience, yesterday, summed up my inconvenience with such a scheme.
yaxiI actually, think that matters are being made worse by some of the designs and planning by the Council Clowns.
A big scheme is being undertaken around the Balls Pond Road to bring in a cycleway between Tottenham and the City. In Hackney, it looks like it will improve walking and calm the traffic in residential areas as well.
I had a serious stroke ten years and my eyesight was ruined enough, so that I couldn’t drive, so I rely heavily on buses to get around.
On Tuesday, I needed to go to the Angel to pick up a prescription. On arriving at the junction of Balls Pond Road and Southgate Road, I found that one of Islington’s Idiots had planned to dig up the junction and all four bus stops were closed. The traffic was so jammed as well, that there weren’t even any stray black cabs stoating about!
In the end, I walked to the next bus stop. This was not easy, as the lock-down has ruined my feet and they were painful.
But I got a bus to the Angel and after a bit of food shopping, I looked for a taxi to come home.
But another branch of Clowns and Idiots Ltd. has closed the taxi rank, so I had to resort to the bus, which got stuck in another set of jams caused by Thames Water at one of their well-used Party Places.
I did find a black cab, but he was unable to take me home, as the area was gridlocked. So he said give him a tenner and walk. As this was less than what was on the meter, I complied!
I laid down the principles of project planning using small computers in the 1970s.
Obviously, My ideas have fallen on deaf ears in Islington Council.
A Statue Without Explanation In Islington
Every time I go between my house and the Angel, I pass this statue on Islington Green.
It is of Sir Hugh Myddelton, who was very much a hero to generations of North Londoners prior to the Second World War.
Wikipedia introduces him like this.
Sir Hugh Myddelton (or Middleton), 1st Baronet (1560 – 10 December 1631) was a Welsh clothmaker, entrepreneur, mine-owner, goldsmith, banker and self-taught engineer. The spelling of his name is inconsistently reproduced, but Myddelton appears to be the earliest, and most consistently used in place names associated with him.
So why did my parents and others, born in the early years of the twentieth century, hold Myddelton in such high esteem?
Both my parents were born close to his most famous creation; the New River. Wikipedia explains his part in the project.
Myddelton is, however, best remembered as the driving force behind the construction of the New River, an ambitious engineering project to bring clean water from the River Lea, near Ware, in Hertfordshire to New River Head in Clerkenwell, London. After the initial project encountered financial difficulties, Myddelton helped fund the project through to completion, obtaining the assistance of King James I.
I do wonder, if the generation of my parents felt affectionately about the New River because in their first few decades, it was probably the source of most of the water they drunk and used for cooking and washing.
Wikipedia doesn’t give any clue to the character of Myddelton, but I’m sure that in today’s climate, some would find him not worthy of having a statue in such a prominent place.
I do feel though, that the statue needs a display to fill out the story of a man, who did so much for London over four hundred years ago and is still benefiting from his creation.
Landscaping Outside Highbury & Islington Station Is Nearing Completion
I took these pictures outside Highbury & Islington station, this afternoon.
It does appear that this long project is nearing completion.
At least there’s now a large space in front of the station, that leads up towards Upper Street.
My Ruined Saturday Mornings!
Since, I moved to Dalston in 2010, my Saturday morning routine has been something like this.
- Take a 30 Bus to St. Mary’s Church.
- Visit the Carluccio’s and have a gluten-free breakfast, like a full English or an eggs benedict.
- Visit Waitrose for half my shopping.
- Visit Marks and Spencer for my gluten-free shopping.
But things have changed.
Egyptian Buses On Route 30
A few weeks ago, new buses started on route 30.
I don’t use them, except as a last resort.
They were built in Egypt. Now, I’ve nothing against Egyptians or their country, but we make very good buses in this country and we should have British buses for British bottoms!
The new company running the route seems to not provide the same frequency anyway, so catching a 30 bus, would often involve a longer wait.
Carluccio’s Has Closed
But the need to take a 30 bus decreased, a few weeks ago, when Carluccio’s in Islington closed.
As there is no other place in Islington to get a quick gluten-free breakfast, that put a big hole in my Saturday mornings. I could go to Bill’s or Cote, but they take a lot longer and are much more expensive.
Waitrose
Waitrose too, are annoying me.
They have redone their self-service tills and they are useless for my way of shopping.
I have a large reusable M & S bag, that folds into my man-bag and although it was fine for their original tills, it’s too big for their new tills.
So to shop in Waitrose, I put the bag in the trolley, load my purchases onto the till without a bag and then after payment move them into my shopping bag. How inefficient is that?
I now limit my purchases at Waitrose by using the much-more customer friendly Sainsburys next door.
Anyway, Sainsburys have a much better gluten-free selection, than the terrible range in Waitrose, where no care is taken to make ranges of foods like sausages and burgers gluten-free.
In fact, I wouldn’t trust Waitrose on their allergen philosophy. The labelling might be correct, but it’s all about how different product types and ranges are handled.
You wouldn’t shop in Waitrose if you were a family with one member who was coeliac or gluten-free!
Marks And Spencer
Marks and Spencer at the Angel carry on as normal, as they have done since my paternal grandmother shopped there ibefore the First World War and, when C and I used to shop there in the 1970s.
But they have competition in that I am ringed by others of their stores in Dalston, Finsbury Pavement, Kings Cross, Liverpool Street and London Bridge.
Yesterday, I ate breakfast in Leon at Kings Cross and then roamed the shops before doing my Saturday shopping in their Finsbury Pavement store. That one is now opening on Saturdays and I can get two buses directly from the store to the zebra crossing by my house.
Conclusion
All of these factors are combining to make me use Islington less.
What the Angel needs is a Leon, so I can have a fast gluten-free breakfast on the go.
One of the great things about breakfast in Leon, is that there is often time and space to layout your tabloid-sized newspaper and eat a leisurely breakfast.
A Bactrian Station
Canonbury station has now got two Harrington Humps.
Does that make it a Bactrian station?
It’s certainly the sort of thing, that you’ll see in posh Islington and would never see in plebian Hackney.
Road Improvements In Southgate Road
Southgate Road is just round the corner from where I live and it forms the boundary between the posh of Islington in the West and the plebs of Hackney in the East.
Over the last couple of weeks, the traffic lights, where Southgate Road and Balls Pond Road cross have been replaced and we now have Countdown, which makes crossing easier.
Now Islington want to put a box junction just to the South of the traffic lights, where Dove Road joins Southgate Road.
These pictures show the area.
I have a feeling that this scheme may be a little bit half-baked, as it appears to be an Islington-only scheme, when surely, it should be a scheme that is promoted by both Boroughs.
Fighting The Algae
I walked through the New River Walk in Islington this morning and the Council were doing their best to fight the algae.
The theory is if you put bales of barley straw in water infected with the algae, it helps to combat it.
They don’t seem to be having much success, but then I didn’t when I tried it years ago in one of my ponds.
Will The Real Leroy House Please Stand Up
Leroy House is a rather drab 1970s office block near me.
They are updating the building for the twenty-first century, so I went to look.
It’s actually a business centre with lots of serviced offices, but you wouldn’t know that from the outside. It is extremely anonymous and could contain something that doesn’t want to be noticed like the Islington Parking Revenue Collectors.
If it was my building, I’d do the following.
1. Whilst the building is being updated, I’d put up some information on the wall, about what is happening and why you would want to use offices and services in Leroy House, when the updating is finished.
2. I’d give the building a web site like businesscentre.islington or leroyhouse.london and put that in clear signs on the building.
3. If the domain name extension of .islington does not exist, then I’d either get the council to create it or if they thought it wasn’t a good idea, then I’d get it for the building. It might become a nice little earner for every butcher, baker and candle-stick maker in the Borough.
4. Once the building is updated, I’d think carefully about what was plastered all over the building to entice punters to come inside.
5. A lot of the pictures I took, were taken from the top of a passing bus. The 38 actually load up the tail-gunner outside the building. So why not give all those bored passengers something witty to read? You never know, they might know someone who needs an office.
6. I would develop the cafe, they are planning to put inside, as a local business meeting point.
Updating the building as they are planning, seems to be a good idea and I can’t see it will cause local residents any problems unless offices are rented to someone with totally unacceptable political beliefs and this provokes massive demonstrations outside.
The Anonymous Widower 