Kings Cross Square
This must be a classic design for a barrier to keep people out of a building site.
Kings Cross Square
Kings Cross Square is going to be a welcome addition to London’s streets.
An Unusual Place To Play your Drums
This guy was entertaining everybody at Kings Cross station.
An Unusual Place To Play your Drums
You can’t question his ambition. He wasn’t too bad either!
A Chocolate Brownie At Pattiserie Valerie
Patisserie Valerie was one of C’s favourite places for coffee, although she didn’t usually have one of their cakes.
A couple of weeks ago, I had a cup of tea in their cafe at Kings Cross station with a friend.
Pattiserie Valerie At Kings Cross Station
As it is in a generous-sized china cup and I was in the station again getting tickets for a trip tomorrow, I decided to have another tea today. On asked if I’d like anything else, I said that I was gluten-free and that I didn’t think they had anything, But I was wrong, as the picture shows.
A Chocolate Brownie At Pattiserie Valerie
Although it was plastic wrapped, it was one of the best brownies I’ve ever tasted. Plastic wrapping is acceptable to preserve gluten-free status, when the cake is of this level of quality.
The large cup of tea and the brownie was reasonably priced at £4.60.
Kings Cross station and its neighbour St. Pancras are getting to be very far removed from the tired memories of British Rail’s curled sandwiches and dreadful coffee of the past.
i know it is the policy of Network Rail to take this good food route and they are to be congratulated on their approach.
The Latest Proposal For Crossrail 2
Crossrail 2 has been around since the early days of the twentieth century, but it is only now that Crossrail is well underway, that a serious proposal for a north-east to south-west cross London railway has been brought forward. It’s here on the BBC.
Crossrail 2 will be a lot easier than Crossrail.
When we were planning North Sea Oil platforms in the 1970s, every few years the cranes, barges and drills would be a lot bigger. So for a start, the tunnelling machines available to Crossrail 2, will be an order of magnitude bigger than those for Crossrail. I suspect if you look at the map for Crossrail 2, the two machines will start at Hackney and come out at Wimbledon or vice-versa, as there is no major junction in the middle like Farringdon, where the machines will have to be extracted or turned.
The project engineers for Crossrail 2, will probably take advantage of all the tricks they have learned on the previous project.
But if they follow the design published yesterday, there is tremendous simplification in the design, with much simpler-to-build stations in Central London. One is the very large double-ended station at Euston-Kings Cross. Why we don’t have more of these, I do not know!
I think, an early start is needed.
The New Kings Cross Piazza Is Emerging
This picture shows what the area in front of Kings Cross station will look like.
Most of the demolition appears to have been completely, as this picture from today shows.
Note the short fat tower to the left of the centre of the picture. This must be the top of some sort of shaft and if you look it is also in the design of the new piazza. I bet the architects are cursing it, very loudly!
What’s This All About?
I went to lunch at Leon in Kings Cross station today and saw this small crowd afterwards on the concourse.
Does J K Rowling realise what she’s started? I suspect her bank account does!
London Underground Stations To Avoid
Londoners all have the Underground stations they don’t use. Here’s a few of my list.
Green Park – I was talking with a friend last night about my experience here yesterday and she also said she doesn’t use the station either, although she has to when she goes to the Royal Academy. I don’t as I will use a 38 bus from the stop just around the corner from my house. Outside of the rush hour, it’s almost as quick and I have to get a bus to Highbury and Islington station to get the Underground anyway.
Kings Cross St Pancras – It may be fully step-free, but it’s another station with endless subterranean passageways and I still get caught out by going to the wrong end of the platform, when getting off a train. If you want to exit, it’s better to go to the Euston Road exits, as that way it’s generally a short walk and an escalator. Following the recommended route puts you in the endless passageways. But again, I have the luxury of a 30 bus direct to the station. When they finish the plaza in front of the station, bus access will get much better, so this station, should improve overall later this year.
On the other hand changing between the deep lines isn’t too bad, which can’t be said for Green Park.
London Bridge – This is another station, designed by an architect with shares in a shoe company. I would never change Underground trains here and avoid getting on them as well. It used to be much easier, when the 141 bus ran from the new bus station. It doesn’t at the moment, as after they’d built it, the sewer collapsed, but in a few weeks it will be different.
Victoria – This is another on the list at present, but probably only until the station and the Underground interchange has been rebuilt in a few years.
Bank – This is another station that I avoid at weekends to change onto the DLR, but it is much better during the week. It’s also improved over the last few ears, with several extra escalators. It will also get better in the future, as I believe it’s getting some more lifts.
Camden Town – It’s just so busy with all the markets and the tourists they attract. It had been slated for rebuilding completely, but nothing is on the cards at the moment. I either use a bus or the Overground to Camden Road station to get there.
I’ve already had a couple of suggestions from a friend.
Mile End – I know this one well and used to use it a lot, when my son lived round the corner. My friend suggests you should avoid it because it is a suicide hot-spot and because of it’s depressing decor. But I’ve always found it a good way to get onto the District or Metropolitan lines from the Central or vice-versa. It also has a very useful black cab rank outside the station, which is rare on the Underground.
Edgware Road – This is the subsurface station, which can be a nightmare as it is the gap in the Circle line. I’ve waited there in the past for a lot more than several minutes to turn the corner to the south. I was talking to station staff at Kings Cross and the new Circle line layout generates a lot of queries, especially from those, who are visiting London after several years.
You will notice, that I often do a split journey using a bus at one end. I also know the bus stops pretty well, so for example, if I was returning home from say Paddington on the Metropolitan line, I’d go to Moorgate station and get a 141 bus from there, as the stop is by the station. In a similar way, say if I was going to Wembley, I’d take a 56 bus to Barbican station and get the Metropolitan from there.
I do hope that Crossrail doesn’t muck up the bus connections too much. After all, it would be easy to go to Heathrow, by getting a 141 bus to Moorgate and then getting Crossrail direct to the airport.
You will also notice that two of the stations I avoid are on the Jubilee line. I don’t think, it was the best designed of the Underground lines and we are paying the price that shoddy design. Spectacular some of the stations like Canary Wharf , Westminster and North Greenwich might be, but couldn’t a proportion of the money been better spent at the interchanges like Green Park, London Bridge and Bond Street.
Westminster always amazes me, as I walk through its subterranean structures. But then it is in effect the foundation of Portcullis House; that grandiose monument to Parliamentary excess.
Breakfast At Kings Cross Station
This morning, I went to Leon’s in Kings Cross Station for breakfast.
As the pictures show, I just had an orange juice and a small pot with a poached egg in the bottom and beans and chorizo on the top.
Some belabour the passing of the gluten and fat rich British Rail breakfast. I don’t!
The two items cost under a fiver and the meal was delicious. On as cold a day as today is, the restaurant was also nicely warm.
The Old Kings Cross Station Is Nearly Down
The dreaded 1973 extension to Kings Cross station is being finally demolished this Christmas, as there are no trains and passengers.
There are some good pictures here on the BBC of the history of the front of the station.
It is intended that the new public square in front of the station will open in August 2013.
First Class to Leeds
I travelled in First Class to Leeds yesterday. I do get more and more fed up with the standard of the class on Saturdays.
I paid about thirty pounds more for a comfy seat, a table and two cups of coffee each way. My fellow travellers also got some rather boring-looking sandwiches both ways.
But I suspect, judging by the number of empty seats and those on Virgin a couple of weeks ago, the train companies First Class offerings on Saturday, are not the hottest product.
At least that on First Hull Trains is better! But on the other hand, it didn’t seem to sell many seats.
It strikes me though, that the train companies need to do a bit of thinking about their First Class product. And whilst they’re at it, they could look at their gluten-free offerings too!
Inciodentally, I had breakfast in Carluccio’s before I travelled and got some sandwiches from Marks and Spencer in Leeds station. I also noted that Leon’s restaurant had some good gluten-free breakfast offerings.
So some things are getting better, but the trains aren’t keeping up with the competition. Although you could argue, that the presence of Leon’s and Carluccio’s in stations, is down to policy changes at Network Rail.
The Anonymous Widower 