The Bus Station At Vauxhall
According to Wikipedia, the bus station by Vauxhall station is the second busiest in London after Victoria.
However, it is certainly more dramatic, than Victoria.
It also must be one of the few bus stations in London with a Waitrose about thirty metres or so away.
As the bus station has routes to a lot of South London, I think I’ll be looking to use this bus station more on my travels.
The Draining Of Camden Lock
This happens every twenty years or so, to clear out the shopping trolleys and other rubbish. Sometimes, like this year, they change the lock gates.
It has proven to be a popular event this year, as the pictures show. There’s more here on the BBC.
It just goes to show, how everybody loves an event, even if it is not in the mainstream. I had wanted to go down into the lock, but all the tours were full.
Samvo – A Betting Cafe
I’ve seen this type of outlet in Scandinavia, but I hadn’t realised we had them in the UK.
Samvo – A Betting Cafe
They could be an interesting addition to the High Street if they serve good coffee and snacks, as they’ll obviously have toilets. I do sometimes have the odd bet and it should be a much better environment, than the average betting shop, which tends to be where a lot of the local unfortunates gather to loss their hard-earned money. This extract from this page on thee Internet, explainsSamvo‘s philosophy.
“They’re Betting Cafés,” he explains. “We wanted to create something different on the high street, a little more high class; a stylish refit with sofas, somewhere comfortable. The whole café style is more relaxed and it’s very important for us to build a nice atmosphere for the customers to enjoy. We also like the technological aspect so we make sure we’ve got HD TVs as standard and Racing Post touchscreens.
I think we’ll see more of this concept!
A Clock On A Pizza Hut
We don’t normally associate fast food joints, with nice pieces of street art.
A Clock On A Pizza Hut
But I did see this exceptional clock on a Pizza Hut in Central London.
London’s Name Advantage
It has just been announced that London has now acquired the .london domain name extension.
If you go through the major cities of the world, it generally would seem to work for many like Paris, Berlin, Rome and New York, but it doesn’t work for cities with longer names like Edinburgh, San Francisco and Copenhagen.
So do the short-named cities like London have an advantage? try typing in the domain name for the mayor of Vladivostok!
The Nightmare That Is Croydon
I went to IKEA at Croydon, as I needed to get some drawers and seat cushions, which weren’t in stock at Edmonton. The easiest way to get there is to take the Overground to West Croydon and then get the Tramlink to Ampere Way.
The Nightmare That Is Croydon
This picture sums it all up. There was no signposting to the westbound tram stops and in the end, I had to cross the road in a long subway, take an eastbound tram and then walk across to a westbound one.
It really needs a good sort-out and it not up to the usual standard that Londoners expect.
They could also make it a lot more pedestrian friendly crossing thev road at West Croydon station and getting to and from the tram at IKEA.
They could start by putting up some proper signs to direct people who want to go west from West Croydon. It would probably at the moment mean going via East Croydon, but then hopefully signs would stop people from getting lost, like I did!
At least two pedestrian crossings with lights also need to be installed. or does Croydon have a policy of discouraging pedestrians. After all they do make bit of a mess to the motor, if you hit one hard.
There doesn’t seem to be any plans to route some westbound trains past West Croydon station, but then it does seem to me, that it’s now too late, as logically, this should have been done, when the initial lines were laid down.
Following Cycling Superhighway 2
I came home from Stratford by following the Cycling Superhighway 2 (CS2)
For the first part of the journey I walked and then I hopped onto a 25 bus.
The first part to the notorious Bow roundabout is very good, but between the roundabout and Whitechapel needs a lot of improvement to make it up to the same standard.
Will car drivers and other road users accept the narrowing of the carriageway and will pedestrians and the numerous Asian businesses along the road feel aggrieved at the reduction in pavement space?
I feel though, that the cycling superhighway should be built to a high standard and separated from other road users.
Only time will tell if what eventually happens is a good decision for all those, who use the area.
But we’ve had too many deaths and serious injuries amongst cyclists.
On a [personal note, if I had a nice cycling superhighway running towards the City, say down the Kingsland Road, it might encourage me to get on my bike. That would be something, that would improve my health.
Three Visitors Inspecting A Lith
I took this picture of the lith outside of Russell Square station.
Three Visitors Inspecting A Lith
I also talked to one of the staff inside, who liked the lith, but they said, they still got people asking them for directions.
Most stations now seem to have these Legible London liths outside. I now never carry a map, or use a map on my phone, as I walk around London, as the liths and the maps on bus stops and stations, will get me where I want to go.
The Tossers Are Coming
Really!
The Tossers Are Coming
Is there anything else to say! You can read about it here.
The Cheapside Hoard
This exhibition of the Cheapside Hoard at the Museum of London, is one of the most amazing I’ve ever seen. Here’s the first paragraph from their web site.
This October, the Museum of London will open a major new exhibition investigating the secrets of the Cheapside Hoard. This extraordinary and priceless treasure of late 16th and early 17th century jewels and gemstones – displayed in its entirety for the first time in over a century – was discovered in 1912, buried in a cellar on Cheapside in the City of London.
Not only are the jewels and other exhibits fabulous, the display is wonderful and it really gives the period a very different perspective.
I became a friend of the museum for just thirty pounds a year, but even if you queue up, you wouldn’t have to have waited long.
Anybody who visits London until the 27th April next year, should give the exhibition a visit.
The Anonymous Widower 