The Emirates Air-Line Opens On June 28th
It has been announced that the new cable-car in East London will open on the 28th of June.
I shall be there with a camera.
Can I use it on my Freedom Pass? I’ve now heard the answer is no! But I can see their reasoning, as otherwise pensioners would treat it as a free ride in a theme – park.
Route 38 Goes Topless
Admittedly, it was only one bus, but it made a change on a nice sunny day.
Route 38, has been unusual in the last few months, in that four of the New Buses for London have been mixed amongst the normal Wright buses for extended in-service trials. So in fact today worked out a bit more of the same with the Routemasters and RTs on the route. It gives a whole new meaning to bus roulette.
Route 38 Goes Retro
To celebrate the hundreth anniversary of route 38, Arriva have been running some old buses on the route today. three Routemasters, an RTL, an RTW and a K type are taking part according to this press release from Arriva. All except the elderly K-Type will be accepting passengers. I managed to get some pictures this morning.
I’m not sure whether the RTL was the RTL and not the RTW. It certainly wasn’t the RT which was also rumoured to be taking part. I remember the RTL particularly well, as they worked the 298 from Oakwood to Southgate, when I was going to school at Minchenden.
The RT and its various sub-types can be considered to be London’s first modern bus and the Routemaster was the ultimate example of the front-engined rear-wheel drive bus. The Routemaster was built with an integral aluminium body and two sub-frames to hold the engine and the axles. It was 0.75 tonne lighter than the RT, despite carrying eight more passengers. No wonder it became a design classic, as the construction of some modern buses, is not as efficient as the sixty year old Routemaster.
Some Routemasters still operate on Heritage routes 9 and 15. Bookmakers don’t take bets on when they will, if ever, be retired.
The Italians Are Coming
According to a report in The Sunday Times, Knight Frank have said that the largest group of emigrants to the UK are rich Italians. I suppose they have to be rich to afford the houses Knight Frank sells.
I hope they bring their money with them and invest it in the City.
The New and the Old
This picture shows a New Bus for London overtaking its predecessor at the Balls Pond Road/Mildmay Park stop.
The New and the Old
In some ways this picture shows the manoeuvrability of all London double-deck buses, as it was able to pull out from behind and get alongside for the lights.
The New Bus for London does have regenerative breaking and drivers have told me the acceleration is very good, so does the hybrid drive line mean that at some time in the future, it could have traction control?
Lizzie Says Relax
Someone has painted this on the wall above Old Street Tube station.
Lizzie Says Relax
I tried to photograph it yesterday, but failed. But I did succeed today.
The New Leicester Square Emerges
Leicester Square is an iconic place and I took some pictures as it completed its transformation on Thursday.
Note that two pictures, show the old Royal Dental Hospital, which is now a hotel and the sandwich bar, where my mother used to take me as a treat after a visit.
Gary Barlow Says BBC Presenters are Going Native
On this morning’s BBC Breakfast, Gary Barlow accused Louise Minchin of picking up a Mancunian accent. He should know after all as he comes from Frodsham.
She in turn admitted, she does slip occasionally.
Now you can understand, why they didn’t move the program to Glasgow.
A friend of mine has told me, that since Radio 5 has moved to Manchester, he’s not been on the program. Apparently, he was told, his phone number was lost in the move to Manchester. I think though, it’s because his accent is not even South London, but North.
The Mounties on Guard
Yesterday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police provided the mounted guard on Whitehall.
I doubt, I’ll ever see this again in my lifetime. There is a photo gallery here from the Toronto Star.
I wonder how many of the tourists snapping away didn’t realise that it was Canadians on guard. Surely MP on the saddle-cloth was a giveaway, something was different.
Surorisingly, the event doesn’t seem to have been reported in the television news. I found out from yesterday’s copy of The Times.
It’s Only a Phone Box
I took this picture on Whitehall yesterday.
Two tourists were photographing themselves in and outside the box.
It’s Only a Phone Box
I can’t remember the last time I used a public phone, let alone one in a box. Possibly twelve years or so ago. Last time I needed to, when I couldn’t get a signal on my mobile and my car had broken down, a local resident let me use his land-line.
The Anonymous Widower 