Too Fat For His New Sofa
This was from today’s Sunday TImes.
A disgruntled consumer says her £2,000 sofa suite should come with a “weight warning” after her husband was told he was too fat to sit on the edge of his seat.
Perhaps if he lost weight, they might be able to buy a better quality sofa for the same money.
Do We Really Need More Subways?
It has been announced today, that Subway is to open a large number of new outlets and create a lot of jobs.
The jobs are welcome, but do we really need all these sandwich shops selling obesity?
As a coeliac the answer is an overwhelming no, as they have no gluten-free products. But then we’re all going to pick up the bill for the obesity through the NHS.
One of the biggest problems too is that they might create a lot of jobs, but how many small places will be put out of business, thus adding to the jobless pile.
We should tax all fast food shops on the calories of the average order.
That would fix them! Hopefully, by restructuring the product ine.
I particular hate Subway for two other reasons; they are always throwing junk mail through my letter box, despite a prohibition notice and lots of pavements are blocked by their salesmen handing out flyers.
Do we really want to import the United States’s worst export; obesity?
A Guy Has Just Complained He Can’t Buy 38 inch Trousers in Next
A guy has just complained on the BBC program, Double Take, that he can’t buy 38 inch trousers in Next. I would seriously hope he couldn’t.
I can’t buy trousers in Next either, but that is because my waist is only 28 inch. And you have to be quick to find that size in most shops.
Let’s face it, the guy who complained was obese!
I think Parliament should set an example, by publishing their sizes, weight and BMI on the Internet. Otherwise, who will believe they are serious, when they say we are getting too obese as a nation.
Lose Weight Or You Don’t Get the Operation
There has been a piece on the BBC about how doctors in Hertfordshire are saying overweight patients should lose weight before operations. Here’a more from an article in the St. Albans Review.
Overweight patients have been told to shift excess pounds before they are allowed operations such as hip and knee replacement, tonsil removal or gall bladder surgery.
It is hoped the new policy will result in patients being in a better state to recover following non-urgent procedures.
One doctor has recently told me, that obesity will bankrupt the NHS.
So I am all in favour of the policy of the doctors in Hertfordshire being replicated elsewhere.
Obese People and Obese Cases
The two most crowded jouneys, I’ve had so far have been on cross-country journeys, which for some reason seem to have a large proportion of obese passengers and masses of oversize cases, which are usually parked in the aisles.
On my journey to Cheltenham, the window seat beside me, had been booked by an obese man, who couldn’t get into the seat. So I had two!
Are we making trains big enough?
Probably the cross country trains need to be larger, but the others seem to cope, as the proportion of oversized people and cases is smaller.
The Obesity League Table
The Sunday Times publishes a list of the fattest boroughs in England. Here’s an extract.
A Department of Health survey, however, shows four local authority areas are far ahead of other parts of the country.
The areas affected are Swale, covering the north Kent towns of Sittingbourne, Sheerness and Faversham; Medway, also in Kent; Gateshead, in the northeast; and Tamworth, in the West Midlands.
Danny Dorling from Sheffield University has this to say.
Places such as Swale and Gateshead are “obesogenic environments”. This means they suffer from a complex mix of factors such as rising numbers of fast-food shops, few open spaces where people can exercise and road layouts that make it hard to walk or cycle.
I think he’s right. It would be interesting to see how levels compare in the various London boroughs.
Obesity
A report today says that we must take action to prevent obesity.
The government is just dithering, as it doesn’t want to lose votes.
I am only a bantamweight and I like to think that over the years, I’ve kept myself fit. Even after my stroke, I still exercise appropriately and have started to play real tennis again. I’m the same size as when I left University and got married in 1968. I also wear the same made-to-measure morning suit that I had made in about 1975.
My weight and core strength are just two of the factors that helped me survive the stroke. The most important one was that in Hong Kong, I was put on a clot-busting drip within an hour of the stroke. That now happens in many parts of the UK.
So instead of dithering the government must take drastic action to cut obesity.
Taxes on junk food, alcohol,tobacco and other unhealthy foods must be raised severely.
In addition, I would inspect all food shops, cafes and restaurants. Those that had a too sold a too high proportion of unhealthy foods and drinks, would have to reduce that level or close.
I would also introduce a yearly medical for everybody. If you are outside of certain parameters, then your driving licence would be suspended until you had reformed.
In an ideal world tobacco would be banned, but why not make sure it is only available from specially licenced government-owned shops, as alcohol is in Norway? Remember, I believe that my youngest son died partly because of his smoking. Are smokers selfish enough to wish all of that grief on others, by continuing with their vile habit? Every time I pass an obese smoker partly blocking the street, I make an appropriate rude remark. One day someone will try and hit me, but even in my state, I still feel I could outrun most of my targets.
Much of this post has just been read out on BBC Breakfast. I bet that lost them a few viewers.
But if we don’t take action, more and more of our taxes will go to subsidise those who abuse their bodies.
The Future of Very Long Distance Trains in the UK
We may be a small island, but it is possible to do some of the longer train journeys in Europe in the UK, where you don’t have to change trains. The longest trip I did in Europe was Nice to Lille.
We have several major long distance routes starting or finishing in London. Some include.
- London (Kings Cross) to Inverness via Edinburgh
- London (Kings Cross) to Aberdeen via Edinburgh
- London (Euston) to Holyhead
- London (Paddington) to Fishguard
- London (Paddington) to Penzance
I should note that the longest route is actually Penzance to Aberdeen.
At present all of the routes use IC125s or other diesel trains, but for a lot of the journey some will be under wires used by high speed electric trains. It is probably for this reason that when civil servants specified the replacement for the incomparable IC125, they came up with the idea of a bi-mode train, that was electric, but hauled a diesel around for where there was no power supply. Just as with people obesity is not to be tolerated as it wastes fuel, causes more carbon dioxide to be emitted and probably causes all sorts of track problems because of the weight. As an engineer, I just don’t like it! But that’s my prejudice and what do I know about trains?
However, Ian Walmsley, a man who does know about trains, has proposed in the August edition of Modern Railways, that the ageing Class 90 electric locomotives and Mark 3 coaches on the London to Norwich line be replaced with Bombasrdier TRAXX electric locomotives, refurbished and modern styled Mark 3 coaches and perhaps a new set of driving van trailers. The article showed some impressive interiors proposed by a company called Dg8.
Would this concept work on say London to Inverness? I’ve travelled the northermost part of this line in the driver’s cab and it is a truly spectacular line, but it is unlikely that it will ever be able to be electrified further than Stirling. But there are diesel versions of TRAXX, so could an engine change be performed before the electricity runs out. If Bombardier has the engineering correct, which I suspect they do, I doubt that an engine change would take more than a few minutes. It would certainly be less hassle for the passengers than a train change.
As you are running engine facing London as trains do on the northern routes out of Kings Cross, there would be no need for any special operating procedures in London, but you would need to provide for perhaps a small amount of track work at the engine changeover. This point would have to be chosen with respect to driver availability, so perhaps on services via Edinburgh, this might be the point. But of course it would be a simple matter for the train company to work out the best place for the changeover.
In his article, Ian proposed new driving van trailers. When I went to Inverness on the IC125, the driver had no access to train services, so he had to disembark to use the toilet. So should the DVTs be provided with various facilities for the driver?
It should also be noted that the current trains on the route have no room for heavy luggage, so could they be used for such items as bicycles, surfboards for Cornwall and large cases.
If these long routes have more than just distance in common; many passengers will want an at-seat meal and many will be leisure passengers who would want to admire the view.
So should in some ways a retrograde step be taken and make sure everyone has a full table and that seats align with windows, just like they originally did when the Mark 3 coaches were built. In some ways all of the routes are premium routes, where many will book well in advance for a holiday or an event, so the extra cost of the trains would probably be affordable.
An idea I thought of was an observation car, but although it might be possible, it might make train operation difficult. But surely someone like Dg8 could come up with a Cafe Bar Car with large windows that sat in the middle of the train.
As the journey length could be up to about nine hours, it would probably need innovative entertainment systems. How about a front and back camera to show views.
I may be talking out of my backside. But as John Lennon said. Imagine!
NHS Ill-Prepared for the Obese
This is a headline on a story on the BBC’s web site. Surely, the headline should be something like “Obese Ill-Prepared for the NHS”.
Who Ate All The Pies and Won the Lottery?
There is only one answer to this. The couple is here.
They say they are going to keep playing the lottery. It looks like though they’ll have enough money to at least keep them in junk food and pay their medical bills.
Perhaps the exercise in collecting and opening all the begging letters will do them a bit of good.
But I doubt it!
The Anonymous Widower 