I Thought All Tomatoes Were Round!
I thought these tomatoes were funny, as they are labelled Classic Round Tomatoes.
I Thought All Tomatoes Were Round!
Or can you get square ones now?
A Wet Morning In Liverpool
Everybody likes to view places in the sun. But it was wet in Liverpool, as I walked around.
Liverpool’s town centre is almost unique, in that the whole area is mainly traffic-free and the new shopping centre of Liverpool One has been designed as an extension to the existing main shopping street. The main centre is also ringed by four railway stations, two bus stations, car parks and a three-lane dual carriageway, which separates the shops from the waterfront. Crossing between the waterfront with its attactions, museums and hotels, and the shops, is not by some dingy urinal-soaked subway, but by one of several light-controlled pedestrian crossings.
What is missing from Liverpool is the Overhead Railway or a modern replacement. This Google Map shows the Waterfront, the Albert Dock, where I stayed and the dual carriageway.
Liverpool Waterfront
Note how the dual carriageway has a wide central reservation. Surely Liverpool could run a tram or perhaps even a tram-train linked to the Northern Line down the Waterfront?
Is My Life Going Round In A Curious Circle?
In the 1970s, my late wife; Celia and myself lived, with our then three sons, on the eleventh floor of Cromwell Tower in the Barbican.
The shops in those days in the area were not very numerous and with the exception of the excellent market in Whitecross Street, getting everything we needed wasn’t easy. There was no supermarket, unlike today where there is a Waitrose in Whitecross Street.
So often on a Saturday, we’d take the boys up the hill to the Angel and shop in the Marks and Spencer and the Woolworths in Liverpool Road opposite the Underground station.
I’ve since found out that the Marks at the Angel is a long-established store and it may have been the one my grandmother spoke about, that she used around the time of the First World War, when she and her family lived just down from the Angel by the Regent’s Canal.
Woollies went a few years ago and much to the regrets of many of the locals is now a Waitrose.
My friends, who knew Celia, and myself often share a laugh over the fact that when I can get it, I drink a Czech gluten-free lager called Celia. A few weeks ago, I heard that the beer will be stocked in Waitrose, so I wrote to them asking where it will be stocked locally. This is an extract from their reply.
I’ve looked into this and I’m pleased to tell you that this should be available at both our Islington and Barbican branches from tomorrow.
As these are two branches, that we would have walked past together in the 1970s, long before they opened, I just can’t help thinking that life is truly strange!
Could anybody, who spots Celia lager in their local Waitrose please let me know?
Thanks!
Sainsburys Put Their Money On Crossrail
With the exception of the Tesco Extra at Goodmayes, the large Waitrose at West Ealing and the large Sainsburys at Whitechapel, Crossrail stations aren’t generally very close to large superstores, although at least nine are near to big shopping streets or centres.
As all stations and trains will be step-free, I’m surprised that we aren’t seeing more large supermarkets built close to stations.
But according to this article in the South London Press, Sainsburys have now opened a superstore by the Crossrail terminus at Abbey Wood.
Opening large supermarkets may be out of fashion, but I don’t think that the Abbey Wood Sainsburys will be the last on the line.
I Thought Couriers Like This Had Reformed
I knew that today, I would be getting my new cooker hood delivered. The delivery company confirmed yesterday that it would be coming today and that they would tell me today, in what four hour slot it would come.
The message yesterday was just an automated voice one, with no instructions on where to phone, text or e-mail if there was any problems.
This morning, I got the delivery slot as any time between 15:00 and 19:00. This is very inconvenient as I have an important appointment, I booked some time ago, at 18:00.
It doesn’t matter to me, if I don’t get the hood delivered today, as it won’t be installed until next week or even the week after.
I have no means to contact the couriers to say this time is inconvenient.
Also judging by this courier company’s attitude of we deliver it when we decide and don’t tell you who we are and how to contact us, I suspect it would be a difficult process to get the item redelivered.
So it is wait here until it is delivered and hope that it turns up.
Incidntally, I actually ordered the hood from the John Lewis web site, so for a start they will be getting a complaint to say the least.
But I did think that couriers with these sort of attitudes had reformed.
Where’s The 33cl. Bottles?
I generally carry a 33cl. bottle of water in my shoulder bag, as this is the smallest size I can buy that is useful. I should say that I don’t believe in carrying excess weight either on, in or about my body. It’s usually Evian, as that is the only small one readily available. So I was surprised to see this promotional display in Sainsbury didn’t feature the small bottle.
Evian Promotion In Sainsburys
I would have thought that in this hot weather, a promotion based on small bottles would have been a good idea.
At least I can buy small bottles in dozens in Waitrose and probably other places, whereas in Europe, there was nothing smaller than the half litre anywhere.
Ocado’s Not Very Green Packaging
When I buy beer from Beers of Europe, it comes in a box holding more than a dozen bottles. Ocado doesn’t use anything as efficient as that.
Four bottles are in a cardboard carrier and that is in a plastic bag. That isn’t very green and must be downright inefficient.
My First Ocado Delivery
I finally had an Ocado delivery today.
There are a lot of bags. But then there were a lot of bottles of Celia gluten-free lager and a couple of boxes of Coke.
Bluewater Shopping Centre By Train
Out of curiosity, and because I needed to go shopping, I went to Bluewater Shopping Centre by train.
It probably wasn’t the best day to go, as there had been a freight train derailment at Charlton and I did have a terrible journey home, with a dreadful change at Waterloo East. Without the train derailment, I would have gone using the DRL to Woolwich Arsenal and then getting a train direct to Greenhithe, but I had to go via the dreaded Charing Cross, which was built in the wrong place for East London. After London Bridge station is complete, that will also be another easy route. One thing that would make trips to Bluewater easier for me, is if it was Freedom Pass territory., which only extends to Dartford two stations away.
Greenhithe is a interesting station, in that it was built in 2008 using a modular system, that has been used elsewhere.
I have included a picture of the excellent bus terminal at Bluewater, which is by the enormous Marks and Spencer.
The shuttle bus is the usual rigmarole of a paper ticket, rather than a siple touch of my bus pass. When will those outside London realise that you do ticketing with a contactless card these days and not the same technology my great-great-grandparents would have recognised from the nineteenth century. The journey is only short as this Google Map shows.
Greenhithe Station And Bluewater
Note that Greenhithe is the more Easterly of the two stations at the top of the map, which are both on the North Kent Line.
I do think that in the future, Greenhithe Station to Bluewater could be one of those places, where a spectacular high-tech people mover could be an attraction in its own right. I estimate the as the crow flies distance at under fifteen hundred metres.
By comparison the Emirates Air Line cable car in London is a kilometre, so this would be a virtually off-the-shelf solution. This Google Map show there is plenty of space around the station.
Greenhithe Station
It probably won’t happen, but I wouldn’t bet against it, especially if Bluewater goes in for a large expansion.
Three Days In Preston
It may seem strange to go for a holiday in Preston. But I had time to spare and so I went to Liverpool last Wednesday and then spent the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights in the Premier Inn at Preston, with the extension of exploring the area using the trains and then seeing Ipswich at Blackburn on the Saturday.
I have visited Preston several times and I stayed in the hotel once, because it is an easy walk from the rail station.
The council are sorting out the town with new pavements, road layout and maps on liths.
It is a great improvement and will be even better when it is completed.
It would be good if Preston station was improved, especially as it will become an electric hub for local services all over the North West, with new electric services to Blackpool, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester and possibly a few others like Colne in the next few years.
Would I use Preston as a base for a tour of the North West again?
I have one problem with Preston and that is the bad provision of gluten-free food in the town. There is only the one Pizza Express that I would trust and the Marks and Spencer doesn’t stock any gluten-free sandwiches.
Perhaps to stay near the station in Carlisle, Liverpool or Manchester would be better!
I used one of UK rail’s Rover tickets, which is called a Freedom of the North West 4 in 8 Day Rover. This is the rough availability.
The rover allows travel to Carlisle from Barrow, Dumfries, Lockerbie and Hexham.
It also covers the area bounded by the Settle-Carlisle, Barrow, Morecambe, Blackpool, Southport, Shipley to Bradford, Leeds, Halifax, Oldham, Manchester, Liverpool, Warrington Bank Quay to Helsby, Chester, Shotton, West Kirkby and New Brighton.
Available any 4 days within an 8 day period.
And you can use it on all the franchised train companies like Merseyrail, Northern, Virgin and TransPennine! It’s a two part ticket.
My Rover Ticket
No ticket inspector seemed to give it more than a cursory glance.
I actually didn’t know the ticket existed, when I went North to Liverpool. So I should have bought the ticket at Lime Street and saved myself about a tenner. I returned via Manchester, so I used the ticket to get from Blackburn to Manchester Victoria after the match.
These tickets are certainly a good way of having a few days away and seeing the country. This map of the north west part of Northern Rail’s franchise.
Northern Rail NW Map
The southern boundary of the ticket I used is roughly defined by Liverpool, Chester, Warrington and Manchester.
The Anonymous Widower 