Lots Of Taxis But No Buses
I felt hungry, so I felt the best thing to do was move on towards Manchester, as there didn’t appear any good coffee or gluten-free snacks. This greeted me as I walked back to Preston station.
Lots Of Taxis But No Buses
Is this the cause of the city’s bus problems at the rail station? Moving the taxi rank to the side would allow buses to call at the station properly. But then rule one in planning traffic around railway stations and city centres is not to annoy the taxi drivers. and as I suspect many taxis are driven by ethnic minorities, rule two is not to annoy ethnic minorities.
But something must be done in Preston to make the city centre more viable. With a proper interchange at the station, it might encourage the use of buses to get to the outlying towns around the city. At present I suspect, that you have no excuse but to drive.
As a coeliac, Preston is a place, I wouldn’t put on a list of places to change trains. the only restaurant I know there, that I’d trust to do gluten-free well is Pizza Express.
The best thing about Preston was the train I took to Huyton.
Lib Dems Get It Right On Cars
There has generally been negative reaction to the Lib Dems proposal to ban diesel and petrol cars by 2040. The story was reported here in the Telegraph. This is the first paragraph.
Nick Clegg’s party has unveiled proposals to only allow ultra-low carbon vehicles on UK roads by 2040.
The controversial measures would mean millions of petrol and diesel cars being forbidden.
Only electric vehicles and ultra-efficient hybrid cars would be allowed on UK roads under the Lib Dem plans.
However, petrol and diesel vehicles would still be allowed for freight purposes.
I don’t think they will or should be banned, but by 2040, most vehicles will not use fossil fuel.
I’m not speaking here as a wishful thinking non-driver, but as an engineer, who follows innovations and economics strongly.
Various developments will gradually eat away at the market for conventional vehicles and new ultra low emission vehicles will in the next couple of decades be cheaper to buy and run than anything else.
One thing that will help the transition is in cities like London, where there is a large market to replace the black cabs. This article in the Guardian describes Nissan’s first attempt. Seeing and using viable and well-liked electric taxis will convince people, that electric cars can work.
However any party that wants to bring in a ban on petrol and diesel cars would be committing political suicide.
All politicians need to do, is provide the infrastructure that ultra-low emission vehicles will need.
Are Cyclists Becoming The New Vegetarians?
I’ve nothing against either group, but although I hope one day to be part of the first, I doubt I’ll ever be vegetarian. I couldn’t be that today, as I’ve just had some delicious meat pate.
But in my view, there are a lot of vegetarians, who are overly touchy. I remember once being served a meal in a five-star boutique hotel with organic wholemeal bread and the vegetarian owner couldn’t get it, that wheat was bad for me. As it was organic, surely that wouldn’t cause me any harm, as animals were the problem. So C gave her both barrels as only a barrister could and we never ate in the hotel again.
Change a recipe for a chocolate bar and the veggies will get you, as Mars found out a couple of years ago.
it now appears that cyclists in London can get just as touchy about changing road layouts, as this story shows. The article even has a go at Crossrail, saying that it will bring lots of shoppers into Central London.
I regularly go to that area and it is a nightmare for everybody and especially pedestrians and cyclists. I found this out a few days ago and posted this.
The question i asked in that post is probably the correct one and the sooner we get New Buses for London in those routes around Piccadilly Circus and down the Haymarket the better, as I’m certain they would get a lot of the pedestrians out of the way. Some pedestrians might even say they’d had enough and see an open platform on a bus and go for it!
What’s the betting though, that in a few months as more and more New Buses for London appear, we will read an article about cyclists complaining about them?
Perhaps to create more road-space in Central London, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to put restrictions on taxis. Now taxi-drivers are another group, who act like vegetarians and get touchy at the least provocation.
How about banning rickshaws too?
But the main thing that is needed is some good British design, followed up with a good helping of compromise!
I Didn’t Miss The Match
After a good drink of proper Aspall Cyder, I got the train to Ipswich for the match against Crystal Palace.
One guy was saying that Town would win 3-0 and his mates were teasing him strongly. I hope he put some money on it, as Town did.
Evening matches at Portman Road can be difficult for me, as if I’m unlucky with the trains, I don’t get in until after midnight.
Yesterday was such a day, and I fell asleep on the rather hot train.
But I got home safely, after using a taxi driven by one of the smallest and oldest drivers I’d ever had.
His driving skills were very much up to scratch, though.
I slept well after a successful day.
They Do Things Big In Swindon
I’ve only ever been to Swindon once and thought it was rather a quiet inoffensive town. But last night someone or perhaps more, slashed the tyres on 150 cars in the town. The incidents are reported here on the BBC.
In some ways it just reinforces my view, that cars are an unnecessary evil, especially, when you have lots of buses and friendly taxi-drivers.
A Taxi From Liverpool Street
I don’t often take taxis from Liverpool Street station to home, as there are quite a few convenient buses. But on Tuesday night, it was very cold and late, so I decided to use one.
Since I last used a taxi from inside Liverpool Street station, they’ve moved the taxi rank to be alongside Platform 10, so the first problem was finding one.
There was only one there, which probably shows how few people coming into the station actually use them.
The driver was very apologetic, as he said he’d have to go round the houses a bit because of traffic restrictions behind the station.
He got me home quickly, talking as ever about football.
And then he refused any tip, because of the delay in getting out of the station.
The New Taxi Rank At Paddington Station
Paddington station now has a new taxi rank.
It must be one of the best ones in the UK.
It certainly means that if you’re coming into Central London from the west and need a taxi, it’s a good station to pick one up.
Note how the taxi rank is properly numbered, so you can arrange to meet on a particular number!
London’s Swedish Black Cab Driver
I found this article about London’s only Swedish black cab driver.
I wonder what other unusual or unexpected nationalities drive London’s black cabs.
I remember years ago, when we lived in Suffolk, our postman was Californian. He’d come in the USAF, married an English girl and he’d stayed.
He actually preferred the climate, just like the Swedish cab driver says he does.
What Disaster Will We Get This Year?
I can’t say I’m looking forward to Christmas.
Usually, C and I used to go away on Boxing Day or soon after to somewhere nice and warm. But this year, both my son and myself, have the builders in, which makes things difficult. At least, I can get through the door of my house and live comfortably. So we’re going to a Christmas lunch at one of his friend’s houses. It should be a good party, but I don’t like relying on the hospitality of others.
Why can’t Christmas, be like it was in my childhood?
In those days, the Christmas Day tradition was to go to White Hart Lane to see the football and then come home to Christmas lunch. I could skip the lunch and the awful Christmas television, but at least it’s reliable these days. I can remember watching High Noon one Christmas and the power was fading, so just before the gunfight we lost all the pictures. Those were the days. I think one year, life was so boring, that I took my father’s car out of the garage, put mine in there and then washed and painted the wheels a fetching shade of blue. In fact, it is the same colour, that I’ve chosen for my new carpets.
I’ve just noticed the date on the carpets post. Have my builders taken nearly three months to get virtually nowhere? Such is life! Or should it be such is builders?
But what worries me about Christmas is it’s always a time for disaster. If I look back on my life, I can remember invasions, tsunamis, earthquakes, sto,rs, floods and probably even some pestilence. With me, the worse disaster was that awful year, the AGA went AWOL on Christmas morning. And mother-in-law was here. I seem to remember one of the biggest rows between C and her mother. But we survived, as we always did.
Personally, my worse Christmas could have been 2007, the year that C died just two weeks before. I helped out at the old peoples Christmas lunch in Bury St. Edmunds and had a good time considering. Then I ate my own Christmas lunch alone on Boxing Day. That is something, I’ve not done since.
I will though follow those who believe that the year will end this Christmas and make sure I have some food in.
After all, my son and I have no transport between us, So I’ll be relying on a taxi on Christmas Day. And if it doesn’t come, I’ve got to make sure I don’t starve. As to drink, I do live bext door to a pub.
My Moan Of The Week
The Richard Bacon Show on BBC Radio 5 has a weekly moan-in, where people vent their moans.
My moan would be about the number of people who moan generally about the cost and problems of having a car. If it’s not fuel costs, it’s about traffic jams, congestion charging, insurance or finding somewhere to park.
I don’t have these problems any more, as since my stroke I haven’t driven and don’t have a licence any more And I reckon my bank account benefits by several thousand pounds a year. That would buy lots of taxis, if I wanted, but I prefer trains and buses, as you see more of life and don’t get the driver complaining about the sad state of the taxi industry.
The Anonymous Widower 