The Railway At Dawlish Is In Trouble Again
This report on the Guardian is entitled Waves Batter Railway Line At Dawlish Station As Storm Emma Hits UK. It has a video, which shows the ferocity of the storm.
But at least things seem to be happening to create an alternative route, when Emma and her friends are causing trouble!
This article in the Tavistock Times Gazette is entitled Okehampton Rail News Welcomed Across The Region.
This is the first paragraph.
The news that the Government is creating a plan to bring an all-week, all year train service to Okehampton has been welcomed by MPs — including those for Okehampton and Tavistock — and county councillors from across the area.
The article goes on to say that the Transport Secretary; Chris Grayling, has instructed Great Western Railway to produce a creditable plan for an all-week, all-year train service between Exeter and Okehampton.
It is not a complete railway line to Plymouth and Cornwall avoiding Dawlish, but surely, it will help get rail passengers round a blockage, perhaps by using coaches along the A38 between Bodmin Parkway and Okehampton stations.
I suspect that part of the GWR plan will be to be able to get a trusty short-formation InterCity 125 between Exeter and Okehampton in all but the worst weather.
I suspect too, that GWR and their drivers and other staff, know the limitations of InterCity 125s by now, when it comes to getting services through Dawlish in atrocious weather.
The BBC has this video of the last train going through before the line through Dawlish was closed in 2014.
Can I Have Some Serious Rain, Please?
I haven’t really felt well since, I went to Sunderland a few weeks ago!
I’ve searched weather maps and systems and I can’t find any serious rain, anywhere!
Even Manchester hasn’t got any!
It’s all a Russian plot to kill me! Or at least get me seriously ill!
What’s The Weather Like In Africa?
This is a difficult question to answer, as Africa only has a limited number of weather stations.
So along comes Kukua, which has designed a low-cost, mobile network-connected, solar-powered weather station.
There’s a report in the latest edition of BBC Click.
It shows how the devices are helping small farmers in Africa.
The Sun God Has Blessed Hackney Wick
If you look at my pictures over the weekend of the Hackney Wick Station Subway Installation, there’s two common factors – The sun and no rain.
Imagine having to do all that heavy work in an intense storm named Jeremy or Nigel.
Obviously, the Queen too, hasn’t been near Hackney Wick.
Has Scotrail Got The Wrong Sort Of Heat?
This article on Rail Magazine is entitled Train failures and crew shortages hit Borders operation.
This is said.
ScotRail Operations Director Perry Ramsey says the company has identified a fleet-wide issue with the Class 158s that affects them particularly badly during hot weather.
Under heavy load, such as accelerating on steep gradients, the engines can overheat and shut down, leading to disruption.
So has ScotRail got the wrong sort of heat?
Vitamin D And Me!
On Tuesday, there was this article on the BBC, which was entitled Vitamin D ‘heals damaged hearts’. This was said.
Vitamin D supplements may help people with diseased hearts, a study suggests.
A trial on 163 heart failure patients found supplements of the vitamin, which is made in the skin when exposed to sunlight, improved their hearts’ ability to pump blood around the body.
The Leeds Teaching Hospitals team, who presented at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology, described the results as “stunning”.
I have been discussing this with two of Europe’s top cardiologists and we’ve come to the conclusion, that I don’t get enough vitamin D.
And would you believe low vitamin D can cause; bad nails, conjunctivitis and plantar fasciitis.
I have all three!
One cardiologist pointed out that gluten-free bread and breakfast cereals aren’t fortified with vitamin D, like normal ones are.
No-one; coeliac, doctor or dietician, had ever told me that before!
So I get my vitamin D from the sun!
But as the devil has switched it off this winter, no wonder I’m in poor health!
That woman doesn’t like me!
On the other hand, I’m a London Mongrel of German Jewish and French Huguenot roots, with quarters of stubborn Devonian and solid Northants yeoman stock thrown in. A large proportion of my ancestors are also real East Enders and of course my father was a genuine Cockney.
So I hope I can give her a fight!
Incidentally, this winter, I’ve never found so many other people suffering from plantar fasciitis, so are we all suffering from a lack of sun and therefore vitamin D. Two of the sufferers were people, who had indoor jobs, that involved a lot of standing and walking.
Intriguingly, the only other time, I had bad plantar fasciitis was the winter of 2004/2005. I’m still looking for data on that winter’s weather, but this article on the BBC from 2006 says this.
Deaths in England and Wales fell to 25,700 last winter, a decline of 19% on the previous year.
Office for National Statistics data shows the rate, which hit 31,640 in 2004/2005, is back to similar levels as the previous four years.
Statisticians look at deaths between December and March, and compare them to those during the rest of the year.
I shall not be surprised if 2015/16 has been a bad winter for the deaths of the elderly.
For myself, I’ve started taking a vitalimn D supplement as I have been advised.
I’d sit in the sun, if that woman would let it out!
You might ask, why I don’t go to the sun for a week, as I can certainly afford it.
But when you don’t like taking holidays in the sun on your own and can’t walk long distances to explore interesting sites because of the plantar fasciitis, your stumped!
Rain, Beautiful Rain!
I’m feeling so much better today and it must be the break in the weather.
My face and beard doesn’t feel so dry, my gut would score at least 9/10 and my nails feel like real ones. The muck pouring down my throat has eased too!
Strangely, my INR was 2.8 on Wednesday, 2.7 yesterday and 2.1 today. It goes up and down with the weather.
Scotland’s Weather
Carol Kirkwood, the BBC’s Scottish weatherwoman with the large wardrobe of dresses, has just given statistics to show that Scotland is having a very wet summer.
It’s funny that the weather should get worse, after the General Election, where so many Scots voted for a party that believes in total independence.
If they do leave the UK, I hope they take all that wet weather with them.
It looks like she has made her decision, as I think Carol lives somewhere in the South of England. But then she has access to all the data!
Perhaps, now is the time, for people like me, who don’t particularly like hot weather, to take a holiday North of the Border.
BBC Weather Gets It Right
The BBC weather forecast yesterday was saying today that Prague would have a wet and thundery afternoon.
So I booked myself out of Prague on the 14:30.
And guess what? It’s raining!
Confusion Over The Weather
This morning, the BBC ought to get its messages on the weather consistent.
Their headline is that there will be high pollution levels in the South East, which they illustrate with pictures of London.
But the weather babe on BBC London hasn’t mentioned the pollution, despite her forecast covering a lot of the South East.
And then the two presenters have just said it’s going to be a lovely day out there today.
It’s all confusing and I’ll ignore the lot of it and use my Mark One eyeballs.
