Scratch

Here you will find older scratches, musings and other detritus that once were located on the front pages, but have now faded.

Filed away here to collect dust and cobwwwebs in perpetuity, links may break, facts may change and data may corrupt.

On occasion I may come down here to tidy, but for the most, I prefer to leave the past where it lies.

Monthly Archives

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Hogwarts Express

...was in Kings Cross both yesterday and today.

I failed spectacularly to take photos of the train.

No news is, erm, well.... good point.

Train On Platform 1 is..

The train now departing Knebworth is the delayed, erm, earlier, fast Stevenage train to London Kings Cross ('calling additionally at Welwyn Garden'), maybe or maybe not stopping elsewhere as takes the drivers fancy.

Not that I care, but having just gone past Hatfield I am assuming its not stopping @ WGC.

If you are sitting on a train at Stevenage waiting to depart, and a oldish guy working for FCC talks to the driver, assume the opposite of whatever is said on the station tanoy. Don't worry, the driver won't add any confusion/clarity to the situation as they go mute during 'inclement weather' - frozen larnyx you see. The first train I got on was a fast train direct to Kings Cross, but by the time the old guy had had a word,it was all stations to Kings Cross including the funny ones I thought were for decoration only - Hadley Wood I am looking at you - and probably Birmingham New Street.

Who said commuting was dull, oh thats right. Me.

'Spretty...

...what with the snow.

Being one of the four men and his dog* in work in London I have to say how both pretty and quiet it is. Knowing that TFL only operate 5% of the roads, I can't really but them about the gritting or lack thereof (not as though I need it). Quite a few work colleagues cycled in, and I am not suprised that Boris did also.

Should be nice on the way home if it settles.

Technical Fault

So, having done my good charitable deed for the day at my own expense, I head to the train toget home and hopefully enjoy what should be the remaining 2 hours of my half day.

The train pulls out the station and begins its merry way towards Finsbury Park. After a few minutes, the train pulls up just short of the station and we sit and wait.

And wait.

Some time goes by and a rather meak voice comes over the tannoy announcing that

due to technical problems, the train is currently being held outside of Finsbury Park, but enginers are looking to see if they can resolve the problem.

At about this time, a FCC employee who happened to be sitting next to me goes to the carriage door at the end of the train in first class as we can hear voices outside.

Some more time passes. An irate gentlemen ends his phone call that he has been kindly sharing / with us, stomps down the carriage full of self importance* and demands to know what is happening.

It is at this point the guard rather nonchalantly turns and says,

well, we appear to have lost half the train, so we are just waiting for the ok to move.

Is that really a technical issue, or just plain carelessness? And to be fair, if we had made it that far without the back, was it really that important anyway?

Presumably for anyone on it, perhaps rolling gently to Kings Cross, then they might feel differently.

The Best Laid Plans

It was a relatively simple plan. Get the 703 to Finsbury Park, change to the Victoria Line to Euston hop to work, pick up my camera, and do the reverse getting the 750something home walking through the door about 830 bringing croissants and coffee for bonus points.

There were however some flaws.

The Victoria line isn't running today. Adapting to this I took the Piccadilly line to Russell Sq. But that's closed. Only that wasn't announced until after the tube doors shut at Kings Cross. After walking from Holborn, I picked up my camera and walked to Kings Cross.

Having ordered said bonus inducing items, it became apparant I didn't have my wallet. Walking back to work, getting security to let me into my building, picking up my wallet and returning to Kings Cross where I now find myself waiting on the 852. Already an hour late and the day hasn't started for most people.

Well I suppose it can't get worse. Right?

Dorian Gray

Went to the ballet earlier and caught the matinee performance of Matthew Bourne ’s Dorian Gray. I would wholeheartedly recommend seeing it, but seeing as its on a limited run with the last performance startinmg in little over an hour, I guess its a mute point.

Really quite looking forward to Edward Scissorhands. Presumably there will be less lifts from the eponymous character than in Dorien Gray.

GTA IV Influences Violence. And Queuing

After reading the BBC News article entitled 'Stab attack at Grand Theft Queue' I was left with a curious thought. If a man is passionate enough about his gaming and obviously British enough to queue up in an orderly fashion for several hours to buy a game at midnight, I cannot understand what could possibly make him voluntarily leave his place to stab someone seemingly at random. Even bearing in mind that the Police might not turn up and arrest him before the shop still opens, he is still going to have to rejoin at the back of the queue or face a unending barrage of hushed 'tsk-ing' muttered in his general direction until he leaves like a social pariah.

The British public may turn a blind eye to a stabbing less than a few yards from them, but pushing back into a queue you have clearly left is just not happening, not without serious social consequences. Perhaps slap someone with a glove and make arrangements for a later date, but leave a queue?

Seriously though, the Johnny Cash song 'Don't Take Your Guns To Town' seems pretty apt. With respect to the game, I suspect there would be less uproar if it had been for release of a new My Little Pony. I can see the news headline now, Man beaten with saddle recovers in hospital...

Edit 30 Apr 2007 13:47:According to The Register however

A hooded male stabbed another man in the head and neck yesterday as they both queued to buy copies of Grand Theft Auto IV from a Croydon Gamestation store... it’s thought that the two men were just rude to one another.

Perhaps more notable is

The victim managed to survive the ordeal - and stumbled home to grab a knife for a revenge attack. However, he collapsed in the street on his way back to the store.

British queuing jokes aside, perhaps its just me but I cannot imagine what words could've been said, let alone what the guy thought he would achieve by heading for revenge rather than medical attention.

Perhaps its the people who play the game that are to blame rather than the game itself. If you can't differentiate between pixels and real life...

Warhol vs Banksy

The Hospital on Endell St is currently hosting the Warhol vs Banksy Exhibit, and will continue to do so until the first of Sept. The exhibition is houses over 40 mixed media works by the two artists, and hangs Warhol's classic drawings and paintings side by side with Banksy's graffiti art.

Well worth a look, as it is interesting to see how Banksy has adapeted Warhol's style and ideas and bringing it up to date. Although given My Warhol's passing, I felt Banksy's impromptu art outside the show was nice touch.

London

From Garth Ennis' new release Chronicles of Wormwood:

I left London when I was twenty. Not that I have anything against the place, but you can only take so many days when the sky matches the sidewalk before you start to think the people do too.

Dear God I'm Getting Old. But Its Worth It.

So, it was the Uni friends xmas do on Saturday and it is now Monday eve and I'm still feeling it.

Fun was very much had. The combination of good ale, lovely food (courtesy of The Riverside), fun interactive art at the Tate Modern, followed by more drinking and dancing (not me I might hasten to add) was a sure fire winner.

Roll on the next covenient excuse, er for alcohol fueled fun.

Darn Power

So, at 1205 this afternoon I got the first SMS (of many) from a piece of equipment saying there had been a mains failure. Approximately 10 minutes later that room was effectively dead. Some 10 minutes after that another four hundred or so servers died, and about five minutes later, the remaining 400 became uncontactable, presumably due to network links dying. Fingers crossed the generators have kicked in, but unless a thousand odd gallons of diesel materialise iin the tank in the next six hours, it becomes a mute point.

Up until the point where the UPS' finally gave out I was happily polling devices, checking electrical voltages, temperature, air flow, uptime, all across thirty/forty different locations. When everything runs out of UPS cover however, I am and might as well be in the dark.

Neither BBC News or News 24 list anything, but given the The Tube was reporting major problems and their live update has now fallen over, I am quite confident this isn't that small an incident anymore.

I suspect its gonna be a long night.

**Update 23/06/2006 16:20: It appears that the power problems stem from an EDF installation in St John's Wood which is effecting pretty much everything from Baker Street to Kings Cross, and as far south as Googe Street. As of about 45mins ago, EDF reckoned the power would be on by 16:00... Looking at the Tube's Realtime News it would seem that its all still down. Strangely, if you read the scrolling ticker at the top of the page, so is the live travel news which coincidentally is the page your looking at...

Tube Fun

Having waited on the Victoria line platform @ Warren Street for 15 minutes before it was announced that everything was going tits up due to 'smoldering', we trudged back up the faulty escalators and then down to the Northern Line, the masses of people seething like a Metropolis-esque seething mass of, erm, people.

Having squeezed onto a cosy and ever so slightly humid Northern Line tube and emergenced unscathed (except for the sweat patches on my knees - don't ask), we stood at Tottenham Court Road. And Waited. Then waited some more. Whilst waiting this chap arrived, looked at the next train indicator, and turned to say to no-one in particular

"3 minutes. 3 F'in minutes. I can't wait three minutes"

before disappearing into the crowd. I'd like to know if he could emerge topside hail a cab, and make it to his destination quicker...

On a lighter note, Oxford Circus was closed, Lancaster Gate is still closed so it made the remaining journey comparably bearable. Well as bearable as sweating out you eyeballs is.

It Never Rains But It Pours..

Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink.

Quietness

Things have been a busy at work of late, but as I'm getting on with it and keeping my head down I seem to be being left alone which is good. The downside of which however is that I can now go days without talking to people if I try, a consequence of which is that I have started turning up to work bearded and lazily atired. I suspect I could even start not getting out of bed whilst not being shaved and no-one would notice.

Over the weekend, I mainly did reading and tried to do some php scripting for the new site, which should be ready by next weekend (and not soon enough if you ask me). We finally watched Aeon Flux, which with the exception of Charlize Theron in leather and a couple of effects/sequences, I couldn't see many redeeming factors or something I hadn't seen in other films. I wasn't suprised given the reviews, but some hope was held. How misplaced.

Last night however, I did manage to have a rather excellant time courtesy of the Guardian Unlimited (via Londonist), who as part of their show 'V for Vendetta - 7 to 17 March - Images from the cult graphic novel by artist David Lloyd' had David present a talk about the ideas behind and the journey towards completing the series. If that wasn't enough, tonight there is the Special Preview: V for Vendetta at the ICA with David and Paul Gravett.

Cult comicy goodness.

Ho Hum

As some sort of irony I was sitting reading the news that the RMT are set to strike over New Years Eve and what should come on iTunes, but the Amateur Transplant's song, London Underground.

London Panoramas

Ever since the Google Maps API was released, I have been waiting for people to start integrating these in novel ways (even I had some ideas), and whilst idly surfing earlier, I had the fortune to find the London Panoramas Google Map. Returning to the TLD I discovered literally hundreds of such implementations each containing a map and a varying degree of information.

Out of these varied and interesting ones include:

• Burton Junior Football League - Ground directions etc
• Peter's Bat Map - Peter is Aged 8 and this is a school project
• Pakistan/Islamabad Earthquake injured
• I have no idea
• Sam's World - Self Explanatory
• NYC Private Schools
• Irish Pubs in Denver; and lastly and more worringly for both the content and speed of implementation
• Sex Offenders in Oklahoma City - Complete with names addresses and photos

I've been thinking of late how to implement a map/graphical representation of photos into the site, and perhaps a travel map and I think something like this is the way forward.

Bad Things (4)

Travelling to work this morning, it was hard not to notice the sombre state of the passengers on the tube. Images and stories in papers of commuters whose daily journey must have started as everyone elses but ended so differently, captivated peoples attention.

I sat and tried to articulate some thoughts last night when I got home, but found I couldn't. Words just either didn't come out right, and even when it made sense they couldn't do the underlying sentiments, thoughts and feelings, justice.

I guess all you can say is that your thoughts and sympathies are with those who have been injured and those that have lost friends and loved ones, and all you can do is remain vigilent. Stay safe people, and take care of you and those your love.

Bad Things (3)

Sitting here, I am struck by how quiet everything now is. Like the scene from the beginning of 28 Days Later, the streets are empty, cars, people, gone. Its very surreal. The occasional siren cuts through the silence, but a police clampdown on travel means very little activity round this way.

In the background the radio reports are continuing, but with no new news, its primarily speculation and the repeated limited facts.

Whats more surreal is that I was listening to a live feed from Woburn Place, and in the background I can hear the sirens start up, and almost simultaneously I can hear them out the office window.

Bad Things (2)

Ah. No, I was wrong. The relative loudness will be due to the major incident at the end of the road, that has rapidly been cordoned off.

Bad Things

Even with a couple of miles between Aldgate and where I currently am, I can hear the constant drone of numerous Ambulances, Fire Engines and helicopters. It doesn't sound good.

Not good at all.

KITT Cars

KITT is still talking.

Hot Town Summer In The City...

Back of my neck getting dirt and gritty
Been down, isn't it a pity
Doesn't seem to be a shadow in the city
All around people looking half dead
Walking on the sidewalk hotter than a match head

Loving Spoonful lyrics coutesy of Lyrics-online.net.

The Skyline Be A Changing

Being of a disposition where I am uncomfortable with standing too quickly, let alone working in a multi-storey office block, I find Skyscraper news strangely, and perhaps masochistically, alluring.

Even as I sit and type this, the thought of standing 485.00 ft above the ground is enough to make my knees resemble the physical properties of jelly and my palms start sweating in fear.

Yet I can't prise my eyes away. Its a vicious circle of curiosity.

Smooth. No Really.

It has been five years since Alan Milburn announced the construction of a �442m 'super' hospital, consolidating 4 existing hospitals into one.

Over the weekend, the new UCLH building opened its doors.

Whilst its an impressive building and all, and I am sure it will raise standards of healthcare, I have made two observations. First, would it have been such an inconvenience to incorporate an exit to Euston Square on the hospital side of the A501, the Euston Road. Secondly, whilst A&E for Ambulances is to the rear of the building at ground level the pedestrian entrance is from, yes you guessed it, the A501. Which is also a red route, so no stopping

Oh, and its up some steps (the entrance to the ramp is from the far end of the building due to the slope).

Check out the pics below. Note both the lady in white and lady in blue who are both on crutches.

Tube-y Goodness

The more I travel on the Tube, the more I marvel at it. For some reason I can't explain, the tube has a certain 'je ne sais quoi' almost romatic edge that overland trains just don't have. Admittedly it can have its off days where you are stuck in a dark humid tunnel for hours on end whilst late for a meeting, its seriously off days, but for the most it works ok. And it beats driving. For a system that has suffered chronic under investment over the years and can still shift approximately 3 million people per day across its 253 miles of tracks, with each train travelling the equivalent distance of London to Sydney seven times a year, I'm happy with the odd ten minute delay here or there. Just means I get more time to read my book. These are just some of the facts of many that you may not know about the beast beneath your feet.

Perhaps its the hustle and bustle of the tube, rather than the static sit, avert your eyes and read your paper and wait of the overlands. True, during rush hour, you're best to just sit and read, afterall there are certain unofficial rules of etiquette in addition to those published by London Underground themselves, but there is usually something of interest happening. Whether it be parties, knitting meets, pub crawls or just a brief glimpse of some of the disused stations, there is usually something to entertain you. Quite a lot of london bloggers use the tube as a point of reference, some in more detail than others.

Part of the alure I guess is that this entire labyrinthian world lies, in some places at least, literally feet below the ground, and for the most part you'd never know it. And I guess that this is the reason for this post. Well, maps specifically. We all know that Harry Beck created the original back in 1933, but since then there have been numerous changes. Obviously bar the information that can be found on the TFL Tube page, a comprehensive list of maps and wotnots can be found at Massey.net. Some of my choice bits however are:

• TFL's Real Time Map
• TFL's Proposed 2016 Map
• Simon Clarke's Geographical Map
• Rob Gardner's Satellite adaptation of the above
• TFL's flash Map
• Misc Tube Humour
• Its quicker to Walk - Tubes <500m apart
• Again with the Walking.
• Way Out Map.For the newbie and invaluable guide to saving minutes.

Hope you find these of use and/or of interest.

Power

Courtesy of the BBC:

Tube network hit by power surge
Commuters faced huge delays after a power surge shut several Tube stations in central London.

They weren't the only ones who noticed. Praise be for little flashing javascript.

Drunken Apsirations

Whilst travelling on the tube, I had the joy of sitting opposite a rather interesting character. Normally, as he was sitting there, shouting at anything and everything around him, I would have expected to see a can of Tennents Super or perhaps a bottle of White Lightning in his hand. But no, this chap had a 1 litre bottle of Baileys. Not that it refined his language any, but hey, its a start.

Brenda's Visit

Brenda is popping by later this week to open the new Wellcome Trust building on Euston Road and the three years worth of building, from demolition to completion, are finally coming to close. Actually what was more annoying than the dirt, noise, and vibrations, was the builders taking all the seats en masse when I went for coffee, but I digress.

All that remains is for Camden to finish relaying the roads, having already done the pavement, so that everything looks swanky and clean for her visit. Personally, I would have left a bit more time than one day to lay a road and let it set, but thats just me. Needless to say that our Estates dept started panicing this morning, so we had all the contractors here this morning, cleaning the light well (like Brenda is going to climb over a fence look at our A/C plant out of choice) and general facade of the building.

If only someone had done the joined up thinking and removed the obsolete pay and display ticket thing, or the old street lights, rather than paving round them. Or even finish Euston Square Station, although perhaps they will blame TFL, or just go round the other way. Given the effort gone to cleaning up the area, planting trees (which again I would have done before laying the pavement) locking up the smack heads, it actually looks really quite nice.

I can only hope she makes mutterings about walking along Acton High Street...

A205 South Circular

Do not be confused. This is possibly the worlds worst road. Avoid it like the plague. Whilst the A406 North Circular is a generally free flowing, three lane affair, the South Circular is like driving through a string of town centres on a Saturday afternoon. Oh no, wait. Thats exactly what it is. 2 hr 37 according to the AA my arse.... Five and a half hours it took me to get from one end of it to the other and back again. Given I spent 11 hours driving and clocked up aropund 450 miles, removing that part leaves me with 5.5 hours and 350 miles which is slightly more respectable.

Don't use it. Ever. On pain of death or broken knees from over use of the clutch.

Passenger Incident

On my way home last night, I entered Warren Street and was immediately faced with a wave of people leaving the station. I looked at the notice board and it essentially said that the Victoria line was shut due to a passenger incident at Finsbury Park. Figuring I couldn't get to my destination any quicker by other means, I walked down the escalator and got onto a rather empty southbound train where I found a nice eat to wait it out.

Over the tannoy system I could hear apologies due to a passenger being taken ill at Finsbury Park. I have always assumed that this is subtly different than an incident. LU always seem to make the differentiation and choose their words carefully. Perhaps the incident has caused them to be taken ill but I always assumed that an incident led to an illness of a very fatal and permanent nature. But I digress.

As people headed off the train a young foreign couple got on and stood in the doorway oblivious, or perhaps like me, not minding the wait. Outside people from further up the front of the train were leaving in droves and I watched them passing the windows.

Rather unexpectedly, especially for the couple, the doors sounded in preparation for closing. Like a flock of birds, angry birds with sharp umbrellas and briefcases mind, the crowd of commuters turned as one and dived for the doorway. I am not entirely sure if the couple knew what hit them. Judging by the acceleration away from the open doors, and the subsequent abrupt deceleration into the opposite closeddoors using only their confused faces, I can only assume not.

I wonder whether had they stayed down, it would be an incident or whether they had just been taken ill.

London Calling

Was out an about after work earlier, and I had forgotten how much I like London in the winter evenings. With it being dark by 5 now, all the lights are on, buildings are illuminated, the air is crisp, and there is a certain vibrancy I can't explain. Gone is the oppressive heat and humidy of summer and everything seems new and tingly.

Or perhaps its just me.

Commuting

Commuting. Everyone does it yet few people like it. I however, am reasonably ambivalent to it. As I travel by Tube (upper or lowercase 'T'?) I do not have the responsibility of driving, but at the sacrifice of control.

This is a trade off I am happy with.

I no longer need to renew road-tax or to fill up with petrol. Similarly, I avoid sitting in a traffic jam on a hot and humid day, watching my money drip out the exhaust filling the air with fumes whilst cyclists do their best to dive through the gaps in traffic taking my chrome with them. Conversely, I need to queue up to get a season ticket, albeit once a year. I get to sit in hot humid carriages packed tighter than a can of sardines with no knowledge as to my destiny, but a more than ample knowledge of some stranger's underarm/shopping/small child.

I have no ability to control whether I will get to my destination on time, or even at all (admittedly you don't in a car, but at last resort you can get out and run, which is slightly more difficult stuck in a sealed and electrified tin can beneath the ground). If its really not working then I can't get in, and whilst my boss may be annoyed, if I can't I can't and he knows that. Whilst my job is important to me, I'm not a Doctor, so no-one will die. I'll just have to work harder/later another day. With a car there is little excuse. Finally, whilst I can go anywhere anytime with a car, I don't need to shell out extra cash if my tube breaks down to a mechanic I suspect of not only stiffing me but also the tax man.

I think it is all down to perspective. Given its size and scale, and taking into account chronic under investment over the years, I do think the underground is a rather good invention, and IMHO, it certainly beats camel trains. Moreso for the fact I couldn't store my camel properly as I don't have a garden, nor am I willing to pay for a parking space at work... but I digress.

I am of the mind that people pick whichever public transport system suits them, whether it be for financial reasons, time or just ease. I pick the Tube for a combination of thre hree, and for 95% of the time I can't complain. Given people who get the tube do so because they personally either prefer the tube or find it easier and don't want the hassle of walking/busing/car-sharing/driving, it seems a shame to go to all that effort to reduce your commute and then have someone else spoil the hard work done by others. (Ok. if you really hate commuting move closer to work. If you can afford it don't move and give up your job. If you can't afford it pick the lesser of all the evils and stop whining.)

I think I think the trick to surviving is not to worry about the journey, thats why they pay the driver. If its empty, simply sit/stand back, find a happy place, read, snooze, listen to music or just wait it out. If its busy and heaving, then stand still, and wait it out. Although not the most comfortable, it won't lat forever. Usually I find for not more than 20 minutes per "hold". There is light at the end of the tunnel - admittedly its White City, but hey its a start. I also know that if its really bad, I can always get above ground and get a cab (I realise this isn't feasible for some, but thats part of your commute. I live where I do mainly because it was cheap, but also because if I need to get a cab I can and it won't break the bank.)

On days like today with both weather and signalling problems its a bit more difficult, so I tend to cheat slightly and move my happy place from the newspaper and heres how: Close your eyes, tip your head back and imagine you are on a beach in the south of France. The heat, humidity and sweat are all similar. The light from the flourescent tube will substitute for the sun whilst the insane screaming of the foreign exchange students...well I think you get the idea.

I'm not saying its a ride in the park, well not unless your the Queen, sometimes its easier said than done. Even this evening it wasn't enough to stop me wanting to wrap the guitar round the little idiots head. Nor was it enough to stop me getting annoyed at being stuck just outside Shepard's Bush for 30 mins. And sure I had my non-productive, didn't make me feel better rant on the way home, but at the end of the day I was home. Albeit a bit warmer and a bit later, there was nothing really that bad about it - I got home safe, in one piece and managed to read several chapters of my book. Its like having a personal chaffeur that almost drops to your door, the difference being your sharing him/her with hundreds of others in a slightly battered stretched limo.

For the 5% of the time when something "annoying" happens, or someone steps on my foot, hits me with a briefcase or just stands in the way, or on the occassion I get delayed by 30 minutes, its not enough to make me want to start getting a bus. Or a car. Or a camel for that matter. Well maybe a camel.

Just my 2c worth.

Busy

So begins another busy week. Tonight and Thursday are filled with social drinking. Tuesday is a charity do to mark the DVD release of Cold Mountain with a Q&A from Anthony Minghella afterwards. Wednesday is the Reduced Shakespeare Co performing the Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged) (rather than America, Bible or Books). Friday is work BBQ, and the week is completed on Saturday by shopping for shoes for an upcoming wedding.

Its all good fun really.

Warren St LU Station

Something strange is going on at Warren St.

Yesterday they switched the Victoria line escalators at Warren Street so that the people attempting to exit the station walked from the platform to the right hand side, only to be greated by a wave of people coming down.

Then this morning the station was crawling with with armed police, Customs and Immigration officials.

Seems a bit ott to check Oyster cards...

Tube Strike

Well it appears that the tube and rail strike is a goer for 1830 next Tuesday until 1830 the following Wednesday. That means a dwindling service from the Tusday Lunchtime and a normal start on Thursday as drivers fail to start shifts either in anticipation of the strike or just after it.

With millions, perhaps billions of pounds "lost" by the City everytime this happens, it is Joe Employee who suffers as regardless what the Unions say, its them that this effects. Employers pay you to be there, and are not really concerned how you get there, be it bus, rail, tube, taxi or walking, or the cost of doing so. If I have to get a cab or walk, my employer will not compensate me in either time or money.

Oh well.

Sky Tonight

As I write this, the rain is bouncing off the windows and the sky to the west is thick with clouds. The sun is setting, turning the sky a thick orange. Office blocks and flats are silhouetted against the horizon. It looks like a seen from Mars.

Well, a heavily industrialised Mars. Without the rain. And a motorway through the middle.

White City Derailment (2)

Admittedly I didn't overly enjoy the doubling of my journey hope last night, but am very relieved to see the service up and running in time for this morning.

A Metronet spokesman said: "We don't know if our recent work and the derailment are connected and we are looking into the work we've been doing."

Already the shiftyness has started.

White City Derailment

As you do when your sitting waiting to leave, I continually refresh the news to see whats happening, especially when one of the articles concerns my journey home. Whilst I was doing this, I noticed that the original quote of the 6th carriage and 20 miles an hour, has now changed to the 7th carriage and 15 miles an hour.

On a side note, part of the BBC article includes the text:

It said the White City train derailed at a set of points undergoing routine maintenance where a 20 mile-an-hour speed restriction was in place.

Presumably it would be safer not to perform maintenance during operational hours? Or perhaps as I think they mean, to keep having to stop works to enable the line to keep running. Perhaps they could do works contemporaneously with the other outages that happened and are happening on the central line these past few weekends. Or even have done some when the entire line was broken because of Chancery Lane. Or maybe not.

I get the sneaky suspicion that heads will roll after this, because surely after 4 derailments (2 x Central , 1 x Northern and 1 x Picadilly) in just over 16 months, people should be realising that crashing trains aren't good for a) the rail network; b) the companies running them; c) the shareholders; d) peoples morale; and perhaps most importantly e) peoples health.

Sadly in this day and age, I feel that c) is given the largest priority much to the detriment of e).

Fingers Crossed

When browsing the Tube website and you see:

The Central Line has no service between North Acton Station and Marble Arch Station in both directions.

This will affect journeys from 12:33 on 11/05/04 until further notice. This is due to defective trains.

you cross your fingers and hope its just a temporary glitch. What you don't want to see across the news ticker when you look for more info are the words:

London Underground train derails near White City station. No injuries. More soon.

Defective train TFL say, presumably only in the fact its not designed to run on gravel or grass. Am glad no ones hurt, the trains do go quite slowly down that stretch. Saying that it is only two tracks for the most so I guess its mostly to do with luck and timing more than speed in this case.

The real bonus is of course, we can now look forward to more fun and games. Had almost forgotten what the several months of inconvenience caused by Chancery was like. In the meantime whilst others get on with pointing accusingly at each other, I'll be crossing my fingers...

Kate Beckinsale

Given Kate's dazzling performance at the London premier of Van Helsing, its probably an opportunity to revive this comment courtesy of the Daily Show in 2003.

She was asked whether her four-year-old daughter had discovered sarcasm. She had: "The other day she said she wanted to grow up to be a movie star in Hollywood," Beckinsale recalled, "and some nice person said, 'You mean like Mommy?' and she said, 'No - I said I want to be a movie star..."

It's Stopped Raining!

...it's now hailing.

UCLH

Walking to work today and it appears some of the scaffolding around the new UCLH building is coming down, so it looks like it might be on schedule for 2005. Similarly, the new Wellcome Trust building is starting to be unwrapped, and with some work on Euston Sq Station to go, it should also be done in the next year. If you look here, you can see the UCLH in the top right corner just obscuring the Wellcome Trust building.

All we have to do now is wait for the roads to be redone and the area will be quite pretty. Well, pretty if you like tall green and white glass buildings.

Still Raining

In todays paper edition of Metro:

"Rain brings soggy end to holidays
SHOPPING centres and DIY stores were the big winners yesterday as heavy rain brought the bank holiday weekend to a miserable close. Nearly a third of an inch of rain fell at Marham, Norfolk, while London and the South-East suffered heavy downpours. Wales and the North had some sunny intervals between the showers. Experts predict the first part of May will continue to be unsettled, with more showers and heavy rain across the country."

Like a drowned cat I was...

Holy Filming (2)

Further to my earlier post, London Tonight had a segment concerning filming in the UK, the biggest films of which are currently Harry Potter 4 and the new Batman film. Needless to say I was wrong in my earlier guess. They were in fact filming Batman in the Rockerfeller nurses home as I walked by and not Silent Witness. Arse.

Bank Holiday

...and its still raining.

Holy Filming

It would appear that the Batman filming was closer to home than I first expected. Just down the road from where I work operon took some photos of vehicles made up for the new Batman movie. First, a GPD car and then with a close up of it's badge.
In the background of the first you can quite clearly see the RADA building, and given the location, I wouldn't be surprised if they were filming round UCL, Birbeck or more likely, Senate House. I did wander past some filming last Wednesday/Thursday not far from this, but presumed it was for Silent Witness as is often the case round here. I'll kick myself if it was for Batman. Saying that, I did wander through the backdrop of some filming the week before that. Whatever that was, I don't think any respected director would leave in a shot where in the distance, a man can be seen swearing as he tries and collects the contents of a box file hes just dropped.

There's realistic filming, and then there's Its All Right on the Night.

Neighbours

Some random bits of helpful advice for getting on well with your neighbours. These arrive out of events last night (early this morning) and later this morning.

1. If you are going to either tell your spouse, or let them find out you are having an affair:
a) Don't do it at four in the morning;
b) Don't do it while drunk; and
c) Don't do it whilst they are in reach of you crockery set, your windows or your telly.
Said women was a tad angry "I hope you die" and although we could only hear her side through the screaming "You bastard" and wailing "Why her? You bastard" , there is now nothing he could say that could mitigate what he did (needless to say I won't go into details here to protect their identities, but I will say any man who sleeps with their partners sister and best friend @ the same time is begging for trouble somewhere down the line.

2. If you invite deaf medicine men to your house, do not stand outside our front door to hold your conversations and say goodbye afterwards. I am sure the reasons why he left his shoes outside are important to you, but not to me. (Thats not entirely true. Our landing currently looks like a Clarks discount store as everyone seems to be leaving their shoes outside).

On a more general note:

3. If you would like to play music loudly, please do so between 9am and 11pm. Also please invest in more than one CD single. Please.

4. You live in a two bedroom flat. Eight of you shouldn't (read cannot) live there. It's not physically possible without breaking several moral taboos, quite possibly several Acts of Parliament, not to mention enraging the RSPCA.

Thank you for you consideration, and I hope, restraint.

Summer In The City

Having realised early last week that summer is now upon us, we left the flat and wandered to Hyde Park to enjoy then sun. Strangely, so had most of the inhabitants London so it as heaving. Along Bayswater Road, the artists were selling their wares (as they do every Sunday), and tempting though some were, we restrained ourselves. Sat in the park for a few hours, doing some work/dozing/listening to music. After a few hours of people watching, we decided to head home, so wandered through Notting Hill, Shepard's Bush before eventually arriving in Sunny but beginning to cool North Acton. All in all a very pleasant day.

Oh and a side thought, it is true, people do look like there pets.

Commuter Camels

Whilst travelling home on the tube I noticed something that made me stop and think. Entering the ticket office, wallet (containing Oyster Card) in hand, I was forced to wait whilst a large American gentleman negotiated the turnstyles. From the ether, the old teaching "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God", was plucked and landed squarely in my thoughts. After some moments it was evident that it would be easier for all those in the Square Mile to try and enter heaven by rushing St Peter than it was for this gentleman to negotiate the turnstyle.

The last I saw of him as I descended the escalator was the poor chap trapped in the turnstyles gaping maw, arms flailing, with two attendants trying to "shoe horn" him out. Turnstyle 1 - Tourist 0.

Vaughan the Londoner

Sitting in front of the gogglebox this evening, and I had the "pleasure" of being greeted by Johnny Vaughn's charming cockney twang with a variation of Maybe its because I'm a Londoner advertising his new breakfast show on Capital FM. Maybe its because he's a Londoner that when he sings about the Jubilee Line he is in fact on the Piccadilly Line..

Bless him

Nooooooo

I blame myself entirely for yesterdays bad news. In hindsight perhaps if I had remained as a student for longer, then maybe this sad day wouldn't have come to pass.

In a rather belated effort to make amends and to learn from my mistakes I shall now make haste to the pub.

Afterall, Guinness is good for you.

Hmmm

Walking back from work last night and I noticed our local post office box has mysteriously vanished. All thats left is some broken paving slabs and a rather large hole in the ground. Curiouser and curiouser...

Dance Theatre of Harlem 2

Following my visit to Sadler's Wells on Saturday the main thing that struck me is that ballets that have intermissions that account for a third of the time spent in the theatre result in a restless skitz. The evening was divided into three separate suites of dances from their repertoire (other nights were treated to other suites) separated by twenty minute intermissions. The succinct thoughts were that it was a very good night out with highs and lows that you would expect from any event. The dazzling costumes, diverse musical scores and a different look at ballet creates a visual and audio extravaganza that is well worth seeing.

The first dance was Dougla. Written by Geoffrey Holder in 1974, a tribal wedding sets the tone for a steady stream of head-wagging ceremonial celebrations. It is an exotic processional set in a tribal wedding complete with his voluminous, eye-catching costumes and a percussive score accented by whistling flutes. However, the extravagant costumes, intricate moves and well composed spartan score fail to cover the small glitches in choreography inherent in having 30+ people on stage and getting them to keep in synch with an almost non existent beat. Perhaps the weakest of the three suites I saw, but it certainly set the stage for further events.

Juxtaposed next to the tribal Dougla was the boogie/ballet combination of
Return. First performed in 1999 this suite of dances is cued to recordings by soul masters James Brown and Aretha Franklin to good effect. More individual dances give the performers the chance to display their skills in a manner that draws a stark contrast to other contemporary ballets, fusing other styles of dance, creating a very intimate feel and something thats individual yet identifiable.

The final suite is the ballet staple Firebird performed with DTH own special take to magical effect. Eye-poppingly vibrant tropical jungle settings, magical costumes all enhance choreographer John Taras' version of the classic Russian fairy tale. Perhaps more "traditional" in its deliverance than from the previous suites watched this evening, it is punctuated with DTH own colour and dynamics that adds an extra dimension. It is certainly the highlight of the evening, and when it ends to raptures applause, I find myself wishing there was more.

Perhaps another night, another suite of dances.

Wanderings

Had a nice wander yesterday. Started at the Tate Britain, had a look at the BP galleries there, in particular the William Blake exhibit which includes some of Blake's illustrations of Dante's Divine Comedy. Had intended to wander round the In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida exhibit but got sidetracked - will be heading back another day. From there walked to Parilament, across to County Hall and down to the Royal Festival Hall and the book market. Had a mooch at some nice old books and maps, laughed at various magicians and mime artists before wandering down the riverside taking in Gabriel's Wharf and the design shops at OXO Tower Wharf. Finally headed across the Millenium Bridge to St Paul's and then heading home.

Was a very nice day. Think we'll be doing the same soon, perhaps starting a bit earlier.

Dance Theatre of Harlem

Tonights evening out is the Sadler's Wells Theatre which is currently playing host to the Dance Theatre of Harlem. I'll post a review when I get back, but in the meantime here is one prepared earlier by Zo� Anderson for The Independent.

Wide Boys from Honalee

We were out walking along the high street earlier when the honking of a horn and a gesticulating arm drew our attention to a car stuck at some traffic lights. This is not an uncommon occurence round our way, nor for that matter was the car - silver BMW, blacked out windows, rotating alloys accompanied with the all pervasive dull thud of bass that wouldn't be out of place in some of the larger clubs.

Usually, I make a point of not looking in vehicles as described in an effort to preserve my personal health, but today however I happened to look in on the passenger side as we passed and to my suprise, I saw a young girl in the front, the father still shouting out of the window, singing along to the stereo.

Through the base I realised that the song was not the usual tales of sex, drugs etc that I would've (perhaps wrongly) expected given the cars description, but the story of one Puff the Magic Dragon and his escapades in the autumn mist. Annoyingly, I now envisage Puff and Jackie Piper dressed in bling and roaming the streets late at night. All credit to a 30ish yo wide boy for having the strength of character to listen to childrens songs, but I wish my memories weren't so corruptable. Is nothing sacred?

Tourists

Variety is the spice of live n all, but sometimes it just makes you wonder. Take today for example. During my lunch break, I wandered out to grab a sandwich, passing several large 12ft by 24ft ish billboards. One of these happens to be part of the latest Dove advertising scheme. Upon my return (with a chicken salad sandwich) I noticed a small japanese gentleman who appeared to be standing with his arms in the air close to this board. It was only when I tripped over another small gentleman photographing the first I realised that with the laws of perspective and some clever camera work, he was effectively draping himself across these women. Oh to be a fly on the wall during a retelling of "that night" over a glass of sake as it slowly becomes japanese gent takes on Soho..

Handel House Museum

On Sunday we visited the Handel House Museum at 25 Brook Street. Handel lived at the house for 36 years from 1723 until his death in 1759, during which he composed some of the most recognised work of the time, if not all time. The house has been well restored to an approximation of how it would have been, and throughout are various objects from the Byrne Collection including a letter from Handel to Charles Jennens regarding Belshazzar and Messiah, an autograph leaf from Esther, Mozart's arrangement of a Handel fugue, John Mainwaring's Memoirs of the life of the late George Frederic Handel annotated by Jennens, early editions of operas and oratorios, and prints, portraits and sculpture. Also included are a portrait of Faustina Bordoni by Bartolomeo Nazari and a portrait of Jennens by Thomas Hudson. Whilst wandering, we were entertained by live renditions of some of Handel's works, which added to the ambience.

In perhaps one of the stranger juxtapositions, as an added bonus, the exhibit rooms are currently running an exhibit of unseen Jimi Hendrix photos from early in his career. Between 1968 and 1969, the upper floors of the adjacent 23 Brook Street were home to said rock legend and some of the photos form quite an intimate view of his life with Kathy Etchingham.

All in all, well worth a visit.

Spring Evenings

Standing on the banks of the Thames by County Hall earlier, in this gap between winter and spring, with the sun shining brightly and a slight chill in the air, I couldn't think of a better place to be.

Madrid

On the tube into work this morning, there was a stillness and silence throughout the carriage. Even the normal hustle and bustle seemed to be heavily subdued, replaced with an air of uneasiness. The only distractions were newspaper pages being leafed to and fro. A sea of papers all showing images of yesterdays events in Madrid.
Saying that, looking around I see the same faces I do every day, and I hope to see everyday forth. Not to see them means the terrorists have won.

London

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