Summer Arrives

INTRODUCTION

As well as my title piece I have a variety of links, some infographics and some photos of my own to share…

SUMMER ARRIVES

We are enjoying the best weather of the year so far – yesterday was an authentic shorts and t-shirt day and today looks like following suit. On Saturday, which was prevented from rivalling yesterday only by persistent strong winds, Leicestershire played a one-day match (50 overs per side) against New Zealand. When New Zealand were 153-5 it looked like being a decent contest, but then Grant Elliott and Luke Ronchi smashed extremely rapid centuries to boost to the total to a daunting 374-5. Leicestershire were never in the hunt, and in the end only just got the margin of defeat down below 200 runs.

Yesterday, Leicestershire were straight back in action, against Surrey in the county championship, and although the turn around was not so dramatic, they again let a good start get away from them, as Tom Curran swiped 60 from number 9 in the order for Surrey. Leciestershire regained some of the ground they had surrendered when, Surrey having finally been dismissed, their openers then saw things through to the close without mishap.

INFOGRAPHICS

The first infographic (of a total of four) that I choose to share is this one on domestic violence:

Infographics two and three both concern the case of Stephanie Bottrill, just one of the idiotic delusional sociopath’s (IDS for short) many victims…

To end this little section a bit of humour concerning the Republicans…

PHOTOGRAPHS AND CLOSING STATEMENT

Just before ending this post with some pictures, I thank everyone who has read this post, hope you have all enjoyed it and that you will be encouraged to share it. The first two pictures relate to a Cosmos Up story concerning the possibility of microbial life on Mars, while the rest are mine, all taken yesterday…

Special Post: Ongar

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest in my series “London Station by Station“, the second post in this series to feature a station to have fallen victim to the axe (see also the piece on Aldwych).

THE ONE TIME NORTHERN OUTPOST OF LONDON UNDERGROUND

Ongar became a London Underground station immediately post World War II, and was closed, along with North Weald in 1994. There had been a station between North Weald and Ongar called Blake Hall, but that was closed in 1981. I travellled out there more than once before it closed. The village of Chipping Ongar is home to a 900 year old church among other things.

Ongar is 24 miles from the centre of London, and with no interchanges to other lines between Stratford and Ongar, and the fact that one had to change trains at Epping (now the end of the line) it took a long time to get there. This meant that few passengers actually did use the route. This graphic, taken from Danny Dorling’s “The 32 Stops”, shows how far beyond the boundary of Greater London even Epping, the current outpost is:

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The solid black route is the 32 stops from West Ruislip to Woodford that Dorling covers in his book, while the grey lines show the other parts of the Central line that are still open.

11.3 miles beyond Ongar is Chelmsford, the county town of Essex, and home to a major rail station with a fairly quick route into London (this picture, extracted from google maps, illustrates):

Ongar to Chelmsford

You might notice from the above picture that there is not a great deal between Ongar and Chelmsford, and indeed my idea for an extension to integrate an otherwise very isolated branch into a wider network features just one intermediate station, at the village of Great Baddow.

An even bolder notion than the one already outlined that occurred to me when I gave such a scheme serious thought some years back was for the Central line to reopened to Ongar, running straight through rather than having the change at Epping, and for Ongar to become the Northeast node point of a London Orbital Railway (with the Ongar-Chelmsford link being a spur off this to the Northeast (well actually rather more east than north). The southeasterly node point would be at Maplescombe in Kent with a spur to Maidstone to connect with existing railways there, the southwesterly at West Byfleet, linking to the existing routes to and through Woking, with the northwesterly node at Rickmansworth, connecting with a northwesterly route to Aylesbury. The northern arm of this orbital route, from Rickmansworth to Ongar makes extensive use of existing but currently lightly used routes (reopen the connection between Rickmansworth and Watford, take over the Watford to St Albans branch, connect to St Albans (Thameslink). Between St Albans and Ongar would be new track with stops at Welwyn Garden City, Hertford North, Hertford East and Broxbourne (all offering connections to the existing network.

To finish, here are some more pictures which might help you grasp some of the detail I have covered above…

A close up of the the end of the Central line as it used to look (from The Diagrammatic History)

An illustration of the Rickmansworth-Watford connection mentioned in the text.

A view of the Watford-St Albans links mentioned.

An old London Connections Map with the emphasis on main line railways.

I hope you have enjoyed this spectacularly speculative post and will be encouraged to share it.

Great Centenary Charity Auction Approaches

INTRODUCTION

As well as my title piece, I have a few links to share. I also have some good pictures, so it will not all be text.

UPDATE ON THE GREAT CENTENARY CHARITY AUCTION

The Great Centenary Charity Auction takes place on June 28th, and after two hard days at the silo in Syderstone where stcok for this auction is currently being stored and an intense day of editing at my desk on Fakenham (today), virtually all the images are ready. Given the situation we were in not very long ago (the Irishman in the joke about directions would definitely have been saying that he wouldn’t start from there – and he would have been 100% justified!) this is little short of miraculous.

The VC in the pictures below has a particularly interesting history – it was stripped from the person to whom it had been awarded when he was convicted of several serious criminal offences…

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As a very keen bridge player, this twin pack of cards naturally appealed…

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My last set of pictures is of lot 537…

537 537a 537b 537c

LINKS

Just a few links for you this time. Firstly, from the Visit Norfolk website, a very interesting piece about our region’s 1,000,000 year history of human habitation.

Cosmos Up, regulars in this links section have two interesting offerings today:

1) Blue patches on Mars

2) An esimate of the total weight of our galaxy!

CLOSING STATEMENT

I hope that you have enjoyed today’s offering from aspiblog, and that you will be encouraged to share it with others.

Special Post: Covent Garden

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest installment in my “Station by Station guide to London’. Previous posts in this series are available on this link.

MUSIC, MAPS, A MARKET AND A MUSEUM

Although Covent Garden is on the original 1906 section of the Piccadilly line it did not open for business until 1907. This may be because with being only about 300 yards from Leciester Square the need for an extra station there was not immediately obvious.

That said, as the title of thsi section implies, Covent Garden is a major destination. Access from the platforms to the street is either via lift or by climbing 200 steps (I generally choose this latter option btw since I am not a big fan of lifts).

The music part of the title refers to the English National Opera, housed in a splendid building in Covent Garden. I have not been there for good while but I remember enjoying a performance of ‘Simon Boccanegra’ there.

Covent Garden Market is well worth a look around. Also, adjoining the market, is the London Transport Museum, a place I have visited several times and which I thoroughly recommend.

Finally, as a map lover, I cannot mention Covent Garden without mentioning Stanfords, THE map shop. On the subject of maps I recommnend to those with an interest in such things the blog mapsworldwide.

Before I finish with a couple of pics, a couple of last comments:

1)I hope that you have enjoyed this post and that you will be encouraged to share it.

2)A reminder that previous posts in that series are can be seen here.

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Important Items to Share

INTRODUCTION

This post is going to be made up entirely of Links and Infographics (I have a lot of important and interesting stuff to share).

LINKS

TAX RESEARCH UK

Tax Research UK in spite of the uninspiring sounding name is often a source of good stuff, and today I provide links to two of their recent stories:

1)The need to eliminate competition from the NHS.

2)A piece about electoral reform, which connects to…

2a)This blog post from the Electoral Reform Society.

SCIENCY PIECES

My first piece in this section comes courtesy of Patheos, and just before highlighting the link I wish (as someone who is a very strong supporter of theirs) to criticise them for publishing under their banner a piece by Russell Shaw in which he has the nerve to claim the American Christians are being persecuted. The piece to which I include a link concerns the use in science classrooms in Louisiana of a book that has no place there.

My next three pieces are linked, both being concerned with countering environmental damage:

1) Faraday’s Candle on bees.

2) Oxfam on dumping coal into the dustbin of history.

3) An Avaaz petition about climate change.

SOME INFOGRAPHICS

A devastating comparison of the difference between actual inflation and rail fare inflation since 1994.

DISABILITY, MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES AND AUTISM

This is my final set of links, starting with this piece from Jayne Linney. Huffington Post, a regular source of good stuff, provide this piece from Laura Roche. Although I am not an ebay user, and therefore not able to take direct action, I was of course thoroughly disgusted to come across this from Vox Political about disability hate products being sold via that site, and I urge those of you who do use ebay to complain loud and clear as VP suggest. This blogpost from Natalie Leal provides some shocking detail about deaths related to DWP sanctions. Finally, to end this section, a post from Autism Mom, which features Alan Turing.

CLOSING STATEMENT

I hope that you have all enjoyed this post, and that you have followed up some or all of the links I have shared. I encourage people to share any or all of this post.

Special Post: North Greenwich

INTRODUCTION

Yes, another post in my series giving a station by station guide to London. I felt that it was not inappropriate for a series based on British public transport that after none yesterday there should be two in a row today!

A GOOD IDEA DEFLECTED

North Greenwich is one of the stations on the Jubilee line extension finally opened in 1999. North Greenwich serves what is now the O2 arena, having started life as the Millennium Dome. Unlike any of the other stations featured in this series (more available here) this is one that I personally have never used as destination, though I have passed through it a few times.

When the Jubilee line opened in 1979 it was intended that there should be a south eastern extension from the then southern terminus of Charing Cross. Unfortunately, a combination of obsession with the Canary Wharf development and the vanity project of the Millennium Dome caused the original plans to so warped that the new terminus of the Jubilee line is at Stratford, and it no longer serves Charing Cross.

By the way, although as a public transport user I am always keen on improvements to public transport, I do not automatically support. For example I do not consider that a high speed railway that only the wealthy will be able to afford to be something to celebrate, and neither does a cable car link between two minor stations seem especially impressive to me!

A couple of pics to end…

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Special Post: Waterloo

INTRODUCTION

This is the latest post in my series providing a station by station guide to London. Previous posts in the series can be viewed on the following link. Enjoy…

THE SOUTH BANK OF THE THAMES

Waterloo has more main line train platforms than any other station in the country, is served by four underground lines (all ‘tube’ rather than ‘surface’). The Waterloo and City line, originally run as part of the London & South West Railway, opened for business in 1898 making it the second oldest of London’s deep level tube lines after the City and South London Railway (now part of the Northern line). The Bakerloo line opened in 1906, the second underground line to serve Waterloo. A southbound extension of the Charing Cross, Euston & Hamsptead line to enable an amalgamation with the City and South London to form today’s Northern line took place in 1926, making it the third underground line to serve Waterloo. Finally, in 1999 the Jubilee line was extended via Waterloo, although the original intent to serve the still under-equipped parts of south east London and west Kent has been warped by a combination of greed and vanity about which more in my next post.

Waterloo is as the above makes clear a major interchange. It is also a superb destination in its own right, being home to The Old Vic theatre, The Royal Festival Hall, The complex of the Purcell Room and the Queen Elizabeth Hall, The National Film Theatre, The National Theatre, The Museum of the Moving Image, besides serving as a good starting point for a walk along the Thames which depending on how energetic you are feeling could be stop at Southwark (Jubilee line), Blackfriars (District, Circle and main line railways), London Bridge (Northern, Jubilee, main line railways) or even further east.

To end this post here are a couple of pictures for orientation purposes. I have chosen (as will be general policy in this series) to use the Diagrammatic History rather than a current schematic diagram…

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More Work for the Great Centenary Charity Auction

INTRODUCTION

As well as my title piece I have some links and pictures (the latter connected with the title piece). Enjoy…

WORKING FOR THE GREAT CENTENARY CHARITY AUCTION

Todat I have been working on some stuff for the Great Centenary Charity Auctioin, the first running of which takes place on June 28th (another auction is planned for March). Most of today’s work was imaging small items, but there was also a poster to create, based on the fact that the Eastern Daily Press gave us almost a whole page in their Monday issue. There was an advert that we did not wish to display in our poster, so I occuipied that space with a picture of Lot 1 and some accompanying text…

Given the size of the newspaper in question this required two scans and then some clever editing to combine them. By the way the chap in red jacket next to the auctioneer is yours truly.

There were some very interesting items to image, including a decorative piece featuring a picture of the Obelisk of Hammurabi (King of Babylon circa 1,700 BCE, creator of a famous code of laws)…

Lot 556 (the 'Hammurabi' piece) in full — Lot 556 (the ‘Hammurabi’ piece) in full

An ultra-close up of the insription. — An ultra-close up of the inscription.

LINKS

Just a few links to share this time. The first of them is from Cosmos Up and concerns proof a link between black holes and galactic mergers.

My remaining links are both connected the same story, somneone who got a work experience placement at Job Centre and has produced a damning expose of the behaviour anbd attitudes of staff there:

1)Undercover at the jobcentre

2)The equivalent post on northstar.boards.net

A FEW CLOSING WORDS

I hope that you have all enjoyed this post and that you will be encouraged to share some or all of it.

Special Post: Loughton

INTRODUCTION

This is the sixth post in a series I have started recently, in the form of a station by station guide to London. Before moving on to the meat of today’s post, here is a link to the previous five.

LOUGHTON

Loughton has been served by the Central line since 1948, but before that it, along with the rest of the eastern end of the Central line was part of the Great Eastern Railway. Nowadays there are only three stations beyond Loughton on the Central line, but as you will be seeing in a later post there used to be more. This is the first of the stations I have covered in this series to be on the Central line, so a mention of Danny Dorling’s marvellous book ‘The 32 Stops’ is mandatory – complete with link to snapshot review and a picture…

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As a preamble to talking about Loughton itself I am going to say a bit about going there, for which I need to make some very brief technical points. London Underground (the correct name for the whole network) comprises two separate systems, the older lines (Metropolitan, District, Circle and Hammersmith & City) known as ‘surface’ lines whose tunnel sections were built using the self-explanatory ‘cut-and-cover’ method and the newer, deep-level ‘tube’ lines. The older lines were built to the same spec as mainline railways, while the newer lines are built for much smaller stock. Where there are direct cross-platform interchanges between older and newer lines the platforms are built to a compromise height so that there is a step down into a tube train and a step up into a ‘surface’ train.

My preferred method of getting to Loughton, unless I was starting from a Central line station, would be to get on to either the Hammersmith and City or District lines first, and change at Mile End, which is an interchange that is unique – it is a cross-platform interchange between ‘surface’ and ‘tube’ lines that is in tunnel (the Central line rises to the surface at the it’s next station eastwards, Stratford).

I first visited Loughton for a Geography project at school, studying the Loughton Brook. In spite of this introduction I subsequently returned of my own volition more than once – it is very scenic, both north towards the sources of the brook and south to where the brook flows in to the river Roding.

To finish this post I have a few map pictures for you…

This map has got a bit damp stained over the years, but it does reveal how much the central area of the network is expanded in the schematic diagrams that are usually shown at stations.

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This map shows what the London Underground system looked like in 1950, just after the Central line had started serving the stations out to the then terminus at Ongar.

A Wet Sunday

INTRODUCTION

This is a blog post of my most frequent type – a title piece, some infographics from various sources, some links and some photographs. Enjoy…

A WET SUNDAY

Although the weather was far from appealing yesterday I did manage to get a decent length walk in en route to my aunt’s house for a birthday meal, and as you will see late there were some good pics to be taken.

The meal was superb, and there was some decent television afterwards.

I got home just in time to catch the final stages of the day’s play in the test match. England are going to need to bat very well to win (and with two days to go a draw is almost out of the question.

INFOGRAPHICS

My first infographic is an important ‘mythbuster’…

Mythbuster

The next infographic concerns the requirements that the Tories plan to impose on strike ballots. Bbefore showing it I will say this: I do not think that those who choose not to express an opinion deserve to be taken into account, which is why when talking about the vote gained by the Conservatives at the last election I always refer to the 36.9% of the votes cast that they receive and not the 24% of the electorate that voted for them. Now for the infographic…

Strike rules

My last two infographics are both aimed directly at Mr Cameron…

HSBC Fraud Scameron

LINKS

COSMOSOLOGY

Cosmos Up are a very reliable source of interesting material, and today the provide the first two links that I choose to share:

1)A piece about the discovery of a ‘twin Kuiper belt’ orbiting a nearby star.

2)A space probe approaches the dwarf planet Ceres.

ASPIRATION

Aspiration has been something a buzzword among contenders for the Labour leadership. This piece from Tax Research UK is a splendid rebuttal to this current obsession among those at the top of the Labour Party.

A SUCCESSFUL PETITION

It is no secret that I sign and share a very large number of petitions. This, courtesy of change.org, is a story of a petition that has achieved the desired result, and I am delighted to share the celebration of this success.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I hope that you have all enjoyed this piece, and that you will share it. Here to round it off are some photographs…

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This bird is so small that was very difficult to capture it at all.

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Not a bad pic of something that is a quarter of a million miles away!

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