Tag: www.londontu.be

Manor House (From londontu.be)

A link to my latest post on http://www.londontu.be

INTRODUCTION

I am giving you a link to my latest post on http://www.londontu.be, and two extracts. Please note that the original contains lots of pictures.

AN EXCITING DEVELOPMENT AND A SUGGESTED NAME CHANGE

While on twitter I spotted a tweet about a development called Woodberry Wetlands and being impressed by what I saw decided to do some digging. I soon established that the site is practically next door to Manor House station, and it did not take much longer, having located anofficial website to decide that this was something entirely worthy of my support – cherishing nature while being deep within the capital city. For those who (like me) do twitter, they have a presence there too…

View original...

My second extract is….

 

A SUGGESTED NAME CHANGE

There is historical precedence for name changes on the Piccadiilly line – the name of Gillespie Road station was changed to Arsenal at the request of the club’s then general manager Herbert Chapman. I respectfully suggest that this project outweighs a mere football club in importance and that TFL would be well advised to at least consider changing the name of Manor House station to Woodberry Wetlands (effective from May 1st)….

View original...

Midweek Mishmash

As it’s title says, this post is a mixture of all sorts of things – enjoy!

INTRODUCTION

I have a wide range of stuff for you, including pictures and links.

GREYFRIARS

In the second of my series of posts about “Buildings of King’s Lynn”, I put up some pictures of Greyfriars Tower. Tucked away in one corner of the grounds is a scale model of the friary as it would have been back in the 14th century…

Model + Key
A five image composite showing the model and the key (four images)
Key
The key
DSCN4534
eight individual images starting with this one.

DSCN4535DSCN4536DSCN4537DSCN4538DSCN4539DSCN4540DSCN4541

PICTURES FROM TODAY IN KING’S LYNN

DSCN4590

For more about what this company does click here.

DSCN4592DSCN4594DSCN4593

More details about the company that this second survey boat belongs to cna be found by clicking here.

DSCN4591DSCN4595DSCN4596DSCN4597DSCN4600DSCN4603DSCN4608DSCN4599DSCN4588DSCN4589DSCN4601DSCN4609

For the opera lovers among you.

DSCN4605

LINKS

I have a plethora of links for you today. I start with a subsection dealing with…

PETITIONS

Two petitions today:

On the Government’s own petitions website, is this call to protect academic freedom. The government have new legislation in the pipeline to include an ‘anti-lobbying’ clause in all government grants, and this petition seeks to exempt academic research from this law.

My second petition is on a matter of local interest. A new factory farm is planned for Sedgeford, Norfolk and if you find the notion as repellent as I do please click here to sign and share the petition against it.

AN APPROPRIATE STAND ALONE LINK

Appropriate because the MP about whom this piece was written, the dishonourable Julian Lewis, is in a club of one as a British MP who will not accept communication by email.

A TRIO FROM COSMOS UP

The website cosmos up has been in fine form recently, and here (two of them accompanied by images) are three crackers they have produced in less than two full days…

First up, details of a method by which we could get to Mars in three days.
Photon Power

Second, with no images, this about the brightest and darkest objects in our universe.

Thirdly, is this examination of the question of what life would be like on a donut shaped planet.

Donut Planet

This picture shows the orbital path of a donut planet’s moon should it have one.

A NEW POST ON WWW.LONDONTU.BE

A reminder of the existence of my London Transport themed website. Today’s new post focusses on London Bridge, partially inspired by this picture…

604-a

REMINDER: POSITIVE AUTISM AWARENESS CONFERENCE 

This will be taking place on April 15th at the Dukes Head Hotel, Tiesday Market Place, King’s Lynn, starting at 9:30. It has proved very popular – my latest information is that just 13 tickets are yet to be bought.

DSCN9319
The venue for the Positive Autism Awareness Conference.

Rugby, Links and Pictures

An account of this weekend’s six nations action plus some pictures and some links.

INTRODUCTION

The third weekend of the six nations rugby tournament is done and dusted. As indicated in the title I also have some links and pictures to share.

THE SIX NATIONS

On Friday night Wales took on France at the Principality (nee Millennium) Stadium. Yesterday’s two matches featured Italy versus Scotland at Stadio Olimpico and England versus Ireland at Twickenham.

WALES V FRANCE

Wales came into this match with one win and one draw to their name, France with wins over Scotland and Italy (a record which flattered them – given a decent kicker Italy would have beaten them and they were not convincing in the second game either). The match was fairly close throughout, and not of the highest quality. The Welsh emerged victorious and thus temporarily sat at the top of the table.

ITALY V SCOTLAND

Since Italy were included in the tournament, making it the Six Nations, these two sides have accrued 14 wooden spoons between them (Italy 10, Scotland 4) and few would bet against one or other adding to that tally this year. Often of late Italy have come to grief in the kicking department (see above) so it was ironic that on a day when Kelly Haimona was flawless with the boot they were well beaten, and are now very likely to finish bottom.

ENGLAND V IRELAND

England came into this match having won both games, unconvincingly against Scotland in the Calcutta Cup match and very comfortably against Italy. Ireland, winners in 2014 and 2015 had started with a draw and a defeat. England dominated the first half but failed to register the points to reflect that, and when James Haskell got himself sin-binned (for the fifth time in his international career) defeat was more than a possibility. However England were only one point behind when Haskell was able to rejoin the action, and two converted tries in a short space of time thereafter put them 13 points ahead. Although Ireland pressed hard in the closing stages England had done enough and on the balance of play over the whole 80 minutes their victory was well deserved.

THE TOURNAMENT SO FAR

England now lead with three wins from three games, Wales are second, and France third, with Scotland currently fourth, Ireland fifth and Italy sixth. England and Wales face each other in their next match, and the winner of that will be a strong favourite for the trophy, with France likely to finish third. Ireland, Scotland and Italy are fighting out the bottom half of the table. Thus far the quality of the play has not been especially high.

PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERLUDE

After a big chunk of text, here are some pictures…

This is the frontage of the Royal Arcade, Norwich
The back of the Guildhall – the work is nearly complete.

LINKS

Although there are not that many of them I am splitting these links into sections, starting with:

TTIP LEGAL ADVICE

This is a direct link to Michael Bowsher’s legal advice about TTIP.

COSMOS UP

A link to a very interesting piece about Asteroid 2013 TX68, accompanied by an image:

Asteroid

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Three links, and also three pictures, the latter showing how I have combined two metal badges to make a composite public transport badge. Since I am talking about public transport, here is a reminder of my London transport themed website,
www.londontu.be on which I have already posted two of the links.

Citymetric expose in great detail the lack of a business case for the controversial garden bridge.

Following on from the previous link, change.org are running a petition against the building of the garden bridge – please sign and share.

The last link before the pictures that end this post comes courtesy of we own it and is a call to stop some our finest stations from being sold.

Composite badge
Both sides of the two combined badges in one picture.
DSCN4519
The front off= the ‘composite badge’
DSCN4520
The reverse side.

 

A Grab Bag

A pot-pourri of a post, featuring my website, mental health, public transport, a new find in the blogging world (for me), human evolution and a few pictures.

INTRODUCTION

I have spent a good part of today working on my website, www.londontu.be, and I also have some pictures that I have not previously shared, plus a few other things.

THE LATEST FROM LONDONTU.BE

I have recently created three new posts that I choose to share here:

 

THE MENTAL HEALTH TASKFORCE

Mind, the mental health charity, have produced this about the Mental Health Task Force:

Mind

MUSICAL KEYS

On Monday evening, Musical Keys had another session for autistic people. As well as my usual i-pad generated strings (cello only on this occasion), the session ended with something new – generating sounds by constructing lines on the i-pad screen for balls to bounce off (for those with long memories the approach is bit like reverse “bat and ball”). Here some photos relating to that event:

The Custom House viewed from Queen Street
The Mart.
This is exactly the sort of ride that I hate!
The Pilot Place development
A Rainbow while I was waiting outside (there was a session for youngsters going on, so I felt it best to stay outside although it was cold.
The Scout “Hut”
I-pad screen.
The lines and dots program.

A NEW FIND

To give credit where it is definitely due, it was a post by Mike Sivier at Vox Political that introduced me to anewnatureblog, which I am now following. The particular post that Mike shared and that I followed up on was this one. I subsequently also read this one. I highly recommend this blog.

BETTER TRANSPORT MAPS

It was also courtesy of Mike that I found the Guardian piece that led to my discovery of the better transport campaign. One thing they are doing is producing maps which show how transport services across the UK are being endangered. Just one example: in Norfolk, where I live the county council’s transport budget was £4m in 2010 and £2.67m in 2015 – a cut of 33% in five years (and as a regular user I defy anyone to suggest that Norfolk’s transport provision is not in need of improvement!).

A GIF ABOUT HUMAN EVOLUTION

This little GIF, which WEIT picked up via twitter, started life in Carl Sagan’s Cosmos TV series. I have two links for you:

  1. The original post in which I saw this GIF
  2. The GIF on its own.

SOME FINAL PHOTOS

This is the vehicle that Charlie Ross and Christina Trevanion are using in Antiques Road Trip
A squirrel darting up a leafless tree
close up of the squirrel
A blanket knitted by my mother for their camper van.

 

Links and Coins

INTRODUCTION

I have a lot of interesting links to share, and some pictures from today at work.

LOTS OF LINKS

These links cover a wide range of stories. Each link will be preceded by some accompanying text.

First up, a really good story featuring Pizza Express. Please visit samedifference and read the full story.

Next, courtesy of the canary comes this story about the UN warning the Tories that their Trade Union Bill could be in breach of international law. It certainly sinks of double standards – OK to form a government on 37% of a 66% turn out but to go on strike you need 40% all those entitled to vote to vote yes.

My third selection comes courtesy of Tax Research UK and refers to the possible nationalisation of banks, arguing that unlike in 2008 it must be a proper nationalisation this time, and the bankers cannot be left in control again.

SOME POTENTIAL IDEAS FOR MY WEBSITE

The last two links and one picture are all stuff that could soon be featuring on my London transport themed website:

From visitlondon comes this listing of “31 free things to do with kids” which has lots of potential.

The folks at disabledgo have provided their top 10 of places to visit in the London Borough of Havering.

As a segue, here is a poster advertising skating at Cheshunt, which could be a nucleus of a post on the website…

Cheshunt

SOME PICTURES FROM TODAY AT WORK

 

 

ANTIQUES ROAD TRIP: BRAXTON VS ROSS

A brief account of yesterday;s episode of Antiques Road Trip, which featured both my home town and my employer. Also some photographs and some links.

INTRODUCTION

Although I do have a few other things to share this post is mainly concerned with yesterday’s episode of Antiques Road Trip, which happened to feature an auction at Fakenham Racecourse (which took place on April 29th 2015).

ANTIQUES ROAD TRIP

Here is a link to last night’s episode:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b07027st/antiques-road-trip-series-12-episode-21

For those who watch, I am the person in the red jacket sitting next to the auctioneer.

This was the start of a new week, so we were introduced to the two experts and shown the car that they would be using first. Then the buying part of the episode happened, which features some excellent footage of King’s Lynn among other places.

The episode concluded, as they all do, with the auction. While I do not know much about what happened to these items after the auction I can tell you that following a couple of other unsuccessful outings the baker’s scales are still on the James and Sons van.

The program was well made, and even though I of course already knew which items were destined to be bought for sale at that auction, nevertheless it held my attention all the way through.

A PICTORIAL INTERLUDE

I mentioned that there was some good footage from King’s Lynn on yesterday’s episode of Antiques Road Trip, and here some photos from King’s Lynn…

DSCN9988
St Nicholas Chapel, taken in August
DSCN9986
The Corn Exchange, also from August
DSCN3932
The Custom House, from August
DSCN9354
Taken yesterday
DSCN9353
Taken yesterday
DSCN9348
Taken yesterday
DSCN9358
One of three images of the flag flying above King’s Lynn station, all taken yesterday
DSCN9349
The Red Mount Chapel, taken yesterday

DSCN9357DSCN9359

DSCN9350
Taken yesterday
DSCN9355
Taken yesterday
100%
It is not often that a poll produces this result! – the story was about a Tory lord who was claiming that their daily allowance was insufficient!
DSCN9319
The front of the Duke’s Head Hotel where the Positive Autism Awareness Conference will be happening on April 15th.

WWW.LONDONTU.BE

I conclude this post by sharing a few recent posts connected with my London transport themed website:

The Lost Property Office

Tube Strike over job cuts and ticket office closures – Vox Political

Tube strike over job cuts and ticket office closures – Guardian

My most recent original post – Chingford and Loughton

THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN PENULTIMATE DAY

An account of the penultimate day at the Australian Open accompanied by some pictures and some links.

INTRODUCTION

As well as my thoughts on the Australian Open I have some links and pictures to share. 

THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN

There is one day remaining of the Australian Open. Tomorrow morning our time Andrew Murray takes to the court to play Novak Djokovic in the final of the men’s singles. If he wins, it will be the first time in the open era that a pair of brothers have won the singles and doubles titles at the same grand slam event, since today’s amazing action concluded with Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares beating the uber-veterans (combined aged 80) Daniel Nestor and Radek Stepanek to claim the men’s doubles. Gordon Reid having already won the wheelchair singles finally ran out of steam in the closing stages of a very long wheelchair doubles final.

However, the main event of the day was the women’s singles final. Serena Williams started as a red hot favourite against Angeliqe Kerber of Germany who had ended the run of Johanna Konta in the semi-finals (in reaching that stage of the tournament Konta had done enough to guarantee that she will be seeded at the French Open, as it took her ranking into the top 30 and she will be playing tournaments that she was not in last year between now and Roland Garros).

However, in the event, Angelique Kerber did the highly improbable and beat Serena Williams in three sets. This was a truly superb match (I heard every shot of it on five live sports extra) and I end this section by stating something in bold capitals:
ANGELIQUE KERBER WON THIS MATCH – SERENA DID NOT LOSE IT

PICTURES FROM AROUND KINGS LYNN

DSCN9151DSCN9152DSCN9313DSCN9314DSCN9315DSCN9316DSCN9318

DSCN9319
The front of the Duke’s Head Hotel where the Positive Autism Awareness Conference will be happening on April 15th.
DSCN9320
The rear of the Duke’s Head
DSCN9321
St Anne’s House
DSCN9322
Below this Tudor frontage is a hairdressers.

DSCN9324DSCN9326DSCN9327DSCN9328DSCN9329DSCN9330DSCN9331DSCN9332DSCN9333DSCN9334DSCN9335

LINKS

To open this section I mention a new find, dreambigdreamoften to whom I was introduced by Anna. My second encounter with DBDO came courtesy of Maria who signposted me towards this Meet and Greet post.

I also wish to share this from Ambitious About Autism.

My other links all relate to my London transport themed website, www.londontu.be:

Map

 

AUCTION AT THE MAIDS HEAD HOTEL

An account of Wednesday’s auction at the Maids Head Hotel, Norwich, with a few other bits and bobs, including another mention of the Positive Autism Awareness Conference.

INTRODUCTION

Although mainly concerned with the James and Sons auction that took place the day before yesterday, this post will also mention a few other things at the end.

THE AUCTION

This section divides into several subsections, starting with…

GETTING THERE

Given the early hour at which it was necessary for me to be at the venue and the fact that I was not returning straight to King’s Lynn but was instead going to my parents because we were going to a bridge evening at the Jolly Sailors I decided to aim to be on the 5:55AM X1 bus to Norwich, with the more circuitous X8/X29 route, the first of which departs at 6:10AM as back up.

I achieved my intended aim of being on the 5:55AM bus and this bus not only departed on time, it benefited from a clear run along the A47 to arrive at Norwich bus station precisely when it was supposed to. I then walked down to the Maids Head, picking up a few photos along the way as I was in plenty of time…

This map ios located near the Surrey Street entrance to Norwich Bus Station
This light show adorns the Castle Mall shopping centre
The Maids Head has a very old name sign worked into the building itself

THE SETUP

All the stuff for the auction had to unloaded from the van and set up in the room we were using (the Erpingham room) at The Maids Head, and a few things had to be moved around for the room to properly organised for our purposes. That and a few technical hitches notwithstanding (mere trifles such as initially having no internet connection!) all was ready by 9AM when the first viewers started to arrive.

THE AUCTION ITSELF

The auction started quietly, with only a few people present at the venue and no one bidding online on the early lots, but the internet bidding started at just after lot 100, and was very lively at certain points – lot 204 with an estimate of £50-60 went for £260, lots 283 and 286 both went for substantially above estimate, and a sequence of sets of penny reds with Great Western Railway perfins saw some spirited bidding involving a room and an internet bidder, with half a dozen lots estimated at 10-15 actually getting three figures a piece.

These are some of the penny reds which caused such excitement.

Lots 597 and 737 both sold very cheap to yours truly (even with buyers premium there was change from £15 for the two lots put together). Here they are…

Lot 737 – a nice piece of railwayana
Lot 597 – an added personal factor – Stroud happens to be my birthplace.

In connection with these pieces of railwayana, a quick reminder of my London transport themed website, www.londontu.be.

THE CLEAR UP

The last lot went under the hammer not very long after 2PM, after which everything that had not gone to people in the room had to be loaded back on to the van. Then my colleague Andrew and I travelled back to Fakenham in the van. My initial plan had been to get the 17:38 bus on from Fakenham to East Rudham, but because we were ahead of schedule, but not sufficiently so for there to be a likelihood of me catching the 15:38, and because the weather showed its teeth when we just east of Fakenham, Andrew very kindly gave me a lift to East Rudham. I worked out that I had handled some of these lots seven separate times (carrying them to my imaging area, carrying them to the storage area, carrying them down to the shop for viewing, carrying them the shop to the van, carrying them from the van to auction venue, carrying them from the auction venue to the van and finally carrying them from the van back to the shop).

POST AUCTION

My early arrival at East Rudham proved useful – my parents had unearthed some silver spoons which needed to photographed with a view to selling them. I have two picture galleries in this connection, both created from the same set of originals – the first using Microsoft’s own image editing software, and the second, which I unveil for the first time, using my own image editing software, which was designed specifically for use with Nikon Coolpix cameras…

This is the set of images created using Microsoft software…

This was the result when I edited the same photos using my own software.

The bridge went well after a poor start – I emerged plus 13 on the evening (65p at Jolly Sailors stakes).

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY/ CALENDAR

Monday 1st February: James and Sons feature on Antiques Road Trip – episode on air on BBC1 at 4:30PM (should be available on i-player by 6PM) – I am the guy in the red jacket sat next to the auctioneer.

Wednesday 24th February: James and Sons auction at Fakenham Racecourse, starts at 10AM. This auction features a wide variety of lots, beginning with bonds, passing through banknotes, coins, stuff from HMS Britannia, Ephemera and Militaria before finishing with Stamps.

Friday 15th April: Positive Autism Awareness Conference, the Dukes Head Hotel, King’s Lynn – for more information check out the following links:

Yesterday’s blog post dedicated to this event

West Norfolk NAS’s facebook page

The Facebook event listing

West Norfolk NAS’s website

 

CALLING ALL LONDONERS

I have shared some of London mayoral candidate Sian Berry’s transport related ideas on www.londontu.be:

London City Airport

Fair Fares

This is the official Fair Fares piece

Having provided these excellent suggestions Sian has turned her attention to London’s sky high rents, with this proposal for a London Renter’s Union

If you are eligible to vote in this election I urge you to vote for Sian Berry.

 

A MIXED BAG

Some social housing related links, pointers to some stuff on http://www.londontu.be and a couple of extra pictures.

INTRODUCTION

This post has two main strands, pointing you in the direction of items on my website, www.londontu.be and also sharing links to some excellent articles on social housing in the wake of Cameron’s announcement regarding “sink estates” this weekend.

SOCIAL HOUSING ARTICLES

The social housing situation in West Norfolk, where I have lived since December 2005, is such that I was unable to find social housing for myself, and was only ultimately able to move into a place of my own by renting privately. Thus, my first concern with the Cameron plan as announced is that we have not been told what effect it will have on the overall availability of social housing (though we can all guess, given the Tory record on this issue, and Mr Cameron’s steadfast refusal to give a straight answer when questioned). The second and more serious concern is the laughable inadequacy of the £140 million figure quoted by Cameron if the intention was actually to improve the situation, rather than opening up another front in the Tories ongoing war on social housing. A housing estate a stone’s throw from my own flat in King’s Lynn has recently seen a redevelopment project stutter to a halt because £10 million proved insufficient for the purpose. More detail on the Hillington Square project is available on their official website.

That is enough of me on social housing, now for some links:

SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM WWW.LONDONTU.BE

The Natural History Museum at South Kensington has a new exhibition coming up which is featured in this youtube clip, which I pressed on to my own website earlier today.

Also, nicely combining public transport and responsible shopping practices, here is a post about my latest London Underground themed purchase.

Finally, I have made use of the fact that the Dafabet Masters, one of Snooker’s triple crown (along with the UK and World championships), is now under way at Alexandra Palace by putting up an appropriate post.

Alexandra Palace

This picture came via google: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-rVSI8L_R9pw/AAAAAAAAAAI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/iOf_mQ2ABr8/s0-c-k-no-ns/photo.jpg

A COUPLE OF PHOTOS TO FINISH

DSCN8591
A Patum Peperium lid with a classic picture.
DSCN8575
A Caspian Gull (?) in central King’s Lynn.

 

Public Transport

Links to information about a wonderful idea concerning London transport put forward by Sian Berry and to a campaign being run by Which?

INTRODUCTION

I have today seen two public transport related items that I wish to share, one of which I have already pressed on to my London transport related website. I have also tweeted about both items.

SIAN’S SUPERB SUGGESTION

The Sian of this heading is Green Party candidate for London Mayor Sian Berry. The suggestion that I am so enthused by is that the entire area covered by London Transport should be a single fare zone, so that people who work in London but cannot afford premium property prices near the centre do not also get hit by higher fares. For more details I have two links for you:

  • Sian’s own piece, posted here
  • This article in the Standard.

I wish Sian luck in the London mayoral contest.

MAKE RAIL REFUNDS EASIER

Just a brief piece here pointing you in the direction of the Which? campaign to make it easier for customers who have been let down by rail companies to secure refunds (I still remember how much work I had to do when claiming a refund from Midland Mainline 12 years ago, which was so clear a case that they actually gave me more in compensation than I had asked for). To find out more, and hopefully sign up to this important campaign please follow the link below:

Make Rail Refunds Easier