I may not agree with everything our delightful new Mayor does but I have to say that I think the London Assembly building, which was opened by The Queen yesterday, is a stunning building. I am pleased to see that, in this age of taller, squarer buildings, we (occasionally) still strive to build something that is visually stunning. Now all I have to do is get down there and see it with my own eyes.
2005: Button On The Podium
2003: Home again
Oh isn’t customer service in the UK great? They can’t fix my car for a week and they won’t collect because it’s not their policy any more. How am I supposed to get it to them when every time I start the engine smoke comes from the bonnet?
2007: Anything You Can Do
2002: Running Shoes
2002: Oh Canada
And I went running again today. I am fairly pleased that I did the training run as it says on my training sheet (it’s a 20 minute routine with 1 minute running followed by 1 minute walking). Still hurts and I think my cheap trainers have resulted in some busing to the foot. So, if I am to continue with this folly then I shall have to invest in some proper running shoes. I think it will be money well spent but I have no idea what I should be looking for in a running shoe. It is years and years since I did anything like this. Given that exercise is not my thing I do not think that I should be enjoying it as much as I do!
2007: Anything You Can Do
2002: Fix My Car
2002: Oh Canada
Don’t you just love Canada? I do. “Canada took a major step toward legally recognizing same-sex marriage on Friday when an Ontario court ruled that to do otherwise is unconstitutional”. I believe that this is a positive step forward. [other thoughts]
Unrelated but when will these guys start shipping to the UK?
2007: Anything You Can Do
2002: Fix My Car
2002: Running Shoes
I am pro-Euro. I think it would be a good thing for the UK to use the single currency and that’s why I applaud the “blonde babes and cross-dressing comedians” who today protested in The Gap about the differences in pricing between European Countries. Let’s see UK prices more in-line with those of our neighbours across the channel. Go Eddie! [Yahoo]
2003: Britain’s Net Pioneers
This morning, I get up and watch F1. This at least relaxes me and, although I am not a Michael Schumacher fan, I do enjoy the fact he’s made history today. Then I go for the first of my training runs. My body (in particular my legs – from the knees down) decide that exercise is evil and I hobble back to the house after the required time.
At this point in the day I am in pain but nonetheless head off to Wimbledon for a picnic and then to see Elkie Brooks in (open-air) concert. She walked on stage and looking bored, giving a lacklustre performance of Fool If You Think It’s Over. But then she warmed up and was fantastic; I never knew she sang the Blues. So, despite my sore legs and the cramped seating, a great night was head by all (even the picnic food was great 😉
2002: Try the M11
I feel it was an interesting weekend. Some of it I don’t want to repeat but mostly good fun and the kind of things that should be done at weekends if you slave all week in an office. It started yesterday afternoon when my brother arrived and we spent two hours in a car driving round south London roads to get across the river and on to the M11 motorway. It’s not the easiest thing from South West London and should really start another rant about the state of London’s roads but I am too tired for that! (it’s also good to see somebody else wondered what the strange tower was)
Arriving in Takeley for a family christening and all is well. It is nice to see some of the members of the family who I do not see too often. We had planned to leave around 8pm and head back for SW17 but we were having a good time and partied until 11pm. It’s hard partying drinking only water but I still had a good time.
So, off we set. 10 minutes on the M11 and the radiator overheats, I lose all power on the car and just about manage to get it onto the hard shoulder before it grinds to a halt in the middle of the carriageway. Then, 50 minutes later a bloke from the RAC arrives and, without really looking at the engine because he can tell it would do no use, loads the car onto the back of the truck and me & my brother into the cab for the ride south. Then we hit the Blackwall Tunnel. At 1am (Sunday) we are caught in a traffic queue for an hour as traffic try to negotiate one lane in the tunnel (cue for another rant about London traffic). Eventually, the car is unloaded outside my house at 2.45am (with apologies to all my neighbour who would have been woken up by the noise).
I had a moment of brain failure last night. At some point I was asked if I wanted to run 10K for fun at the end of September. Why did I say “I’ll think about it overnight”? I find myself this morning having paid £10 to enter the Nike Run London event. What have I done? I haven’t run anywhere for 10 years. I even have a policy of not running for a train because another one will come along eventually.
Apparently we need £40 million to cope with our rising fridge problem. £40 million! It amazes me how much we need to spend to recycle. Wow. And I can’t get the council to deliver my recycling bags. [recycling link]
2004: The Madness Of Business Travel
2002: How far is 10K in Miles?
After last night’s little rant on the state of the London Underground system, I heard about this morning’s nonsense from the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) to start charging commuters more to sit on over-crowded, dirty, late-running trains. I guess the plan reasons that charging higher fares means fewer people will travel by train. Surely, this proves that an integrated transport policy for London’s workers remains a non-existent dream. Ken Livingston wants to charge people for driving into central London. The SRA wants to charge more for travelling on trains. How are people expected to get into work? The answer is they will still drive and take the train and it will cost them more – status quo remains. It seems to me that nobody is prepared to do what it takes to sort transport in the South East out. And that still stinks.
So then, I got to thinking about John Prescott’s [John Prescott as Boss of Bosses?] little plan to build more affordable housing in the South East of England (to ease the chronic housing shortage, apparently). Affordable housing implies that this is aimed at people on a lower wage (am I taking a big leap here?). How, exactly, are these people going to get to work in London if train prices rise and roads get tolls? Again, it appears inconsistent and badly thought out. Why not take some of these £4 billion and encourage businesses to move out of the South East to areas where there are too many houses or where there is less congestion. If we’re not careful, the UK will topple over as the South East of Britain sinks into The Channel under the weight of all the people migrating from other parts of the country.
No other posts on this day.