For all you steam train buffs out there, and especially those in and around London, IanVisits has a listing of the miniature steam railways which can be ridden on in the London area — and a few others as a bonus. Worth a look if you want an afternoon out over the summer.
Image from Harrow & Wembley Society of Model Engineers
More details and links over at IanVisits.
They must be havin’ a giraffe! A bleedin’ big ‘un n’all.
Yesterday Diamond Geezer, who blogs a lot about various London-y things, posted a list of the cost of various London attractions.
This was prompted by the news that The Shard is to charge a few coppers shy of £25 for the privilege of going to the top to see the view. A view which, likely as not, will be mist, aka. low cloud, rather than the promised 40 miles round London.
So everyone can be equally scandalised, here are the maximum prices from Diamond Geezer‘s list with one or two I’ve added …
£30.00 Madame Tussauds (on the day)
£29.95 The View from The Shard (Time Out website)
£29.00 Harry Potter Tour, Watford
£28.00 Up at the O2
£26.95 Ripley’s Believe It Or Not
£24.95 The View from The Shard (standard price)
£24.00 The London Dungeon
£23.00 London Zoo
£20.90 Tower of London
£19.80 London Aquarium
£18.90 London Eye
£18.00 Buckingham Palace State Rooms
£16.50 Churchill War Rooms
£16.95 Hampton Court Palace
£16.00 Westminster Abbey
£16.00 Kew Gardens
£15.00 Houses of Parliament
£15.00 St Paul’s Cathedral
£14.00 HMS Belfast
£13.50 London Transport Museum
£13.00 St Paul’s Cathedral
£12.00 Cutty Sark
£8.00 Tower Bridge exhibition and walkways
£7.00 Royal Observatory Greenwich
£6.00 Apsley House
£4.00 Wellington Arch
I’m sorry, London attractions, but those prices are just not on and they are why you won’t see me visiting any time soon. So don’t go wondering why you don’t see me, at least until you reduce those prices by 50%. We’re in a recession. OK?
Yes, I’ve done a lot of the attractions. I remember being taken to Madame Tussauds at the age of about 10 (so 50-ish years ago) and my father complaining about how exorbitant it was even then. Here’s my verdict on those I can remember:
Add to which that the London Dungeon, Apsley House, Buckingham Palace, Harry Potter, the O2, The Shard, and Ripley’s hold no attraction for me, which is why I’ve not been to them.
And that is from someone who likes history and going to interesting and odd places. What a sad reflection on one of the great cities of the world and my home!
Thank your personal deity the national museums are all free.
We’ve just come back from a flying overnight visit to Frome in Somerset.
The trip was to attend a lecture (put on by the Frome Society for Local Study as part of the Frome Festival) by biographer Hilary Spurling on Anthony Powell and his house The Chantry, which is just outside Frome.
Hilary, who knew the Powell well, is currently working on his official biography and her lecture delved around in some of her preliminary thoughts about Powell’s relationship with the early 19th century house he occupied for the second half of his life. That was a relationship, she suggested, which was one factor in making Powell’s magnum opus A Dance to the Music of Time the novel it is; without the country solitude Powell would likely not have been able to write Dance in the way he did. This made for a hugely interesting lecture, although as Hilary commented these were early thoughts and she had been reluctant to expose them to public view so early in her writing process. (This also explains why there will not be a text made available.) If they are a sample of the depth and perceptiveness of her finished biography it will be just brilliant.
Following the lecture Noreen and I went, with Anthony Powell Society Chairman Paul Nutley, to La Bisalta, Frome’s most superb Italian restaurant for a delicious late dinner. This is a small family-run restaurant in a converted house on the edge of the town centre — and actually a restaurant Powell knew but under its previous owners. Despite arriving, unannounced, after 9pm we were warmly welcomed and magnificently fed and watered; so magnificently that none of us could manage a pudding! I had a really delicious hot Antipasto Caldo, which came to the table literally sizzling on the plate, followed by a wonderfully rich Tagliolini with porcini mushrooms in a cream sauce, washed down with some well-chilled Peroni. Paul and Noreen both had duck breast as a main course, which they reported to be equally excellent. We staggered off to our respective dormitories not much before 11.30! ★★★★★
Noreen and I were staying in the Archangel. According to Paul, who knows Frome well, this was until a few years ago a very scruffy back-street pub. But it has now been heavily refurbished as a small, contemporary hotel, bar and restaurant. The style is a fusion of the old rustic (stripped stone walls) with the contemporary (stainless steel, dark woodwork, bare pipework, strange-shaped sinks and sumptuous sofas which it is impossible to climb out of). Our room (above) was a strange fusion of Goth with dark purple paintwork and soft furnishings, mostly bare (old) plaster walls, and a huge photographic mural of Fra Angelico’s Angel of the Annunciation. The bathroom was the size of most people’s sitting room with a steel bath the size of the Titanic! The bed was heavenly soft, especially after what had been a tiring day. Breakfast was excellent, everyone was extremely friendly and although not cheap it wasn’t unreasonably expensive either at £125 for a double room including breakfast. The owners deserve to make a success of what has clearly been a huge investment. ★★★★★
The return train journey from London Paddington to Westbury was painless and on time despite getting drowned by a torrential rain-shower boarding the train on the return journey. Paul kindly conveyed us to and from the station. ★★★★★ again.
We were away from home for just 27 hours, but it felt more as if we had been gone the best part of a week! An all-round super trip despite not having any real time to explore Frome itself.
Following her recent trip to London our blogging friend Katy has written a series of three posts of hints and tips for those visiting London for the first time. They are excellent advice even if you’ve been to London before. I recommend that you go and read them.
And when you’ve read them, come back here for a few things I, as a Londoner born and bred, can add.
London Transport
London for Beginners – The Basics
London for Beginners – Tourist Attractions
OK. In general I will echo everything that Katy says in these three posts. But here are a few additional thoughts which I’ve arranged roughly by each of Katy’s posts.
London Transport
Although Katy isn’t a Londoner, she’s been visiting London for many years and has lived here, so in many ways she knows more about travelling around London than I do.
Driving in London
My first piece of advice here would be what Katy doesn’t say in as many words: DON’T. If you thought the one-way systems, restrictions, traffic etc. were bad in your city they’re worse in London.
If you must drive in central London then something to watch is fuel. Fill up before you get into the centre. There are very few petrol stations in the central area. OK I’m not a driver but I can think of only two fuel stops in the West End area: one on Park Lane and one on the Marylebone Road. Doubtless there are others, but they’re pretty well hidden.
Take Katy’s words about parking restrictions to heart. Yes you can find convenient on-street parking but it is rare; near Oxford Street you can try Manchester Square which sometimes has available parking especially at weekends. (And while you’re in Manchester Square visit The Wallace Collection.)
Do not dice with the parking/traffic restrictions. Not only are there lots of Traffic Wardens, but there are lots of cameras, including on mobile vans and buses. If you get caught (and you will be) flouting parking restrictions, stopping in yellow boxes, jumping lights or using bus lanes you will find you’re stuffed with a £100+ ticket. Don’t risk it.
Trains
If you are eligible, get a Senior Railcard. They are £28 a year (£65 for three years) and give you around 30% off many train fares; you could save the cost on your first train trip to London.
London Underground (The Tube)
As Katy says: get an Oyster Card, if possible before you arrive. This will allow you to swipe through gates and will save you money as Oyster fares are significantly cheaper than paying cash for single tickets. Once you have the card you can also top it up online as well as at stations.
If you have a Senior Railcard, take it with your Oyster Card to any Underground Ticket Office and ask them to attach the Railcard to the Oyster card. This will save you around another 30% on all your tube fares. Many people do not know about this facility!
Buses
If you have a “granny free bus pass” issued by your local authority then it may also give you free travel on London buses.
If you live in one of the London boroughs and are over the female pensionable age (its moving nationally from 60 up to 65 at present, so you’ll have to check) or have one of a range of disabilities you are entitled to Freedom Pass. This is the London-wide version of the “granny free bus pass”. But it does a lot more. You don’t just get free bus travel at any time, you also get free tube travel and mostly free rail travel (there are a few restrictions) in the London area; also free trams and free DLR. (But note freedom Pass doesn’t cover Inter-city journeys from the mainline termini.)
There are over 600 bus routes in Greater London. Where they start, finish and the routes they take are often far from obvious. You need to do some research before you arrive if you’re planning to use the buses.
You can find out about almost all London travel, including Oyster cards, on the Transport for London website.
Taxis
This is something Katy didn’t cover. Everyone knows about the London Black Cab, which is ubiquitous in the central area. Use them. Yes they are more expensive than the tube if you’re on your own. For two, or especially more, they could work out cheaper than the tube. All Black Cabs are metered and you pay by a combination of distance and time, so the meter keeps ticking even if you’re sitting in traffic. Cabbies know this and while a few will use it to their advantage, in my experience most won’t. They know where the bottlenecks and roadworks are. And they are masters at knowing every back double and cut-through going so they generally will do their best to get you to your destination quickly — after all the sooner they drop you, the sooner they get another fare and most would prefer to keep moving.
If a Taxi has it’s yellow light on it is plying for hire and you can wave it down, or you can pick up a cab at a Taxi Rank. A cabbie is required by law to take you to any destination within 6 miles (25 miles from Heathrow Airport, I think) regardless. If it is over 6 miles he may refuse if he has a “reasonable excuse”. You will find a few ladies driving cabs and the vast majority of cabbies are London born and bred.
All taxis in London are registered with, and regulated by, the Public Carriage Office and the incidence of problems is rare. The London Black Cab driver is in general very knowledgeable not just about what’s where and how to get there but they often have interesting historical/trivial facts about places. I’m a great admirer of the London Cabbie; I don’t know how they manage to learn all this stuff — and they do have to learn it thoroughly (it’s call The Knowledge) to get their licence. They really are a breed apart, in the nicest possible way.
Outside the central area Black Cabs are rarer and you’ll likely have to know where the nearest cab rank is, which may be only the nearest decent-sized station.
But outside the central area there are also minicabs. These are the private hire cars; they are not allowed to ply for hire and by law all journeys must be pre-booked — which means you have to call their office and ask for a pick up. They’ll want to know where you’re going and will generally quote you a price. Be sensible with minicabs: when your car arrives ensure the driver really is for you: ask him to tell you the name of the person he’s picking up and if in doubt don’t get in. If necessary call his office and ask for the details of the car (make, model, registration number) picking you up, and check they match. Many firms are now converting to a computerised system and if you have a mobile will text you the details of the car they’re sending to you.
Minicabs are also licensed by the PCO and generally use saloon cars which can be identified by round yellow licence tickets on the top near-side corner of the windscreen and rear window. Minicabs are not metered but charged by the mile (as registered by the car’s trip meter) so it helps to have an idea where you’re going before you start.
Apart from the need to book a minicab the downside is that the vast majority are driven by immigrants who don’t have to have a good knowledge of their area (although many do); most do satnav. On the upside, they are generally around 30-50% cheaper than Black Cabs.
Bicycles.
Frankly, DO
N’T unless you have a death-wish. Yes, you can hire bikes from the organised stands (the so-called Boris Bikes, after the current Mayor, Boris Johnson, who introduced them). But frankly the London traffic is so horrendous that I think cycling in London is no longer safe, especially if you’re not familiar with the roads. The same goes for rickshaws. And I say all that as a long-time cyclist.
London for Beginners – The Basics
Buy a good London Street Map before you arrive! A-Z and AA maps are both good. Make sure it covers the area you will be trampling over. Maps are good if you want a view of a wide area. Map books, where you get a small area on each page may be larger scale and more detailed, but you won’t get the wide view and they aren’t as comfortable/easy to carry.
Also get a tube map, you can download one from the Transport for London website.
As Katy mentions, things in London are expensive so be prepared to pay. London is one of the most expensive cities in the world; nothing is cheap unless it’s free! Even Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedral now charge for entrance. Expect any exhibition to charge at least £10 per head and £15 or more is not unusual.
Remember too that London is one of the biggest cities in the world. The central area is 5 miles from east to west. And it is almost 10 miles, in a straight line from the Tower of London to Kew Gardens. Do not underestimate the distances you may have to cover or the time it will take.
Keep tight hold of your valuables and luggage. Like all cities there are some very clever pickpockets around. And if you are unlucky enough to be the victim of crime, do report it to the Police. It’s a pain but the Police should give you a record number which will help you with any insurance claim. And they might even be able to take the perpetrators off the streets.
Food.
Yes you will want to eat out, sometimes at least. See if you can get recommendations for good places to eat. Most pubs will allow children in if you are eating, but under 18s are not allowed to buy or drink alcohol. Most pubs these days do reasonable, if basic, food at reasonable (for London) prices; some are absolutely excellent.
If you want a sandwich lunch then Marks & Spencer (M&S) probably do the best take out pre-prepared sandwiches. And with a bit of looking you can often find a garden or park where you can sit and eat your sandwiches — although if you do this be prepared for an audience of hopeful sparrows and pigeons.
Money.
Yes, you’ll need loads of this. Personally I don’t like cash machines as they are too open to criminal minds, but you may not have a choice. If you’re happy with cash machines then there are lots around; you’ll seldom be more than a few minutes walk from one!
If you need to change foreign currency you will often get the best deals by going to a Post Office. Their rates, certainly for Euros and US Dollars) tend to be reasonably good and they do not rob you of a commission!
I would say don’t give money to anyone begging on the streets. Yes, London does have a problem with the homeless living on the streets. While some of those begging are genuine, many are known not to be. In my view it is better not to encourage any of them.
London for Beginners – Tourist Attractions
Katy provides a pretty good list of the things to go and see. I would add:
But I would also add a list of things that really are not worth bothering with:
Katy mentions the round London bus tours. Yes they aren’t cheap, but the tickets are valid for a whole day (so start early to get best value) and you can hop on and off most of them repeatedly. They are a good way of seeing lots of the sights and deciding what you want to come back to — or if you have only one day of getting a glimpse of a lot. They are also very good at helping join together all the different bits of the city.
Finally as Katy also says, don’t buy tickets from ticket touts. The tickets may well not be valid (they are often trackable and non-transferable) and touts are often operating illegally. If you really want tickets for a particular show you may have to depend on one of the ticket agencies, or queue on the door on the night for returns. Almost all London shows get sold out.
Don’t let any of this deter you from coming to London. Most of what is less than positive really is only good common sense which should apply anywhere. Use what Katy and I have written and enjoy your visit. You won’t regret it; almost everyone ends up loving London!
Yesterday we had an awayday. As part of her Christmas present I said I’d take Noreen to Chichester before mid-February to see the Edward Burra exhibition at Pallant House Gallery. I also knew we’d also get at least a wander round the cathedral and a sniff round any bookshops we stumbled across. And of course there’s always lunch and coffee and cake and …
So yesterday was the day. Although we didn’t spend quite as long poking around Chichester as I’d hoped (the decrepit old knees won’t take a lot of it these days) it felt like a bit of a marathon, what with living the other side of London.
We left home just before 8am, took the train into Marylebone and a taxi across to Victoria where we were eventually allowed onto the train to Chichester. ETA 1115. (Coming home took just as long.)
The first stop was the cathedral which was welcoming and actually quite busy for a winter Tuesday. The heart of the building is Norman and there are some lovely decorated arches. But to be honest beyond that I didn’t find it one of the most entrancing cathedrals I’ve visited, although given that there are gardens (not visited) it would probably be much better on a summer’s day.
There is a (Victorian?) stained glass window and a memorial tablet commemorating the Tudor/Jacobean composer Thomas Weelkes and another tablet commemorating Gustav Holst. The stained glass window by Marc Chagall is also worth seeing.
There is also a rather lovely and unexpected piece of Roman mosaic which was discovered under the foundations and is now visible, in situ, behind a glass viewing panel in the floor. The cloisters, with their wooden vaulted roof are unusual and rather rather nice.
Lunch in the cathedral café was simple, good and welcomly warming on a bitter January day. Noreen had a pasta bake with veg and I had a fish bake also with veg. With a soft drink each this was, I thought, good value at under £18 for the both of us.
After lunch we wandered slowly past the market cross to find the Pallent House Gallery which was staging the Edward Burra exhibition. We hit a day when the gallery were doing half-price admission. Unexpected result!
I’ve never been sure about Burra’s paintings but he was a friend of Anthony Powell, especially pre-war, so a viewing was a necessity. Having seen the paintings in the flesh I’m still not sure about them; to be honest most of them really don’t do much for me. Many were smaller than I’d imagined, although there were also some which are much larger than expected. One or two of Burra’s late landscapes were rather nice, but his earlier work is extremely “disturbed” being often a cross between Heironymus Bosch (a known influence on Burra) and Salvador Dali. All in all his paintings look better in reproduction. Having said that Burra is probably more important than is often credited, under-rated and under-exposed — but this latter is doubtless because most of his surviving work is on private collections.
By now it was early afternoon and still bitterly cold. A meander through the town unearthed a secondhand bookshop, but nothing interesting to spend our money on. So we whiled away an hour drinking coffee and eating cake then made our way towards the station.
We just missed a train. This meant an amusing but cold 30 minute wait for the next one. I don’t know what it is about this area of the country but the train stations seem to be populated by a peculiarly local inter-mix of teenage school girls, low-life and the inhabitants of the nearest loony bin. At least it makes for an amusing way to waste the time between trains.
The train back to Victoria was another amusement. It consisted of a 3 year-old who insisted, despite his mother’s instructions, on working the squeaky hinge of the lift-up tray on the seat. Two lads of about 20 who were Tottenham Hotspur supporters going to see Spurs play and who in 90 minutes managed to drink four cans of premium lager each! How they were standing by the time we reached Victoria GOK; but at least they were harmless. Although best of all was a large group of sub-teen French school-kids who at one point broke into a rendition of Queen’s I Want to Ride My Bicycle in cracked English. I was waiting for them to do the ‘Allo ‘Allo version of The Wheels on the Bus but sadly this never materialised. It would have been a fitting end to an interesting day.
This week’s small selection of the curious and not-so-curious you may have missed …
According to a recent survey people spend too long in the shower and use too much water. And it isn’t as green as we were told. Now there’s a surprise!
But then no wonder we go for the therapeutic, because according to uSwitch the UK is the worst place in Europe to live. Well it is if you care about what they measure. For geeks like me you can follow their method, recalculate the scores, exclude things you don’t care about and add in other things you do care about. But you’ll still get much the same answer. 🙁
Now here’s a seriously WOW! image. Yes it’s a European Hornet, Vespa crabro; a humongous but relatively docile wasp**. Sadly you don’t see them often. But just look at those compound eyes … and the detail which I’m sure shows the substructure underneath the eye. I’ve looked out other images of hornets and they all seem to show the same eye substructure. Absolutely amazing!
If you had a pet monkey, would you feed it crap food and never let it exercise or play and tell it how stupid and ugly it was? No, you’d love your pet monkey! So love your Monkey!
We all make mistakes. They’re nothing to hide. But we all do hide mistake, because they make us feel stupid. Don’t be afraid of Stupid. Stupid means self-awareness. Stupid means you’re learning. Love your Stupid.
![[47/52] Another Era Warps into View ...](https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7018/6405617805_32a5e63122.jpg)
Week 47 entry for 52 weeks challenge.
Another take on the vintage cars in London on 5 November in preparation for the London to Brighton run.
This week’s catch-up on things you may have missed, and which I missed writing about. This week: Sex and Science.
Now I know all maps are a 2D projection of a 3D surface, but I’d never realised before quite how many different ways there were of doing the map projections.
Does bestiality increase your risk of penile cancer? Why would anyone even think to want to find out?
First there was the Human Development Index — a sort of generalised national “happiness rating”. Then someone decided to add some greenness and turned the whole thing upside down.
Lots of interesting, quick and easy video explanations of physics at Minute Physics. Worth a look — and not just for geeks.
Vulvanomics — on female genital cosmetic surgery. Why would anyone? But then as a fully paid up mail I will never understand.
Antibiotics with a side of steak. Worrying commentary on agribusiness.
And finally …
Some lucky women are having orgasms in an MRI scanner. Now how cool is that?
But they’re doing it to show that only Epilepsy brings more activity to women’s brains than does “self-stimulation” to orgasm.
We live in a strange world!
I’ve not written recently about the nuclear disaster in Japan following March’s earthquake and tsunami. This is largely because there has been little in the way of new news. However a few days ago an IEEE Spectrum report was released which looks at the first 24 hours at the nuclear facility following the earthquake and highlights some of the design and procedural errors which exacerbated the disaster.
Although the situation in the reactors was clearly far worse than we had been led to believe, I’ll not extract the report here: you can read a summary on-line. And it is worth reading: it’s clear, lucid, gives a flavour of just how complex these situations really are, how much wasn’t know (or wasn’t told) and how people react under extreme pressure.
What I will do is mention the six major lessons which have been highlighted by the report, with the inevitable handful of comments. This should be sufficient to show where there were errors in the design of plant and procedure. Before that there’s one important thing to note:
[The] report is based on interviews with officials from the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the International Atomic Energy Agency, local governments, and with other experts in nuclear engineering, as well as a review of hundreds of pages of official reports.
So it isn’t just make-believe; it should be good stuff. Anyway here are those lessons:
Lesson 1. Emergency generators should be installed at high elevations or in watertight chambers.
Sounds obvious, doesn’t it. But it all comes down to good risk analysis. If you aren’t expecting significant flooding it makes great sense to put plant, especially emergency generators etc., on the ground: they’re excessively heavy and when operating generate huge amounts of noise and vibration.
LESSON 2. If a cooling system is intended to operate without power, make sure all of its parts can be manipulated without power.
Again sounds obvious when stated like that, but far too easy to overlook, although good design reviews should have picked this up.
LESSON 3. Keep power trucks [mobile emergency generators] on or very close to the power plant site.
Why would we do that? Isn’t a central facility more cost effective? In this case no, it may not be!
LESSON 4. Install independent and secure battery systems to power crucial instruments during emergencies.
Same comment as for Lesson 2.
LESSON 5. Ensure that catalytic hydrogen recombiners (power-free devices that turn dangerous hydrogen gas back into steam) are positioned at the tops of reactor buildings where gas would most likely collect.
You’re never going to get a big build-up of hydrogen inside a containment building are you. Wait: isn’t that what a containment building is for? But be honest, how many of us would have thought of this?
LESSON 6. Install power-free filters on vent lines to remove radio-active materials and allow for venting that won’t harm nearby residents.
Again, see Lesson 2.
What remains clear to me is that the plant, the systems and the procedures worked correctly, and were implemented correctly, as they were designed. What failed is the 40-year-old design and the procedures which didn’t go far enough in their disaster scenario planning.
We would (and do) do much better now and will do even better as a result of this disaster. Because of its safety critical nature, the nuclear industry is like the aviation industry: every accident (and near-accident) is analysed for the underlying root cause(s) and there is a culture of incremental improvements and (where necessary/possible) of retro-fitting improvements. Notwithstanding the fact that Fukushima was (and is) a disaster, exacerbated by continuing failures in transparency and communication, I see this as a positive experience which should make nuclear power safer and more acceptable — not the reverse.
The biggest disaster is the effect on the displaced and frightened people which is largely psychological and social rather than medical; and that’s in large part down to the obfuscation and half-truths of the TEPCO and Japanese government communications. One day governments will learn that total transparency is the only safe course of action.
![[44/52] Vintage Speed](https://farm7.static.flickr.com/6223/6315943884_b6dbb9b54f.jpg)
Week 44 entry for 52 weeks challenge.
There were a a few vintage cars wandering around the Mayfair/Bayswater area of London this afternoon, presumably having been on display/parade in Regent Street ahead of tomorrow’s London to Brighton run. They’re a real challenge to photograph in amongst all the other traffic especially as many are so small they tend to hide. In the end I managed to take this from the passenger seat of our car as we overtook one on the Bayswater Road near Lancaster Gate tube station.
