Potters Fields Bermondsey

Potters Fields is a small green space which borders Tooley Street, the River Thames, More London and Tower Bridge in London. 

Today it is a small park in the shadow of City Hall (or Boris’s Place as I call it) and there’s always something odd going on. One of the first activities I witnesses there was a Lycra clad women who was trying to uproot a tree with an oversized rubber band.

Next there was a metal pen that had been erected on the grass, which was holding back a large number of bright pink Space Hoppers. This was closely followed by a large tent which was displaying a new Electric Taxi. Yesterday evening, due to the sudden change in the weather, it was packed with tourists photographing the City skyline and sun bathing on the damp grass.

There are also the regular dogs walkers, commuters passing through and the guy with the Ghostbusters backpack blowing the leaves and puddles off the path.

One thing’s for sure, there is never a dull moment at Potters Fields.



Regards



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Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter

Spring has this year been a long time coming. Even the Daffodils were very late to arrive, but at last things seem to be looking up.

The weekend before last we got in our first camping trip in our new (to us) Folding Camper. Although it was cold at night, with frost in the mornings, we managed to stay warm and it was very nearly shorts weather during the days. All too soon it was over and we had to make our return to reality. Fortunately the Folding Camper (or FC) will help us to get away from our mundane everyday existence far more often than our tent ever did. It’s very quick to erect, simple to pack away and doesn’t require the faffing about that comes with the roof box we bought year before last. In fact once packed correctly, the FC will stay loaded for the whole season and all we need to take in the car will be clothing and food. We are still trying to perfect the loading of the FC, but we should have it down to a fine art after another trip or two. In fact we are already planning several more trips, both weekends and longer. Junior has invited a school friend on our August getaway, which means we must fit as much in the FC as we can because we will need all four seats in the car. This will be quite a challenge as we are not known for travelling lightly.

We have also discovered that by joining the Camping and Caravan Club (CCC) we can save quite a bit on camping fees. Our first trip out was to a CCC site in Graffham, West Sussex, which turned out to be an amazing camp site in the middle of a forest near Petworth, West Sussex. I can highly recommend the site and you can read my review on the “UK Campsite” website.

When I get some time to myself I will try to catch up with my blogging. Such informative rantings are likely to include, 

• Camping
• Fitting a Towbar and car electrics
• My loft accident
• My Dads Hospital saga
• How much I hate my current job
• I want to be a tree
• My new phone (I hope) 

 BTW – There are no prizes for guess which song the title of this blog comes from, but feel free to add your guesses in the comments 8-)

Regards



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My Morning Commute

I’ve been making the same journey to work on and off for almost 20 years. I leave our house, turning left up the road and then left again passing through the garages round the back and out onto the road which runs parallel to ours. I cross this road and then head down the service road behind the parade of shops. Down this road there is a small retail unit, which over the years has sold used cars, was empty for ages, but now is home to a car valet service which recently added a small coffee shop to the front.


At the other end of the road is the Scout Hut where I spent many a happy evening in my youth. At the pinnacle of my Scouting Career I was a Patrol Leader and gained the Chief Scout Award, which now seems a lifetime ago.

Having negotiated the puddles and mud in the community centre car park I continue down the footpath which passes the Primary School, which Junior briefly attended. The other end of this footpath enters a road of large Victorian houses and small cottages. Between two of the houses in a footpath which leads into a dead end road, where I used to deliver newspapers and this leads out to the shops and banks opposite the railway station. From there I have to dodge the morning cars and buses as they hurry to carry their passengers away to work. Once safely across the main road, it’s a short dash through the taxi rank and into the side gate of the station. Until about a year or so ago it was a straight run through the subway and onto the platform. Now however I have the additional task of fumbling around in my pocket for my season ticket and feeding it into the ticket barrier in the hope that I will be allowed passed to continue my journey by rail. Most days this works, but occasionally the gates don’t like the look of me and refuse to let me in.

Over the years the train service to work has gradually improved to the point where, with careful planning, I am mostly able to sit down on the train. It wasn’t always like that. When I first started my commuting the trains were dirty, drafty affairs, with “Slam Doors”, windows that didn’t keep the rain out and electric motors which couldn’t cope with “The Wrong Kind of Snow”. Today we have become used to clean modern trains with automatic doors, no opening windows, air con and seats which were designed for anorexic midgets. The fares have also increased to a point where this year’s season ticket has broken the £2000 mark.

Once squeezed into my seat I usually read from my Kindle and then fall asleep. Usually I wake in time for my stop, but I have once slept through and ended up at London Bridge, instead of East Croydon, but that’s another story.


Regards



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The Effects of Commuting

As a daily commuter, I have been a  approached by someone who has done some research into the mental and health effects of commuting to/from work. As you may have guessed, these effects are not positive ones. I therefore went off to check it out.


It was quite long and quite interesting, but sadly it's largely based on American figures and commuting by car, which of course I do not do. The art work is well thought through, clear, colourful and kept me amused for quite some time. Over all I think it's a very good and informative effort.


Here is the original graphic, which I have provided here with the authors permission.

Created by: College At Home



The link above will take you to the authors website. If you find it interesting and wish to extol its virtues, I'm sure they would love to hear from you.

Regards



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Anonymous Commuters

I commute to work daily. Today however is a little different as I'm heading to London for a meeting. I've caught a train an hour earlier than normal and it's packed.

As I stand wedged in a corner I realise that I spend an awful lot of my time with people I don't know. There's a woman to whom I gave the last seat, reading an A4 document with all the Important bits marked with yellow highlighter. There are two women drinking hot liquids from stainless steal flasks. Many of us are listening to our favourite sounds through headphones. Most are small in-ear ones, but 3 of us have larger over the ear types, myself included. I find they shut out the noise far better and allow for lower volumes to be used. Loonies tend to leave me be too.

There are various mobile phones, Blackberry's, iPhones and one iPad in a fetching shade of white. There are suit wearer, tie wearers and 2 wearer of jeans.



All of a sudden we arrive at our destination, London Bridge. I'm surprised at the lack of urgency displayed by my fellow commuters to get off the train. But once off it was on with the mad dash to the Tube. I did this journey for two years in the early 2000's and I don't miss it one bit. The Tube from London Bridge is a nightmare of delays and Sardines. Not a nice experience and I'm in no hurry to repeat it daily. Once in a while is plenty for me.

I caught the Jubilee Line to Canada Water expecting it to be fairly lightly loaded. How wrong I was. It was obvious that this section of the tube is now just as packed in the rush hour as every other section.

From at Canada Water I caught the recently reopened East London line. I actually designed the control & indication system that controls the signalling for this line, but this was my first trip on it. I am happy to report that my design worked perfectly well today 8-)




I was surprised that so many people could fit on these trains. I thought they would never stop getting of the thing. Eventually they did stop and the reason why so many could squeeze on became clear. Very few seats. Most of the area was designed to allow maximum people to stand. It seems to work quite well to.

I arrived early for my meeting, which was all over by 10:15 and then it was time for the return journey.

Regards
Chris
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Pedestrian Warning: Please Look Where You're Going in Croydon!

There have be three pedestrians seriously injured in George Street, Croydon over the past couple of months and they have all been Women. This does actually surprise me, as statistically Men are more prone to risk taking than Men.

The first, a pregnant woman in her 20's was hit by a Double Decker bus while crossing the road outside East Croydon station. She was also rushed to St George's Hospital in Tooting, suffering a fractured skull and her unborn child had to be delivered early. I understand that both mother and baby are doing well.

The second was about a fortnight ago, where a women in her 40's running for a Tram tripped in front of it and was carried about 10 yards into the Tram stop outside East Croydon station. She was also rushed to St George's in Tooting. I haven't heard anymore about her injuries, but I understand that they were described as "Life Changing" at the time.

Today slightly further down the road, opposite Boots, another Woman in her 20's was hit by a Tram. Apparently she was seen to be looking down at her mobile phone and just stepped out in front of it. She was also given a fast lift to St. George's.

The Trams in Croydon are big, bright green and come at regular intervals. They are very hard not to see as are the bright red Double Decker buses. So why are so many people not seeing them? Could it be a case of complacency breeding contempt?

Whatever the cause of these Women's ill attention and misjudged sense of immortality, I would like to appeal to all my readers (male, female or undecided) and the wider public to please pay attention to the world around you. It could just save your life!

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Season Ticket Failure

Last Tuesday I renewed my annual railway season ticket. Because on the the state of our economy and the fact that the Westminster Muppet Show have loosened controls on the fares train operators can charge, my ticket has broken the £2000 barrier for the first time. This equates to a 7.7% increase from last year, which is more than 2% above inflation. I'd like to point out that my salary is extremely unlikely to keep pace.

Southern Trains have over the last couple of years been fitting automated ticket barriers and my home station received them early last year. This shouldn't be a problem if you have a valid ticket to insert into the machine. However, mine stopped operating the barriers in just over a month last year. This meant that everyday I had to queue up at the manual side barrier four times each day. Mostly this was fine, but on a couple of occasions the speed of the queue ment I missed my train.

I was so please when last Tuesday my new ticket let me through the barriers without any delay. Unfortunately I seem to have set a new record as this morning it failed to work. I made that just seven days of un-impeded travel. I have two choices, visit the ticket office & ask for a replacement or spend the next 12 months queuing up 4 times a day!

Regards
Chris
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London to Ashford in a flash

Today I when from St. Panceras International station in London to Ashford in Kent on the new Javelin high speed train. It took just 38 minutes platform to platform and was very smooth & comfy indeed. That's how modern train travel should be.



It might not sound all that amazing, but believe me it is. If you compare the journey time with the regular service from Ashford to London Victoria, on a good day it saves you about an hour.

From where I live the train into London takes about an hour and it's far nearer than Ashford. Perhaps I should move to Kent!

Regards
Chris
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