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A personal weblog with photographs and comments. Quiet ramblings, quite rambling...

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• Artificially green
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• London Mayor
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• Making Hay
• The previous cycle route
• Back to Woldingham Viewpoint
• The nasty way to travel
• Heaven and hell
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• Ebbsfleet International Railway Platform
• Police incident in Tandridge

Recent entries with comments

• London Mayor - (1)
  
• Looking Greenwich up and down - (2)
  
• Police incident in Tandridge - (2)
  
• British War Criminals - (2)
  
• Checkpoint Charlie - (3)
  
• Oxted from the “Woldingham Viewpoint” - (5)
  
• A figure of defiance - (1)
  
• What really happened in Croydon? - (3)
  
• Bike hire in Berlin - (1)
  
• Brandenberg Gate - (1)
  
• Three Way Chess - (1)
  
• Gamelan instruments - (2)
  
• Oh no! John! - (2)
  
• “Bells and Smells” Mass - (1)
  
• Turn cash into less cash - (6)
  

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This is the view up the garden path (not mine).  It’s now less than a month till Bob Sutton’s book comes out, and it is number 2 on the Amazon pre-order list (probably the US one).

Traicycling is a word I have invented (and a search on this word should point to this website, and this website only, very soon). The meaning of this word is as follows:

An excursion or outing involving the use of a train for part of the journey and a bicyle for the rest. This can be a group or solo activity. The train can be used to convey the cyclist/s to a good cycling location, or to remove the need for the cyclists to complete a circular journey solely by bicycle.

Ok, the definition needs a bit more work. Once I have improved it I might try and put it on Wiktionary.

Here are some examples of real-life traicycling:

• Oxted traicycling
• Return to Oxted traicycling.

Trains and bicycles articulate well as forms of transport. That is why it is such a pity that Southern Trains have removed the facilities for cyclists on their trains and now disallow cyclists to travel on their trains in peak hour:

Passengers on Southern trains are only allowed to take folding bikes on board.

The move has been criticised by councillors in Brighton and Hove, a city named as a “cycling demonstration town” to promote the mode of transport.

Members of the Cycle Train Commuter Group voiced their opposition at Brighton station on Monday morning.

Spokeswoman Gaynor Hartnell said: “The way the trains are designed doesn’t really accommodate bicycles.

“When we had the slam-door trains there were many bicycles and there was absolutely no problem, so better design of trains could accommodate many more bicycles.”

Adding insult to injury there is very little information for cyclists on the Southern Trains website.  There is more information at the UK Bike/Rail website, and it covers other operators too. 

Here are some additional links:

• Cycle Train Commuter Group
• Cycle Train Commuter Group Forum
• The Yew Tree Cycle Way

A neologism is an invented or artificial word to fulfil a particular purpose. In the case of traicycling there is no obvious purpose.

The English word boulevard derives from the French word boulevard which in turn derives from the Medieval Dutch bolwerk (meaning bulwark, bastion).  In English it means “a broad, well paved and landscaped thoroughfare”.  This photo is not strictly of a boulevard: it’s the M23 Motorway.  According to Wikipedia,

The M23 was planned as a means of relieving congestion on the A23 through Streatham, Thornton Heath, Purley and Coulsdon in south London.

which is unfortunate because of course the M23 never made it that far North.

And while I was wandering around scouting under bridges on the North Downs I missed The Big Story. Then again, so did Howard.

This brick bridge is part of the Redhill to Tonbridge railway line which opened as the Redhill to Ashford line. See Steve’s page (although his dates are somewhat confusing).

The bridge is a good example of Victorian brick architecture. Presumably the bridge has been renovated as the road was widened over the years, although it still bears the scars of the tall vehicles whose drivers have tried to navigate under it. 

Bigblue likes his German rye bread or pumpernickel, which is not available in all supermarkets. He spotted it in the large supermarket this week next to this pack of pain au chocolat but was taken aback to see these referred to as chocolatines. Bigblue thinks of chocolatines as something altogether different.  So it was with surprise that he found that, according to Wikipedia, a pain au chocolat is also called a chocolatine in certain regions of France.  Bigblue doesn’t like the usage of chocolatine as with this version of the name all the consonents are pronounced.

Did I mention that we had some snow this week? Apparently it wasn’t only me that bunked off work on the “snowday”, the dusting of snow brought chaos to our travel network.

Spotted on the roads in Kent, the back of this horse truck warns that live horses are being transported, contains the picture of a dragon, and then advertises itself as an importer of fine foods from China.  I have seen horse meat for sale in supermarkets and restaurants in France and Switzerland but I don’t think it will take off in this country.  It’s a strange combination of words and image, but as far as I know Ginger Dragon don’t sell horse meat anyway.

In unrelated news, the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa, Orgyen Trinley Dorje (who currently resides at Gyuto Monastery in India) has issued instructions to his followers not to eat meat.

Several options were made available and we were asked to raise our hands to indicate our choice of commitment and to witness each others’ decisions.  His wish for each of us to make an individual vow was clear and decisive.  It applied just as much to the Tibetans who historically had little else available to eat.  His Holiness said that now “thanks to the kindness of the Chinese” (this is an exact quote) the Tibetans have vegetables and other food available.  The choices offered were:

• Eating no meat one day per week
• Eating no meat one day per month
• Eating no meat on special days such as moon days, Guru Rinpoche and Tara days
• Eating meat for only one meal per day
• Give up eating meat for ever
• Give up eating meat for a specified period of time such as one, two or three years.
• Reduce eating meat with a view to giving up completely.

The song History by The Verve starts:

I wandered lonely streets
Behind where the old Thames does flow,
And in every face I meet
Reminds me of what I have run from.

In every man, in every hand,
In every kiss you understand
That living is for other men.
I hope you do understand:

I’ve gotta tell you my tale
Of how I loved and how I failed.
I hope you understand,
These feelings should not be in the man.

These lyrics are loosely based on William Blake’s London:

I wandered through each chartered street,
Near where the chartered Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet,
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every man,
In every infant’s cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forged manacles I hear

Martyn Smith of Old Roads writes of a literary trip to London: which he has entitled Traveling with Henry James: Consciousness and Association. Smith seems to see the history of London, lurking in the present and makes some some interesting comparisons with other writers, besides for Henry James and Blake, such as Wordsworth.

This week I found a Childline poster on the issue of racism on a school notice board.  I think it’s worth reminding ourselves that racism is not just entertainment on a Channel 4 program but can have consequences for people in the real world.

Here are some of the crew I referred to yesterday, writing down the number plates of vehicles at all the traffic lights in Uxbridge on the day of the storm of last week.  I called out to one of them asking what they were doing. She told me that they were noting down car registration numbers and said they were working for Transport Watch. I may have got the name/link wrong because I didn’t write it down.  I could only find one article on the Transport Watch website which mentions Uxbridge: a complaint in their forum about the proposed Uxbridge to Shepherd’s Bush tramlink.  Transport Watch seems to be a pro-car anti-rail lobby group. I remember seeing their adverts about a year ago. They weren’t totally convincing. I think they are feeding on the current shameful state of the railways, focusing on this instead of its potential, and that they understate the problems of road congestion. 

This photograph is about the people in Uxbridge who stood in yellow reflective jackets making a note of vehicle registration numbers, as the storm closed in.  More than 10 people died across the UK:

The storms battering the UK were so destructive because strong jet streams pushed the weather system across the Atlantic at an “explosive” rate, a climatologist said. David Stephenson, of Reading University’s department of meteorology, said the storm could be described as an extra-tropical cyclone. It took just two days to reach the UK from Canada, he said. “The system has grown, deepened and the winds have got stronger as it travelled across the Atlantic,” Dr Stephenson said, adding that slower storms normally had time to curl away from the UK and head towards Iceland. “This has developed so fast that it has come ploughing into Europe.” Recent wet weather saturated the ground, making it easier for trees to be pulled up. Dr Stephenson said the impact of a storm was related to where it hit land and to the population of an area. For example, the October 1987 storm was seen as so severe because it struck such a densely populated area.

Our weather is increasingly unsettled. This can also be seen as a global warning.

Spotted outside the Crown and Treaty pub in Uxbridge this week. Not just outside the pub, but right in front of the front door. Bigblue had thought that he was a bit lacsidaisical in taking down the Christmas decorations (he overshot 12th Night by one day). On the other hand could they planning their big event of the year 12 months in advance?

This impressive and season display of ice comes from Shropshire, courtesy of Your Teacher and can be viewed in its full glory at her Flickr photostream.  The BBC reports that we are braced for heavy storms.

In between work and watching the latest Channel 4 bully-fest I haven’t had much time to blog lately. Hence the short posts. Nonetheless I managed to sniff out a tribute to Heather (I have no idea who she is, but it’s a good read).  I also see that The Screen Cinema in Oxted are premiering the psychological thriller Notes on a Scandal starring Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench, on Friday 2nd February 2007 to raise funds to the Royal London Society for the Blind. Booking details..

Another global warning: This is a rare example of ice found on the roof of my car during this winter.  The BBC has a section on its website devoted to Climate Change. 

I found this box in Oxted while I was out walking the other night.  I suppose I was struck by the light (it is under a streetlamp), and the droplets of ice. I think dog owners generally use these things. I haven’t seen anyone actually using it, but I haven’t seen any evidence to the contrary either.