I am so glad I don't live in London any more

If the Evening Standard is right and Boris has won. I'm no great fan of Ken the man, but Ken the politician has improved Londoners lives twice now, both times against the will of the ruling politicians. Whereas Boris the man may be funny on TV, Boris the politician is as scary a prospect as possible in today's Britain. Anti-Europe, anti-immigration, anti-welfare state, pro-imperialism, pro-hunting, pro-lbertarianism, i dread to think what his legacy wil be to a city of 14 million people.


I offer, for your opinion, some of Boris' most well know quotes:

The proposed ban on incitement to “religious hatred” make no sense unless it involves a ban on the Koran itself.
Daily Telegraph

Both the minimum wage and the Social Charter would palpably destroy jobs.
Lend Me Your Ears

That is the best case for Bush; that, among other things, he liberated Iraq. It is good enough for me.
Daily Telegraph

I can't remember what my line on drugs is. What's my line on drugs?
"The Genelection Game", Sunday Mirror,

Voting Tory will cause your wife to have bigger breasts and increase your chances of owning a BMW M3.
Said in April 2005 during the general election


And finally, from a man who knows him well....
He may seem like a lovable buffoon but you know he wouldn't hesitate to line you all up against a wall and have you shot.
Jeremy Hardy on Radio 4.

OHMIGOD!

Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod........ I really DID win a car!!!!!

here it is:

AND, they've nicely gone and put the price up for them so I should get a goodly amount:-) If it sells:-)

Anyone in London want to buy a car?

Bloody tubes!

Bloody idiot tube management!

I took the coach into London yesterday. It dropped me off at Marble Arch, so then i travelled right across the central line to meet up with my brother. Later yesterday evening I took the overground in to Liverpool street and the tube right into the west end, then back out again at the end of the evening. That covered a fair bit of london throughout a fair bit of Saturday.

I am a competent tube travellor. i know my way around all the major stations without worry. I do not have to concentrate or search where I am going. I have time to look around me at the people and places and pretty murals.

I was travelling either with my mother or my sister. Both Londoners who use the tubes pretty regularly.

NONE OF US SAW ANY SIGNS suggesting that there was any planned works this weekend.

So when it was time to return to Marble Arch to catch the coach back home again today, I confidently left a full hour to do a 20 minute journey. My mother dropped me off at the station, and even waited while I looked in to see if there were any problems. Nothing. No signs, no tannay announcments. Nothing. I waved goodbye and she drove off as i walked over the footbridge, and paid to go onto the correct platform.

THERE, after I had paid, there was a notice board up telling me that half the central line was not running today due to planned engineering works!

It was too late to go to another station and take a different line. I was stuck with going a couple fo stops then taking the train replacement bus to Stratford. Time was ticking by - I had to wait for the train from the first station, wait for the bus, wait in the traffic.... I thought there might have been a bus from Stratford to Marcle Arch, but apparently not, so I had to wait for the next train to Liverpool Street. It was looking unlikely that i would make it to the coach on time.

I got to Liverpool street and there they had put up a sign telling us that half the whole bloody network was cancelled for planned engineering works! I couldn't get anywhere without at least another few changes. I had no hope of making it anywhere near Marble Arch in time to catch my bus.

I thought about gouing as far west as possible and hitching home, but it was already getting dark and Aggie was not happy with that idea at all, so in the end I trundled around pretty much every bit of London transport that was still working to get to Paddington and caught a train home. It cost £50.

£50 on top of the £30 I had already paid for the coach that i couldn't get to because they couldn't be bothered to put signs up about PLANNED works the day before.

I am VERY VERY VERY pissed of now.

What to say?

I am a bit lost for words at the moment. I havn't even found anything of use in the news - usually a good fount of rants and raves.

But what can you say about the events in Virginia yesterday? 32 people dead for no reason whatsoever. My thoughts go out to their friends and reatives. I wonder how come the first information that was released about the gunman's identity was that he was an immigrant. He moved to the US aged 8. That makes him an American to all intents and purposes. i wonder about the fact that despite his know metal instability, worries about his comprehension of reality and previous compliants against him, he was able to buy a gun & ammunition without anyone blinking an eye. But more that anything, I wonder what you can say in answer to the assertion that it was not his having a gun that was the problem, but the fact that all the other students didn't, and therefore we should be arming all our students in order to ensure there are less shootings!

What can you say as yet another day brings yet more deaths in Iraq? When even the most optimistic reports put the death toll at 60,000 Iraqi's in 3 years, how can we even start to comprehend what is happening there? How can we justify what is happening there? How can we claim that Iraq is better now than it was before? Will we stay until the death toll surpasses that under Saddam Hussein - because right now we are easily equalling it on a daily average!

Even on a more personal note I am lost for words today. Mstr A has been showing every sign of being two years old - with the size and strength of a large 6 year old. He can be so wonderful at times, still hugging and kissing me, but as soon as I tell him to do something he turns into a screaming demon. It's exhausting.

I'm trying to work out how to tell my mother that I don't want to go to my second cousin's wedding in a couple of weeks. She got so excited when I said it would be nice to attend that she went off and made special arrangements. But I'm not happy about leaving Aggie on his own with the kids again for the weekend. He found it hard going last weekend, and is in a lot of pain now. And I'm not that bothered about attending the very religious Jewish wedding of someone I have not seen for ten years. In london. Over bank Holiday weekend. It would be nice, but not something i'm desperate to do.

Oh well. Enough words seem to have come to fill up a post. Perhaps I will feel more optimistic soon. At least I have some nice stats to back up my reasons for not wanting to return "home" to London and my mother. Where she lives has just ranked second from bottom of the best places in the UK for family life:-0

Travelling people

"Take the National Express when your life's in a mess
It'll make you smile
All human life is here"

The trip to london was certaily interesting - starting from waiting at the bus stop in Weston, where a man wandered down the road past me, stopped, and asked the date. I said it was the 13th, but he was obviously looking for more - which made me wonder if I'd accidently fallen into a badly written SF Time-travel novel:-) I supplied the month, year and day, which seemed to satisfy him and he continued on his way - straight into the newsagents across the road where he bought a newspaper - which surely gave him the same information? Very Twighlight zone-y!

I was shocked when the bus turned up, and I discovered a single to Bristol now costs £5.10! 3 years ago when i commuted to bristol every day a return was £3.60! The Bristol to London ticket only cost £6.00! WTF?!

Still, I found the extra couple of pounds and made it to bristol without diffculty, and on time, then managed to find and board the London bus wthout any hassle, which also left on time! It was far ettre than i had expected - the last time I travelled on a National express bus I swore I would never do so again. It was the slowest, most uncomfortable, roundabout route i had ever had the misfortune to travel. Hitching was quicker, easier, cheaper & safer (imo)! But Today was a far differnt experience - the coach was pretty new, with cushioned leatherette seats, leg room, no soft drinks pusher, and a smooth ride. Unfortunately the air-con was stuck permently on full blast icy cold, so we were all huddled up in hats, gloves & coats with our breath misting in the air in front of us! The driver was vry apologetic, but I still think it requires a letter of complaint to HQ.

Much to my surprise, we got into Victoria early. it comes of using the M4 bus lane I guess:-) Although in all the many times I have sat in the traffic myself, i have never seen bus go past - it was nice to bypass all the cars . It's a long time since I've walked around central London. I'd pretty much forgotten how it's a culture all of it's own. I had to dodge punks having their photo taken, hoards of Japenese tourists filming statues, single minded shoppers barging people out of their way and men in suits who probably earn more every minute than I do in a year, as i transferred over to the Tube station.

the queues for tickets were some 30mins long, so i joined one of the shorter ones and passed the time watching the entertainment of someone talking themselves out of a caution for common assault and into an arrest for sexual assault and abuse of a police officer. At the machine I tried to buy a single ticket to go the 10 miles to walthamstow, but it wouldn't let me & made me buy a one day travelcard for £5.70. So....... Bristol to London 120 miles. £6.00, or 5p per mile. Zone 1 to zone 3 10 miles. £5.70 or 57p per mile. It's cheaper to drive!

More to come.......