I am a retired cartographer and have recently completed a degree course as a mature student reading History. My main hobby is narrow gauge railway modelling.
It's nearly three months since I last blogged so it's time I caught up. Since I last wrote Wiggo has won leTour and now Chris Froome is having a serious go at the Vuelta.
Mrs M and I had a good day at Wimbledon, we had Centre Court tickets, and since then we have been up to London to watch the Olympic Road Time Trial and a session in the Velodrome. We've also collected our Paralympic Games Maker uniforms ready for the far more important Paralympics. Wasn't that a super play about Poppa, pity it wasn't the full two hours. Just shows how things have changed since the 1940's. Mind you we still get people not knowing how to cope with Mrs M, after all surely a broken back is contagious!
Not a good start by Argyle, surely it must get better.
Our very nice neighbour Mer' died recently of the Big C. Why is it always the nice one's that depart leaving the nasty ones behind. Mer' was very special because he asked for nothing of anybody, nor did he impose. Perhaps it's something to do with surviving a North Korean POW camp.
Well done all of the Team Sky riders in the Giro. A super team effort.
Marks for the Giro organisers varies from 10 for the last Mountain top stage to 0 for some of the finising routes for most of Sprint stages. Seems someone thought that a Sprint finish without a crash would be boring.
Many Italian Railways were shown but no trains, until they got to Tirano, then we saw a train crossing the main square - no, sorry that was a Swiss train. See video. But what a route through the town. No barriers, lights etc, just bells and horns ............
This has been quite a quiet week, a bit like the calm before the storm. Mind you the weather hasn't been very exciting, has it! Had a good shop at ISCA Woodcrafts at Tredegar House, Newport. I am sure other woodturners think the same as me, in that inspiration for a nice project comes form the wood to be found at places like ISCA. We've been keeping a close eye on Mark Cavendish in the Giro. Seems he can at last survive in the mountains. For instance on Sunday, in appalling weather whilst he may have finished third from last for the stage he was in a group of 58 riders. Proves to me that he is a far better rider than Cippolini, who whilst a great sprinter, gave up as soon as he saw a hill sign!! Good luck to Jeremy Hunt who has gone home to catch a child birth. He's been the main man in getting Sky to front on the sprint stages. Don't people take photos with strange things today. Saw a number of people taking pictures of the torch relay with their I.tablets, strange, surly a nice little digital camera is far handier!!!
Whilst in London I had the chance to leave Mrs M at the Olympic Park for a few hours. So a long walk back to the exit gate, through the Westfield Centre, onto the DLR and then transfer to the District Line, change at Earls Court for a train to Wimbledon, change platforms and straight on top a tram. Nice line as far as Croydon on former railway line and then interesting section through he streets of Croydon including past the site of the fire destroyed Reeves shop, change trams and then onto Elmers End, off the tram and onto a 'south-eastern' train to London Bridge, onto the Jubilee Line back to Stratford and then another long walk.
There has been a great fuss by the powers that be about how the 2012 London Paralympic Games will be the most accessible games ever! Trouble is, it seems that most of these wise and wonderful people have no idea what so-ever what being disabled means. The Olympic Park is served by a number of railway lines and below I have listed the platforms we used this last week: The Underground - Central Line westbound - acceptable - simple bunny-hop. eastbound - 30-40cms step up with gap - assistance required. Jubilee Line - new platforms both okay DLR - new platforms - excellent Overground to Highbury and Islington - Impossible to get on without a ramp although with help it is possible to get off at Stratford. We caused our return train to be late because of the time it took the conductor to find the ramp, get it out of the on-board cupboard, put it in place, then put it back into the cupboard! A good example of the practice being far more complicated than the theory.
We did use a bus in Highbury and the driver was excellent in 'launching' the ramp out of the rear door, first attempt too far from pavement , so moved bus and repeated the exercise. He then kept a check on where we wanted to get off.
General Comment on the Central Line platforms. Bearing in mind that the dimensions of the trains have been more or less the same for the past 75 years how come the heights of the platforms vary so much, some you step up, some you step down, some are fairly level but maybe at only one end.
CONCLUSION There are only two parts of the London Public Transport System that I feel is fully wheelchair accessable and therefore is the only parts fully accessable to all, able and disable and I therefore award first-equal prize to the Docklands Light Railway and the Croydon Trams
Over the next few days I will enter up on this Blog some of my experineces of being a 'wheelchair companion' at the Olympic Park. I am going to endeavour to get word of the Sassy Spinners blog to both Boris and Seb. Maybe then they will stop going on about how acceccisble the Park is and how easy it is for wheelchair users to get there and use the facilities. Best to say that it doesn't come up to scratch to say the least. But more of this to come. Plus I'll write about my trip to the Croydon Trams, great fun.
Last Monday I had a vacant time slot from 6.00pm to 8.00pm during which I had the opportunity of spending two hours on the Docklands Light Railway. Mrs M had a Paralympic Games Maker training session at Canary Wharf leaving me twiddling my thumbs for two hours. I spent most of that time sat in the front/near front of the driverless DLR trains. From Canary Wharf I was able to fit in journeys to Lewisham, Stratford and Woolwich. What I found really interesting is the way the tracks have been fitted into the existing landscape including using old industrial lines. Yes I know this seems a bit trivial but it makes me happy.
Thanks to a fellow member of the 009 Society my little 009 loco Egger has returned to work. Due to mechanical problems it has been little more than a museum piece for some twenty years. It is now some 43 years old and has been given a second wind. The photo shows it drawing past the Engine Shed siding on it's new home line the Yate Rocks Tramway.
