Here are six brief posts, none of which I spent more than 15 minutes on.
1) The consultationreport for "Extending the DLR from Gallions Reach to Beckton Riverside and Thamesmead" has just been published. At this very early stage in the project it focused on asking people whether they thought extending the DLR from Gallions Reach to Beckton Riverside and Thamesmead was a good idea. Unsurprisingly people thought it was.
The five most popular suggestions were all people suggesting TfL should do something else.
• Alternative extension of London Overground from Barking Riverside to Thamesmead
• Extend DLR further into Borough of Bexley/Greenwich
• Extend DLR from Thamesmead to Abbey Wood
• Thamesmead should be served by Trams instead
• Extend DLR further into East London and/or Essex
TfL's response in each case was "Our focus is on delivering a DLR extension to Thamesmead".
These are the five stupidest responses I saw:
» Concern the DLR will increase the risk of floods
» Concern extending to Barking Riverside is unnecessary
» Concern that road users are being overlooked
» Suggestion to close spur between Gallions Reach and Beckton stations
» Suggestion for an underwater tunnel on the Thames River
2) I went to London Viewpoint at the top of Stanmore Country Park and it was magical. Nobody else was present. The common buzzed with summer life. Bees were feeding on white and purple vetch. Free refreshments were provided by adjacent blackberries. The skyline rippled in shades of grey. Wembley's arch was borderline visible. A biplane flew over.
On the downside central London was obscured. I had hoped if I arrived at noon the mist would have cleared but it hadn't. Also Harrow council's viewpoint sign is starting to degrade. Also people keep cutting the lock on the car park and Harrow Nature Conservation Forum are tired of it. Also they're looking for a volunteer to unlock the car park at 10.30am on Sunday mornings. I've written about the viewpoint before if you want more than fifteenminutesworth.
3) As you enter Hertfordshire there are signs describing it as County of opportunity.
I wondered what other counties have slogans on their signs.
These are all the ones I managed to find in 15 minutes.
Bedfordshire: A progressive county Buckinghamshire: Birthplace of the Paralympics Cornwall: Kernow a'gas dynergh Hertfordshire: County of opportunity Lancashire: A place where everyone matters Leicestershire: The Heart of Rural England Norfolk: Nelson's County (may not be current) Northumberland: England's Border Country Staffordshire: The Creative County
Essex sometimes says 'Host county for the London 2012 Olympic Games Mountain Bike competition' but that's underneath the county sign, not on it.
4) This red hopper was outside Ealing Broadway station yesterday afternoon. But it was empty.
It said Evening Standard FREE PLEASE TAKE ONE but you couldn't do that because they don't print Evening Standards on Fridays any more. The last Friday edition was last Friday with an Olympic headline ALLONS Y! There won't be any Evening Standards in the hopper on Monday either because they printed the last Monday edition this week. From now on the paper will only be published from Tuesday to Thursday, and that's only until later this year when it'll go weekly instead. Presumably it won't include any actual news any more, only features.
I thought I'd research the dates London's evening papers went extinct, in reverse chronological order... 2024: Evening Standard 2009: London Lite 2009: The London Paper 1987: London Evening News
...but I ran out of time
5)HYPERLOCAL HISTORY MONTH: My freezer
My freezer is on top of my fridge in a separate compartment and is colder. There are five things stuck to it.
• Three magnetic strips formerly used on TfL rainbow boards (Good service/Part Suspended/Minor delays). n.b. please note I bought these from the London Transport Museum shop, I didn't nick them.
• A digital kitchen timer (although the battery's run out so the screen's blank) n.b. it seems to run out quite quickly which is why I don't use it.
• Two magnetic letters (currently H and N) n.b. both of these were on my fridge when I wrote about my fridge.
• A magnet with the telephone number of the Tower Hamlets Out of Hours medical service (020 7377 7151) n.b. I have never needed to ring this number, but you never know.
• A freebie fridge magnet featuring the Large Hadron Collider (which I picked up at the Royal Society summer science exhibition) n.b. I'm not sure which summer it was.
I don't have time left to list all the contents of my freezer, mainly because I spent too long trying to research what year I got the Large Hadron Collider fridge magnet, but I can confirm the contents include peas, sweetcorn, breaded fish and two own brand choc ices.
6) The worst titles of Time Out/Secret London/MyLondon articles published so far this month:
» London train strikes August 2024: everything you need to know (click on article... no strikes are planned)
» This Jaw-Droppingly Beautiful Beach Is One Of The UK’s Best Kept Secrets – And It’s Less Than 90 Minutes From London (click on article... it's in Folkestone)
» This Curiously Crooked Café Bar Has Lived Many Lives – And It’s Only An Hour Away From London (click on article... it's in Windsor)
» The London commuter town that used to be slated but is now 'best place to live' outside city (click on article... it's Slough)
» The First Of Four Supermoons To Light Up London Skies This August – Up To 30% Brighter (click on article... not for another three weeks)
» Londoners warned against wearing a certain type of shoe when travelling on Tube and train (click on article... it's 'soft and open-toed')
» New London weather map forecasts exactly when it will finally cool down after 28C two week heatwave (click on article... daytime temperatures will "stubbornly remain above 20C" until 16th August)
7)If you'd like to write a post for this blog, now's your chance. You're only allowed 15 minutes to write it so it has to be brief, which may be a good thing. It ought to be of interest to other readers, but that covers a multitude of topics so don't feel too restricted. Don't stick it in the comments, please email it to the usual address (see top of sidebar) and I'll add the most interesting here at 4pm this afternoon.
4pm update: My thanks to the four readers who responded, all of whom sent something eminently blogworthy. Stephen's contribution best fits today's post and is reproduced below. I'll show you Peter, Lorenzo and Jonathan's responses tomorrow. My thanks to all four of you!
Things that are possible to do within 15 minutes
- 1 minute to read one of the sections of today's blog post
- 2 minutes to brush your teeth
- 3 minutes if you include flossing
- 4 minutes to save the world, according to Madonna, Justin Timberlake and Timbaland
- 7 minutes to of exercise to burn off one own brand choc ice
- 8 minutes to boil a soft boiled egg
- 12 minutes to cook branded fish fingers, from frozen, (oven 230 C/ fan 210 C)
- 13 minutes of creative writing before you realise you're creating a clickbaity list that might not appeal to DG readers
- 14 minutes (and .21 seconds) to run 5,000 metres (women, track world record)
- 15 minutes of fame (e.g. write a guest blog on Diamond Geezer)
After which I've run out of time. Tricky stuff creating a blog post in 15 minutes.
