(it's quite short because I wrote it while waiting for my new laptop to arrive)
(they gave me a 10am-2pm window so I assumed midday but it arrived early)
(I spent the rest of the day trying to set up the new laptop)
(that took a while)
I'm still trying to work out what's going on with the imminent roadworks at the Bow Roundabout. Last weekend TfL introduced temporary timetables on bus routes 25, 205, 276, 277 and 425 "to help with reliability during roadworks at the Bow Roundabout and displacement of traffic onto local roads". For example buses on route 25 usually run every 7-8 minutes, but now they run every 8-9 minutes to make up for upcoming delays on the E3/E15 border. That might sound like nothing but it's a minute longer to wait for everyone up and down the route, just because a roundabout's being seriously fiddled with for a few months.
That's bad, especially for passengers at Bus Stop M. They won't see a number 8 for five months, if this is correct, and will instead have to cross to the other side of the church for a less frequent bus to reach the new first stop. As yet nobody's put up any signs at Bus Stop M to warn anyone, so it could all come as a bit of a shock on Saturday. It also suggests a serious problem for those operating route 8, because buses can only exit Bow Garage by going round the Bow Roundabout thanks to a very awkwardly placed low bridge, so how's that going to work?
We wait to see what happens. But just how bad are these roadworks going to be?
(it's served me well this old laptop, since 2015, but it's definitely ageing)
(it took over 15 minutes from turning it on to be able to start writing this post)
(sometimes the browser's like treacle after it's been running a while)
(eventually the time comes to swap familiarity for efficiency, I realised)
(some of the first posts written on this laptop were about the Bus Stop M debacle)
(it's quite appropriate really, to go out as it came in)
(farewell old friend)
