Home decoration adverts
B&Q, retailers of mid-range kitchens and other goods are advertising their sale on TV, as many such companies do at times.
So, a mainstream retailer that probably sells to the average consumer… advertising using a mansion than hardly anyone could afford to live in. I assume it’s a mansion, as the kitchen is larger than some London flats, and the bedroom was probably large enough to have its size measured as a percentage of a football pitch.
Dear high-street retailers, please use high-street consumer sized houses for your TV adverts. Thanks.
Winter walks
There is something oddly rewarding about going out for a walk in the cold wet winery weather. The hunched neck and clenched eyes to protect you from the biting wind. And yet, I love it. I could have gone out to the shops yesterday by the short route, but deliberately took my preferred longer route, that exposed me to winter for a full hour instead.
But, oh the joys when you get home and stamp the rain off your feet and coat and shiver in delight at the blast of warmth. Then a hot cup of coffee and some nibbles as a reward.
Some people prefer walking in the summer, but give me the self-inflicted torture of a winter walk any day.
Fast Trains
I was waiting for a – delayed – train at the fairly small Loughborough Junction station this morning. It’s a curious little station as it is beside three main lines, but only one of them stops there. Two used to, but the second has long since stopped doing so, and the third line is 20 yards away. It should be a major junction, but isn’t.
Anyway, around the corner came a train, at the time the delayed train was expected, and I thought it seemed to be taking that curve unusually fast. Actually, exceptionally fast.
In fact, it roared through the platform at an alarming speed. So much so that I genuinely was concerned that it was going to crash.
Now, a fast train is no unusual sight, but this is a very small station with quite narrow platforms and even trains passing through tend to do so at a sedate pace.
What made it dangerous and scary though was not that there had been a tannoy announcement to stand back from the edge — but that the tannoy was actually saying the opposite, and declaring the racing monster bearing down on us to be stopping here.
Instinctively I knew that had it been intending to apply brakes at that speed, you’d not be reading this blog post tonight, and a railway disaster would be leading the evening news.
I’m not given to hyperbole, and take scary moments in my stride, but that was not nice.
I agree that winter walks are wonderful, especially up hills that give a good view of London. The only drawbackis when you get home to find the boiler is broken…..
I had a less than lovely thought whilst on the platform at Portchester, well, a down-right macabre thought if I am honest. Portchester is a suburban stop in Portsmouth, on the line to Southampton. Only half of the trains stop. I noticed little patches of weeds and wildflowers on the tracks where the rest of the tracks are completely clear.
Now, what you need to understand is a good 1 or 2 people commit suicide at this station every year.
A railwayman assured me the extra growth was down to the fact they turn the weedkiller sprays down when the maintenance trains pass platforms, though I cannot help but wonder if they are growing from something else.
It’s disturbing, though at the same time I cannot help but think “life has emerged from death”, or something similar. However, there are few things more upsetting on your morning commute than a platform lined with flowers and tributes to a loved one.
I think the same about those kitchen ads. What’s the point of showing a massive kitchen, it won’t look the same in the typical kitchen in a house. Tell us about space saving features instead like baseboard drawers.
A couple of days ago at Thornton Heath station (a station with two slow platforms and two, decommissioned, gated off fast platforms) everyone got redirected to the London Victoria bound Platform 4 (a fast platform). The gates were unlocked, so everyone probably thought there was an issue up the line that meant the slow trains now had to come in on the fast line. There were announcements, the displays showed the change, and so on.
And right on time for the slow train, a train came around the corner, and everyone got into their “commuter position” for a train that’s going to stop. Nope, it went by at about 80mph, inches from the commuters. The driver noticed at the last moment to toot the horn. The slow train came in on platform 2 soon afterwards (displays still said 4).
The station was uncharacteristically unstaffed that morning, the side entrance was open instead of the station building, we couldn’t swipe in which means a phone call to Tfl to sort out the oyster charge.
Winter walks are absolutely fantastic. I love to take one when I’m stuck on writing or some other important task.
I’m pretty sure the cold winter air is not any cleaner than the one during summer, but there is something about it that feels invigorating. I don’t know if it’s survival instincts or something else. Frankly, I don’t care all that much about the reason.
Anyway, my thought was it’s super refreshing and clears my thoughts. A simple 15 minute stroll enables me to focus right after and do what I’m supposed to in minimal time. And the cold isn’t really and issue. A hot cup of tea or coffee right after I go back home is all I need to counteract it.