I'd forgotten what Christmas in Scarborough was like, having spent each Christmas from 2006-2008 in Brugge. Unfortunately, the incompetence of the French brought it home to me this year, having to spend Christmas in Scarborough because a bloody useless French-designed train breaks down in snow.
In Brugge I had become used to Christmas markets, with stalls selling hot food and drinks in decorated market squares, ice skating and music and a party atmosphere, with pubs serving the best beers in the world when it was time to get inside out of the cold.
So imagine how drab Christmas in Scarborough is. No markets, no ice skating, pubs which sell beer more akin to water, no shops lit up. Indeed, the shops in this town made little or no effort for Christmas, unlike at Halloween, when all seemed to be in on the act and vying for the darkest displays. All we seemed to get, as a nod to Christmas, was a ghastly display in Boyes which consisted of toadstools, model elves and a grating, horrible racket of a song "we are Santa's elves" repeated over and over again ad nauseum.
If this is the best this boring town can do for Christmas it is time it called it a day.
Saturday 26 December 2009
Monday 21 December 2009
Eurostar
Last week, the much-hyped Eurostar train ran into problems when several trains broke down in the Channel Tunnel. The trains had broken down because they had left the cold air of northern France and entered the warmer tunnel, causing condensation which played havoc with the onboard systems. They are now blaming the "wrong sort of snow".
The trains have not run for three days, and massive backlogs have built up with passengers stranded and not knowing when, or if, they would travel. I am one of the passengers who does not know what the situation will be regarding travel - I was due to go by Eurostar on Wednesday to Brussels.
This is the first (and certainly the last) Eurostar booking I made. Normally I have flown, and will do so in the future.
Why is it that the French, who are so above themselves and have such a superiority complex, are so bloody incompetent? The Eurostar is a French design, if it has problems in bad weather it is obviously a crap design.
Next time I am due to travel abroad, I shall avoid using any company that the French are involved with because I have no faith in anything French, especially technical stuff. All they are any good for is making bread and cheese, they should leave techie stuff to the countries that know what they are doing.
The trains have not run for three days, and massive backlogs have built up with passengers stranded and not knowing when, or if, they would travel. I am one of the passengers who does not know what the situation will be regarding travel - I was due to go by Eurostar on Wednesday to Brussels.
This is the first (and certainly the last) Eurostar booking I made. Normally I have flown, and will do so in the future.
Why is it that the French, who are so above themselves and have such a superiority complex, are so bloody incompetent? The Eurostar is a French design, if it has problems in bad weather it is obviously a crap design.
Next time I am due to travel abroad, I shall avoid using any company that the French are involved with because I have no faith in anything French, especially technical stuff. All they are any good for is making bread and cheese, they should leave techie stuff to the countries that know what they are doing.
Wednesday 16 December 2009
More hell for those who live near pubs
A new government idea is expected to make the lives of people who live near pubs hell. The government plans to allow pubs to put on live acts for audiences of less than 100 without having a licence.
Anyone who lives near a pub which features live acts will know how bad they are. Places in residential areas should not be allowed to have live bands playing after 11:30, it is not unknown for pubs to have loud music playing into the early hours, thanks to the appalling law which allowed them to be able to open any time they liked, and for anyone living near who maybe has to be up early for work they can be absolute hell.
Although I don't like to see pubs closing, those which have such antisocial attitudes should be consigned to the scrapheap.
More here.
Anyone who lives near a pub which features live acts will know how bad they are. Places in residential areas should not be allowed to have live bands playing after 11:30, it is not unknown for pubs to have loud music playing into the early hours, thanks to the appalling law which allowed them to be able to open any time they liked, and for anyone living near who maybe has to be up early for work they can be absolute hell.
Although I don't like to see pubs closing, those which have such antisocial attitudes should be consigned to the scrapheap.
More here.
Friday 11 December 2009
Fining cyclists - what a good idea!
Westminster Council have announced that they are going to crack down on cyclists who flout the Highway Code (which, if Scarborough is anything to go on, must be the vast majority!) by riding on pavements, through red lights and the wrong way along one way streets.
Those who ride bikes are generally possessed by a holier-than-thou attitude which makes them believe that, because they are using a "green" form of transport, they are above the law and everyone else must bow down to them. How many do we see happily riding along the pavement with a superior, smug smirk on their face? How many of them are obviously colour blind in that they seem to have problems telling the difference between a red and a green traffic light?
I have no problems with the tiny minority of cyclists who do ride on the road and observe traffic signals, but the vast majority of those who speed along the pavements, hurling abuse at anyone who doesn't get out of their way, and those who hurl abuse at pedestrians who happen to be crossing the road at the green man signal (thereby preventing the idiot on two wheels from jumping the red light) make me sick.
Anyone who buys a bike should have to take a test, pay annual insurance, have identification on their bike and also be heavily taxed.
Those who ride bikes are generally possessed by a holier-than-thou attitude which makes them believe that, because they are using a "green" form of transport, they are above the law and everyone else must bow down to them. How many do we see happily riding along the pavement with a superior, smug smirk on their face? How many of them are obviously colour blind in that they seem to have problems telling the difference between a red and a green traffic light?
I have no problems with the tiny minority of cyclists who do ride on the road and observe traffic signals, but the vast majority of those who speed along the pavements, hurling abuse at anyone who doesn't get out of their way, and those who hurl abuse at pedestrians who happen to be crossing the road at the green man signal (thereby preventing the idiot on two wheels from jumping the red light) make me sick.
Anyone who buys a bike should have to take a test, pay annual insurance, have identification on their bike and also be heavily taxed.
Tuesday 1 December 2009
Wallowing in nostalgia
Today I bought a set of three DVDs featuring childrens' programmes from the 1960s and 1970s. These are the programmes I grew up watching, and it was good to see them again after so long.
One DVD contains the complete series of Trumpton. Trumpton was part of a series of programmes featuring characters from three villages in "Trumptonshire". The first series was Camberwick Green which featured a character emerging from a music box at the beginning, Trumpton was the second series and featured the clock and the fire brigade (who always seem a bit thick!) and the third and final series was Chigley which featured a steam train, a biscuit factory, the six o'clock whistle and the end dance.
Another DVD contains a series of The Clangers. These are knitted pink creatures which live on a distant planet with friends such as the Soup Dragon, the Iron Chicken, the Music Tree and Hoots.
Last, but most certainly not least, there is the king of them all - Bagpuss. This was my favourite of them all, and each episode featured a "thing" which was brought back to a shop by a girl called Emily. Bagpuss and his friends - Gabriel the Toad, Madeleine the Rag Doll, Professor Yaffle the woodpecker bookend and the mice from the mouse organ - would find out what the "thing" was and then repair it and put it into the shop window in case the owner should be walking past and come in to collect it. Bagpuss was voted the most popular childrens' programme ever a few years ago.
Sorry for the lack of a Clangers video, I am still trying to find the opening titles!
One DVD contains the complete series of Trumpton. Trumpton was part of a series of programmes featuring characters from three villages in "Trumptonshire". The first series was Camberwick Green which featured a character emerging from a music box at the beginning, Trumpton was the second series and featured the clock and the fire brigade (who always seem a bit thick!) and the third and final series was Chigley which featured a steam train, a biscuit factory, the six o'clock whistle and the end dance.
Another DVD contains a series of The Clangers. These are knitted pink creatures which live on a distant planet with friends such as the Soup Dragon, the Iron Chicken, the Music Tree and Hoots.
Last, but most certainly not least, there is the king of them all - Bagpuss. This was my favourite of them all, and each episode featured a "thing" which was brought back to a shop by a girl called Emily. Bagpuss and his friends - Gabriel the Toad, Madeleine the Rag Doll, Professor Yaffle the woodpecker bookend and the mice from the mouse organ - would find out what the "thing" was and then repair it and put it into the shop window in case the owner should be walking past and come in to collect it. Bagpuss was voted the most popular childrens' programme ever a few years ago.
Sorry for the lack of a Clangers video, I am still trying to find the opening titles!
Update on the sheep
The local paper finally included a report on the sheep accident today. It says that "at least 25" sheep were killed and it is believed they run onto the line after becoming scared by a low flying aircraft.
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