17 June - A little bit of positive news for a change
This
week’s News Shopper reports that Thamesmead’s new M.P., Teresa Pearce made her
maiden speech in the Commons
pleading for retention of the Crossrail line to Abbey Wood.
Well done Teresa; my relatives in east London are all spoilt for choice of fast railway
connections to central London and we have nothing but an expensive Southeastern trains connection which is
20%-25% slower than it was 20 years ago.
If anything is to be cancelled it should be Crossrail’s Shenfield branch.
The Shopper also reports Bexley’s councillor Bacon stating the obvious at the
London Assembly; that the way to get people recycling is to make it easy for them,
not fine them. Quite right too Gareth. I manage to recycle almost everything and
as you might guess, it’s nothing to do with a love-in with Bexley council;
it’s because it is as easy to recycle as it is not to. Easier in
some respects. It doesn’t stop the bin men finding any excuse not to empty a
bin though, I see many warning tags on bins when taking my early morning walk to Abbey
Wood station on bin day. What the ‘offences’ are I don’t know.
A reader’s letter says that the road planning clowns have made a “ridiculous
mess” of Faraday Avenue in Sidcup. I must pop down there with a camera.
P.S. It seems it was tempting fate to complain about the lack of alternative rail
routes to London from this area because I reached London Bridge at nine o’clock
tonight and decided I couldn’t be bothered to run for the 9.01 as there was a
faster train due in a few minutes. Bad mistake. The 9.01 and the following train
were the last to leave London Bridge today. Someone fell under a train at New
Cross and that following train heading for Lewisham blocked the Deptford
junction. After an hour’s worth of announcements which couldn’t give much
advice to those wishing to travel past Greenwich. I decided that the Jubilee to
Canning Town, DLR to Woolwich and a bus was the only alternative. Three hours from
Farringdon to Abbey Wood station. Crossrail, if it is ever built, would be
a quarter of an hour. Southeastern’s website was still showing no trains to or
from London Bridge at midnight.
More Crossrail related blogs.