Trains fare robbery is not promoting sustability

Train fares are raising, much faster than inflation:
Commuters hit hard by Ken's latest fare hikes (Richmond and Twickenham Times)

Hardly a way to encourage commuting in crowded public transports, Ken?

I took the Waterloo and City line yesterday, after it's been shut for repairs for FIVE months. While I was contemplating a poster presenting the benefits of the refurbishment... while waiting for late trains (alledgedly due to hardware issues)...

Finally, I am reading this morning about Virgin Trains' attempt to break the Glasgow-London speed record by going at more than 100 mph (160 km/h). This record have been in place for 25 years. Cooincidentally, it's also the 25th birthday of the French TGV, which is now trialled for commercial speed at 360 km/h (the speed record is over 500 km/h!).

Speed alone is not what matters: high-speed trains has remapped France, relieving some of the pressure on the dense Paris area and stealing market share to air travel. This matters enormously: by gaining a 68% share on the London-Paris route, rail is proving a viable and sustainable alternative to polluting airliners.

Tags: train, transportation, richmondtransits.blog, tube, waterloocity, London

What to do with diet coke and menthos?

A geyser of course:
Coke and Mentos Fountain at EepyBird.com

Much healthier than drinking and eating them!



Tags: humor

PhotoFeed du jour

I've added this feed in my RSS reader:
[daily dose of imagery]

(RSS feed)

Tags: photo

A bad Indian

I usually don't write negative restaurant reviews, but this will be the exception. A few weeks back, Sharkels', our favourite Indian, was closed for refurbishment (although it opened in Sheen quite recently). So I set off in a mission to find a takeaway, where I could also park the car and found this Bengal Village, opposite the The Red Cow.

Don't even try it, it's probably the worst curry I had for a very long time...

Put the fun back into flying

Travelling by air is becoming even more a hassle than it was before after the recent events.

Fortunately, it seems like RyanAir has found the solution:
Boing Boing: RyanAir: Airport security is like a strip-search

Tags: richmondtransits.blog humor air travel

Swan in a pub...

One for Tony...A swan near the White Cross in Richmond, one of the few pubs on the rivers to sell real ales.

Tags: richmondtransits.blog Richmond pictures pubs beer

Richmond is the fittest!

This Richmond and Twickenham Times article, relates a poll (for what they're worth :-) citing Richmond residents as the most active in mainland UK!

Run Richmond, run!

Tags: richmondtransits.blog Richmond

Is Thames Water taking the piss?

Thames Water is thanking its customer for saving water...

In the meantime, it still loose 894 millions liters a day
or about FIVE TIMES the ammount saved by the drought order (equivalent to 255 litres/property/day) just reported a 31% rise in pre-tax profits to £346.5m and narrowly escaped a fine for missing leaking targets.

As for most national infrastructure issues (trains, roads, etc...) the source of the problem lies in a lack of public investment in the recent decades. There's indeed no shortage of water in the North nor there is a mean to bring it to the most populated area of the country.

What a legacy baby boomers leave us: accute environmental issues, pension funding shortfall, derelict infrastructures. Every day, it looks like this generation took it all for themselves...

Tags: richmondtransits.blog draught politics

[thepassionatecook:] Food Destinations: Richmond

Quite a great post from Joanna for foodies who live around Richmond:
thepassionatecook: Food Destinations: London

All the addresses are there, she's netted all of the neighbourhood food places worth of a mention!

Tags: foodings.blog.uk Richmond

Is cheap air travel is a good thing?

With the advent of budget airlines such as EasyJet and RyanAir, you can get to Prague for less money that it would cost you to go to Penzance but there are buts.

While a dinner somewhere sunny for £18 rtn sounds like an attractive proposition it has a negative impact on the environement. I think cheap air travel is not a sustainable option, as it's only cheap because there is no fuel duty on kerosene.
On the economic aspect, and the droves (2.3m last Easter) of holidaymakers going abroad end up not benefiting their own economy through tourism revenues.

And there are catches too: their customer service not great, to say the least. I remember a time where we were queuing to check-in for a RyanAir flight to Bergerac and they closed the counter without telling anyone! We went to ask what was going on and were told the flight was closed for good -although we arrived plenty of time in advance! It actually took quite some negotiation before they accepted to rebook a flight to Bordeaux...

Plus, you should not travel with any luggage whatsoever:
Boing Boing: Judge to RyanAir: no valuables in checked bags?

So, is cheap air travel such it a good thing? I am not so sure...

Tags: richmondtransits.blog politics airlines air travel transportation environment

Kingston worst for bike thefts

If you planned a shopping trip to Kingston during this bank holiday week end, think again.

Going by car requires to navigate the one way system and endure long queues to park your car -unless you fancy be there at 9.
Taking the family by bike can be an option, as Kingston is easily accessible by the Thames towpath (which is unfortunately a shared pedestrian/cycling path), however make sure to lock your bikes properly:
Poll reveals cycle theft hotspots (BBC, 12/04/06)

Of course, there are no secure parkings...



Tags: richmondtransits.blog cycling sustainability transportation

Restaurant review: The Victoria (East Sheen)

The Victoria in East Sheen is a gastro-pub converted in a modern restaurant. It used to look like a pub, with a conservatory, a garden and a climbing frame to keep kids at arms' length during Summer dinners. They even had a table football and home made lemonade for teenagers. The old bar is now gone to make way for more tables and the the teenager corner is more like a café corner.

We decided to pay a visit to that old favourite a few weeks back, on a Friday night. The place was moderately busy yet we were made to wait at the bar for our table. Service has never been a strong point at the Victoria but they're friendly.
We had some lamb sweetbreads with a morel cream and gnocchis. A bit sweet but delicious. And a sirloin with béarnaise, chips and watercress. Good as usual. Lamb rump with a Lebanese mezze. Good also but not as filling as expected. And some chocolate steamed pud wich was quite nice.
The menu also boasted a monkfish saltimbocca with spiced aubergine and curried lentils which attracted my attention, seems creative and nice. We had a bottle of beaujolais to wash this and the bill came at £120 for three.

To me, this seems outside the gastro-pub sphere and plays serious restaurant business. And this is the point I struggle with. Yes, the food is good but not as refined as say The Glasshouse or Redmond's which are around the corner. The service is the real let down. Value for money is no longer there with mains ranging from £11 to £20.

Verdict: good but now overpriced.

PS: they have bedrooms and they're quite nice. But where they were £85-ish four years ago, they're now priced at £98 (and that's an internet special deal!) but broadband is now include.

The Victoria
10 West Temple Sheen, London SW14 7RT
tel: 020 8876 4238


Tags: foodings.blog.uk, restaurant, review

Less is more: good design is less design

I was reading an interview from Terence Conran (which I can't find today :-( where he spoke of car designers being too conservative and over-complicated.

Surely, there are few tings more complicated than designing a car -there are so many engineering and safety constraints- but I feel that the main restriction in car design has become corporate marketing. It's peculiar for instance that they should copy each other: the Audi single-frame (which could look much nicer would it not have the licence plate in the middle) came from the same designer who invented it for Alfa Romeo before moving to Seat (part of the VAG as Audi and Lamborghini). Now even the new Golf GTI has a single frame...

Anyhow, in terms of design as with many other things, less is more. It's easier said than remembered, this video should be a useful nudge to all marketeers:

Microsoft Designs the iPod (Office-humour.co.uk)


Tags: humour car automotive design marketing

Kew Spring Festival 2006

Kew Gardens have nicely put online a page with the current state of all spring flower beds:
Kew Gardens Spring Festival 2006

Thanks to Tony for the link!


Tags: richmondtransits.blog Kew Gardens thingstodo

Parking tickets on ITV tomorrow

Received this email today:

Parking Tickets will be the subject of Tonight with Trevor McDonald on ITV Friday 14th April @ 8.00 pm.

As parking fines hit new records, Jonathan Maitland goes out and about to meet the growing band of `road rebels' who are using legal loopholes to escape paying

Regards,

www.parking-ripoff.co.uk

the Campaign Against The Parking Rip-Off

Tags: parking richmondtransits.blog London

Sustainable transportation in Richmond?

With Richmond park and the Thames towpaths, one could think Richmond is an ideal spot for cycling. It is probably better than many places, but there are still many improvements to be made:

• Theft, is quoted as one of the key deterrent to cycling (17% of cyclists got their bike stolen in the past 3 years, of which 24% no longer cycle at all and 66% cycle less often). Secure parking is an obvious answer, but there are few places to attach your bike in Richmond and few primary schools have bike sheds.
• Cycling routes are designed to an appalling standards, with high-friction sufaces (more effort is needed to pedal on the green paths!), potholes and manholes covers protrude often (the Upper Richmond Road is a bad example) and in the park or towpath, the shared pedestrian/cyling path is a recipe for disaster (which cyclist has never experienced hesitating pedestrians jumping left and right to make way or bullying runners packs?). The standards are seldom respected -have you seen many lanes 1.5m wide?
• Passive road infrastructure safety is a topic where we have much to learn from the Dutch experience. There's little concept of segregating the traffic (establishing a physical separation between cars and bicycles): "advisory cycle lanes" are an example of this thinking. Take again the A205 (Upper Richmond road): there's no provision for segregating traffic at major junctions (there could be separate traffic light for cyclists) and minor intersection (there should be a "hard" traffic island before the junction so that cars turning right have a visual obstacle reminding them of observing the cycle lane priority. Large roundabouts like those on the A316 are also dangerous for cyclists.

Cyclists' rants? Maybe, but increasing the cycling sahre in commuting (now less than 3% of journeys to work) is the easiest way towards sustainable transportation. Sustainability in transportation is not a buzzword for tree-hugging ecoxtremists but has direct and major benefits for all:

• reduced pollution
• reduced noise
• reduced congestion
• positive impact on public health
• decrease in working hours lost in public transport delays and traffic jams
• increased turnover for city centre retail
• ... and it's cheaper than any other alternative but walking!

What needs to be done by Richmond borough?

• Upgrade the cycle lanes, to ensure they are un-interrupted and segregated from cars
• Allow two way use for bikes of one way street
• Transfor "advisory" cycle lanes into "hardened" cycle lanes
• Increase numbers of bike attachment posts (aka Sheffield stands) close to shops
• Build 24-hour secure parking for cycles at the borough stations to promote combined rail-bike use (see Munster example on page 41: 25% rail customer now cycles to or from the station)

Links:

• Wikipedia article on utility cycling
• TfL cycling reports
• Richmond Cycling Campaign

Tags: cycling Richmond richmondtransits.blog

What shall we do?

One of the bedtime stories I prefer reading to kids is called "What Shall We Do Blue Kangaroo?"

The only problem lies with my weird "thought process": every single time I hear the phrase "What Shall We Do?", the image of a malicious lilac kangaroo springs to my mind. Which can be funny or disturbing, depending of the situation, as it's hard to refrain smirking.

PS: the other books by Emma Chichester-Clark are equally good...


Tags: children books richmondtransits.blog

A wonderful adventure

Brian, one of the South-African mates I have the chance to share some moments running and cycling on week-ends is going to race the Cape Epic, a 921 km ride during which he'll climb more than 16000 vertical metres while enjoying some of the best scenery the Western Cape and South Africa have to offer.

I don't know if he's nuts but I wish him luck!

Link: The CAPE EPIC - The Magical and Untamed African Mountain Bike Race


Tags: cycling richmondtransits.org cape epic

Bank holidays across Europe (and more)

After consumer protection, human rights, more useful stuff coming from the European Union:

EUROPA - The EU at a glance - Travelling in Europe - Choosing a time to travel

Lamb (curry) with apricots

I've bought this book the other day, and I must say it's one of the best Indian cookbooks I've seen.

The auhor is Camellia Panjabi, the founder of several restaurants: Chutney Mary, Veeraswamy and two Masala Zone. She wrote a very personal and extremely interesting long introduction, which you can browse here. I food is a good way to start understanding a culture...

So, as with other dishes Camellia gives the dish origin (Parsi here) and a few words of explanation (eat with saffron rice, use Hunza apricots).

For 4:

• 100g dried apricots
• 50 ml oil
• 2 oignons, finely chopped
• 1 cm (!) ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 7.5 cm cinnamon (that's a lot)
• 6 cardamons
  
• 1,5 ts red chilli powder
• 1/2 ts cumin powder
• 2 chopped tomatoes
• 700g stewing lamb (don't look at Tesco's, they only have 3 cuts!)
• 3/4 ts garam masala
• 1/4 ts ground black pepper
• salt
• 1 ts vinegar
• 1 ts sugar (forgot this, but the dish was sweet enough)

Time: about 20 mn prep and 1 about hour cooking.

1. Soak the apricots with 1/2 ts vinegar (I used cider vinegar) and 200ml water for 3 hours (I microwaved 20s at 900W to shorten this)
2. Fry the oignons in the oil, add ginger and garlic, then cinnamon and cardamons.
   
3. Add chili, cumin, tomatoes, the apricots and the meat, bring to slow boil, add the garam masala and pepper, salt and 200ml water (I used cold).
   
4. Cook slowly until evaporation, add 100ml of water (I used hot).
5. Add a little vinegar, sugar, let rest for 10mn (on the warm hob) and serve.
   

Tags: foodings.blog.uk curry lamb apricot indian maincourse