please empty your brain below
The other two were pretty dull though.
If your pedestrian crossing doesn't get fixed then it has to potential to become a Bow Road station type saga.
On the subject of Routemasters: I am a great fan, was a bus conductor on them for six months back in the seventies and in some ways it was the best job I had. I could talk about them for hours but even I feel I have had Routemaster overload in the past couple of months.
dg writes: It's not gum, honest. the change happened immediately after the workmen left, and on both crossings.
By the way why does Gladstone have red hands? Anything to do with the kids tv programme that used to be on?
...and it's that exact spot on the road that everytime I drive past it I think of this blog.
(My head is broken)
Here's what another local historian has to say:
"Erected by Theordore Bryant in 1882, this monument to Gladstone is one of the few statues erected while the person was still alive. It was splashed with red paint in 1988 as a tribute to the match girls. It was recently cleaned but has again had red paint thrown its way.
Opposite the present Bow Rd DLR there was a very large drinking fountain that had been erected in 1872 commemorating the abolition of the proposed match tax. Bryant and May had threatened to pass the tax on to their workers so the government stood down. When the tax was defeated Bryant and May got all of their workers to pay a shilling towards the fountain and the women cut their wrists in protest."
(Perhaps it's intended to give pedestrians something to do while they're waiting for the light to change.)
I don’t know the location of the crossing in question, so I can’t talk in specifics. But if you asked the nice people at TfL Street Management, I’m sure they’d be able to tell you. They look after all the signals in this great city.
But a bit of random guesswork leads me to suggest these options.
It could be quiet a simple mistake, although the signals would need to have been reprogrammed as part of the work, so that doesn’t seem likely.
Which leaves us with: It could be deliberate. But why? Obvious answer, national transport policy is to give sustainable modes of transport priority over the not so sustainable, otherwise known as the private motor car. Make drivers wait longer, they get more pussed off, they begin to think the bus is better. This concept also gets reflected in overall statistics (eg private motor car journeys in London have increased in time in the last 5 years while walking/cycling/bus journeys are getting quicker).
Another option is that, it could be a road safety initiative. If speeding in the area is a problem (is the road straight-ish?) then having the traffic stopping would reduce people’s speeds. In actual fact, this is a great trick used by road authorities around the world to stop traffic speeding at night when congestion doesn’t restrain traffic speeds and flows are irregular anyway. When a car approaches a set of lights in a group it will turn them read. If the driver speeds towards the next set of lights in the group, the driver will find them read too. If the driver travels below the speed limit (speed limits are maximums) then he should reach a green light until the next group when it is likely they will turn red as the car approaches to make sure the driver has an “alertness break”.
In other news, within “zone 1” of the city most of the push buttons on traffic lights service no technical purpose. The lights are all controlled in big groups and therefore the predetermined flow of the traffic light sets when the vehicles are facing red or green lights. Pedestrians get slotted in between (although you’ll be pleased to know that in places like Piccadilly Circus, pedestrians and buses are the main priority). If you take the “wait box” away, more people tend to just walk out into the flow of traffic cause they don’t think they can control the box and other physiological things like that!
In contrast, I've been hoping my neighbors despise murder. Would they stand up if slighted by their bosses?
At 7PM the doors are shut.
At 7AM too.
Noon as well.
And Holidays.
I've had no indication my neighbors would give a hoot about what we pay in taxes, fees, and how we kiss our bosses!
Yes, noble is what made us free not what we free have made.
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