30 September, 2014

14th Floor open!

...and Wow!  Just need some cash on my lunch card now!
Oh boy...new canteen is amazing... :0
IMAG1900
IMAG1918
...around the corners -
Floor 14 - News building - Shadow walk
IMAG1905
IMAG1916
The Book Wall - News Building
IMAG1919
- real books in the book wall!  And then outside onto the new terrace -
14th Floor Terrace - News Building
View from the canteen south (with man and vegetation)
View of the Shard from the 14th floor terrace at the News Building
View from the 14th floor - News Building
Astonishingly cool... ;)


05 September, 2014

04 September, 2014

London Bridge Chaos!

London Bridge - platforms destroyed!
Argh...and I thought I had cleverly missed all the mess...!

With my usual platforms now completely destroyed (as I mentioned previously) - the journey into London Bridge has been much the same as normal (just slightly narrower platforms to disembark - walking up the train instead of the platform skips the queue - so no big deal)...getting home again last night was another matter entirely though (I'm hoping this was just a blip, but last night no-one knew where to go - it was bedlam) -
London Bridge Chaos
London Bridge Chaos
London Bridge Chaos
London Bridge Chaos
London Bridge Chaos
I'm fairly sure I visited all the remaining platforms at least twice before I found a train heading in the direction I wanted...so things aren't quite sorted yet...see how we go tonight...welcome back to work, Fink! >:P

Pictures from Cornwall...

Widemouth Bay already
Widemouth Bay
Widemouth Bay
Widemouth Bay
Launceston Steam Railway
Widemouth Bay
Widemouth Bay
Widemouth Bay
Widemouth Bay
Ready to surf!

03 September, 2014

Woah, London Bridge...

London Bridge - platforms destroyed!
...looking down from the News Building, all my normal platforms have completely GONE (zoom in)!  Wonder which one I need to use to get home tonight?  Oo-er...

London Bridge new platforms open!

London Bridge new platforms open
Soooo...back from happy holidays (and look - all the new platforms are finished and open at London Bridge!  So glad I missed all that nonsense...), only one day of disaster to report (holiday was largely great weather and great fun) - the day we were supposed to pack up and move from Bude to Warminster (and do Wookey Hole) we had got up early, packed up the car, unpacked the car again to find the kids shoes, packed up the car again, handed our keys back to reception, strapped everyone in, waved to Nanjan and Pops (who were there to see us off and help out with baby-sitting during the packing process - thanks for that!) turned the key in the ignition - aaaand - NOTHING!

The guys from the caravan park were extremely helpful, tried (in vain) to jump start us with the puny battery from their little white van and so we called the AA...(trying to make it sound like we were in a more terrible position than we actually were) and then began a wait of almost two hours without a single update (which I am generously attributing to the 95% lack of mobile signal in the entire South West)...when the nice AA guy finally arrived (from just up the road), he ran a battery test and held up the machine to show me the "BATTERY FAIL - REPLACE" message but was happy to let us sail away into the (now afternoon) sun so long as we didn't turn the car off until we got to Warminster (where he would arrange a new battery to be waiting for us at around 5pm)...

Off we went and (of course) the M5 was a car park, so we swung off onto to the A303 tightly crossing our fingers (which turned out to also be a car park as a direct result of the M5 being a car park)...so we covered the kids ears, cursed, and drove, very slowly, towards our destination, past signs to Wookey Hole (having no time to visit it now - telling disappointed little ones that we would have another go in October half term), time now getting tight, we pulled off the A303 onto some tiny little roads following the Garmins instructions and hit the centre of a tiny town where there was a closed road which the Garmin was absolutely adamant we take (even when we were 3 miles past it, it was *insisting* we go back before it would issue any further directions - argh)...!

It was just about now, pretty much lost, with no mobile internet to get directions from Google maps, time running out to meet our battery man that Poppy was sick...*very* sick...all over the back of the car, including getting some onto Thomas, who was not amused, and Annabelle decided that it was dinner time and started screaming like we were trying to murder her...and it was in this exact fashion that we finally clawed our way into the car park at Warminster Travelodge (after five hours on the road instead of the predicted two)...head and hands up against the windows looking and feeling a little like an Edvard Munch composition...

The battery was finally replaced about an hour later (the AA guy got stuck in traffic too), and actually, even though it seemed like it might be the cherry on the top of the cake, our dinner at Little Chef that evening was a pleasant surprise...I recommend the "foot-long" (it isn't quite) Chilli Dog... ;)