Oh boy, totally freezing today, had to scrape the ice off the car first thing (the de-icer spray had managed to get lost somewhere too, which didn't help), didn't take my gloves off all the way in (most unusual) and peering out the office window it looks like all the buildings are on fire thanks to all the moisture clouds billowing from the air conditioning units on the rooftops...
In other news, between now and January the 4th I now don't have to work any more than 3 days in any one week! Woo hoo!! :)
Wow, lucky I got in a bit early to the Wharf this morning! Spotted from the DLR (across the water) a feeding frenzy of commuters spewing from the Jubilee line and devouring huge pallets of free goods directly opposite...turns out (when I ran down there) that it was hundreds of free bottles of (family size) Innocent fresh pressed juice drinks...my bag is going to be pretty heavy to carry on the way home now!
Here we go, they've got the ice rink back up and running ready for Christmas, doesn't look like anyone's actually using it yet, but it won't be long! ;)
Wow, had no idea all this was going on at West India Quay yesterday or I would have popped over to have a look, guess I know where I'm going at 1pm...!
Lots more information about all the things I missed over here...
...the other day, a massive commemerative plaque to the building of West India Quay, it's about two stories high...! Bet they never imagined for a moment what would become of the place... ;)
Wow, it's all happening today, first free cake then the Goodyear Blimp zooms past us up the Thames (going *very* fast actually)...click it to zoom in... :)
...near Waitrose in "The Wharf"...they said my medicine would be there at 10am today, and there it was...mouth (caveat - might be just my imagination) already feeling a bit better, managed to taste salt a bit earlier when I ate my sandwich, still couldn't taste egg or sausage however, but hey, progress is progress!
...woah, bit spooky...! This was One Canada Square (where I work) under construction in 1990, as seen from the (already finished) DLR platform at Heron Quays (which is now located inside a huge building which was obviously built around it! I guess one day someone's going to look at my pictures of the Crossrail station being built and feel similarly!
...the view out the window right now...it's settling fast! Wish me luck with my long journey home (at least I'm setting off in a few minutes rather than at 5pm)!
Spotted this the other day on a little walk around West India Quay, not sure *what* the he'd done to deserve being locked up, but it was obviously *very* naughty...seriously though, it does sort of ruin the Christmas spirit whoever it was that thought vandals would leap upon it and cover it with graffiti if it weren't secured behind a six foot fence...I'd like to think that most residents of the Wharf are normally quite well behaved! ;)
Well, let it snow - IF - the trains can manage to all run on time, which of course they *can't*...it didn't work out *too* bad I suppose - roads were clear by the time we got off the estate, train five minutes late to Earlswood and only twenty minutes late into London Bridge (they weren't even using the snow as an excuse either, today it was a "broken rail at Redhill") - I got on a Dartford train that was supposed to have run at 7am (just over an hour late departing), and oh boy was the DLR busy, but despite it all I still managed to get to work before 9am... ...and this is the view out over east London that greeted me...total white out... ;)
...are up (yay!), and it looks like they have actually bought some news ones for this year (or spruced them up a bit at the very least), no festive signs in evidence this year either...! ;)
So this is what greeted me at the end of my lunchtime walk back to the office...a quick check with all the interested bystanders revealed that it wasn't a terrorist attack (or anything like that), this is the response that is merited in Canary Wharf when some window cleaners get stuck... ...up in the office a similar scene...so I took a few pictures of the (ongoing) rescue attempt- - the (many) firemen sitting around and smoking on the roof opposite- - and the appliance they have managed to get into the cofferdam dewatering hole (building crossrail) which couldn't *quite* reach them (zoom in on the picture and you can pick them out with the white helmets)...
Here we go, just a few shots from my HTC Hero of my new Journey, unfortunately an operator came and took my place by the only clean window so my later shots are through rather a lot of grime, but actually, that improved some of them (imho)...anyway, this is where the journey on the DLR starts, Lewisham station - - I've only got down the stairs to these two platforms *twice* and not managed to walk straight onto a train and choose a seat, once was a points failure (when I ended up walking through the docklands heading for the big tower from Crossharbour), and once was a sub-station failure (last week, and was fixed in about ten minutes flat), trains come in every two minutes or so, so if one were to find both trains full, it's only a very short wait for another empty one to arrive (as this is the end of the line)... The first couple of stops are very close together, Elverson Road - - and Deptford Bridge...it's then a slightly longer hop to Greenwich (where I change for CannonStreet services on the way home), the reason why I don't change here in the morning is because all the seats have now (usually) been filled... - at Greenwich we are usually full and standing, ready to start the journey under the Thames - - stopping underground at Cutty Sark (for historic Greenwich) - - (yeah, sorry 'bout that - cameraphone no likie low lightie) - and Island Gardens, then back out into the daylight for Mudchute (named thusly as it was the dumping ground for all the mud when Millwall Dock was being dug) - - lucky really, as, as a result it became a sort of improptu nature reserve, eventually becoming home to a big urban farming project (the one on Junior Apprentice last week, if you saw it) and actually quite a pretty area - - from here it's another fairly short hop to Crossharbour (which, as I mentioned already, I now know how to walk from if needs be) - - this is a busy little shopping area, full of waterside cafes and bars, just a taste of the buzz a stone's throw away - - then on (past the foundations of the old Crossharbour stop, demolished I imagine, as the platforms were too short for the new trains), the towers of the Wharf now clearly visible glittering in the sunshine off to our right through South Quay and Heron Quays (in very quick succession) - - and then into Canary Wharf station (where I get off and walk for 30 seconds to find myself in reception, One Canada Square)...DLR Commute - Done!
