No waiting zones at East Croydon...

...spotted this the day before yesterday (while the train was inexplicably stopped at East Croydon) - I imagine it's something to do with all the building work going on but I'm at a bit of a loss as to explain why (or how they go about enforcing it)...these hashed areas are up and down the platform, accompanied by signs telling passengers that they are not to loiter in the marked spots...How odd!  I looked for quite a long time for any sort of reason why you wouldn't be allowed to do so but ended up just shaking my head in confusion...!

Food Standard Agency - Hygiene Results

Wow, spotted this over at Hint of Sarcasm and thought I would check it out, unfortunately Tower Hamlets doesn't seem to have published theirs yet, so I can't tell how well Canary Wharf has been scrubbed, but Reigate and Banstead have managed to get their act together and pop their results online - 756 pubs, mini-marts and restaurants (and there are some *serious* shocks!)...Basically, what each local authority has been tasked with doing is visiting and inspecting each place of preparation/sale of food and giving them a public rating (between 0 and 5) based on (and I quote) "how hygienically the food is handled – how it is prepared, cooked, re-heated, cooled and stored. The condition of the structure of the buildings – the cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation and other facilities and how the business manages and records what it does to make sure food is safe", in this ranking system a 1 means "Urgent Improvement Necessary" and a 5 means "Very Good" (to put it very simply, anything above a 3 is a "pass")...I guess if you get zero they wrap the place in blue plastic and send in the exterminators... ;)

You can search your area here, but to summarise Redhill/Earlswood (for example), the *vast* majority of places are comfortable 5s, but there are a couple of real shockers, Moza (the Indian that replaced my favorite one when it closed down) in Earlswood got 1 out of 5! Won't be going there ever again then! The Abbot Public House (on the roundabout opposite the station in central Redhill) - 1 out of 5 (thank goodness I've never eaten there)! Redhill Fish Bar (the one near Earlswood station which we usually use for our fish and chips if Flyingpops comes to pick me up) 2 out of 5! Think we'll be finding a new chip shop!

Believe it or not, Reigate has a *lot* more problems than Redhill(!) - *ALL* 1 out of 5 - The Skimmington Castle, Fillz in Bell Street, Katies Confectionery, The Market Hotel, Reigate Kitchen, The Barley Mow, Gates Cafe and Reigate Kebab and Burger House (so that's about half the town)! 2 out of 5 - La Bottega, Corner Cafe (in Woodhatch) and C P Easton Traditional Family Butchers...all places now on my "Do not visit" list... :(

Of course this pales into insignificance compared to searching for "Croydon" where (when sorted by ranking) the first seven *pages* are all *zero* rated followed by 24 pages of venues (including several day nurseries and a multitude of Halal butchers, from whom you would expect a little better) rate 1 out of 5...so it just looks like (if you care about your/your families health) just forget eating *anywhere* in the Croydon area full stop... (without due diligence) it's totally shocking and disgusting... :0

I can't believe there hasn't been more fuss made about this, it's actually a really important public resource - so don't delay, check out where you are planning on eating tonight...(urm)...today! Your tummy may very well thank you very kindly...Spread the word! ;)

Warning sign - East Croydon Station

Spotted on the coffee machine in the snack shop between platforms 5 and 6 at East Croydon station...Perhaps just a *slight* exaggeration... ;)

When the crowd say 'BO'...

...decide which of the flavours of McCoy's you desire....

Overheard at East Croydon station

Two young kids - kid one is Asian (and is on the train), kid two is of Afro-Carribean descent and is standing half in the train and half out...
Kid one - "Go'on, get on da train!"
Kid two - "Nah"
Kid one - "Com'on man, it'll be buff"
Kid two (stepping off the train) - "Nah man, dis train is WELL LOG, innit"
(Kid two now mimes himself straining on the toilet (even squatting down to complete the graphic illustration), flicks Kid one the bird and runs off up the platform laughing while Kid one pulls ugly faces against the closing doors)...

No more than four minutes later, an old dear wanders past where I am sitting, struggling to answer her mobile phone -
"Hello, are you there?" (mumbles, I assume in the affirmative)
"Urm, I'm not sure, where are you?" (brief pause)
"Let me look" (she peers up towards the ramps to the ticket office)
"Yes, I'm on platform...urm...1256" (audible exclaimation of disbelief from the handset)
"No, that's what it says!"
(I reach up, pointing to the "Platform 3" indicator about 3 yards from her current position, trying to distract her attention from the sign she is locked in on which clearly reads "To platforms 1 2 5 6", but as I do she bussles away waving to a distant figure)...

East Croydon Station - Photography forbidden

I was on East Croydon station platform on Friday night, awaiting my connection and thought I would take a few pictures of the trains, not really been there at night with the good camera, walked right up to the end of the platform and took these from a prone position with the camera sat on the floor in front of me...

Twice I was approached, both times by people in HVJ's, the first one, a kindly gentleman, approached from behind asking if I was "alright mate?" because he thought I had keeled over, the second, and you can see her in the photo above came and sternly scolded me because "it ain't allowed after the terror bombings"...she didn't ask me to delete the pictures though, just stop taking them. She explained that "even them train spotters 'ave to ask in writing to the station manager" (before they are allowed to huddle in their anoraks with their weak lemon squash at the end of the platforms) as if for some reason they had more right than me to behave oddly at East Croydon station...hmph... >;(

Bad Wolf

...snapped this written in some sort of whitewash that has been painted all over the windows of the snack shop on platform 3 at East Croydon the other day...

Life immitating art..? ;)

Dr Who...

Snapped from one of the very many billboards vying for the commuters attention at East Croydon station, great poster...I think the first episode airs tomorrow night, regardless of it's easy availabilty in "73h 5c3n3", I fully intend to be glued to the box for the duration... ;) The Dr Who website gave me a bit of a shock though, my system time is set wrong for some reason on this machine and they are running a count down timer which obviously relies on local settings, it said that there was only 2 hours to go before it aired! I thought I had lost a day somewhere!