Free Wet Umbrella Cover - Canary Wharf

Well, well, well...looks like something has come out of the slip testing they were conducting in reception of One Canada Square earlier on in the year...I've commented before on how terrifyingly treacherous walking can get on some of the highly polished stone walkways after a shower, and now it seems that something has been done to try and combat it...Next to the doorways into the lower ground floor of our office these little dispensing machines have appeared, the idea being that instead of walking along with your wet umbrella dripping water all over the slippery marble floor, you pause, and tuck it into one of these little plastic bags (for free) to save everyone from slipping over in the little trail you have left...

Quite how successful this will be in practice, when there is a queue of busy commuters debating with themselves whether to continue standing patiently in the rain until their turn to wrap their umbrella up arrives, of course, remains to be seen... ;)

Slip testing in Canary Wharf

Saw this lot the other day in the cavernous space that is ground floor reception for One Canada Square (one floor above the actual ground where all the shops are and the tube station entrance lurks)...they were building a complicated mechano set designed to hold aloft (at a 45 degree angle to the floor) something that resembled a cobblers "last" (there, you learned something today already and I haven't even got to the point of my post yet!)...turns out, the building was undergoing some "slip testing", whereby they use this contraption to perform the so-called "pendulum slip test" to guage the resistence levels present in the floor surfaces (so if anyone falls over they can show them a bit of paper saying it's unlikely to be the fault of the building's owners)...perhaps they could pick up their kit and take it 200 yards to the entrance to the Jubilee line, where at the first sign of rain (as I noted previously) all resistance seems to completely dissapear!

Still, it shows that they *do* care in my office (at least... ;)

Slippery Surfaces - Canary Wharf

It really looks like fog doesn't it? It wasn't though, it was extremely dense but very fine rain, you know the kind...you think "Well, this isn't too bad" and five minutes later it's like you have been standing in the shower...this lead to some absolutely *deadly* conditions on the highly polished surfaces around "The Wharf", especially as I have just given up on my nice black Nikes (they had developed several new ventilation points over the summer, which in the words of the immortal song are now "letting in water") for a pair of quite nice grey and flourescent orange Vans, which unfortunately don't possess much in the way of grip (strange considering they are a popular shoe of choice for the "sk8terboi" set)...alright normally (as long as I am near something I can grab on to) but this morning the train was cancelled from Earlswood (only the second time since I changed hours) meaning I was in a bit of a hurry - actually, it's always bothered me that...in places where moisture is occasionally inevitable, why voluntarily put down shiny hard surfaces? Like *all* Spanish bathrooms being fitted out with shiny tiles for example? Yes it looks pretty, but the potential for accidents is high (I slipped practically every day getting out of the shower in Mexico until I remembered to put a towel down before I started), do these property managers want to get sued?

Anyway, like the towel outside the shower, I've got a bit of a method worked out now to dry the soles quickly and stay under control, as I come off the wet (and perfectly grippy) pavement and onto the slippery concourse I propel myself a little like an ice skater, skidding in a fashion whereby I don't actually lift my feet off the ground, it only takes 4 or 5 little "slides" until I feel the grip start to return...admittedly it probably looks absolutely ridiculous, but I don't care about that one jot as long as I stay upright... ;)