Posts

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Etruria and Longport

I've just noticed there is a comment on this post I made last year about Etruria station. I never did receive a reply to my letter. I suppose my MP didn't think it was worth bothering with as there is nothing that can be done now.
This still doesn't remove the fact that local public transport in this area is poor (to be polite). As mentioned in a previous post, Longport station is supposed to be having money spent on it to improve its condition. As far as I can tell after visiting it on two separate days last week that amounted to 2 new waiting shelters. One of which had some of the local Chavs in it sipping on their cheap lager! Tell them that people stand on stations for a hobby and they'd take the p**s! It's a great place to hang tho innit?
I digress! I still get the impression that no one in the Government or the Train Operating Companies really care about North Staffordshire. Longport still has a train to Stoke / Derby and Crewe every hour and the 2 trains to Manchester within half an hour of each other in the mornings and one at night from Manchester, but that's it. Hardly intensive is it? The Stoke – Stafford local service is still a bus and will be until 2009 (I think). There is a proposal for a Crewe – London service via North Staffs in 2009, which will stop at Alsager, Kidsgrove & Stone as well as Stoke, but although that will be quite useful, we still need a service for the local stations to Manchester. Well, to be honest we need a decent local service full stop!
Eighteen months ago I wrote to Central Trains about their awful service in this area and they replied that it wasn't their fault, it was the DfT's. This is despite the fact that they operated the services and asked for Etruria to be closed!
As an indicator of the Central Trains' attitude to this area, in a reply I got, I was told of the wonderful new Desiro service from Birmingham to Liverpool. Very good I replied, but as it doesn't come anywhere near North Staffordshire (well it does, but straight through as there are no stations between Stafford and Crewe!), what use was it to me? They didn't reply to that!
Central Trains are to lose their franchise in the next 6 – 12 months! 
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Snooze

Just got back from Shrewsbury. I was intending to have lunch with Carol, but Superdrug struck again, and she wasn't able to get out for lunch.
While waiting at Crewe, it occurred to me how boring it now is! The diesel depot is closed and I didn't see one loco moving through the station. All Pendolinos , Voyagers , 175s , 170s , 158s , 153s & 323s . Dull, dull, dull. No wonder there was hardly anyone spotting.
I came across some pictures from 20 years ago, they showed new and refurbished locos coming off the works and loads of variety in locos and units!
 
Pendolino @ Crewe

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The Rules

This has been floating around for a bit now, but it's still relevant and the spoilt lazy kids of today should take notice!

Rule 1
Life is not fair – get used to it.

Rule 2
The world won't care about your self esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3
You will not make £50000 a year right out of school. You won't be a vice president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4
If you think your teacher is tough, wait until you get a boss.

Rule 5
Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping-they called it opportunity.

Rule 6
If you mess up, it's not your parents fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
 
Rule 7
Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites your parent's generation created, try delousing your own room.

Rule 8
Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This does not bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9
Life is not divided into terms. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10
Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11
Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one. 😉

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Vintage Trains

Terrier

  

We went to The Midland Railway, Butterley yesterday. A good day out for the enthusiast, not quite so for the the wife of one! Herself prefers the ones with the longer journey and better scenery!

It was good, however, to be able to travel in the Victorian Train. We went in a 4 wheel 3rd class coach. It was beautifully restored, but it would have been somewhat uncomfortable on long journeys!

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Election Results 3

Woo Hoo!!!! Wolstanton have kicked out Labour and voted in a Conservative Councillor! Good luck to her! There are going to be some serious sulks from Labour!

We only have to put up with the useless man on the County Council for another 2 years!

If my maths is working today, that puts Labour at 20 seats (lost 6), the Conservative at 20 seats (gained 3), the Lib Dems at 18 seats (gained 3) plus 2 UKIP (gained 1).
 

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Election Results 2

Still not yet fully declared, but Labour have lost 4 seats and gained none. There's been a couple of high profile losses again, which means there will be some major league sulks :'( in the press over the next few days from Labour! 
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Election Time is Here Again!

Well the Borough Council elections are next week and what’s happening?

Well we’ve had a leaflet from our sitting Conservative Councillor and he has always been good with communication. We’ve had a leaflet from the UKIP loony, and nothing else. Apparently, there are Labour and Lib Dem candidates but not that you’d realise!
Seems like Labour are still in a massive sulk as they lost last year :-). I can only hope they keep up their sulking and self destruct.

One thing that will be interesting is that in Wolstanton, my favourite County Councillor, who is also a Borough Councillor is also up for re-election. It’ll be funny if he gets kicked out!

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Wi-fi is dangerous say Teachers

Oh dear one of the teaching unions are now saying that Wi-fi networks in schools are potentially dangerous.

Some have also said that it causes pupils behaviour to become disruptive. If they really want to be concerned about these sort of things, then they'd better look into the 20 – 30 mobile phones that are already in each class!

There is a story I've heard, probably apocryphal, that an IT technician put a wireless access point into a classroom. A week later the teacher came to the tech saying that he was suffering from headaches and nausia and it must be the access point causing it. The technician said that it was doubtful as he had yet to turn it in!

😉

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MRSA

My Mum went to see a consultant yesterday as she has a hernia that needs operating on. She is, quite reasonably, worried about MRSA. Her consultant told her that as she's only going to be a day patient that it shouldn't be an issue.
What he did say though was that the number of nurses have decreased and the number of administrators have increased! So much so that it's the administrators who decide where cleaners go and where patients go on ward, not the doctors and nurses.
Which means in simple terms cross contamination is a major issue. It's all gone to pot in the last 8 years or so apparently.
So that would be only 2 years after Labour won power……..

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Longport Station

Seems like Stoke City Council is trying to remind people that Longport and Longton stations still exist. There are posters on bus shelters round Hanley etc. to advertise the fact, which is to be commended.

All very well and good except that neither are, of course are, in Newcastle as it's a different Council. Longport is the nearest station to many people in the Borough.

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Big Journey

While sorting out my old photographs today, I came across the ones I took 20 years ago today (Sgt Pepper taught the band to play…..!).
It was this day that I caught the following trains

  1. Etruria to Stoke
  2. Stoke to Euston
  3. Kings Cross to Edinburgh
  4. Edinburgh to Glasgow Queens Street
  5. Glasgow Central to Crewe
  6. Crewe to Etruria!

That was a great day’s line bashing. Couldn’t do it now of course, because Etruria is now closed and I don’t get free travel on the railways any more so it’d cost me a fortune!

Great day though!