Strikes

Posted on 22 April 2026 by pws

If you are in London right now on a holiday, or are coming very soon, you will know or should know that we are in a phase of tube (Underground) strikes.

These seem to typically start at 12 noon on one day and finish at 12 noon the next. This means that trains before the start will be affected, as they need to be moved to a correct place, and trains after the end will still be affected and will be slow to get back to normal.

Some stations may be closed, some lines or parts of lines too, and services may be reduced in frequency. First and last train times may also be affected. It may be at very short notice.

If you are here, avoiding the tube is advised, for several reasons. They may just not be running, and if they are, may be very crowded.

If you are in central London sightseeing, bus or walk (the weather is nice, if a little chilly) are better bets. Be aware that there are some bus strikes too at times.

Apps like CityMapper will give up-to-date information, and the TfL website will give a good overview of the whole disruption: https://tfl.gov.uk/campaign/strikes

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No travel

Posted on 20 April 2026 by pws

There has been a lot on the news about the difficulties of travelling to Europe.

New rules and procedures have been introduced, just like in the USA and UK.

At some point on your journey, you need to visit a booth. You scan your passport, do your fingerprints and a photo, answer a few questions and off you go. To the customs officer for an interview.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn897e8280do

The queues in some places have been horrendous. Experts suggest the system is not working properly in some places. For example, we heard that the booths in St Pancras cannot connect to the French system, making it useless.

A person I know had been involved with this. She hadn’t missed her flight, but had had a long wait in a queue and was grumbling about it.

It’s a consequence of Brexit. If we’d remained, there would not be a problem.

I knew she had voted for leaving. In fact, she had told me at some length just why I should vote to leave.

“I didn’t vote for this,” she said. Yes, I said, you did. You voted to leave and this is one consequence of exactly that. This is what you voted for us. You can’t vote for something and then cherry pick the consequences.

“But nobody told us…”

We don’t know what to say to people who finally realised they have been lied to.

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Fly me to the Moon

Posted on 13 April 2026 by pws

Being born in the middle 1950s, we don’t really remember Sputnik, or the dog Laika, but we do remember well Telstar, Yuri Gagarin and Alan Shepard.

We followed the space programme, espcially the American one as the USSR kept its secrets, and we knew all about the astronauts and their missions.

We remember Apollo 11 landing on the Moon, and all the way up to 17, but it was clear that, as soon as it happened, people were losing enthusiasm for space, and for the apparently high costs.

NASA has generally been very limited until quite recently.

Artemis II has hopefully rekindled interest in space research. There was coverage on some of the UK channels and presumably elsewhere, and there was a YouTube and Netflix selection.

The flight to the Moon had its issues but they were overcome and mostly it was a flawless flight. The coverage was clear and engaging.

They flew farther from Earth than any others ever have, and they took some wonderful pictures.

The splashdown on Friday was pretty stunning and hopefully the next mission will be very soon.

Posted in News, Space | Leave a comment