No travel

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.

Strange names

One of the newer stations on the London Underground is Battersea Power Station. It’s at the end of the Northern line, and was built to serve the new shopping complex inside the old power station and all the new housing surrounding it.

The name of the station is Battersea Power Station. So, when referring to it as a stop, it should be Battersea Power Station station, just like Archway is Archway station.

But it isn’t, it’s Battersea Power station, or Station.

The railway lines that come to the capital usually stop at one of the terminus stations. Their names are preceeded by “London”, just in case you thought you were in Paris, so London Victoria or London Charing Cross.

But not London Bridge, which should be referred to as London London Bridge.

This is deeply concerning.