Going downhill again?

Its 2 months since the Olympics and Paralympics Games and there may be signs that the improved transport services that we saw during the Games may be moving into history as well.  In the last week, we have had problems on the Jubilee line that led to commuters having to take alternative routes to and from work, and less frequent (and therefore more crowded) services.  The buses that serve the Isle of Dogs, where I live, are less frequent or have been experiencing delays due to heavy traffic, and it has been impossible to get on buses in the morning because of the masses of school children who use the same services as working folk to get to school/work on time.  Even if one did get on a bus, they stopped prematurely and passengers were asked to get off and wait for the next bus to take them to their destinations.

On the road, there were delays going counterclockwise on the north circular during the day, and delays going clockwise during the evening: I lost over an hour stuck in traffic to get to a destination that would normally take me a little under an hour in total to get to and from.  All of these delays were more than what I experienced going into the City center during the Games- and I went fairly frequently as I attended a fair few events.  Is it acceptable for us to have to put up with this when we are trying to make a living?  I think not and it is disgraceful that we should be expected to when the eyes of the world are no longer on us.  It is not about showing others our best side, it should be about being the best so that our people can perform at their best rather than having to worry about silly incidentals that hamper them from their daily business.  This costs our businesses too and it is short sighted of those managing the City to not deal with the daily problems and only concentrate on these issues when they perceive that they are performing on the world stage.  In case they haven't noticed, we have to perform all day every day in our daily activities to compete on the world stage, not just through a one off sports competition. 

Post-Olympics calm

The Olympics and Paralympics have come and gone and London has settled back into the usual humdrum routines of daily life.  Only things don't seem to be exactly as they were before our rather exciting Summer.  I have just returned to work following a period of maternity leave and in the past month I have not encountered a single incident which affected my daily commute to and from work.  Perhaps this is the legacy from our Summer of sports.  If so, I am even more glad that we hosted the events and long may this effect continue.

One Boris bike down

I have previously written about how pleased I am that the Boris bikes have spread east to the Isle of Dogs, with bike stations at various convenient places in the island.  Over the Summer I have seen quite a lot of people using the bikes.  The weather's been cooperating so cycling has been a popular activity.  I suppose, with heavy use, it was not before long that one would spot the bike-hire casualties.  This morning I saw a Boris bike in a bush in Millwall park.  Both wheels had been bent badly.  It was a sad thing to see; these bikes are fairly sturdily built so I wonder what had happened to it.  I hope the rider was OK.

Thank you London for the Olympics

Its been over for five days and everybody has had time to sit down and regroup after the mad two weeks when the Olympics came to town.  In my previous post I have said how travel in the capital during this period was actually very well controlled and we had very little trouble crossing town for events with our baby in tow.  One thing that I didn't mention, and is something that I am really grateful for, is the excellent service from the volunteers who helped at the event to ensure the events went well.  Everyone we met was cheerful and helpful, thought quickly on their feet and had a 'can do' attitude.  The army, which was roped in large numbers to help, were efficient and friendly; army personnel certainly made a good impression on me through this exercise.  Why can't we be this harmonious a city all the time?

Olympic madness...erhmm not

I have dutifully kept away from Central London, as much as possible, over the Olympic period following the various warnings prior to the start of the games regarding the possible inundation of the capital by Olympics-related visitors.  So far I have only ventured into the capital twice- once to go into work and once to attend a session in the Volleyball men's preliminaries.  Travel was easy on both occasions- where were the crowds?

I live on the Isle of Dogs and have been seeing a fair number of people in Olympics garb or carrying Olympics related items on their personage on the island.  There are a fair few apartment hotels on the island and it is close to Stratford and Greenwich so it is not wholly surprising that people involved with or attending the Olympics have chosen to stay here.  I am currently on maternity leave and have been walking around the island a fair bit to keep active and Baby entertained while avoiding the alleged Olympics madness elsewhere in London.  Even with the additional folk the island has not felt particularly busy- it was not all that different from usual.  However, I needed to get to work on an urgent matter last week and decided to brave the public transport system to get to South Kensington with sprog in tow as we have been advised against driving into Central London by the powers that be.  The ladies at yoga mentioned that the river boats have not been that busy so I planned a route of boat and tube for this particular journey.  I strapped Sprog to me in the baby carrier and was pleasantly surprised by how relaxed the journey to work and back turned out to be.  We travelled in between the two rush hours so there were not that many work-folk about but there were not that many visitors either.  There were a lot of available seats on the boat and there were a lot of available seats on the tube, both ways.  We walked along the Victoria Embankment for a bit to transit between the boat and tube- there were not that many cars about.  In fact, there were fewer cars than normal (I have been driving into work with Sprog once every two weeks over the last four months, while on maternity leave, to keep in touch so I know the difference).

I had actually used the work trip to check out travel conditions as we had tickets for volleyball at Earl's Court one evening and wanted to know what it would be like to travel with Sprog to the event.  It seemed really easy so we decided to take public transport, using the tube all the way.  We got to the venue and home without any problems.  It will seem the Games organisers had transport around the city covered rather well- good job!

If anyone wants to visit Central London, they should make good use of the Olympic period as it is pleasantly relaxed in the city center. 

Adventure on the Blue Bridge on the Isle of Dogs

To those of you unfamiliar with the Isle of Dogs, this is the blue bridge on the east side of the island that can be lifted for access of river-faring vehicles to the docks.  It has a great view over to the east of the O2 arena and over to the west of the tower blocks in Canary Wharf; nice place for a picture on a sunny day.  On three occasions in the past month I encountered something interesting while trying to exit the island using this bridge.  Two of these involved the bridge being opened to let ships in/out; perhaps it is a bit naive to be so excited about this but it seems ingenious to me that we can make tools that help us make the most of our surroundings and facilitate our lives.  I get equally excited when I see Tower Bridge lifted for the same reason; its not the scale of the operation but the fact that it works at all that interests me.

The other incident was perhaps a little more unusual in that it has nothing to do with the normal function of the bridge.  I saw a funeral procession in the street for the first time in my life; on this occasion they were crossing the bridge.  I have no idea who was being buried but it was a slow procession led by a man in a top hat and penguin suit.  As I wasn't on any urgent business, I found it amusing to watch this happen as I waited to go on my way; it was something that added colour to London life.  I am sure some of the other motorists didn't think so.

Road closures everywhere

Its Jubilee holiday weekend and the 2012 Olympics are not far around the corner.  Things are really hotting up in the city and the increasing number of road closures is irritating.  

For months the Hammersmith Flyover has not been operational and it has been a pain in the backside to get to Heathrow Airport to pick up and drop off visitors by car.  Travelling in to, and out of, the city from Heathrow by underground is a possiblility but it gets extremely crowded on the Piccadilly line as it approximates central London and disembarking from the train with luggage is a problem.  Besides, lift availablility at the tube stations are so unpredictable that travellers often risk having to carry their luggage up many steps of staircases.  Pick up and set down by car allows our visitors to circumvent issues like these but the trip is particularly difficult to plan at the moment: it is impossible to predict how long it would take to get to Heathrow because of the traffic problems caused by the repairs of the Hammersmith Flyover.

There are numerous road closures over the Jubilee holiday weekend.  Whilst this is an occasion for celebration in the UK, the lives of motorists have been made harder by the road closures around Buckingham Palace in preparation for the concert in front of the Palace.  I was driving to work the other day and in an effort to avoid Trafalgar Square where traffic is always almost bad, I drove along St. James Park from Westminster towards Hyde Park along the Mall.  Traffic here is usually not too bad but on this particular day last week it was.  I knew that some of the roads between Victoria and Buckingham Palace have been closed off from a previous trip in the area but I didn't realise that part of the Mall was closed as well so that all the traffic was diverted towards Piccadilly.  As there is usually quite a lot of traffic in the latter anyway, cars were jammed up along part of the Mall trying to get through the diversion.  While I understand the importance of a spectacle on a celebratory occasion, I think the prolonged closure of roads in preparation for such events is detrimental to the general well-being of the wider public who need to be able to go about their usual business without too much disruption.  Did the preparations need to be this elaborate?

There are also quite a lot of road closures in East London in preparation for the Olympics.   The security checkpoint near one of the large shopping centers by the Olympic site in Stratford is already operational and to date I have been stopped there three times out of four visits by car already.  I found out today that the car-parking facilities in the shopping center will not be available from the second week of June as these have been commissioned for use for the Olympics.  One could get to the shopping center by public transport, of course; but public transport is often undergoing remedial or extension work at the weekends which makes travelling to the shopping center time consuming and inconvenient.  Excellent.  I don't think I will be shopping there for a while.

Guess what happened around the corner...

I went for a walk in the city center today.  It was a beautiful, sunny day and I needed to buy some lamp shades so headed to Oxford Street for a wander round the department stores.  After lunch and quite a lot of staring at ceiling lights, I decided to take a little stroll towards Trafalgar Square and Westminster as I haven't done it for a while.  Most of the roads in these areas were cordoned off- Trafalgar Square was out of bounds- with traffic diverted, although pedestrians were still allowed to walk around Trafalgar Square.  There was a heavy police presence and cars with sirens drove up and down the road between Trafalgar Square and Westminster.  I was slightly curious but not enough to ask one of the policemen: stuff happens in London all the time and it could have been anything- a public disturbance, an official visit, etc.  However, I did look it up when I got home and found one relevant reference- it might have been a controlled explosion of a suspect package.  Couldn't find any other reference to it online but might come up in the papers tomorrow.

Familiar faces

It is amazing how much detail one picks up in one's daily commute without really having to make an effort, or even noticing.  For a few weeks I have been wondering whether a lady, who I don't know personally, has left her job/lost her job as she was not seen at her normal position- hunched over her laptop at Brera (a coffee shop)- as I walk towards the tube station from the bus stop at Canary Wharf in the morning.  She's back and I was surprised to find myself glad to see her at her usual table yesterday.  I suppose one must find comfort and amusement wherever one can in an otherwise uninteresting daily activity.

Safety on two wheels

An editorial in the Guardian on how changes in public attitude to cycling could lead to added safety for more vulnerable road users.  Worth a read.

The Union strikes back?

I guess it was to be expected.  Doesn't really take a genius to figure out that the best way to make an impact is to hit when it would hurt the most, so news that the UK's biggest union, Unite, was considering strike action during the Olympics as an act of civil disobedience was not all that surprising.  The Capital will  be under enormous strain at the time of the Olympics even if everything went to plan.  Local people are expecting their lives to be disrupted by the event but are mostly looking forward to having a good time as well.  This is a good way to showcase London and, by and large, things have been going fairly smoothly.  The prospect of more chaos because of strike action would not be welcome, irrespective of the validity or otherwise of the strike.  Well, I guess we'll have to wait to find out whether this will come to pass.

Please do not litter

Newspapers blown about the tube station platform on a gusty day, or caught at the bottom of the escalators, or left on the seats and floor of the tube carriage- familiar sights on the London underground.  I would prefer it if they were not but it seems people are not inclined to dispose of their papers properly- i.e. in bins.  There aren't that many bins in or near tube stations for security reasons so anyone with a paper that they do not want to keep at the end of their journey needs to think about taking it away with them and disposing of it when they do find a bin.  Its not hard but people do not generally like to do it.  Mostly, people will leave read papers on the seats in the tube or at the tube station with the excuse that it would be convenient for someone else to pick it up and read if they don't happen to have any reading material.  Not a bad thought, except newspapers that get left behind are mostly free press papers that people pick up at the door of the tube station so most people pick up their own on the way in anyway.  Plus, if the spirit of generosity was the sole reason for leaving reading material on the tube then it is rather suprising that newspapers that are not free are less commonly left behind, and I am yet to see a book left on the tube when a reader is finished with it.  Maybe that's because the latter two take longer to read but, with the number of these read everyday, I suspect the rate of these being left for altruistic reasons are lower than expected.

At the end of the day, anything that is left on the tube and on station platforms is litter and, therefore, leaving papers on trains and platforms is littering.  TfL staff do have to clean up after people who do that and people who need seats have to remove such items from the seats in order to be able to sit down, often putting them on the floor and making a mess.  So please be considerate and take your litter with you when you leave.

Car club?

With the imminent arrival of Baby, and the near completion of all the shopping and home preparations, my thoughts have turned to organising life after the initial trials and tribulations of having a new arrival in our little family unit.  One thing on my mind is staying active during the period of maternity leave. One factor that may affect how effective I will be could be transport. I have decided that I will use at least some of the time on leave to do some home improvement and having the use of a car might be occasionally useful.  My other half drives to work and I don't think we need to be a two car household so car club membership might be a good option for us.

There are car club parking spaces near us with apparently  good small compact car availability; it was catching sight of these hire spots that started me considering car club membership.  The ones I saw belonged to a company called zipcar, which operates car hire services in the UK and in North America.  The pricelist and insurance cover seems reasonable.  By the time I have factored in the time and effort of going out with baby on public transport, ferrying shopping and Baby's paraphernalia, car club does seem to be a good option.  The thought of not having to wait around and be able to just go when needed is also appealing.  I guess between now and making a decision the sensible thing to do would be to keep an eye on vehicle availability in the hire spots near me.  Any advice or experiences to share, anyone?

Cycling in UK urban areas

Those of you who have been reading some of my entries will know that I have an interest in cycling safety in London, bourne out of personal experiences of the potential dangers of cycling in the city.  This article in the Guardian caught my eye this morning.  The poll results did not surprise me but I would like to briefly discuss some of the points raised in the article.

Wholesale 20 mph on urban roads.    Decreasing the speed of traffic whilst cyclists and motorists share the same roads would help but I don't actually think drivers stick that strictly to the speed limit in certain areas and that better monitoring of adherence to speed limits, and traffic regulations in general, may be just as important.

More cycle lanes.  These would undoubtedly make cycling less stressful.  However, recently there have been reports of deaths on cycle lanes that could have been better designed, so its not just about quantity but also about quality.

More considerate behaviour from other cyclists.  We can be our own worst enemies.  Some cyclists break traffic regulations because they believe their actions keep them safe from unreasonable drivers.  This isn't sensible and provokes other road users into similarly unreasonable behaviour.  Causing ill feeling between road users by antisocial behaviour is not the way forward.

I am glad that we are discussing these issues openly and hope that some good will come out of this in the long run.

Oh dear! Escalators.

I don't remember my first encounter with an escalator but my younger sister's was not a comfortable experience for her.  While going up the escalators at Westminster tube station last night I was reminded of just how uncomfortable this could be for young children.  

It is half term and children all over the country have a week off.  Quite a few of these children were out and about with their parents yesterday.  In front of me on the escalator up towards the District line platform in Westminster station was a family of four- mother, father, daughter and son.  The kids were aged probably between 6 and 10, with the girl being older.  Each parent looked after one child as they approached the escalator- the father was with the daughter and the mother was with the son.  

I was under the impression that the father thought his daughter more capable than she really was at getting on the escalator.  He kept chatting to her as they approached the first step and then only realised that there was a problem when she refused to step on.  This was the morning rush hour and a queue was building up behind them so he half pushed her onto the escalator.  She turned back to look at her mother and brother with a worried look on her face.  He gave her a bit more attention when they stepped off- putting his arm around her and talking her through getting off.  As soon as she stepped off she shrugged him off, turned round to look at her mother and brother again and then walked off slowly with her hands in her jeans pocket, shoulders hunched up.  Her father turned to his wife and said 'I think I've been sacked'.

The mother was a bit more careful with the son getting on and off the escalator and they negotiated this without problems.  Note to self- be considerate when the time comes for sprog to learn how to use the moving stairs.

Musical chairs

Something quite extraordinary happened today.  I was on my way home from work and there were no seats on the tube when I got on at Westminster station so I stood next to the handlebar by a priority seat and leant on the glass, thinking people will get off at Waterloo, which is just a stop away, and I'll be able to sit down.  I don't expect to be offered a seat on the tube- most people don't offer.  On this occasion, the lady in the priority seat opposite to where I was standing offered me her seat and as she stood up, the man I was standing next to started from his seat (which was also a priority seat), apologised to me and the lady and offered her his seat.  The kind, considerate actions of these two people more than compensate for the usual rude behaviour I have gotten used to seeing on a daily basis.  People don't want to believe it and for a while I wondered if I was being over-pessimistic and just remembering all the bad things.  However, I met a woman at the weekend and she had the same experience when she was pregnant- she brought it up while in conversation; I didn't prompt her- so I don't think I was exaggerating.  If we want women to find it possible to work and have children then social attitudes need to change to facilitate things, like the commute to work, for pregnant women.  I personally want to stay at work for as long as possible; I may be pregnant but that does not mean I am uninterested in, or want to give up on, my career.  It makes economic sense to help women stay in work and have children.  Giving up a seat for someone less able to stand is a pretty small thing to do to keep things going for everyone so why not do it?

Stuck on the island

Closing a section of road off at night for resurfacing is the logical thing to do.  However, closing it from 9 p.m. when there is still a significant amount of traffic on the Isle of Dogs, which is where the road is, is probably not that smart.  Especially since the section of the road is part of the main road that circles the Isle and forms the eastern terminus of the road that takes cars in to and out of the Isle of Dogs, and there are road works at the western end which means that traffic is controlled by temporary lights and a bizarre roundabout system resulting in cars being stuck on the Isle with all the diversions.  The people who are involved in planning the roadworks on the different sections of the road obviously don't speak to each other.  Don't tell me- it all needs to be done in a hurry because the Olympics are coming to town and we need to get things done on time.

Watch that pony!

One of the things I did shortly after arriving in the U.K. was to learn how to ride a horse.  It was something I had always wanted to do but was out of reach where I am from- horses were things you saw on TV, not in real life.  No prizes for guessing that I am a city girl through and through.  So when I moved to the U.K. and found myself living near fields with stables and horse riding lessons, I jumped at the opportunity to get close to horses.  I enjoyed my riding lessons and though I haven't ridden in a good few years I think I should still be OK on one.  

Having learnt to drive in East London, I have not had any opportunity to drive near horses.  I know what to do in principle because its something that my driving instructor talked about briefly when I mentioned to him that I have issues driving down country lanes.  At the time I had still not encountered equine obstacles, even on country roads, and was merely concerned about driving on very narrow, often winding, roads.  In trying to explain how best to drive on these roads, he mentioned horses and other animals that could potentially be in the way while driving along country lanes.  However, I had not actually met any animals while driving, not even sheep and we often go walking in the Lake District.  I met a pony today while driving through Kingston.  It was being ridden by a little girl and led by a lady that may have been her mother.  They did notice us and moved towards the side as much as they could and I tried to give it as much space as I could while I drove past.  Of course this happened on a narrow stretch of road that had parked cars on both sides and we were just going round a bend so I couldn't really see if there were any cars coming towards us at speed.  I was very glad my partner was sitting next to me and talked me through it.  I was nervous but would probably have felt a lot worse had he not been there.  One never stops to learn new things.

Kindness on a cold day

It snowed in London two nights ago.  Nothing heavy, just a light dusting of the snow, enough to give the city a light cover of white powder.  The next morning there were problems with transport in the city.  

Train failure on the Jubilee line led to accumulation of passengers on the platform at Canary Wharf, intent to make their way to work on Friday morning.  I had delayed my depature time from home, as was usual since my bump became big enough to be a concern, to avoid the worst of the rush hour but there were queues at each of the doors for the tube at Canary Wharf at 9:30 a.m.- an unusal thing.  I eventually got on a train that was not too crowded but was beaten to the only free seat in the carriage by a passenger that was in the queue in front of me.  This led to me standing, holding onto the handle bar by one of the priority seats, for three stops, with more people coming on to the train at every stop, before a passenger about half way down the row of seats I was standing next to saw me and offered to give me his seat.  He had to speak rather loudly as the train was quite crowded and said he'd be happy to give me his seat, did I think I could get to it?  Even with him being loud, the two passengers in the nearby priority seats didn't look up and continued to stay in their seats.  I gladly accepted his kind offer- although I wasn't uncomfortable on my feet, the train was getting crowded and I was worried about being bumped into by the other standing passengers.  So thank you kind person, whoever you are; Mr. Westminster, shall we say, as he got off at Westminster station.  As for the rest of you who didn't think to act in kindness, I hope you never find yourself in a position where you need a seat and do not get offered one.  Or maybe I do.

After snow comes ice

It snowed in London last night.  This was predicted by the weather forecast and, in a sense, people were prepared for it even before the predictions were made.  I don't mean that Londoners have suddenly developed psychic ability to predict the arrival of the white stuff, but rather that the regularity of the event has helped people prepare themselves somewhat for its arrival and there is less chaos this year in comparison to the fairly recent past.  It is just light snow; these things are relative and it may be considered heavy for people who are not used to it but it is nothing like the extreme conditions the more polar countries experience each year.  The latter are more used to snow and are more able to cope with it because they have developed systems to help them get through the worst of winter.  

In the U.K. we are still trying to adjust to the change in the winter weather conditions.  Snow is still relatively novel in London, and there is some discussion as to how much we should invest in infrastructure to deal with the problems associated with snow given that it is fairly rare, but I am happy to report that the preparations this year have been an improvement on last year's debacle.  A lot of this is down to a change in the general public's attitudes towards travelling in adverse weather conditions; the authorities also have better contingency plans this year.  Technology has also helped a lot.  For example, we were out visiting yesterday afternoon and were invited to stay for tea.  The use of information obtained via our smart phones meant that we could keep track of the weather and traffic conditions discreetly and make decisions as to when we should be leaving to avoid the worst of both.  We enjoyed our extended visit and were not particularly bogged down by the logistics of travel.  Obviously having the necessary driving skills to navigate through adverse weather conditions is required as well and it would not have been advisable to drive if one were not confident to do so in the snow.  However, that was not an issue and knowing how best to have a comfortable journey home helped under the circumstances.  From what I have read  on the news websites this morning, while there were travel disruptions due to the snow, the country seems to have coped quite well- we're geting there.

Conditions are predicted to be icy over the next few days; take care of yourselves if you are heading out.

No standing on the top deck

I love sitting on the top deck of a double decker bus.  The first row by the big front windows is best if that is available.  I love it when the tree branches brush against the bus, and I love watching the cyclists zoom past.

There are some people who love being on the top deck so much that they will stand on the top deck when there aren't any seats left.  This is bad because its not safe to stand on the upper deck or the stairs.   The drivers have a recorded warning that tell people not to do it and the drivers use it whenever they see anyone standing on the upper deck or the stairs through the little cameras around the bus.  People seldom pay any attention to the recorded message.  Bus drivers mostly don't take it any further.  Except for one driver who refused to move the bus until all offenders were either seated or had moved to the lower deck, most just keep playing the recorded message until the rule-breakers eventually leave the bus and cease to be a problem.  Respect to the bus driver who stood up to his errant clients.

When escalators don't work

I needed to get to a volleyball game in Bethnal Green this evening and as usual had planned an hour for my trip there from work.  That is usually ample time to get to Liverpool Street station on the Circle line, followed by a short bus ride.  Unfortunately, as usual, the plan didn't work out quite as I envisaged.  I have gotten so used to the tube, especially the Circle line, not functioning as expected that I was not suprised that I was late by approximately 30 minutes.

I waited for about 15 minutes for a Circle line train and when none appeared checked the schedule board on the platform.  None were scheduled to go East.  So I decided to take the next District line train to Monument and change for the Central line for Liverpool Street.  It didn't take long to get to Monument but the interchange for the Central line was less than straightforward.  The downward escalators were out of action and all that was available to get to the platforms were staircases that were wide enough for only one person at a time.  On this occasion I found myself stuck behind an older lady and her young ward.  Neither of them could go down the stairs particularly easily and were further hindered by the scooter they were trying to carry down with them.  This provoked much annoyance from the queue of commuters that steadily built up as we slowly progressed downwards.  Escalators need maintenance but this alternative arrangement is far from satisfactory.  It is also not safe in the event of an emergency.  All in all the combined non-appearance of a Circle line train and the problem with the escalators added an extra 30 minutes to what should have been an hour-long journey.  Transport around London needs to be better than this to cope with the Olympics. 

2012 Olympics in London- travel logistics

I manage a small group of people at work and a couple of days ago, one of my colleagues asked me whether I had heard anything from senior management regarding arrangements for the period covering the Olympics.  It is only January and perhaps it is a bit early to be thinking about this but, on the other hand, work is situated on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, which houses a number of museums- the Natural History, Science, and  V&A museums- and is busy with tourists even in the normal summer months.  Exhibition Road is also just off Cromwell Road, a major road that connects west London to the city centre of London and traffic conditions are bad even on a normal day.  With events taking place in Earl's Court, Hyde Park, Horse Guard's Parade, the Mall and Wimbledon, the area is likely to be packed with people trying to get to the museums and the Olympic events.  I have only had one email from senior management regarding the Olympics and that concerned the hire of our facilities by various teams for training purposes in the lead up to the events- hardly useful information.  There has been no advice for staff regarding getting to work over the Summer of 2012.  It is going to be, predictably but unavoidably, complicated.  My other half will face the same problems, although his commute will be out East- we are sufficiently close to the Olympic Park and Greenwich to be caught up in the traffic chaos.  Fortunately I will be on maternity leave and this will not be a problem I will have to face.  Perhaps that is the solution- take leave over the Olympics period, escape the transport problems and enjoy the games.

If you are going to the games, click here for advice on how to get to the venues.

More Boris bikes out East

I work in West London and my colleagues have found the Boris bikes most useful for getting around that side of town if they needed to be out of the office for work purposes during the day.  A large part of it is the enjoyment of cycling itself which makes an otherwise ordinary commute a fun thing to do.  In part, however, it is also due to the convenience of the bikes- there are docking stations readily available near work and to most places one would like to cycle to, and it is often just as fast, if not faster, to use the bikes over medium distances in the city than other kinds of transport.

I live in East London and availability of the bikes is being extended to the Isle of Dogs.  The bikes themselves are not yet available but the docking stations have been set up and I am looking forward to their arrival.  There are already quite a number of cyclists on the island- a significant number of people travel to work in Canary Wharf from other parts of the island, the immediate vicinity north of the river and from across the river using the Greenwich foot tunnel on their bikes.  The availability of the Boris bikes in the more residential areas of the island will surely encourage others to cycle the relatively short distance to work.  I can see these vehicles being very popular with the residents and think this is a great addition to life on the island.

Docking stations outside Canary Wharf tube station.