Showing posts with label London. Show all posts
Showing posts with label London. Show all posts

Come to London the streets are paved with….

Grrrrrrrrr
Most of us are familiar with the Dick Whittington story, where he comes to London because he hears the streets are paved with Gold. Obviously he hasn’t met the people who build streets, if they were made of gold, not one street would ever be finished, however I digress.
So, London’s streets so famously paved with Gold. I have been travelling a lot around London with work recently (more recently on the tube)  and I have to say, that London’s streets are definitely not paved with Gold, paved with litter, rubbish, cigarette butts, people trying to give you free magazines and news papers, and people with collection tins.

Now don’t get me wrong, (SARCASM ALERT) I love having people who speak very broken English trying to give me a free newspaper and magazine every time I get off the tube. No, really I do. (SARCASM OVER) But I can live with that, a polite no thanks and walk by. I do still find it horrifying that so many people are rude to them, I was always taught manners cost nothing. A lot of people treat them horrendously, but they are only trying to earn a living.

I can also live with the rubbish and litter, yes it’s an eye sore, yes it’s annoying as hell, but it does get cleaned eventually, and it is almost impossible to keep on top of with the amount of human traffic shedding rubbish wherever they feel fit.

What I can not stand (Dan of 0ddness fame will back me up, I am sure) is the people who rattle cans in my face. Today, outside of Tower Hill tube station, there was one such collector. I got off at Fenchurch street, drudged round the corner to Tower Hill with the rest of the masses to be confronted (at 7am) by a well dressed, very well spoken, plumb in the mouth accented middle aged women with said collecting tin rattling in her hands. Proper ID, supplied and hanging around her neck, badge proudly on view.

Now, don’t get me wrong, this is a change from the norm, mainly because of the age of the collector (in my experience they tend to be 12), the nice presentation and accent. I may even have dropped a coin in the tin…. Until she rattled it in my path and said "Disabled Children" now, don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against disabled children; far from it I have a couple in my family and love them with all my heart.  I have nothing against making donations to charity. However, I could not help myself, having been ambushed and caught of guard; the first response out of my mouth was “no thanks, I have enough”

Now that may sound harsh, and in fact looking back on it, it probably was. However, had she asked for a donation FOR disabled children, or even a donation for the charity she was representing, rather than “Disabled Children” I may have been a little bit more generous. When will people learn?

Maybe, it is just me, maybe I am just getting old, maybe I am just grumpy, but then again, maybe a lot of people feel the same way, and maybe, just maybe I am right.

Anyhow, out of guilt for this post, first person to leave a comment gets to choose a charity and I will make a £5 donation.

Stay safe.

9/20/2011 09:03:00 am 1 PERMALINK

Train journeys....

Those of you that follow me on Face Book will know that this week I have been 'training' it into London for work. My journey starts pre 6am at Benfleet station, to Fenchurch, walk to Tower Hill, then change at Embankment to Goodge Street. All in all approximately hour and a half. You will also know that I have been whinging about it a lot. Trains have been running well and on time, however, it is slightly busy (especially  18:00 on way home). I have also had to wonder about peoples behaviour. now I know I am old fashioned, but surely it is still polite to offer your seat to a woman? Especially elderly or people who appear to be struggling? Well apparently not.
I was also amazed at the lack of communication between people especially with so many people in the train. No eye contact, not a shared smile, not a hello, nothing.
So this morning I decided I was going to smile at everybody I made eye contact with. I started on Benfleet platform and got a couple of small smiles in return. I also got ignored a lot and a few people turned away pretending they had not noticed. So not too bad. On the train the same thing, most people trying hard to ignore the grinning nutter in the corner. On the tube it was slightly different, firstly it was quite packed this morning. The first person I smiled at muttered under there breath "F***ing weirdo". That threw me for a minute as I considered stopping it. Kinda Ironic though that the bloke calling me a weirdo was dressed, how shall we put it, hmmm, well kinda strange, topped off with died purple and red hair.
I decided to carry on and continued smiling at people. Just like before some smiled back, one person winked at me which made me smile even more. Unfortunately most ignored me. No matter how hard I tried the normal response was a look away or even moving away from me.
I think it is sad that most people wont engage in an form of communication, however, I am going to try it tonight on the journey home. So, if you see some nutter sat or more than likely stood on the train and smiling at you don't panic, it is probably me, just smile back.

9/14/2011 08:39:00 am 1 PERMALINK

Hmmmm

Hello... Wednesday, Midweek... OK so I am bored.... but shh don't tell the boss lol...

I trained yesterday twice, once at Evade (which is undergoing some major renovations and installing a fitness suite, whatever one of them is) and again at The Chi Centre in Macclesfield with Steve Primrose... both were very different but good sessions. Heavy pad work session at Evade, and lots of fitness training and conditioning with Primo... All in all today my body aches... not the excruciating build up of lactic acid I suffered a while ago after training at Beast Masters, but it aches, my quads ache and so do my forearms.

So training is back on track... wahoooo... well for this week anyway. Tom Cox, from Evade asked me to go to his lesson tonight as they are sparing, and I am going to try and make it, although I know the timing is going to be tight...

Food... well actually the food side is going OK, I did eat some stupid sugary jelly sweets yesterday, as I missed my evening meal and got hungry and snacked... Dam... Note to all diet followers out there, don't skip meals.... note to self... try harder and do better...
The Diet Plate portions are back on track and I am using the plate and bowl regularly, and I am feeling better for it as well. Just goes to show what balance of food does for your body.

September the 24Th there is a seminar in London by Dan Millman, at the mind body spirit festival, it costs £40 and that's without travel and sorting out digs for the night... :o( So as much as I want to go I guess I wont be... Would be great to meet the man and listen to what he has to say. His books have helped me no end. Especially the now much acclaimed Way of the Peaceful Warrior series...

A quick note of thanks to Claire for the advice and help and kind comments. You can read her blog here

9/03/2008 12:16:00 pm 0 PERMALINK
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