Cyclists.
Cyclists who ride on the pavement.
Cyclists who cycle the wrong way down one-way roads and nearly take me out as I look for the traffic where it is supposed to be coming from.
Cyclists who don't stop at red lights, with no consideration for pedestrians.
Cyclists, beware.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Saturday, December 5, 2009
4.
While in the USA recently I went to the cinema twice in New York, both times to AMC Loews, and on both occasions my experience was spoilt by people entering the screen 20 minutes from the end and chatting loudly amongst themselves – seemingly oblivious to the fact that some of us were trying to watch the film. In Paranormal Activity there were people regularly coming in to the screen for a few minutes before leaving again, which was distracting and ruined the tension in the film.
I can only assume that these were people who were waiting to see another film, or had just come out of seeing something else. I noticed that these cinemas only had an usher checking tickets just inside the entrance to the building – so once inside people can potentially stay in the cinema as long as they like. This makes no sense whatsoever, and inevitably leads to problems like those I encountered.
It never occured to me that the recession would affect my movie-going experience, but then again, when I saw Where The Wild Things Are there were about 6 members of staff standing with nothing to do at the refreshments kiosk, while the men's toilets were a scene of complete devastation having obviously not been cleaned since the start of the day. Surely when there is no screening about to start some of those staff could do other things, like clean, or check for valid tickets at the doors to the screens?
Where is the common sense at AMC Loews?
I can only assume that these were people who were waiting to see another film, or had just come out of seeing something else. I noticed that these cinemas only had an usher checking tickets just inside the entrance to the building – so once inside people can potentially stay in the cinema as long as they like. This makes no sense whatsoever, and inevitably leads to problems like those I encountered.
It never occured to me that the recession would affect my movie-going experience, but then again, when I saw Where The Wild Things Are there were about 6 members of staff standing with nothing to do at the refreshments kiosk, while the men's toilets were a scene of complete devastation having obviously not been cleaned since the start of the day. Surely when there is no screening about to start some of those staff could do other things, like clean, or check for valid tickets at the doors to the screens?
Where is the common sense at AMC Loews?
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
3.
Continuing on the theme of trains, I don't understand how the various train operators expect their quiet coaches to remain quiet – and subsequently for their customers to enjoy their journey. The coaches have some elusive stickers that ask you to switch your devices to silent mode, and the conductor announces occasionally that Coach B is the quiet coach, and any phone calls should be made elsewhere... This is simply not enough. It's not working.
When I travel I want to look out of the window, think to myself, listen to music, catch up on emails, and generally take a brief escape from obnoxious ring tones and loud conversations. It turned out I was not the only person who had this kind of journey in mind, and about 5 years ago thankfully these quiet coaches started to appear. Many people specifically reserve a seat in the quiet coach and look forward to a peaceful journey, but what are we supposed to do when loud ring tones are going off, or when a chat is taking place between two people sitting across an aisle, or a teenager has an iPod playing so loud you can hear the music over the music coming through your very own earphones? It's not the law that people are quiet in these coaches, but why create a quiet coach if it's not going to be monitored somehow? I have certainly never seen any member of staff use their authority to maintain the peace – which leads me to suspect we are supposed to self-police these coaches.
It's one thing to politely ask someone to turn down their music but that is just not practical when there are numerous offenders. Having to become some kind of quiet coach vigilante for the sake of getting the relaxing journey you have paid for is ludicrous. In defence of the offenders, it's possible that they just don't realise they're in the quiet coach. The conductor announcements are rare after all, and the signage is never adequate.
So after nightmare journeys with National Express, First Great Western and Virgin, my patience is wearing very thin. Something needs to be done, and I think that something is huge blatant unavoidable notices on the back of every single seat.
I'll be writing to the train operators to see what they have to say about all this...
When I travel I want to look out of the window, think to myself, listen to music, catch up on emails, and generally take a brief escape from obnoxious ring tones and loud conversations. It turned out I was not the only person who had this kind of journey in mind, and about 5 years ago thankfully these quiet coaches started to appear. Many people specifically reserve a seat in the quiet coach and look forward to a peaceful journey, but what are we supposed to do when loud ring tones are going off, or when a chat is taking place between two people sitting across an aisle, or a teenager has an iPod playing so loud you can hear the music over the music coming through your very own earphones? It's not the law that people are quiet in these coaches, but why create a quiet coach if it's not going to be monitored somehow? I have certainly never seen any member of staff use their authority to maintain the peace – which leads me to suspect we are supposed to self-police these coaches.
It's one thing to politely ask someone to turn down their music but that is just not practical when there are numerous offenders. Having to become some kind of quiet coach vigilante for the sake of getting the relaxing journey you have paid for is ludicrous. In defence of the offenders, it's possible that they just don't realise they're in the quiet coach. The conductor announcements are rare after all, and the signage is never adequate.
So after nightmare journeys with National Express, First Great Western and Virgin, my patience is wearing very thin. Something needs to be done, and I think that something is huge blatant unavoidable notices on the back of every single seat.
I'll be writing to the train operators to see what they have to say about all this...
Monday, November 30, 2009
2.
A few days ago I found myself standing at East Didsbury train station in Greater Manchester – which is a small two-platform station operated by Northern Rail, situated 5 miles South of Manchester.
I needed to catch the next train into Manchester Piccadilly, but bizarrely neither platform has any kind of information directing the public which side of the tracks they need to wait on for their destination – the most basic piece of information a train station needs to provide to its users. Both platforms have identical timetables, but no information about which platform is for which direction.
In the end I had to find a local bus stop, which luckily had a decent map of the area in the bus shelter, and I established from there which direction the trains would be going for Manchester Piccadilly. I wasn't alone in my confusion either. As I waited for the train, literally everyone who arrived on the platform was asking me if that was the correct side for Piccadilly. I'd love to know how Northern Rail expect anyone who isn't familiar with the Manchester area to know where to stand.
Once I finally caught the train, the Conductor on the train was working so inefficiently that a number of passengers including myself made it all the way to Piccadilly without buying a ticket – the Conductor had not reached us by that point. This was a small consolation for a miserable experience walking backwards and forwards between the platforms in the freezing rain at East Didsbury.
Photos by Gene Hunt.
I needed to catch the next train into Manchester Piccadilly, but bizarrely neither platform has any kind of information directing the public which side of the tracks they need to wait on for their destination – the most basic piece of information a train station needs to provide to its users. Both platforms have identical timetables, but no information about which platform is for which direction.
In the end I had to find a local bus stop, which luckily had a decent map of the area in the bus shelter, and I established from there which direction the trains would be going for Manchester Piccadilly. I wasn't alone in my confusion either. As I waited for the train, literally everyone who arrived on the platform was asking me if that was the correct side for Piccadilly. I'd love to know how Northern Rail expect anyone who isn't familiar with the Manchester area to know where to stand.
Once I finally caught the train, the Conductor on the train was working so inefficiently that a number of passengers including myself made it all the way to Piccadilly without buying a ticket – the Conductor had not reached us by that point. This was a small consolation for a miserable experience walking backwards and forwards between the platforms in the freezing rain at East Didsbury.
Photos by Gene Hunt.
Monday, November 23, 2009
1.
I was walking along Hoxton Street, London, when three school girls turned a corner ahead of me. The girl in the middle was carrying a copy of The London Paper, and as I followed them en route to the Post Office she started to tear it into strips that she dropped to the ground. The London Paper certainly deserves to be shredded for wasting such large volumes of paper on such mindless 'news'. However, no paper should be shredded and simply dumped on the street.
On another occasion I was on a street in Dalston, and noticed a lady in reasonably smart clothing walking ahead of me. She was eating a chocolate bar. When she finished she inexplicably threw the wrapper on the ground instead of using the rubbish bin that was about ten steps ahead of her.
Young or old, educated or not, some serious work needs to be done in the UK on the "someone else will do it" mentality.
On another occasion I was on a street in Dalston, and noticed a lady in reasonably smart clothing walking ahead of me. She was eating a chocolate bar. When she finished she inexplicably threw the wrapper on the ground instead of using the rubbish bin that was about ten steps ahead of her.
Young or old, educated or not, some serious work needs to be done in the UK on the "someone else will do it" mentality.
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