Nice people thread part 7 - a thread in its prime

PasturesNew

I've not been to a Xmas Market ..... anywhere. I had thought I might visit a UK one this year, but as I'll be chilling out and organising boxes of stuff, I think it won't happen.... but next year..... next year I'll find one to go to in the UK.

Wouldn't go abroad.... never been abroad, I'd get lost.

zagubov

Generali wrote: »

It's why I used to cycle everywhere in London. That's a 30 minute journey on a bike.

Had the good fortune to spend a lot of time living in an inner London travel sweet spot. It wasn't a palace but the rent was nominal. Practically the whole of London was an hours (or much less) travel becaue the Vicky line was so fast.

Nothing much to do though except get out. if you drove, as soon as you moved your car another car would take your place in two seconds flat.

DW and I just saw on the news that it's the 25th anniversary of the Kings Cross fire which we discussed here before. Can't believe it's 25 years. My train passed through the station and didn't stop but I could smell the smoke. At the next station a staff member told ua it didn't stop becaue of "smouldering on the line" shich was thie euphemism for what happened.

vivatifosi

zagubov wrote: »

DW and I just saw on the news that it's the 25th anniversary of the Kings Cross fire which we discussed here before. Can't believe it's 25 years. My train passed through the station and didn't stop but I could smell the smoke. At the next station a staff member told ua it didn't stop becaue of "smouldering on the line" shich was thie euphemism for what happened.

DH and I have been talking about that tonight. I wasn't sure whether the great mystery had been answered and then I saw this article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/jan/22/transport.uk
Can't believe that 25 years ago people smoked on the tube and they had wooden escalators. It's amazing how much things have changed.

GDB2222

vivatifosi wrote: »

DH and I have been talking about that tonight. I wasn't sure whether the great mystery had been answered and then I saw this article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/jan/22/transport.uk
Can't believe that 25 years ago people smoked on the tube and they had wooden escalators. It's amazing how much things have changed.

Apparently, the unidentified victim 115 is described as being a heavy smoker. I know it's no laughing matter, but that's on a par with a local flasher who was described as having short, dark, curly hair.

chewmylegoff

vivatifosi wrote: »

DH and I have been talking about that tonight. I wasn't sure whether the great mystery had been answered and then I saw this article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/jan/22/transport.uk
Can't believe that 25 years ago people smoked on the tube and they had wooden escalators. It's amazing how much things have changed.

I'm sure there were a few wooden escalators left until very recently. I think there was one at bank and I'm sure there was another one but I can't think where - paddington or marylebone I think. When I first moved to London in 97 I'm pretty sure the northern line trains had wooden floors as well.

SingleSue

There have been a couple of times I have managed to miss major disasters because of circumstances.

The first was the Harrods bombing, me and my friends had decided we were going to visit London (and it all seemed perfectly normal for us youngsters to just up and go off to London by train back then - I was 13!) and had made arrangements for a certain weekend but decided to change it at the last minute to go the weekend before. We had planned our day of what shops to visit and when and we were in Harrods exactly a week before the bombings took place..if we had stuck to our arrangments, we would have been in the store when the bombs went off.

Years later, me and now ex hubby were due to go to London for shopping/sightseeing but as it happened, our work got in the way and we had to cancel the night before going. We would have been at Kings Cross when the fire broke out....

We eventually went up a week or two later but avoided the tube stations!

silvercar

GDB2222 wrote: »

Apparently, the unidentified victim 115 is described as being a heavy smoker. I know it's no laughing matter, but that's on a par with a local flasher who was described as having short, dark, curly hair.

One of the reasons he wasn't identified for 15 years was that his remains suggested a 40-60 year old male, so maybe heavy smoking makes you appear younger!

silvercar

Years later, me and now ex hubby were due to go to London for shopping/sightseeing but as it happened, our work got in the way and we had to cancel the night before going. We would have been at Kings Cross when the fire broke out....

I changed tubes, onto the Northern line, an hour before the fire.

I remember my grandmother phoning me up to see I had got home safely and me not knowing why she was concerned.

Generali

chewmylegoff wrote: »

I'm sure there were a few wooden escalators left until very recently. I think there was one at bank and I'm sure there was another one but I can't think where - paddington or marylebone I think. When I first moved to London in 97 I'm pretty sure the northern line trains had wooden floors as well.

The last time I was at Woodford, maybe 7-8 years ago (cripes!!!), I think they had a wooden escalator. I think that the last time I was at one of the Tooting stations (Broadway? The one with the open area outside where the drunks sit) they still had a wooden escalator too. That has to be a decade ago easily and probably more like 15 years.

The escalators at Bank were upgraded in about 2002-3 I would guesstimate. There could still be one or 2 in that stretch of tunnel between Monument and Bank but I think they all went. I think you're right about Marylebone though. I used to go there loads for the food shops and the market.

All Northern line trains had wooden floors until they replaced the trains in the late 90s. IIRC they changed them a few at a time.

I can vaguely remember people smoking on tube trains in the early 80s; on the actual trains, not in the station. I also remember that you could smoke upstairs on the buses but not downstairs. I used to love sitting at the front of the upstairs on a rainy winter's day as a kid and watch the traffic through a haze of cigarette smoke and condensation.

This is making me very homesick. I miss London. What a place.

lemonjelly

A year to the day earlier, I was on the herald of free enterprise leaving Zebrugge to come home. Not exactly close, but it felt it as I was a child at the time.

In my job, I've interviewed 4 people on seperate issues where what I've been sat in the interview room talking to them about has been front page (local) news in a big way within 24 hours of the interview...