Travel

To Chelmsford for a meeting this afternoon, and lunch in the Acanteen cafe on New London Road (address). A nice stripped-wood cafe, with a good range of sandwiches and drinks. Didn’t try the coffee, but the ambience was very good. A scrambled egg on toast was OK, but a

A great resource: ViaMichelin helped me find the location of the best ice-cream in the world (corner of Rue des Deux Ponts and Rue St. Louis-en-l’Ile, Paris). It also told me that it would take 16h01 to drive from my home to the village in Poland that my family

On a Virgin train from Oxford to Brighton, and once again I find myself wondering why Virgin Trains is pretending so hard that it’s an airline. In first class, I’m presented with a plastic box containing five separate plastic packages, four brand names, 6 pretzels, a chocolate, a

On a short pub crawl with some friends the other night, I came across a lovely quiet pub down a side street near Victoria station (about 5 minutes’ walk from the station). Good beer and comfortable seats. Food at lunchtime. The Grouse and Claret.

Dodgy stats merchants TransportWatch (previously discussed here) have been pulled up by the Advertising Standards Authority. In an adjudication on the adverts they placed in the Economist, the New Statesman and Private Eye the other week, the ASA says: The Authority noted the claims in the advertisement were based on

A Wikipedia article on the Nicky Line, the former Harpenden to Hemel branch line, closed (surprisingly early) in the late 40s. Interesting how a potentially useful link line was run down because of stubborness by the competing companies.

Paul Steane has an eye-wateringly comprehensive website, at the Enthusiast’s Guide to Travelling the Railways of Europe.

MetaFilter links to a great site full of 360° panoramas of Rome. Personal favourite – the view of the Pantheon. I sat in exactly that spot over thirteen years ago, just before I started university.

Photo from http://www.mjausson.com I went out to Worcester today, to give a talk, and the train passed the site of the old Adlestrop station, made famous by Edward Thomas’s beautiful poem. The poem’s always been a favourite of mine, Jane and I had a poster

Culinary discovery of the weekend was Pokeno Pies in Gardner Street, Brighton. Lovely modern, airy shop with excellent beef and mustard pies (also haddock and fennel, which Jane had, and chicken and leek for my mother in law). Quick, friendly service with a huge chunk of mash and mushy peas.