Taking punctality a bit too far...

Sorry for the lack of posts recently - work has been very busy, and I was away over Christmas.

I had an entertaining experience coming home on the train earlier this week. The train pulled into Woolwich Arsenal, and everyone piled off as usual. Only I was no sooner out of the door when the train driver decided that he'd waited long enough and closed the doors behind me. A good dozen or more people were still on my carriage trying to get off, and they forced the doors to remain open. As I walked down the train towards the exit, I noticed that other people in other carriages hadn't been so lucky, and the doors had fully closed on them whilst they were trying to get out. All in all, a good hundred or more people wanted to get off the train, but couldn't because the driver had shut the doors too early.

I thought to myself "that trains not going to get very far". And indeed it didn't. It started to pull away, and the rear two carriages were still just inside the station, when someone pulled the emergency cord and the train stopped.

The train was still there when I got onto the top deck of the 51 bus, ten minutes later, so the driver must have screwed up the train line quite badly from the knock-on during the evening rush hours.

It reminded me of a similar incident a year or so ago in Welling. The wife and I were coming back from a posh do in town, and got the train back to Welling, in order to catch the 51 bus back to the Common. The train pulled into Welling station. None of the doors worked - I could see other people in adjoining carriages having the same problem. The driver must not have realised - after 20 seconds or so, he began to pull away. So I pulled the emergency cord to stop the train before it left the station - in my opinion, the complete malfunction of all the train doors is an emergency, especially when the result is that we'd be dumped in Dartford where the train terminated.

The train stopped. Nothing happened. Nobody spoke to us over the intercom. No announcements were made. No doors opened. No driver appeared. For 15 minutes!. Eventually, I pulled the emergency door release, forced the doors open, and we jumped the 4 or 5 feet down onto the track bed, and helped the people behind us off, and walked back to the station.

Just goes to show - in the event of a real emergency, don't expect any help on the trains!

Tesco

I've heard talk of Tesco finally opening a store in our part of the world (and Plumsteadshire has already blogged about it). I've long thought it surprising that Woolwich seems to be the only place in the British Isles that doesn't have a Tesco within easy reach - the pathetic, two-aisle Costcutter version in Welling really doesn't count, and Lewisham is just soooo far away. Plus you're liable to get killed shopping at the Tesco in Lewisham.

Well, it's all been a bit quiet since June. Until last week, when I had a call from "market research" (despite being registered with the TPS), and answered a long questionnaire about a "new supermarket operator planning to open a store in the centre of Woolwich". So moves are definitely afoot.

I'm not convinced that Woolwich really needs another town centre supermarket though. After all, there's already Sainsburys and Somerfields, plus Lidl if (like me) you're a stingy git. I'm concerned that it might kill off the great fruit-and-veg stalls in the Woolwich Market. But at least local MP John Austin won't be shopping there (Q999, at the bottom of the page).

Crimewatch?

Big notices on the buses this morning proclaimed that the road outside Sainsbury's in Woolwich town centre is going to be shut this weekend, for filming. Anyone know what's going on? Why would anyone want to film in Woolwich. I can only presume that it's scene of crime reconstruction. After all, according to the papers the police picked up several suspects in Plumstead, who were wanted for the shooting of the WPC in Bradford.

Hopefully it's something a bit more cheerful. I can't remember the last time anything positive or creative was filmed in Woolwich - the only thing I can think of around here is Blow Up, filmed in Maryon Park, Charlton.

Time Please on the outdated drinking laws

This weekend is D-Day - Drinking Day - when time is finally called on our outdated licensing laws that restrict pub opening times. The old rules date back to the First World War, but the full story of British drinking and limited hours goes back centuries. I recommend reading A Man Walks Into A Pub, which is a great book charting Britain's relationship with alcohol down the years, and in particular sheds a lot of light on quite why we're different from the Continent when it comes to binge-drinking.

Of course, the real question is "What does this mean for Plumstead Common?"

And, as Inspector Sands has pointed out, Greenwich Council have, for once, stepped up to the plate and let us check the status of our locals' applications via the interwebnet.

So...

The Old Mill - applied but still pending - to open on Mondays to Thursdays from 8am to 1am, Fridays and Saturdays from 8am to 3am, and Sundays 8am to 12 midnight.

The Prince Albert - no details, sadly.

The Woodman - applied and granted - opening Mondays to Thursdays 10am to 12 midnight, Fridays and Saturdays from 10am to 1am, and Sundays 10am to 11pm.

The Who'd'a'Thought It? - applied but still pending - to open Sundays to Wednesdays 10am to 11:30pm, Thursday 10am to 12 midnight, Fridays and Saturdays 10am to 12:30am.

The Prince of Wales - applied and granted - opening Mondays to Wednesdays 11am to 12 midnight, Thursdays 11am to 12:30am, Fridays and Saturdays 11am to 1am, and Sundays 11am to 11:30pm.

The Star Inn - applied and granted - opening Mondays to Thursdays 11am to 11pm, Fridays and Saturdays 11am to 12 midnight, and Sundays 12noon to 11pm.

It looks like your best bet for a late pint will be The Old Mill, which is one of the best pubs 'round here anyway. Of course, it might still get knocked back on the application, so nothing's set in stone yet (even though there's only a couple of days to go!).

There are some surprises in there though. The Pullman, on Woolwich New Road, is listed even though it looks like it's going to be demolished to make way for the DLR extension. That pub was always a dive anyway, and made the news only recently by getting served with an ASBO and shut down for a week after open drug-dealing took place on the premises.

The Ship pub on Plumstead Common

There is another blogger based up here on Plumstead Common - he(?) has only been blogging for a couple of months, but it's already well worth a read. Find him at Plumsteadshire.

He has posted a couple of times about the works being done to what used to be The Ship pub, across the road from the Co-op. That place was always a bit of a rough dive, and I don't think too many tears were shed when it shut down, although I'd rather it had been kept as a pub.

The work's been going on for quite a while, and I did a bit of digging to track down what's being done to it. There have been a number of planning applications, and I don't think Greenwich Council's website tells you whether a given application has actually been successful or not. Anyway, the most recent application suggests that the ground floor will be kept as a pub, and a side extension will be built (presumably on the Common Road, where there's a gap between the pub and the neighbouring building) and turned into flats. I thought it was going to be a restaurant, but I can't find any details of that proposal on the Greenwich website any more.

I'm not sure about the proposal to allow forecourt parking though. If it's going to remain a pub, then it might encourage drink-driving. And the Who'd'a'thought it, a pub by The Slade, had forecourt parking, and the resultant congestion from all the cars clustered around causes the 291 bus no end of problems getting down that road.

A rash of crossings

It's been a long time since I posted last, and I'm not sure why. I had a lot of ideas for posts, but never really did anything about it. So I can't even use the excuse of writer's block. Well, I'm going to try again, and a bit harder. Hopefully people will actually read this!

So my first post in a year, and I'm going to have a whine about the council. No surprise there, stop me if I'm boring you. But what the hell is going on in the town centre of Woolwich? I'm not talking about the DLR extension to Woolwich Arsenal, and the associated diggers, roadworks and stuff (I'd never complain about that - I'm just fantasically happy that the work is going ahead and the links to Woolwich will be improved). No, I'm talking about the rash of pedestrian crossings on Woolwich New Road, between the dual carriageway Plumstead Road and the railway station. This is a pretty major route for most of the buses into town, so you would hope it would be kept as clear as possible to help buses speed through. But no. On this short stretch of road, about 100 yards long, there are five different crossings. Two traffic light controlled, and three zebra crossings.

The worst offender is the pushbike crossing just at the junction between Plumstead Road and Woolwich New Road. I've never yet seen anyone use it - and why would they? It's a crossing designed for users of the cycle path, but the cycle path ends a mere 10 yards after the crossing and forces bikes onto the dual carriageway. But regardless, the lights happily change to red every few minutes and hold up the traffic, even though there's nobody waiting to cross. When this happens, it causes a tailback onto the dual carriageway. Once you get past this, there is a zebra crossing about 5 yards further on. And another 20 yards further. And another 10 yards after that. Then a light-controlled pedestrian crossing. It's madness, and the bus takes forever to get through it all.

It wouldn't be so bad if there were actually crossings where they were needed, such as one at the corner of Thomas Street and New Road to help people get to and from the Post Office, or one across Vincent Road by the station so that people can walk safely between the station and the bus stops outside the Tramshed.

Hopefully all this will be solved when the newly redeveloped Woolwich Arsenal station opens in 2008/9, with the DLR extension. It's going to have lots of new entrances and exits. This should remove the need to channel everyone across pedestrian crossings over the main roads.

RIP John Peel

Well, hot on the heels of some excellent posts over at Casino Avenue bemoaning the terrible state of British Radio, I heard the shocking news that John Peel has died. He's one of those guys I thought would go on forever; well, certainly for another ten years or so. After all, there's simply nobody at the BBC to replace him. There's not even anyone like him over there. Maybe, just maybe, John's death will cause those people at the BBC to realise this fact, and do something about the Godawful playlist-centred dross that they pump out, and start to plan some challenging, interesting radio. But I suspect not. Anyway, now is probably not the time for such things. I'm just grateful that we had John, and that I was able to listen to him and the great music that he played. RIP.

Building Works

I had hopes that there would finally be some progress in fixing up the old Crown and Cushion pub, next to the Waterfront Leisure Centre in Woolwich. There have been recent planning applications for "retention of basement and ground floor for use as public house restaurant and sub-division of first floor residential accommodation into two self contained flat" (see here), and "retention of basement and ground floor for use as public house/restaurant (Class A3), and extension at rear, and sub-division of first floor residential accommodation into two self contained flats" (see here).

Sadly, the most recent application seems to be "erection of a non-illuminated directional advertising signage on exterior of building." (from the Planning department at Greenwich Council). I'm not sure how the two applications are linked, but hopefully the application for a new billboard on the pub doesn't mean that plans to reopen the place have been shelved. As it stands, the place is a bit of an eyesore, which is just a waste when it could be a great pub by the river, like the fantastic Anchor and Hope in Charlton. It's a real shame, and frankly amazing, that Woolwich has no riverside pubs anywhere. Greenwich does them really well, and even Charlton has one even though the town/village is a fair distance from the riverbank, so why not Woolwich?

On a similar theme, what the hell is going on at the plot of land next to the Woolwich Ferry? Does anyone know what they're building there? It looks damned big, whatever it is, but I can't find any information on the Greenwich Council website.

Crossrail in Woolwich?

Greenwich Council have put up a page (on their front page, no less!) asking people to write in to Crossrail and demand that Woolwich be included on the proposed route, before the consultation ends on 27 October 2004. So please write into them! There's plenty of reasons for the route to include Woolwich, such as it being an interchange with the City Airport branch of the DLR, Woolwich being an important area of proposed development under the ODPM's plans to develop the Thames Gateway area (I hate that term), and the fact that Woolwich Arsenal is just a damned busy station and needs more capacity through it.

Apparently the proposed Thames Gateway Bridge might be in trouble because it impedes low-flying aircraft around City Airport. I suspect this is a load of hot air; surely not even the knobbers at Transport for London (note the pretentious italics) could forget to consult with the airport before putting the plans forward.

Still, we can hope that this idiotic bridge gets canned one way or the other. I don't understand why we need a bridge here at all; there's already the Woolwich ferry (and I'll admit that the access to the ferry at Woolwich needs urgent attention to stop lorries clogging up the roundabout by the Coronet), the Blackwall Tunnel and the Dartford Crossing within 10 minutes or so of the proposed bridge site. It seems to me that a new bridge will be a catalyst for hellish congestion around the A206 and the A2016, not to mention making Plumstead High Street even more impossible that it is at present. I can't see anyone queuing up to praise or support the idea. Does anyone actually want a bridge here? How is fast access to Barking going to help people in Thamesmead, or vice versa? Surely the money would be better spend on a DLR or JLE link to Thamesmead, so that the locals can get to places where there are actually jobs?