Hello again

This edition of trivia/nonsense is London centric…. just cos we have been been there for 5 days and walked and walked …Also attended a session at the World Cycling Champs at the Olympic Velo…great experience

1. Once again we had a great time …this time we stayed at Hampsted near Hampstead Heath…beautiful area just 20 minutes from centre ..as we were walking about, I got to thinking about how different London is to Melb (not better or worse..just different). So I headed to Wikipedia ….

 London/UK - Melb/Vic comparison numbers :

SIZE 

Britiain 209000 sq Kms  --Victoria 237000 sq kms….thats where the similarities end ….

London 1572 sq kms — Melb 3800 sq kms….Melb more than twice as big..

POPULATIONS

Britain 60.8m — Victoria 5.8m 

London 8.5m  — Melb 5.9 m

…so the amazing facts

DENSITY

Britain 302.6 per sq km — Victoria 25 per sq km …or 120 times more dense 

London 5800 per sq km — Melb 430 per sq km….

2. Plenty of gee wiz type things when you think about them. One is the fantastic Tube/Underground rail system…incredibly efficient…you never wait more than 3/4 minutes for a train and the various lines criss-cross the city with many intersections to make the system that claims to be the best in the world. 

Off to wikipedia again…some  stats on the underground.

• 270 Stations
• total length 402 kms
• 11 different lines
• 1.3 billion passengers per year
• some interesting station names Chalk Farm, Swiss Cottege, East India, Cyprus, Elephant and Castle

3. There are two world events coming up that could change the world for ever (in my little view). One is the referendum in June that will decide whether the Uk stays in the EU….and I can’t believe they won’t stay in..

The other is the (remote) possibility that America could elect a nutter as President. (The following is a paid political statement by B Shea ….)

4. Another highlight from our recent visit to London was a visit to the Imperial War Museum. Magnificent exhibition in a majestic old building that was original London Mental Asylum ….know as Bethlehem Hospital ( and nic named Bedlam !!)

As you can imagine there were plenty of Churchill quotes highlighted around the walls :

• “There is only one thing worse than fighting with allies, is fighting without them”
• “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”
• “But I leave the past and I leave the present. It is to the future that we must turn our gaze”
• …these are just a couple I happened to remember, but there were dozens...

One pretty graphic exhibit is the car below….can you pick make and model it is…

Its the remains of a car that was used as a car bomb in Baghdad….scary stuff

5. KIDS KORNER

It was a cold and wet Melbourne morning when Grandma was helping Sam put his boots on. Even with her pulling (with a broken wrist ) and his pushing, it was nearly impossible..Finally they went on...

Sam exclaimed “Grandma they are on the wrong feet”

After another struggle the boots came off and eventually got back on the right feet.

“Grandma ..these aren’t my boots …they are James’ “ 

Ohhhh

“ Ok Sam its ok for you can wear them today… “

"Now its really cold Sam …you need to put your mittens on....where are they?” 

Sam  “….this morning  I stuffed them onto James boots…”

London done and dusted

Dad/Tony