This is The Mighty Wizard, London Calling.
The past two days here have seen the makings of a major natural disaster. Massive gale force winds struck the British Isles on Thursday and moved on to the European continent today (Friday January 19, 2007). Here in London, I found myself chasing after my umbrella twice in the mere 4 minute walk from my hotel to the VLICA offices because it was blown out of my hands. Winds gusted up to 80+ miles per hour in the capital, the worst winds to have hit Britain in 17 years by many accounts. The gale force winds continued, reaching Germany and central Europe today. The death toll across all countries is at 47 as of this writing, the worst since 1999 when massive storms took 120 lives. On the economic front, insurers in Britain estimate that the insurance bill will run over 500 million pounds ($1 billion at current exchange rates). I myself saw a large aluminum scaffold drop to the streets below. Fortunately nobody was hurt and some London Bobbies (Metropolitan Police) were on hand to cordon off the area.
On the transportation front, there were over 120 flights cancelled out of Heathrow Airport alone. Cancellations numbered into the hundreds across Europe as a whole. Delays are to continue into today, but the weather seems to be turning colder and much less windy, ergo airport conditions should return to a situation where passengers will mainly be inconvenienced by delays rather than flight cancellations.
CNN reports from back in America that there are icy road conditions back home, but before the pro-rail types gleefully rejoice about snarled automobile traffic jams, they should read what I read in today's papers over here.
Before going any further, many of my co-workers at VLICA's London office came in very late today or not at all. I've watched over the past two weeks as several tram riders have consistently come in after 9:00am on many mornings. Here are some direct quotes out of some of the West End newspapers. The London Paper wrote on its front page headlines on January 18, 2007:
80MPH GALES SPARK TRAVEL MELTDOWN
Here are some words out of their front page story:
"The chaos included a Piccadilly line train smashing into a tree on the line in Hillingdon, west London, and severe delays on all rail services in and out of the capital."
"A power cut closed King's Cross Tube station during rush hour and signal failures on the Victoria and District lines compounded the misery. Train services on all routes will be severely delayed tonight after rail bosses imposed a 50mph limit on drivers."
Meanwhile, the London Lite newspaper had headlines of "Killer gale blows in rail chaos". Trees falling caused cancellations and disruptions on routes from Kent and areas southeast of London into Charing Cross, Cannon Street, and Victoria stations. Tracks between Canterbury and Dover were disrupted. On Friday's edition, the paper carried a story of an ordeal where train passengers were stuck in a train from Milton Keynes to Euston were left stranded in pitch darkness for 8+ hours.
Several deaths were reported both on rail lines and from those travelling by car, where debris from the gale force winds struck passengers.
On a final note, here is a small article that was printed in a giveaway magazine on the street news stands called In London:
TUNNEL OF HATE
It features as one of the most frustrating things about London in almost every poll taken. It's the love-hate relationship we have on a daily basis with London's world-renowned underground network. Vast and well connected, it also has the worst time-keeping records and cost per mile ratios in Europe. How many times have you been late for work because "the wrong type of leaves or snow has fallen" or you have succumbed to the dreaded words of "points failure and late finishing engineering work"? As with any service you expect to get what you pay for so the next time you are delayed, click on the link below to get a refund for that journey. It's quick and easy and as long as you don't tell porky pies you can make quite a lot of money back for your inconvenience.
Transport for London refunds website.
Ciao for now - TMW
Posted by The Mighty Wizard at January 19, 2007 08:49 PM