Westminster Cathedral

Westminster Cathedral, not to be confused with Westminster Abbey, is one of the great sights of London - in my book, anyway.
The Abbey is where Kings, Queens, poets and the Establishment are buried; it’s a medieval building in the Gothic style, and an Anglican church. The Cathedral, on the other hand, is a Victorian building in neo-Byzantine style, and it’s a Roman Catholic church.

The foundation stone was laid in 1895. It is mainly in brick in the white-and-red decorative fabric of the great west front. It’s a magnificent building, even though on a busy day it sometimes reminds me of a large railway station. It’s huge, for a start - 342 feet longm, 148 feet wide, with three great domes and using over 10 million bricks.
The other thing that rather puzzles me is why this cathedral looks so much like an Ottoman mosque. I know the Turks were much influenced by Hagia Sophia, so perhaps there’s a mutual influence there - but the west front, with its little domed turrets cascading down from the great dome, really does look incredibly like one of the great mosques of Istanbul - Sultanahmet perhaps, or Suleymaniye. And the tower looks almost as much like a minaret as it does a Byzantine tower.

The interior is splendidly decorated with marble and mosaic. The marble used in the decoration comes from Greece, from Languedoc (the red), from Verona (the yellow), and from Carrara in Italy (the capitals at the top of each column). The altar, on the other hand, is made out of Cornish granite - and apparently weighs ten tons.

Don’t miss the Stations of the Cross. They were carved by the great Eric Gill - a master stonemason and engraver. His work is clearly twentieth-century and yet it has something of the intensity and concentration of the best medieval art about it. (His impassive, finely carved figures weren’t understood at the time when they were unveiled in 1915-16 - they were widely derided as flat and undevotional; it’s only later that Gill’s real artistic value was understood.)

Entrance to the cathedral is free, but there’s a charge to ascend the campanile - a marvellous red-and-white striped needle - for a marvellous view of London. And there is a lift - in case you were worried about your ability to manage all those steps.

The cathedral choir is also renowned, particularly for its performance of Spanish Renaissance music. The wonderful acoustic doesn’t hurt either. Go to choral vespers and it’s rumoured you won’t even have to sit through a sermon - just smells and bells and the most marvellous music.

Nearest Tube: Victoria Street, SW1(Victoria tube station)
Timings: cathedral 7 am to 7pm, tower viewing gallery 930-1230 and 1-5pm. Cathedral closes 530 pm on public holidays.
Fee: cathedral free, admission charge for tower

London Travel Disrupted By Strike

Commuters travelling across London by bus face heavy disruptions today as 2,500 drivers and other workers strike over pay.

The 24-hour walkout, which began at 3am, is predicted to bring travel chaos to the capital. It involves 2,500 staff at First Capital East Buses and First Centrewest Buses. Their union - Unite - says the action will be followed by a 48-hour stoppage on Friday September 12.

It has warned other bus workers in London are also considering strike action. Friday's proposed walkout comes after staff rejected a four per cent pay rise.

Strike to hit London Airports

London's Gatwick and Stansted airports are to be hit by strike action later this month as baggage handlers, check-in workers and security scanners walk out in disputes over pay.

Employees of Grupo Ferrovial SA's Swissport International AG unit will stage two 24-hour stoppages at both airports on Aug. 25 and 29, the Unite and GMB trade unions say. Security-scanner operators at Stansted will also strike Aug. 25 over a separate pay claim, the GMB said.

Gatwick is Britain's second-busiest airport, attracting nearly 35 million passengers a year, and Stansted is fourth busiest, with almost 24 million.

The action against Swissport will affect at least 12 of the 79 airlines at Gatwick, together with Ryanair Holdings Plc and EasyJet Plc at Stansted, the unions said, while the scanner dispute will limit Stansted passengers to hand baggage only, according to the GMB.

Source: The Calgary Herald

Countdown to 2012 Begins With Questions

The moment the mayor of London appeared during the closing ceremony on Sunday night it put questions into everyone's minds. Boris Johnson shuffled onstage, his middle button undone, a hand in his pocket. He waved, pointed, pumped his fist and grinned: a naughty schoolboy out with the grown-ups.

How well London will carry that flag is a question its representatives have found themselves asked repeatedly over the last two weeks.

What can they do to follow this no-expenses-spared Olympics, with its spectacular arenas, clockwork organization and attention to detail? The first problem for London is simply one of cash. Estimates for the cost of the Beijing Games, apart from the Beijing organizing committee’s operating budget, start at $40 billion. And that does not account for the difference in labor costs, which are considerably lower in China than they will be in London.

One of the defining elements in Beijing has been the legions of young volunteers. Paul Deighton, the chief executive of the London Olympic committee, said he could not hope to duplicate their numbers. “One of the great strengths of China is the ability to mobilize so many resources and people,” he said. “We will give the individuals bigger roles and more independence. That is a model that works best for the British.”

While the show put on by the hosts Sunday night was not an epic narrative like the opening ceremony, it was still spectacular, huge and, except for the athletes’ entry, meticulously choreographed. Then the British appeared, with a dance skit including a London bus and members of three dance companies. Clearly, they were playing far from home, with limited resources. Even so, it looked chaotic and under-rehearsed.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com

Tube passengers trapped in lift

Passengers were trapped in a lift in a London Underground station for one-and-half-hours due to a faulty lock, Transport for London (TfL) has said.

The 23 passengers were stuck in the lift in Elephant and Castle station on Friday night and London Fire Brigade were called to open the lift, TfL said.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union said an ongoing strike that day had led to a delay in the rescue.

TfL said the strike had had "no bearing" on the incident.

The incident happened at 2145 BST on Friday, and TfL said it called the fire brigade after staff at the station were unable to open the doors.

Obviously worrying RMT general secretary Bob Crow accused managers of "cavalier attitude".
He said: "Under normal circumstances, if it took more than 20 minutes to get people out managers would be demanding to know why it had taken so long and if it took more than an hour, they would be looking for someone to discipline."

A spokesman for TfL said: "The incident was caused by faulty doors.

"Its obviously worrying for passengers when they are trapped in the lift but the strike had no bearing on the incident. "London Underground is satisfied that staff at the station worked in accordance with procedure."

Station staff who are members of the RMT were on strike to protest against the sacking of a member. The TfL spokesman said the staff member was dismissed for allegedly assaulting a customer, adding that the "well reviewed" decision was upheld after appeals.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

London Weather

London is a year-round tourist centre, with few of its attractions closing or significantly reducing their opening hours in winter. Your best chance of good weather is, of course, at the height of summer in July and August, but there's certainly no guarantee of sun even in those months - plus it's when you can expect the biggest crowds and highest prices.

Many who live in London would swear that global warming has added a twist to the city's unpredictable climatic conditions. While locals used to complain about the frequent, but still somehow always unforeseen, arrival of rain, now they find themselves faced with sudden outbreaks of sunshine and dry heat instead.
Recent summers have seen record temperatures, approaching 40°C and autumns have been positively toasty. As the tube turns into the Black Hole of Calcutta and traffic fumes become choking, London is particularly ill-equipped to cope with such heat.
However, meteorologists point out that recent statistics don't yet represent anything terribly out of the ordinary for such a naturally variable climate. The average maximum temperature for July, the hottest month, is still only about 23°C. In spring and autumn temperatures drop to between 13°C and 17°C. In winter, the average daily maximum is 8°C, the overnight minimum 2°C.

Despite the appearance of snow in the past few years, it still rarely freezes in London. What weather forecasters do predict in the long-term, as a result of climate change in London, is drier summers, wetter and stormier winters and more flash floods.

Access to Heathrow Airport

Public transport

• Heathrow Express: a non-stop service directly to London's Paddington station; trains leave every 15 minutes for the 15-minute journey, either from Terminal 5 or Heathrow Central (Terminals 1, 2, 3). Passengers transferring between these two stations on the Heathrow Express may use the service free of charge.


• Heathrow Connect: a service to Paddington calling at up to five National Rail stations en route - trains leave every 30 minutes for the 25-minute journey. Heathrow Connect services use Heathrow Central station (Terminals 1, 2, 3) and terminate at Terminal 4 - passengers transferring between these two stations at Heathrow may use the service free of charge.


• London Underground Piccadilly line: four tube stations serve the airport - Terminals 1, 2, 3; Terminal 4; Terminal 5 and Hatton Cross. The standard journey time from the Heathrow Terminals 1, 2, 3 tube station to Central London is 40-50 minutes.


• Long-distance coach services operated by National Express to various parts of the UK, including Victoria Coach Station in London.



• A door-to-door London hotel shuttle bus service is operated by Dot2Dot from each terminal, and HotelHoppa buses connect each terminal with hotels in the Heathrow area.


• There are two RailAir coach services connecting nearby railway stations with the airport using dedicated non-stop coaches. These run to:Reading railway station, connecting with railway services to the West Country, South Wales, Midlands and south coast of England Woking railway station, for places in Surrey, Hampshire, Dorset and Wiltshire
• Heathrow Airport has one of the United Kingdom's biggest bus stations, with many local bus services (Transport for London) to nearby London suburbs.

Car
Heathrow is accessible via the nearby M4 motorway and A4 road (Terminals 1–3), the M25 motorway (Terminals 4 and 5), and the A30 road (Terminal 4). There are drop off and pick up areas at all terminals and short and long stay multi-storey car parks. Additionally, there are car parks (not run by BAA) just outside the airport, these are connected to the terminals by shuttle buses. Heathrow airport is also served by taxi services.

Four parallel tunnels under one of the runways connect the M4 motorway and the A4 road to Terminals 1–3. The two larger tunnels are each two lanes wide and are used for motorised traffic. The two smaller tunnels were originally reserved for pedestrians and bicycles; to increase traffic capacity the cycle lanes have been modified to each take a single lane of cars, although bicycles still have priority over cars. Pedestrian access to the smaller tunnels has been discontinued, with the free bus services being the alternative.

Bicycle
There are (mainly off-road) bicycle routes almost to the terminals. Free bicycle parking places are available in car parks 1 and 1A, though use of the left-luggage services may be more secure. Free specialist maps showing cycle routes are published by Transport for London - 'London Cycling Guide 6' covers Terminals 1, 2 & 3 while 'London Cycling Guide 9' covers Terminal 4.

One coach on each Heathrow Connect train has an area reserved for wheelchairs and bicycles (wheelchairs have priority). Heathrow Express trains have space for three bicycles. There are rush-hour restrictions: unfolded bicycles are not allowed on trains due to arrive at Paddington between 07:45 and 09:45, or departing between 16:30 and 18:30, Monday to Friday.

If luggage and conditions permit, it is much cheaper (about one third the price) to travel by train between Paddington and Hayes & Harlington and then cycle the remaining two miles (3 km).