SWMBO lost her lovely father, Marty, on Thursday. He went with his family around him after degrading quite rapidly over the last few weeks.
Marty was a gentle giant. When I first met him he had long finished in the Liverpool docks, but it was there that his personality was formed. He was a hard worker and a hard player, part of a diminishing generation who lived life to the full and if you did not live life on the edge you were wasting space
.
The various dock boards across the Country were great rivals. They would hold weekend sporting events in a type of mini-Olympics. Marty would compete in the swimming and in open boat, skiff type rowing and regardless of who won, a vast amount of alcohol would be consumed. They could be in Leith, Tilbury or Portsmouth, but everybody would clock in on time the Monday such was the work life balance of the day!!
He was also a first aider and they too would travel away to London for 'conferences'. It was a very full and active social enviromment.
He taught his four children how to swim and was an instructor to many others, and he welcomed me into his family like another son. It was quite early in our friendship that I found out why they called him ' three gulps' Marty and we had to work out a shift pattern to keep up with his drinking in the pub!
He worked in Saudi Arabia after leaving Liverpool docks, as many of his colleagues did, and that allowed him and Winnie to buy a house in Formby village. They also enjoyed time together in Paris as a half way house due to the restrictions on him returning to England for tax reasons.
Apart from Win and his family, Liverpool FC was his first love. He was a long term season ticket holder and can still be seen behind the goal in old footage from the Sixties. He is there in his big joe90 glasses with a cigarette in his mouth. It has been his wish for 30 years to see Liverpool once more atop the football pyramid, and while he was in Istanbul and at other European finals nights, it was the Championship he craved for. It is with a tinge of sadness, therefore that he was not able to follow the final few games live, nor will he see the parade as and when it is scheduled.
He will leave a huge hole in the lives of those that knew him and he will be sadly missed. RIP Marty, you will never walk alone.
Showing posts with label Leith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leith. Show all posts
Saturday, 18 July 2020
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Sydney Carton
Yesterday I travelled into Canary Wharf courtesy of the Docklands Light Railway. It is now a tried and tested part of the London transport infrastructure and it links the East End to South London using a series of disused and rebuilt railway tracks as well as some complex interchanges which have been built especially for the job.
It is a very effective way of getting around, the trains are driverless and the system is cashless as it utilises the Oyster card payment system. It links with the Croydon tram system which runs from Wimbledon to New Addington as well as the underground system at Bank, and the overground at Shadwell among other interchanges.
Compare that then with the efforts of Edinburgh to build and operate a tram line through their great city. SWMBO and I went up there this weekend to see the giant panda as well as have a couple of days break. Given it is two years since we were last there, we expected to see the trams buzzing up and down Princes Street crushed with people hanging on the sides like they do in San Francisco.
Lo, not a tram did we see. The engineering work started in 2008 so you would have thought that the route would be finished by now. The project, however, has been blighted by bad management, bad planning and constructor disputes which have several times put the whole project at risk.
For those not familiar with the topology of Edinburgh, the plan was to initially run from Gogar in the West to Leith in the East. A single line would run through Haymarket, Princes Street and St Andrews Square before joining Leith Street on its journey to the Forth and the Royal Yacht Britannia.
Why it did not start at the airport which is only a short hop from Gogar, I have no idea. It had no fans amongst the taxi drivers of the city, and as time went on, amongst the population either.
To save money, the line was modified to go from Gogar to St Andrews Square, where it could link with the mainline station and the bus depot, but now it has been reined back to stop at Haymarket, a projected eleven stops before St Andrews Square, and frankly, in the middle of nowhere.
The lines remain in place along the route, and this weekend the trams were tested at the Gogar marshaling yards. When they will start taking fee paying passengers remains to be seen. The project has over spent by an enormous amount. I just wonder if Scotland are to be trusted with their independence if this is the sort of project they would have control over.
It is a very effective way of getting around, the trains are driverless and the system is cashless as it utilises the Oyster card payment system. It links with the Croydon tram system which runs from Wimbledon to New Addington as well as the underground system at Bank, and the overground at Shadwell among other interchanges.
Compare that then with the efforts of Edinburgh to build and operate a tram line through their great city. SWMBO and I went up there this weekend to see the giant panda as well as have a couple of days break. Given it is two years since we were last there, we expected to see the trams buzzing up and down Princes Street crushed with people hanging on the sides like they do in San Francisco.
Lo, not a tram did we see. The engineering work started in 2008 so you would have thought that the route would be finished by now. The project, however, has been blighted by bad management, bad planning and constructor disputes which have several times put the whole project at risk.
For those not familiar with the topology of Edinburgh, the plan was to initially run from Gogar in the West to Leith in the East. A single line would run through Haymarket, Princes Street and St Andrews Square before joining Leith Street on its journey to the Forth and the Royal Yacht Britannia.
Why it did not start at the airport which is only a short hop from Gogar, I have no idea. It had no fans amongst the taxi drivers of the city, and as time went on, amongst the population either.
To save money, the line was modified to go from Gogar to St Andrews Square, where it could link with the mainline station and the bus depot, but now it has been reined back to stop at Haymarket, a projected eleven stops before St Andrews Square, and frankly, in the middle of nowhere.
The lines remain in place along the route, and this weekend the trams were tested at the Gogar marshaling yards. When they will start taking fee paying passengers remains to be seen. The project has over spent by an enormous amount. I just wonder if Scotland are to be trusted with their independence if this is the sort of project they would have control over.
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
I'll get you Butler
Edinburgh is a tremendously impressive City. Its road are flecked with granite chips which make the surfaces resolute and durable, its road system in the centre is laid out in a grid , with the Royal Mile linking the castle to Holyroyd House. Alleyways and paths wind between shops and bars, and the natives scurry about like ants on a rose bush.
It is rather sad, therefore, to witness the devastation which is surrounding the construction of the new tram system.
Many cities have embraced the idea of introducing trams as a fast and convenient mode of transport. Croydon was a building site for years as they struggled to join the high society of Wimbledon Village with the rather less appealing New Addington council estate, via the city centre, Purley and Merton. In their case, however, there was no heritage to protect. Manchester managed to integrate their system with little or no change to the architecture and tradition of the City, and it has been a huge success.
Edinburgh, however, is suffering. The aforementioned roads are being dug up because all the main services run down the centre of the road, and this is where the tram lines are to go. Consequently the services are being moved to the kerb side, roads are being blocked off or made one-way, and worst of all ,a number of old traditional buildings, pubs, houses and so on, are being demolished.
They are only building one line at present. It will run from Leith in the North to the airport, via Princes Street and Haymarket where it will follow the railway lines. There are already worries though that the funding will run out and the tram line will terminal at Gogarburn, about a mile short......
Still when its built they will be able to illuminate the trams at Christmas like they do in Blackpool, and I can't wait until the rugger chaps at Murrayfield see how many people they can have hanging off the side.
It is rather sad, therefore, to witness the devastation which is surrounding the construction of the new tram system.
Many cities have embraced the idea of introducing trams as a fast and convenient mode of transport. Croydon was a building site for years as they struggled to join the high society of Wimbledon Village with the rather less appealing New Addington council estate, via the city centre, Purley and Merton. In their case, however, there was no heritage to protect. Manchester managed to integrate their system with little or no change to the architecture and tradition of the City, and it has been a huge success.
Edinburgh, however, is suffering. The aforementioned roads are being dug up because all the main services run down the centre of the road, and this is where the tram lines are to go. Consequently the services are being moved to the kerb side, roads are being blocked off or made one-way, and worst of all ,a number of old traditional buildings, pubs, houses and so on, are being demolished.
They are only building one line at present. It will run from Leith in the North to the airport, via Princes Street and Haymarket where it will follow the railway lines. There are already worries though that the funding will run out and the tram line will terminal at Gogarburn, about a mile short......
Still when its built they will be able to illuminate the trams at Christmas like they do in Blackpool, and I can't wait until the rugger chaps at Murrayfield see how many people they can have hanging off the side.
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