Kung Fu Panda

The panda's were not the only reason we were in Edinburgh, but it would have been churlish to miss the opportunity to go and see them. It has been about 17 years since panda's were last in a British zoo, although they were a major attraction at London Zoo in the seventies. Chi Chi and An An were a star attaction although their discussions about Uganda came to nothing which was a disappointment for the zoo. Chi Chi is now stuffed and displayed in the national History Museum in London.

Anyway, back to Edinburgh and Tian Tian and Yang Guang. The zoo sell tickets to see the panda's in 15 minute slots throughout the day. It's included in the zoo entry fee which is a reasonable way to go about it. Unfortunately Yang Guang, the male, has got colic at the moment so he is resting up and is out of sight in his panda den.

Tian Tian, however, was happy as Larry as she chewed away on her bamboo and allowed us to snap away to her hearts content. Tian Tian has already given birth to twin panda's in a previous life, and Yang Guang himself has fathered a child panda, so the staff at Edinburgh are confident that they will be presented with a baby sometime during the ten years they are in residence.

If that's the case, Edinburgh zoo will not know whats happened  to them as visitor numbers will go through the roof. So if you find yourself in Edinburgh do go and see them, but do bear in mind there is not a lot else to see in the zoo, although the penguins are always good value.

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.