Lids on leads to Leeds

Training the eye and more

From 10 floors up, I watch the platforms of the main train station, 6 of the platforms are visible from my vantage point of observation, the ones not obscured by the canopy roofs. The local, regional and intercity trains ferrying people to and from all cardinal points and in-between, far and near.

Arriva Trains Northern, TransPennine Express, Cross Country, and LNER Azuma trains, roll in and out of the station gathering or losing speed as they come or go. Their differing lengths like worms or snakes are streamlined as if they could go at double their maximum speed, but compared to European trains, we might complete a sprint in the time they have done a marathon and collected their medals. As for cost, we live in rip-off Britain. Cargo trains rarely stop, slithering through at a pace you might outrun before you have no more energy to keep up.

We move, we disapprove

I could say, Leeds leads to anywhere your heart desires, to coasts and cities, to work or to your, for a holiday if you have chosen Monday to start it or just for a day out if you have that pleasure. The people wait watching the clock and the indicators against the expected times of arrival and departure, some standing still others in a form of loitering to prevent the semblance of interminable time.

They disembark and embark, if I opened my window, I might hear the public address Tannoy announcing destinations or arrivals to certain platforms or platform changes along with the inane general information on safety and security ending with the almost inspired; “See it, Say it, Sorted.”

Some apparatchik might have considered themselves worthy of a Pulitzer Prize for coining that phrase, it might have come up in committee, but you can say, one is quite unimpressed. Yet, that message has stuck not out of interest, but of utter irritation at pablum.

It has got my goat

Obviously, if I or anyone else saw something amiss or wrong, we will report it, do we really need to be told like people lacking in insight or initiative. Rather just give us information of who to call to report to, than padding out the message with a surfeit of patronising speech. We would all have a tendency to switch off from the lack of originality and repetition of silly and unhelpful messages.

Whatever focus group that was tried on must have been overly excited to be asked that their objectivity and focus was subsumed.

Leeds arrivals and departures at 15:10 (Click to enlarge.)

2013 Nobel Prize Week

Nobel excitement

The second working week in October is always quite exciting for me; it is the Nobel Prize announcement week.

Today, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to three scientists James Rothman and Randy Schekman of the United States and Thomas Sudhof of Germany, “for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells.”

The people and the detail

Professor Göran K. Hansson, the secretary of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine made the announcement at 9:30 GMT impressively and flawlessly in 5 different languages.

After the announcement, Professor Juleen Zierath the chair of the committee explained the rationale behind the award of the prize and science behind it; I could not help but notice her American accent.

The BBC website attempts to break down the science into digestible detail, stating it is discovering how cells precisely transport material, that it is crucial for the way the brain communicates, the release of hormones and parts of the immune system and that a defective vesicle transport system is implicated in diabetes and brain disorders.

Nomination cycle

The process of nomination starts in September of the year before the award is made, in February the nomination process is closed, then consultation, reports and recommendations are made through to the first week in September. The laureate(s) are then chosen the day before the announcement during which time they are contacted and informed of the honour before the public announcement we heard today.

Names of the nominees and all related nomination material are kept secret for 50 years after the award is made.

This means anyone who is interested can now ask for information about other nominees, when the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine of 1963 was awarded to Sir John Carew Eccles (Australia), Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin (UK) and Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley (UK); for their discoveries concerning the ionic mechanisms involved in excitation and inhibition in the peripheral and central portions of the nerve cell membrane. [Wikipedia][Nobel Foundation]

The 2013 Nobel Prize Announcements

You can join the Twitter discussion by following NobelPrize_Org and using the #NobelPrize or #NobelPeacePrize hashtags.

The announcements can be viewed on the Nobel Prize YouTube Channel, each scheduled as shown below:

Announcement of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine - Monday 7 October, 11:30 a.m. CET at the earliest

Announcement of the Nobel Prize in Physics - Tuesday 8 October, 11:45 a.m. CET at the earliest

Announcement of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry - Wednesday 9 October, 11:45 a.m. CET at the earliest

Announcement of the Nobel Prize in Literature - Thursday 10 October, 1:00 p.m. CET

Announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize - Friday 11 October, 11:00 a.m. CET

Announcement of the Prize in Economic Sciences - Monday 14 October, 1:00 p.m. CET at the earliest

 

Incredible India: Rickshaws and Delhi Metro

Accessing public transport

The journey on the Delhi Metro was an experience in it being both modern & strangely expected.

First, I thought I will join an interminable queue for tickets till I was given a smartcard, the alternative to that was a token which was for single journeys.

In fact, the journey to the metro was fraught with beggars - women, children & wide-eyed toddlers in aggressive pursuit, the remedy was to board a rickshaw, if the driver will ride rather than push. One must confess the rickshaw business is not for old men, I have experienced the vitality of the young and the frailty of the old on this matter.

Look, frisk and scan

You can only get to the platforms through airport-like security X-ray gates, then X-ray checks on all bags, after which you might get frisked before you can check-in at the smartcard gates to get to the platforms. Oh! I did not mention that the security check had separate access for the females too.

The platforms are nicely sign-posted though it is good to know the terminal and interchange stations in the direction of travel beforehand.

The announcements are clear in Hindi and English with indications of what side you can get off on very much like those you get on the Berlin Metro system.

Journey observations

Towards terminal stations the crowd thins out but we could literally be packed as sardines in the central parts of New Delhi.

Priority seating is available for the old and physically challenged, there is special seating for ladies too, though I wonder if that means more than it seem; in fact, the first coach or car is exclusively reserved for ladies and men face fines for flouting that rule - even India does politically correct probably to excess in some cases.

In all, at least on the blue line, the metro in New Delhi is a lot cleaner than our services in Amsterdam, my hosts were surprised at that statement, but that is a fact.

Telling many things

Amongst instructions that get shown on the electronic boards and announced are that passengers should neither play music nor sit on the floors of the Delhi Metro trains.

I was earlier told not to take pictures of a “No Spitting” sign which attracts a penalty of 200 rupees; I later heard that photography and videography is prohibited in all Delhi Metro stations.

Maybe I will now have the courage to go out on my own having seen how the whole system works, but I will be the first to say that this is one city where I have not had the boldness to venture out without a chaperone.

As to why I was out on this adventure, it was for church, communion, snacks and a wonderful fish curry at the home of the pastor, the details of that do require a separate blog.

As a hostage to a baggage crisis

Hostage to a baggage crisis

Everything went well for my return to Amsterdam from Stockholm until we got to Schiphol airport where the dial on the Farce-meter did read empty on competence and problem management.

Apparently there was an accident in the baggage sorting area that meant a delay in retrieving our baggage from baggage reclaim.

We were told there would be a delay of about 15 minutes; I think it was well passed the hour before I picked up my luggage.

As we waited by the assigned conveyor belt there were certain announcements made about the delay, then about the airport being a non-smoking airport, the advice not to leave luggage unattended and then changes to the assigned conveyor belts for baggage reclaim.

Amsterdam we are told has one of the most sophisticated baggage sorting systems and it has featured on the National Geographic television channel.

Between computers and silly human ideas

My concerns about those changes were two-fold, at first the indicators were not updated to reflect that change and then only the flight numbers were announced.

On the matter of the indicators, it should have been an easy software fix to show that under the remarks column that passengers to go to another conveyor belt and the newly assigned conveyor belt updated with the information.

I was quite surprised by the use of only the flight numbers because I never once checked my flight number and I felt people would have been better served by first announcing the origin of the flight and then the flight number, that way we would have been better focused on using the information properly.

Cities and flight numbers

From what I noticed of all fellow passengers as myself, none of us moved to the new conveyor belt because for each KLM flight number there were at least 5 code-sharing flight numbers – the time between scanning though the list of flights from other origins and then the one that pertained to your journey just left you hoping you will hear the advice again.

I did match the flight number to my flight but by then I had lost the other crucial information that I had to go to the service desk to be helped when Stockholm was cleared off the indicator as all baggage completely off-loaded.

At the service desk, I was told where to get my luggage and when I said they should have announced the origin with the flight numbers the lady looked at me as if it was a stupid suggestion and gave the silly excuse that there were so many flights to handle.

What it would have saved them and us if only they had done the sensible and easy thing – all announcements for boarding are made with flight numbers and destination, all notice boards with arrivals or departures always have origin or destination with flight numbers – I think the point is made.

The smell of home

As I walked to the trains a hawker of perfumes accosted me and ask if I had a wife, I had no time for small talk, talk less of smelly talk, I just wanted to get home but I had the presence of mind to refuse the offer of a cheap ticket bought in error to Amsterdam when the ticket machine offered a better discount.

I got home tucked in a mozzarella salad and that was home sweet home.

Rotten journalism ruins obituary

Death at a great age

In Nigeria we have a seemingly mature perspective of death especially when the deceased was full of years with children, grand-children and great grand-children. In fact, I once attended the Christian wake of a prominent Nigerian who died at 89, what I noticed was that no one was mourning in black, but everyone was in a radiant blue.

Basically, we rejoice with the survivors when a full life with generations of issues predeceases their offspring – they are congratulated and the deceased is lauded.

So, I read from Ayoke’s blog that Mrs. Margaret Ekpo, one of the foremost female politicians in Nigeria has died at the age of 92.

The women who shined for us

This brings to memory the famous women of Nigeria who during the struggles for Nigerian independence ensured that the voice of hand that rocks the cradle was not silent as we determined our future. People like Mrs. Ransome-Kuti, Mrs. Oyinkan Abayomi and Lady Ademola blazed the trail in the emancipation of women in Nigeria, to them; a great debt of gratitude is owed.

The source article on ThisdayOnline does this great departed no honour; now, my blog is not perfect, I do proofread and check my spelling and grammar many times over but sometime fail to see errors.

Rotten journalism

ThisDayOnline is a newspaper of journalists who produce copy in English; it would probably have an editor that oversees all material before it is published for global viewing.

How Mrs Ekpo’s son who announced her death twice acquired the female gender in their copy is not only annoying, it is sloppy journalism, leaving much to be desired.

Mr Eddy Ekpo would have confirmed that his mother died in hospital and remains of his mother would be returned to the family home in due course. Mrs Ekpo, having passed on, would now acquire the possessive past tense of having had 12 grand-children and so many more great grand-children, regardless of the living status of the children.

Naijablog has time and again lamented the poor quality of Nigerian journalism; this example just shows there is much to be done about people who write for a profession.

Beyond all this, Mrs. Margaret Ekpo who served as representative on the Eastern House of Chiefs from 1948-1966 and was a delegate to Nigerian Constitutional Conference in the 1950s and a Nigerian delegate to international conferences in the 1960s – she was a worthy delegate – my her soul find repose as we remember her.

References

The offending article Courtesy of This Day Online (PDF)