http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5143388.stm

There are no such plans to close anything this summer.

I think Livingstone is just thinking aloud on this issue - which is
fair enough, given that much of the Underground system wasn't built
with the possibilities of sustained heatwaves in mind.

In message .com,
Mizter T writes
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5143388.stm

There are no such plans to close anything this summer.

I think Livingstone is just thinking aloud on this issue - which is
fair enough, given that much of the Underground system wasn't built
with the possibilities of sustained heatwaves in mind.


We're all getting too damn soft and the media don't help. When I was
a kid we just called it hot weather and got on with it. Now there are
endless announcements to carry water and if you believe the news
we're all about to suffer heat stroke. They'll be putting heat
councillors
on trains next :-)

The stress of not being able to get home will far outweigh the stress of
being a bit hot, so get Ken off his latest hobby horse and leave the
Underground running.

I could go on about the new improved London Transport that Ken promised
us would be bought with the congestion charge money, but I think he's
spent it all on community policing and the damn Olympics.


--
Edward Cowling London UK

Edward Cowling London UK wrote:
In message .com,
Mizter T writes
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5143388.stm

There are no such plans to close anything this summer.

I think Livingstone is just thinking aloud on this issue - which is
fair enough, given that much of the Underground system wasn't built
with the possibilities of sustained heatwaves in mind.


We're all getting too damn soft and the media don't help. When I was
a kid we just called it hot weather and got on with it. Now there are
endless announcements to carry water and if you believe the news
we're all about to suffer heat stroke. They'll be putting heat
councillors
on trains next :-)

The stress of not being able to get home will far outweigh the stress of
being a bit hot, so get Ken off his latest hobby horse and leave the
Underground running.

I could go on about the new improved London Transport that Ken promised
us would be bought with the congestion charge money, but I think he's
spent it all on community policing and the damn Olympics.


--
Edward Cowling London UK

Something that I have always puzzled over is that if people now wander
off for more than 5 minutes from their home they have to take water
with them to prevent dehydration.
My journey into work this morning was an hour and a half, I drank tea
before I left home and I reached work without dieing of thirst.

Kevin

In message .com,
Mizter T writes

I think Livingstone is just thinking aloud on this issue - which is
fair enough, given that much of the Underground system wasn't built
with the possibilities of sustained heatwaves in mind.

Although average temperatures are now one degree higher than a century
ago, there were several heatwaves in the Edwardian period - particularly
1911, which saw five months' of sustained high temperatures with a
number of days exceeding 35C.

But in those days much of the rolling stock was better designed for a
through-flow of air, with relatively large "hopper" windows and, in a
number of cases, open (but gated) platforms at the ends of carriages.

I also suspect that staff were able to be much more pragmatic in dealing
quickly with breakdowns. These days, H&S procedures often seem to
endanger health and safety by causing long delays.

As for all the reminders about carrying water (I was bombarded with them
on the tube yesterday) - what next? Will nanny remind us to wrap up warm
in cold weather and check that we have tied our shoelaces for fear that
we might drip and fall down the gap?
--
Paul Terry

Mizter T wrote:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5143388.stm

"As temperatures inside carriages rose to well above 30C on Monday,
Ken"

30C? Oh no, whatever will we do!

When it reaches 45C I'll start to worry, temperature in the med never
drops below 30C in summer.

Of course, a 500ml bottle of water costs 50p in med countries, £2 in
London.

Paul Weaver ) gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying :

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5143388.stm

"As temperatures inside carriages rose to well above 30C on Monday,
Ken"

30C? Oh no, whatever will we do!

Mmm. Quite. Temperatures *outside* rose to well above 30C, ffs...

Kev wrote:

Something that I have always puzzled over is that if people now wander
off for more than 5 minutes from their home they have to take water
with them to prevent dehydration.

Or is it because mineral water is becoming a fashion statement?

My journey into work this morning was an hour and a half, I drank tea
before I left home and I reached work without dieing of thirst.

Depends on the individual. I dehydrate very easily, especially in this
kind of weather, so if I'm carrying any sort of bag it'll likely have a
bottle of diluted squash in it somewhere (or similar). I've done this
for years. Not everyone's the same, though.

Neil

In message om, Paul
Weaver writes
Mizter T wrote:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5143388.stm

"As temperatures inside carriages rose to well above 30C on Monday,
Ken"

30C? Oh no, whatever will we do!

When it reaches 45C I'll start to worry, temperature in the med never
drops below 30C in summer.

Of course, a 500ml bottle of water costs 50p in med countries, £2 in
London.


Not if you fill it from the tap :-)

--
Edward Cowling London UK

Edward Cowling London UK wrote:


We're all getting too damn soft and the media don't help. When I was
a kid we just called it hot weather and got on with it. Now there are
endless announcements to carry water and if you believe the news
we're all about to suffer heat stroke. They'll be putting heat
councillors
on trains next :-)



--
Edward Cowling London UK


To some extent what you say about us getting soft is true. On the other
hand, when there was last a prolonged period of heat like this there
were 2000 deaths in this country and 11000 in France. Presumably, there
were as many, if not more, cases in the UK which required
hospitalization. So too remind us to take sensible precautions is not
stupid if it stops the NHS having to expend resources on treating
people unnecessarily.

It's a long, long time since I had to suffer the Tube in very hot
weather - it is over 30 years, in fact, since I was a regular commuter.
It was foul in those days - my understanding is that it is even more
crowded now than it was then and, of course, the more people there are,
the more heat is created just by the bodies.

Paul Weaver wrote:
When it reaches 45C I'll start to worry, temperature in the med never
drops below 30C in summer.

We have poorly ventilated trains and that's a problem, but to buy/lease
new buses without air con is a joke (even in the winter, it's a good
thing and keeps the windows from misting up). All this fuss about not
being able to put air-con on the tube is one thing, but aircon isn't an
expensive premium on a bus these days!

Didn't TfL realise that our buses are still for a lot of the time? No
movement means no airflow (especially with such tiny windows,
presumably to stop people throwing things out).

Of course, a 500ml bottle of water costs 50p in med countries, £2 in
London.

I thought the shops at Kings Cross were expensive, but I still only pay
95p for a bottle, or £1.20 for two bottles. Not cheap, but not a major
rip off either. However, I don't care because whenever possible I
simply refill a bottle with (cold) water from our office water machine,
or before I leave in the morning! Sod expensive mineral water!

Jonathan