Scaffolding around Bromley by Bow station
Gasp! They’re finally fixing the smashed glass at Bromley by Bow station!
It’s only been 3 years since it was broken …
Oh yuck wow
ICE train at Hannover
ICE 3neo interior
Being silly on the train.
Drinks in the Bordrestuarant
Really like the new interiors of the ICE3 neo.
Bad news - technical issues on the train.
Good news - DB had an identical replacement unit waiting at Osnabruck.
We got off, walked across the platform, sat in reserved seats and nearly left on time! Fair play to DB bc that could have been worse!
whimsical street sculpture
Black and white patterned art on the scaffolding on the side of a church
Black and red patterned mural
Black and red patterned mural
I liked the whimsical street sculptures, the art on the scaffolding on the side of a church (rather than an ad) and the mural in the main station
Map showing urban structure of Hannover in medieval times
Map showing urban structure of Hannover in 1939
Map showing urban structure of Hannover in 1945
Map showing urban structure of Hannover in 2012
The art showing the urban structure of Hannover in medieval times, 1939, 1945 and today certainly gets one thinking.
ICE train in Berlin Hauptbahnhof
Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg
Hannover Hauptbahnhof station with statue of Ernst August
Hamburg Rathaus
Heading back to London on Sunday - 1st class ICE, passing through Wolfsburg and Hannover.
I quite liked Hannover (given the only thing I knew was that it hosted Expo 2000), but it was quiet on a Sunday morning.
Brandenberg Gate
The dark and narrow maze of the Holocaust memorial in Berlin
Purple and white curving structures in a bike parking garage
Blue and purple canopy structures over a roof
A little evening of exploration - Brandenberg Gate, the Holocaust memorial (works much better at night time with no people), sci-fi film set looking bike parking and the roof of Das Center in Potsdamer Platz
Morning light through the glass at Berlin Hauptbahnhof station
Boxy S-Bahn train in yellow and red
New U-Bahn train
Tram at Alexanderplatz with the world clock and the TV tower
Berlin’s transit infrastructure continues to be impressive. I like the boxy new S-Bahn trains from Stadler, and Hauptbahnhof would be a world-class station… if half of the escalators weren’t broken!
Sadly driving in the city seems to have got worse - thanks to the wide, fast roads :(
Modernist face of the Humboldt Forum
Interior courtyard of the rebuilt Berlin Palace
Modernist edge meets the rebuilt Berlin Palace…
Modernist edge meets the rebuilt Berlin Palace…
Saturday was fun, doing the reconnaissance of a Berlin transport challenge. Unconvinced by the Humboldt Forum - sticking a modernist edge onto a rebuilt Berlin Palace
Delayed train board at Aachen
ICE at Brussels
spezi - cola and orange mix
Chilli con carne and sour cream
The rest of the day was … mostly us getting screwed by Deutsche Bahn. After electrical problems and an arrest at Aachen, followed by signalling problems at Köln - we missed a train by seconds at Frankfurt Hbf after a 200 metre sprint - gutted. At least food in 1st class is good!
Fischmarkt in Erfurt
People having drinks on the terrace
Drinks outside, man with cute dog
Queue for ice cream
Spent most of the day on trains getting to Berlin - 90 minute stopover in Erfurt was impeccable vibes. Warm sun, everyone having drinks and gelato on the terraces, lots of smiles and happiness around
TfL did a baseline report too. content.tfl.gov.uk/property-imp...
There’s also work by property specialists at Savills, CBRE etc
mktgdocs.cbre.com/2299/bc7c7f3...
TfL analysis which says “71,000 new homes delivered around Elizabeth line stations (1km)
since 2015” and “There is a strong 70,500 housing pipeline around stations (1km)”
content.tfl.gov.uk/elizabeth-li...
There’s also work by Places for London (TfL’s housing building arm) - I think they have a few sites adjacent to Lizzie line stations, I know they have a site at Limmo, Canning Town that was used for construction of tunnels.
Map of Newham’s 17 neighbourhoods and 45 site allocations
Every local authority on the route has a Local Plan with strategic development sites that will come forward for development - easy to see what’s close to stations! Here’s Newham’s one, for example (stations in yellow) with target of ~47,000 new homes by 2030s….
www.newham.gov.uk/downloads/fi...
I’d look at Woolwich (Berkeley Homes), Southall Waterside (St William), Lorimer Village in Goodmayes (Weston Homes), all the stuff around Abbey Wood in Thamesmead (Peabody), Custom House regeneration (Newham Council), Whitechapel Sainsbury’s etc.
1/2
You might have had less of a reaction if you threw a Molotov cocktail in DC 😂
So frustrating - the consequence of a road network designed (and over engineered) in the mid 2000s for 4 weeks of IOC/IPC traffic in 2012 … and opening in 2013-5 already outdated and behind the times 😢
Trump and the USA men's hockey team laughing about having to invite the women's team to the White House as well, I suppose 🙄
Says it all really.
Devastated for Canada - but the game could have gone either way.
Will Sadiq cut ties with this guy?
Probably not, because “he gives so much money to charity and community causes”
Gross.
BBC studio at Milano Cortina 2026, with snow in the background outside, with two little snowmen outside
Zoom in at the two little snowmen outside
Love that someone at the BBC has made two little snowmen outside the studio in Cortina 🥺 #WinterOlympics #MilanoCortina2026
Cheers of a lot of drinks
Newham Local Plan Examination ✅
The King Eddie was a common Newham leaving drink destination 😅
As Clare Balding just pointed out on BBC Two, this is the first time Team GB has won three gold medals at the same Winter Olympics.
Another excellent @projectforawesome.com - raising over $4 million for charities including @savethechildren.org and @pih.org ! #p4a2026
Alys with one leg in the air, next to a coffee sign
Two coffees
A very large puddle
It’s quite wet
Highlights so far including Hank teaching John how to use a banana loco, learning that middle schoolers are having "6-7 retirement parties" (good to know they're doing bits) and "the Cars 2 movie does not take place in the Cars universe. Instead, it takes place in the Minionsverse" #p4a2026
Once again, it's time for the @projectforawesome.com - @hankgreen.bsky.social and @johngreensbluesky.bsky.social raising money for charity! #p4a2026
Why can a political administration just decide this?! Such a broken system
