Still not Stafford

 Last week was hard work. I was prepping for my next conference, getting messed about by one client, and chasing an invoice with another that they hadn't processed because they gave me the wrong information in the Work Order. A freelancer's lot is not a happy one.

On top of which, two of the grandchildren ended up on oxygen in hospital, and we had the other two to stay. Unfortunately, the youngest is teething, so sleep was a luxury.

Having endured the joys of taking a five-year-old to make a choice of birthday present in a toy superstore (4,000 steps trying to keep up with him) and retail park McD's, the weekend brought those words I dread: Soft Play.

As it happens, though, one of our best local soft play attractions is also the location of the Amerton Railway. Needless to say, my attempts to sneak off to have a look around were thwarted, but I did manage to quickly grab some photos,

It seems to be a friendly line, and a friend of a friend is trying to arrange a private visit for a few of us, so I will be back.

And if you have to go to a soft play area then Amerton Farm isn't a bad one.  The cafe does quite acceptable chips.  

For Stafford, read Zurich

This should have been about the Stafford Model Railway Show, but I've hardly made a dent in the editing of the photos.

So instead, you get treated to this week's quick trip to Zurich.

I was a keynote speaker at a conference on the ethics of AI, and my plan was to fly out the night before to meet up with an old friend from India who was speaking, spend the day at the event and then have some meetings the following morning before flying home. All without leaving the airport and the airport hotel.

The conference programme and the very generous drinks and food enabled me to complete my meetings, so I found myself with a free morning and a hangover.

It has probably been sixteen years since I commuted to Switzerland every week, and it was slightly strange to be back. I have a couple of friends in the area, but one was in Oxford at another conference, and the other one was at work. So I decided to be a tourist, aided by the excellent Zurich Card. This is valid for 24hours, and if I'd been sensible I would have bought it the day before and skipped a  few of the sessions at the conference that were in German to do more of the tram network.

As it was, I ended up doing more of the tram network than I intended because I caught the wrong tram from the airport, ending up in a deserted industrial estate.

The knock-on effect was that I missed my one chance to fit in a lake cruise, but it wasn't really the weather for one, anyway.

The tram system is complex, with intensive services and a varied fleet

I spent a little time being a tourist, wandering around the old town and wishing I had found room in my bag for the Leica.

The highlight was the short trip on the funicular by the main station, which was quite spectacular in itself.

As hoped, it also had an excellent station brasserie, where I had schnitzel and fries. I wish we had that sort of place on UK stations. The closest we seem to get are some station bars, but they lack that sense of all human life being there. It actually reminded me of a much-missed restaurant in Bristol that just had a simple menu. I did talk to the owner of the Bristol restaurant about franchising, but it seemed to be just a bit of a hobby for him.

Then I just had time to catch the S bahn back to the airport for my flight to London City. I do like flying to and from City. From wheels down to being on the DLR took me exactly 14 minutes!


Time saved that was well spent in the Euston Tap, waiting for their first pint of the new  Timothy Tatylors & Northern Monk collaborative stout, which was on the house.

The Waterworks

I've had some great visits to local museums, events and railway lines this Summer. I guess my luck couldn't hold.

On the canal not far from us stands Stockton Brook Waterworks . 

I've been dying to see inside, and for ages have been looking forward to their open day.

Unfortunately, although I was there for an hour, I could never find anyone free to talk to me, and there was a total dearth of information boards to tell you what you were looking at. Hence no captions.

There was obviously a lot of chat going on between people who already knew each other, and other attendees saw it as a great success. It left me feeling slightly depressesd and if the fault was on my side, though a visit to the Stafford Model Raily Show the next dispelled that thought. Still, I got some nice picture, although the mood of them sums up how I was feeling.