Today, The Morgans and The Grandma had a morning of business closing the purchase of their wonderful castle in the Highlands.
The family has opened a recruitment process to work in their new Scottish residence and the search is being very interesting because the CVs of the first candidates have already started to arrive.
Before attending to these matters, the family has been studying a little English grammar with the ConditionalTense and TheSuperlative and talking about one of the hardest works: finding a good job.
Finally, They have been talking about the Tube, London Underground and its vital importance during the Second World War as a refuge for the population to protect themselves from enemy bombings, a history parallel to that experienced years earlier by cities such as Barcelona, Viladecans or Gavà, among many others.
The London Underground, commonly known as the Tube, is one of the most iconic public transport systems in the world. Serving the city of London and surrounding areas, it is also the oldest underground railway network, with its first line opening in 1863.
Originally built to reduce street congestion, the early system used steam-powered trains running through tunnels constructed with a cut-and-cover method. Over time, technological advances led to the introduction of electric trains in 1890, making it the first electric underground railway.
Throughout the 20th century, different private railway lines were gradually integrated into a unified network, helping shape modern London. The system also played a crucial role during both World Wars, when stations were used as air-raid shelters.
Today, the Underground consists of an extensive network of hundreds of stations and hundreds of kilometers of track, transporting over a billion passengers annually. Although known as an underground, a significant portion of the network actually runs above ground.
Managed by Transport for London since 2003, the system continues to modernize with improved accessibility, new trains, and infrastructure upgrades.
The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goodsrailway that servedLondon from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex suburbs. Its first line connected the main-line railway termini at Paddington, Euston, and King's Cross to the City.
The first section was built beneath the New Road using cut-and-cover between Paddington and King's Cross and in tunnel and cuttings beside FarringdonRoad from King'sCross to near Smithfield,
near the City. It opened to the public on 10 January 1863 with gas-lit
wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives, the world's first
passenger-carrying designated underground railway.
The line was soon extended from both ends, and northwards via a branch from Baker Street. Southern branches, directly served, reached Hammersmith in 1864, Richmond in 1877 and the original completed the Inner Circle in 1884.
The most important route was northwest into the Middlesex countryside, stimulating the development of new suburbs. Harrow
was reached in 1880, and from 1897, having achieved the early patronage
of the Duke of Buckingham and the owners of Waddesdon Manor, services
extended for many years to VerneyJunction in Buckinghamshire.
Electric
traction was introduced in 1905 and by 1907 electric multiple units
operated most of the services, though electrification of outlying
sections did not occur until decades later. Unlike other railway
companies in the London area, the Met developed land for housing, and
after World War I promoted housing estates near the railway using the Metro-land brand.
On
1 July 1933, the Met was amalgamated with the Underground Electric Railways Company of London and the capital's tramway and bus operators
to form the London Passenger Transport Board.
Former Met tracks and stations are used by the London Underground's Metropolitan, Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, Piccadilly, Jubilee and Victoria lines, and by Chiltern Railways and Great Northern.
In
the first half of the 19th century the population and physical extent of
London grew greatly. The increasing resident population and the
development of a commuting population arriving by train each day led to a
high level of traffic congestion with huge numbers of carts, cabs, and
omnibuses filling the roads and up to 200,000 people entering the City
of London, the commercial heart, each day on foot.
By
1850 there were seven railway termini around the urban centre of
London: London Bridge and Waterloo to the south, Shoreditch and
Fenchurch Street to the east, Euston and King's Cross to the north, and
Paddington to the west. Only Fenchurch Street station was within the
City.
The congested streets and the
distance to the City from the stations to the north and west prompted
many attempts to get parliamentary approval to build new railway lines
into the City. None were successful, and the 1846 Royal Commission
investigation into Metropolitan Railway Termini banned construction of
new lines or stations in the built-up central area.
The concept of an underground railway linking the City
with the mainline termini was first proposed in the 1830s. Charles
Pearson, Solicitor to the City, was a leading promoter of several
schemes and in 1846 proposed a central railway station to be used by
multiple railway companies.
The scheme was rejected by the 1846 commission, but Pearson returned to the idea in 1852 when he helped set up the City Terminus Company to build a railway from Farringdon to King'sCross.
The plan was supported by the City, but the railway companies were not interested and the company struggled to proceed.
The
Bayswater, Paddington, and Holborn Bridge Railway Company was
established to connect the Great Western Railway's (GWR's) Paddington
station to Pearson's route at King's Cross. A bill was published in
November 1852 and in January 1853 the directors held their first meeting
and appointed John Fowler as its engineer.
After
successful lobbying, the company secured parliamentary approval under
the name of the North Metropolitan Railway in mid-1853. The bill
submitted by the City Terminus Company was rejected by Parliament, which
meant that the NorthMetropolitan Railway would not be able to reach
the City: to overcome this obstacle, the company took over the City
Terminus Company and submitted a new bill in November 1853. This dropped
the City terminus and extended the route south from Farringdon to the
General Post Office in St.Martin's Le Grand.
The route at the western end was
also altered so that it connected more directly to the GWR station.
Permission was sought to connect to the London and NorthWestern Railway
(LNWR) at Euston and to the Great Northern Railway (GNR) at King's
Cross, the latter by hoists and lifts. The company's name was also to be
changed again, to Metropolitan Railway. Royal assent was granted to the
North Metropolitan Railway Act on 7 August 1854.
Construction of the railway was
estimated to cost £1 million. Initially, with the Crimean War under way,
the Met found it hard to raise the capital. While it attempted to raise
the funds it presented new bills to Parliament seeking an extension of
time to carry out the works.
In July 1855, an Act to make a direct connection to the GNR at King's Cross received royal assent. The plan was modified in 1856 by the Metropolitan (Great Northern Branch and Amendment) Act and in 1860 by the Great Northern & Metropolitan Junction Railway Act.
Board
of Trade inspections took place in late December 1862 and early January
1863 to approve the railway for opening. After minor signalling changes
were made, approval was granted and a few days of operating trials were
carried out before the grand opening on 9 January 1863, which included a
ceremonial run from Paddington and a large banquet for 600 shareholders and guests at Farringdon. Charles Pearson did not live to see the completion of the project; he died in September 1862.
The 6 km railway opened to the public on 10 January 1863, with stations at Paddington (Bishop's Road) (now Paddington), Edgware Road, Baker Street, Portland Road (now Great Portland Street), Gower Street (now Euston Square), King's Cross (now King's Cross St Pancras), and Farringdon Street (now Farringdon).
The railway was hailed a success, carrying 38,000 passengers on the opening day, using GNR
trains to supplement the service. In the first 12 months 9.5 million
passengers were carried and in the second 12 months this increased to 12
million.
The
original timetable allowed 18 minutes for the journey. Off-peak service
frequency was every 15 minutes, increased to ten minutes during the
morning peak and reduced 20 minutes in the early mornings and after 8
pm. From May 1864, workmen's returns were offered on the 5:30 am and
5:40 am services from Paddington at the cost of a single ticket.
I just like being on my own on trains, traveling. I spent all my pocket money travelling the London Underground and Southern Railway, what used to be the Western region, and in Europe as much as I could afford it. My parents used to think I was going places, but I wasn't, I was just travelling the trains.
This morning I have explained some experiences of my visit to the City Hall. One of the reasons of this visit has been searching information about a civil refuge built by civil people during the Spanish Civil War.
Barcelona is full of these refuges although not all of them are in conditions of being visited. When the war started, the population knew that it could be very difficult to win and the best option was the resistance. Thousands and thousands of people participated in the construction of these refuges but before they were built the population used the metro like a refuge. Some years later, this story repeated in London with TheTube.
Barcelona had got one line that crossed the city from south to north. Nowadays, this line is still working and it's Line Number 1 or Red Line. Other lines were under construction and they were also used like a protection, refuge and a safe place against the bombs.
After the war, the reconstruction of the city and the creation of new suburbs and metro lines changed the old urban planning and nowadays Barcelona has an interesting list of ghost stations, that is to say, some stations where the metro doesn't stop.
What scares me? I kind of believe in ghosts. I believe they can wander around, so that scares me. But the stuff that really scares me are the catastrophic events like my husband or children or my family being harmed, or something like that.
Yesterday, The Holmesreviewed SecondConditional, Past Simple, Past Continuous, Adverbs of
Manner and Prepositions. They
took The Tube and travelled round London visiting the most important places.
They also read a little more about Charles
Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
Moreover,
they received new manuals to work PET Exam and practise Phrasal Verbs.
On Thursday, they had visited London Eye where they took lots of
photos and they continued practising Social
English and Present Perfect
Continuous.
The
English language is like London: proudly barbaric yet deeply civilised, too,
common yet royal, vulgar yet processional, sacred yet profane.
Stephen Fry
Today, The Holmes have reviewed Present Perfect and its clues: already, just and yet. They have
been working hard with Social English
and some exercises of vocabulary.
For other
hand, the family is still in London visiting the city. Today, they have visited
M&M’s store, Camden, Portobello and Notting Hill.
The Grandma has reunited with her family again after staying some
hours unlocked in a phone box in the middle of Leicester Square and she has been talking with them about London, Paris and New York City.
Tomorrow,
the family is going to get on The Tube
and travel around the city and surroundings. Rosa wants to visit Saint Paul's Cathedral meanwhile Carmen wants to visit The Museum of the Order of Saint John, an
interesting order from Malta.
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