West12 Shopping Centre Christmas lights 2011.

Acton Christmas lights 2011.

Shepherds Bush Christmas lights 2011.

Yesterday (9 December 2011) the bendy-bus (or more accurately the Mercedes-Benz Citaros) was withdrawn from the London 207 route, one of which is pictured above on its last day of service (here’s a less impressionist shot from May 2011).

This is the last of the London bus routes to run bendy-buses, which have been withdrawn as a result of the last city mayor election.

Two objections have been made to the use of buses such as the Mercedes-Benz Citaros in London:

• The size of vehicles. This has been a problem on some of the routes the buses have been used. However they work best on roads that have few sharp bends, such as the 207 route, which I am a familiar – a long, comparatively straight route, with high volumes of passengers that the vehicle is designed to handle efficiently.
• Fare dodging. This has been an issue – however I’m sure a technical solution could be forthcoming from the organisation that put in place the Tube ticket gating system.

Given articulated buses efficient capabilities in dealing with high passenger volumes, and their suitability for disabled users, I don’t believe we have seen the permanent disappearance of such vehicles from London.

I attended to the eighth meeting of the WordPress London local group – the Christmas social!

Beer (courtesy of Headshift) and chat, replaced the usual presentations (and beer).

The Blue Lion proved to be an excellent venue with a great range of real ales.

Pictured is the new WordPress London badge, produced by Emily Webber.

I took part in the London public sector rally on 30 November 2011.

Pictured is the BECTU banner.

Ken Russell RIP.

Today NASA’s Curiosity rover successfully blasted off to Mars on an Atlas 5 rocket.

Artist concept of the rover by NASA.