Southend Airport: London’s Sixth Airport

by Alex Robertson Textor on

In April, easyJet began flying in and out of Southend Airport, located to the east of London in Essex. With the arrival of easyJet, London regained a long-dormant airport. (In the 1960s, Southend was London’s third biggest airport.) In its new incarnation, Southend becomes London’s sixth airport. The new kid on the block joins Heathrow, Gatwick, the low-cost hubs of Stansted and Luton, and London City, the most central and most user-friendly of them all.

Until easyJet introduced flights in April, Southend Airport was barely tapped. It was purchased in 2008 by Stobart Group, a logistics company, who obtained approval for lengthening the runway and then constructed a new control tower, which opened in March 2011. Shortly thereafter, Aer Arann, which has since been folded into Aer Lingus Regional, began flying a limited timetable in and out of Southend.

Another key development in the second coming of Southend Airport was the construction of a train station just outside the airport in July 2011, which made it easier for Londoners to reach the airport quickly. The icing on the cake was the inauguration of a new Southend terminal in April 2012.

The terminal is shiny and attractive – a glassy structure that still smells new. There are cafes on both sides of security machines, free Wi-Fi Internet access and a nice “business lounge” with a range of children’s interactive games on wall-mounted screens. I passed through security on Monday in two minutes. In short, flying out of Southend was a notably pleasant experience.

I have but two concerns for the future. First, Southend Airport is inadequately served by public transportation from London. The earliest weekday train from London’s Liverpool Street Station arrives at 6:32 a.m., which is too late for anyone coming from London to catch flights before 8:30 a.m., assuming that the airport’s two-hour check-in request is honored. (I can’t imagine how security would take more than a few minutes even in heavy traffic; nonetheless, the airport suggests very strongly that passengers arrive a full two hours before their flights depart.)

This needs to be sorted out. An earlier train service should be scheduled or easyJet could fill the gap with the operation of an early easyBus link from central London. (Taxis are most definitely not an affordable option. Traveller, easyJet’s inflight magazine, estimates a fare of £130 [$202] for travel by taxi between the airport and central London.)

My second and bigger concern is passenger volume. There are some airports out there that manage to do a very good job with enormous passenger volume, sure, but these airports are the exception. Most high-traffic airports are unpleasant places. Southend plans to build a terminal extension and has a stated goal of bringing in two million passengers a year.

Can this tiny, tidy, pleasant airport serve two million passengers a year, even with its planned expansion? Maybe, but it surely will run the risk of forsaking its tidy and pleasant nature in the process.

Mobile Phone Use While Flying: Not All That Popular Says Survey

by Chris Owen on

Just when those who would like to use their mobile phone in the air get a break, a new survey says most travelers would prefer that they keep it turned off.

Not long ago, Virgin Atlantic announced it would allow mobile phone calls during flights on its London to New York route. Calls made will cost £1 a minute and a text will be 20 pence, much more than on the ground but worth it to those who need uninterrupted communications ability.

But a new survey from flight comparison site Skyscanner has revealed 86 percent of those surveyed said it would be “annoying to listen to other people’s conversations” reports Caribbean News Digital.

“In a world where we are now almost always ‘on call,’ it seems people don’t want to say good-bye to their last sanctuary of non-connectivity,” says Sam Baldwin, Skyscanner Travel Editor. “Flying allows us to switch off for a few hours, both from our own calls, and other people’s.”

Even those who like the idea of using their mobile phone in the air are not all that excited about it. Only 1 percent of respondents said they would actually pay more to fly with an airline that offered mobile call ability – surely not enough to get airlines in the mood to offer it.
The Skyscanner survey also revealed 48 percent said they would send texts, 35 percent said they would surf the web, 10 percent would send email, but only 6 percent would actually make and take calls.



[Flickr photo by Tim Psych]

Visit The Newport Medieval Ship In Wales

by Sean McLachlan on


When the city of Newport, Wales, was building its Riverfront Arts Centre back in 2002, there was an amazing discovery. A large medieval trading vessel was discovered in very good condition.

The ship measured about 85 feet in length and was 26 feet wide at its widest point. The timbers of the clinker-built ship survived the centuries thanks to the oxygen-poor conditions in the River Usk where it was found. This kept microbes from feeding on the ship.

Hundreds of artifacts were recovered during the excavation, including an hourglass, a shoe, a cannonball and Portuguese coins. The most important artifact was a small silver coin found wedged into a hole at the join between the stem post and the keel. This type of coin was minted in France from 1445-1456 and so the ship must date to then or later. Coins were often placed into the fabric of a ship when it was being built as a token of good luck.

While a planned museum for the ship hasn’t been built yet and restoration of the timbers isn’t finished, it’s still possible to visit the Newport Medieval Ship. There are various open days, including one on June 1 and another on June 9. The one on June 1 marks a decade since the ship was discovered. Visitors will get to see the restoration in progress and hear more about the ship and its times from local experts.

[Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons]

British Protesters Campaign For A Rain-Free Olympics

by Jessica Festa on

And I thought the weather was controlled by nature. Recently, a group of bikini-clad female protesters in London headed to Parliament Square to demand sunnier weather and a rain-free Olympics. While this may sound outlandish, the comical campaign is actually part of a bigger project to help a community.

In the hopes that the government complies with the protesters – or that Mother Nature simply supplies some sunshine – brothers Rob and Paul Forkan of Gandys Flip Flops are getting their product ready, and will be putting partial earnings towards the building of an orphanage in Goa, India. The pair, who were orphaned after the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004, are doing the project as a tribute to their parents.

“The poor weather and the current economic climate haven’t exactly put people in the mood for the beach,” Rob Forkan told the Daily Mail. “We thought it would be interesting to combine the two issues with a protest in jest. Hopefully we will cheer even Parliament up!”

[photo via Gandy’s Flip Flops]

Ancient Curses Uncovered In Two Countries

by Sean McLachlan on


It’s been a good week for ancient curses.

A “cursing stone” has been discovered on the Isle of Canna, Scotland. More precisely called a bullaun stone, they’re natural or artificial depressions in a stone that catch rainwater and give it magical properties, usually to heal or to help women conceive a child. A shaped stone is placed in the hole that’s turned to make a prayer or curse.

The bullaun stone on the Isle of Canna is at the base of an early Christian cross dating to about 800 A.D. Now a round stone carved with a cross has been found that fits exactly into this depression. While bullaun stones are found in several European countries, it’s uncommon for both the stone and the base to be preserved.

Over in Italy, two ancient curses have been translated. A Spanish researcher working at the Archaeological Museum of Bologna has revealed the text of two curses inscribed on lead tablets in Roman times. Called a defixio, such curses were common in Greek and Roman times and often came mass produced with only the name of the target needing to be filled in. The ones in Bologna target an animal doctor and a senator, making it the first such curse found against a Roman senator.

One reads in part, “Crush, kill Fistus the senator. . .May Fistus dilute, languish, sink and may all his limbs dissolve …” The one against the animal doctor is no less nasty: “Destroy, crush, kill, strangle Porcello and wife Maurilla. Their soul, heart, buttocks, liver. . .”

Many museums have examples of these ancient nastygrams. One at the British Museum was found in London and curses a woman’s memory. Since it’s the only record of her to survive, it appears the curse worked.

Curses can be found all over the place. In Carlisle I came across a cursing stone made in 1525 by the Archbishop of Glasgow against the Border Reivers, Scottish raiders who stole English livestock. There’s a photo of it above. You can read the text of the curse in my article about Carlisle.