Every English newspaper has a front page today featuring the burning of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Anti-European sentiments, it seems, forgotten. Although the dramatic visuals are captivating. A variant on if it bleeds it leads. A tragedy we can all agree on. Though not the online community, some of whom are enraged that there is sympathy backed up by massive donations for the rebuilding of a church but not for a solution to France’s social problems. Really the old question of whether there should be support for the arts in a world in which children die of hunger. (Sparks fill the air as Paris Fire brigade members spray water to extinguish flames as the Notre Dame Cathedral burns in Paris, France, April 15, 2019. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer)
And much closer to home there are the road works by Bayswater Station. Not so much roadworks as sidewalk construction (though in Britspeak sidewalk is known as pavement). The construction here is interesting because it is so extensive, and when it is finished the sidewalks will be much wider than the road. This is something that the British often do to slow traffic in heavily pedestrian areas. Far more effective than posted slow speeds or heavy fines. Narrowing the road, or alternatively putting in speed bumps (known as sleeping policemen) makes the drivers slow down of their own accord.