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Ever wondered what was lurking beneath the surface of London's Regent's Canal? Quite a bit from the looks of it. A treasure trove of bizarre objects has been dredged up in a massive clean up of Regent's Canal. The haul included a wheel of a discarded bicycle, a rusty shopping trolley and a mud-stained mobile phone. The Canal and River Trust drained the Kentish Town lock of 50,000 gallons of water to replace its lock gates. Dumped items also included a digital camera, a car tyre and tattered pieces of clothing. Wedged eight feet below the surface, they were were fished out this morning during the maintenance job. Hundreds of people watched as the canal was opened to the public. Graham Smith, Canal and River Trust construction supervisor, told Mail Online : "The lock gates haven't been replaced since the early 1990s, so this was a really rare opportunity for visitors." Last October, the capital's canal - which runs from Mile End Stadium to Limehouse Basin - was drained for maintenance as part of a £45million countrywide scheme to keep the country's waterway system in good working order. Paris' Canal Saint-Martin was recently drained for cleaning for the first time since 2001. Among more than 40 tons of waste removed was gold coins, a WW1 shell and even a car. This time round, it's was a little less glamorous, with wheelie bins, bicycles and mopeds among the recovered items . Source http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/see-bizarre-assortment-random-items-7235244 -
Visitors to and residents in Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea are to enjoy free wifi access on their mobile phones, laptops and tablet devices following a landmark deal between Westminster City Council, the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and network operator O2. The deal will result in the largest free wireless hub in Europe, making free wifi available to millions of residents and visitors. The deal, which will run at no cost to the councils or the taxpayer, is part of both councils’ plans to ensure that the millions of visitors that come to the city have the best experience possible and can make the most of what London has to offer - particularly given the double celebrations of the Diamond Jubilee and 2012 Olympic Games taking place this year - whilst delivering longer term benefits to businesses. Free wifi access will be available throughout Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea once the Metro wireless network is installed on the street furniture. It will initially be rolled out in a limited number of areas and then throughout the boroughs over the longer term. O2 will begin installing the network in January 2012. O2 Wifi launched in January 2011 with the ambition to roll out free, fast and open wifi, via strategic partnerships, across the UK. Cllr Philippa Roe, Cabinet Member for Strategic Finance at Westminster City Council said: “This is a landmark achievement for Westminster; Westminster welcomes over a million tourists a day, is home to 250,000 residents, employs over half a million people and sees 4,000 business starts-ups each year. Next summer’s Olympic Games mean that London will be putting on the biggest show on earth and as Westminster has a starring role, visitors to London will easily be able to share their pictures and updates of the Olympic events across social networking sites.” Councillor Nicholas Paget-Brown, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Environment at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, said: “I am very pleased that we have been able to come to this agreement and we look forward to working with O2. Residents and visitors having free access to the latest mobile technology will help us to continue to offer value for money for residents.” Derek McManus, Chief Operating Officer for O2 said, “This groundbreaking deal - the first of its kind in the UK - will see us deliver high quality connectivity across London in time for London 2012. Our longer-term aim is to expand our footprint of O2 Wifi, which is open to everyone, and also intelligently enhance our services at street level, where people need the network the most. “Our £500m annual network investment programme is focussed on integrating new layers of technology into the existing network to enable a seamless and sustained customer experience. We are driven entirely by our customers’ needs and believe that services should be delivered in the best possible way, across multiple networks and supported by different technologies.” Source
