[PRCo] Re: Streetcars in the Strip District?

[Fred Schneider]

Haven't had bangers and mash for a week Paul!
Curious story.   The cook didn't know how to make them ... about as good as my mum in the kitchen and that isn't saying much.   In other words a little charcoal doesn't hurt anyone.  

But the waitress was a real doll ... probably very characteristic of the Norfolk population in that she was African American, 30ish, quite attractive, doing her best.    That wasn't particularly easy in a place with no air conditioning when it was 97 degrees outside on Mr. Fahrenheit's scale.   

Well I gave her a rather large tip ... about 30% ... and complimented her on her beautiful smile.   The answer I got was just short of a hug ... "You really made my day.   My last customer stiffed me. (Ran out the door without paying the check.)  And I got a ticket for illegal parking this morning."   guess finally her luck was changing.   

Actually, Paul, my favorite place for English cooking in this area is a small place south of Coatesville, Pennsylvania in the "fox and hounds country" run by a man who came from somewhere in the western suburbs of London.   I came out of there one evening after dinner to find a Rolls and a Bentley had been parked out front after I had gone in with my wife.   

http://www.thewhiptavern.com/twt_menus.html

It isn't truly authentic.   Americans would not comprehend going to the bar, looking at the specials of the day on the on the chalkboard, ordering at the bar and then finding a table.  You have to make some adjustments for the locals just like the Mexican restaurant in Brighton that served me a burrito suffed with peas and carrots (ugh?).   But this place comes as close to really British as I've found in the states.  

To my great sadness, they have removed one of my favorite delicacies from the rotating weekend special menu, perhaps because they could not sell it to Americans who turn up their noses at anything really strange.  That would be the Haggis which he used to serve on the last weekend of every month. 

For those of you who do not understand what haggis is, let me extend this convoluted story.

Perhaps 15 years ago I walked into a small hotel in Aberdeen (Scotland for those who are geographically challenged).   Fortunately I was early for dinner and was the only one the dining room for I burst out in gut wrenching laughter as I read the menu.  

The owner asked what was so funny?

I questioned, "Freshly caught haggis?"

He replied, "I wrote it that way for the people from London who come up here and have no clue what Haggis is.   You know it is?"

I responded, "The paunch of the sheep stuffed with innards such the lungs, liver and other edibles ground up and mixed with oatmeal and baked."

"You like it?" he asked.

"Won't know until after dinner.  Never had it until tonight."

Answer was, yes, I liked it.   When you are 14 and your peers are telling you that you should not try something, you know it your heart it must be terrible.  But when you have savored so many good things from India to Italy, Finland to France, Belgium to Britain, Scotland to Switzerland, Mexico to Maryland, Poland to Portugal (or Pittsburgh), nothing tastes strange anymore.   



On Aug 29, 2011, at 12:50 PM, Paul Steven wrote:

> Fred, Dwight,
> 
> I had a sausage, egg, beans, bacon, mushroom, fried tomato breakfast at a 
> Wimpy (kind of like an upscale McDonalds) this morning. Even had hash browns 
> as a nod across the Atlantic. Just double (or triple?) the quantities and It 
> is an "engine mans breakfast" in a neighbouring town, so I guess it's not 
> entirely off topic.
> -- 
> Paul
> 
> On Monday 29 Aug 2011 17:32:34 Dwight Long wrote:
>> Fred
>> 
>> Maybe better with bangers & mash?
>> 
>> Dwight
>> 
>>  ----- Original Message -----
>>  From: Fred Schneider
>>  To: pittsburgh-railways at dementix.org
>>  Sent: Monday, 29 August, 2011 11:02
>>  Subject: [PRCo] Re: Streetcars in the Strip District?
>> 
>> 
>>  Jolly good.   Where in England.   There are at least two Anglophiles on
>> Derricks list.   If I say only John Swindler and myself, then the others
>> will complain.   I've been in Britain 18 times between 1959 and 2004. John
>> Swindler is the product of a Pittsburgh area father and a British mum from
>> World War II.   I think he still keeps in touch with the cousins in
>> Britain.
>> 
>>  Perhaps I should take this off list.   After all it is a Pittsburgh /
>> Western Pennsylvania traction list.  However, over time many of us have
>> gotten to be close friends.   While I have not personally met everyone on
>> the list, I have broken bread with a lot of them.   I like to think of the
>> list as family.  So I do not get offended if the subject varies and I've
>> been known to post foreign (to us) stuff to the list just to try to get
>> people to think outside our comfortable box.   (And I have a wife who
>> understands that a broiled tomato goes with streaky and eggs for breakfast
>> ... she has been known to do it on occasion.)
>> 
>>  On Aug 28, 2011, at 7:58 PM, Paul June 29, 1925:  The Santa Barbara 
> (California) Earthquake made a real mess of downtown.    wrote:
>>> I haven't posted since April, but I have been here before. I live in
>>> England, but have an interest in trams and trolleys and have
>>> contributed to the Wikipedia article on Pittsburgh Railways, after
>>> visiting the city in 2004. I don't often have anything to say, but
>>> stumbled on the article below when trying to identify a bridge closed
>>> at weekends in downtown.
>>> 
>>> On Monday 29 Aug 2011 00:23:47 Fred Schneider wrote:
>>>> Please introduce yourself to those of us who have been on the list for
>>>> years.   I never saw the name Paul Steven before.
>>>> 
>>>> Fred Schneider
>>>> Lancaster, PA
>>>> (Ex patriot Pittsburgher ... ex in 1949)
>>>> 
>>>> On Aug 28, 2011, at 6:42 AM, Paul Steven wrote:
>>>>> So you guys are thinking of putting streetcars back in the Strip?
>>>>> 
>>>>> "Consultants wanted for streetcar plan
>>>>> 
>>>>> By Bill Vidonic
>>>>> PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
>>>>> Friday, August 26, 2011
>>>>> 
>>>>> Pittsburgh is looking for consultants to help plan a streetcar system
>>>>> and other transportation improvements within the Strip District,
>>>>> which could include an incline connecting the Strip with the Hill
>>>>> District.
>>>>> 
>>>>> "I'm hoping this will be realistic as possible," said Becky Rodgers,
>>>>> executive director of Neighbors in The Strip. "Will everything that's
>>>>> in this study come out? You don't know, but it's a great starting
>>>>> point."
>>>>> 
>>>>> The city hopes to hire consultants by November. They will spend six
>>>>> months devising transportation plans and how to pay for them. City
>>>>> officials have said a streetcar system could cost at least $25
>>>>> million.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Consultants will be paid up to $345,000 by the city and PennDOT
>>>>> through the Pennsylvania Community Transportation Initiative.
>>>>> 
>>>>> That planning work likely would tie into the bigger Allegheny
>>>>> Riverfront Vision plan. The city in February announced that project,
>>>>> which aims to reconnect the Strip District, Lawrenceville,
>>>>> Morningside and Highland Park to 6.5 miles of redeveloped
>>>>> riverfront.
>>>>> 
>>>>> "We've seen a lot of positive movement recently in the Strip
>>>>> District," Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said in a prepared statement. "New
>>>>> transportation improvements will build on this momentum by providing
>>>>> residents with better transit options and more
>>>>> bike/pedestrian-friendly ways to get in and around the
>>>>> neighborhood."
>>>>> 
>>>>> The initiative is focusing on the Strip District between 11th and
>>>>> 40th streets, and possible improvements include the streetcar
>>>>> system, the incline, bikeway work along Penn Avenue and a new
>>>>> transit station for development along the Martin Luther King Jr.
>>>>> East Busway at 21st Street.
>>>>> 
>>>>> The deadline for consultants to submit qualifications to the city's
>>>>> Planning Department is noon Sept. 23. The detailed qualification
>>>>> request is available at www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/cp."
>