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NEW MARRIOTT HOTEL AND EXECUTIVE
APARTMENTS AT CANARY WHARF
London’s newest luxury hotel, a 301-room
full-service Marriott Hotel and 47 Marriott
Executive Apartments had its official opening at
West India Quay opposite Canary Wharf is now open.
The London Marriott West India Quay Hotel & Executive
Apartments is located in a striking 32-storey modern
glass and steel-framed curved building which
comprises the hotel, the Marriott Executive
Apartments and 158 privately owned luxury apartments
operated by Manhattan Loft Corporation.
The building’s dramatic curved shape has created many interesting
architectural and interior design features. Several
of the hotel’s 22 suites, for example, culminate in
a dramatic knife-edge point, where the steel
reinforced glass sides meet. The views from these
rooms across the City of London, the River Thames
and beyond are spectacular. Guests may also find
themselves staying in room ‘500,000’ as one of the
guest rooms has been designated the half-millionth
room in the entire Marriott network of hotels around
the world.
For dining and entertainment, the hotel has the ultra modern Curve
Restaurant & Bar located right on the waterfront,
with a separate Quayside entrance, plus the Lounge
Bar with outdoor seating on the terrace. Other guest
services include a health club complete with sauna
and fitness room; a 24-hour business centre, 96
executive rooms and an executive lounge.
Leisure guests will be able to take advantage of a special
introductory opening leisure rate of £151 per room,
per night, including breakfast and VAT available on
Fridays and Saturdays until September 2004… |
JERY CRAIG RETIRES |
Call Sign was surprised to hear of
the retirement of former Call Sign Editor and
current cartoonist, Jery Craig. Gerald Craig has
been using the signature of ‘Jery’ for so long, that
he has become Jery to most drivers who know him.
"Nothing and nobody goes on forever," Gerald told us. "I’ve
been on Dial-a-Cab for 38 years with 14 of them as
Call Sign Editor. I’m 67 and still feel fit, so I
believe that now is the time to hang up my licence
and start to do some of the things I’ve always
wanted to but just never had the time because I had
to go to work. Even better is not having to get up
at an unearthly hour most days! Yesterday I went
into my garden shed and spent several wonderful
hours doing some sculpturing – something I used to
love but just stopped having the time for."
With several grandchildren and a new granddaughter from his son
in Boston, USA, Jery and wife Barbara are confident
that he’ll have no trouble filling up his time.
In January 1984, Jery took over from Phil Emden as the Editor of
Call Sign and decided very early on that he wanted
to recapture some of the earlier bite that a
previous editor, Joe Toff had put into the magazine.
He wanted to turn it into a more serious read than
Phil’s mag – which was usually written in a
light-hearted way.
And indeed, there was certainly |
Jery - more time for
sculpturing and playing with his grandchildren
much in Jery’s first issue that
Phil’s Call Sign probably wouldn’t have published in
the way of criticism of the Board. In his early
Editorials, Jery made it clear that he also wanted
to bring both sides much closer together, so that
stand-up arguments between the Board and subscribers
could become sensible discussions.
Jery’s Call Sign quickly gained in popularity and he added two new
columns – Steve Shaller’s "Spanner in the Works"
where Steve told drivers how to fix minor cab
repairs and the rather infamous Big Al – who stayed
until 1997 insulting anyone he could think of!
In 1997, Jery declined an offer to restand as Ed and decided to
concentrate on driving his cab. Now, in 2004, Jery
has gone the whole hog and retired from working. We
can but wish him a happy retirement. Fortunately for
Call Sign, Jery – still the trade’s finest
cartoonist – hasn’t retired from drawing for this
mag! |
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