bigbluemeanie

Navigation

Home | Links |

About This Site

About | Bluemeanie | Scarlett
A personal weblog with photographs and comments. Quiet ramblings, quite rambling...

• Never trust a computer you can't throw out a window - Steve Wozniak

Members

Login | Register | Why?

Most recent entries

• Artificially green
• Watching the traffic
• London Mayor
• Wet and muddy
• Looking Greenwich up and down
• On my bike
• Making Hay
• The previous cycle route
• Back to Woldingham Viewpoint
• The nasty way to travel
• Heaven and hell
• Berlin cycle lanes
• Kurbelstange (deformiert)
• Ebbsfleet International Railway Platform
• Police incident in Tandridge

Recent entries with comments

• London Mayor - (1)
  
• Looking Greenwich up and down - (2)
  
• Police incident in Tandridge - (2)
  
• British War Criminals - (2)
  
• Checkpoint Charlie - (3)
  
• Oxted from the “Woldingham Viewpoint” - (5)
  
• A figure of defiance - (1)
  
• What really happened in Croydon? - (3)
  
• Bike hire in Berlin - (1)
  
• Brandenberg Gate - (1)
  
• Three Way Chess - (1)
  
• Gamelan instruments - (2)
  
• Oh no! John! - (2)
  
• “Bells and Smells” Mass - (1)
  
• Turn cash into less cash - (6)
  

Feeds

• RSS 1.0
• RSS 2.0
• Atom

Categories

• Europe
  • Czech Republic
  • England
  • France
  • Germany
  • Ireland
  • Luxembourg
  • Netherlands
  • Scotland
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Wales
• Asia Pac
  • Australia
  • Indonesia
  • Japan
  • Middle East
• Americas
  • Cuba
• Africa
  • South Africa
  • Swaziland

Monthly Archives

• August 2008
• July 2008
• June 2008
• May 2008
• April 2008
• March 2008
• February 2008
• January 2008
• December 2007
• November 2007
• October 2007
• September 2007
• August 2007
• July 2007
• June 2007
• May 2007
• April 2007
• March 2007
• February 2007
• January 2007
• December 2006
• November 2006
• October 2006
• September 2006
• August 2006
• July 2006
• June 2006
• May 2006
• April 2006
• March 2006
• February 2006
• January 2006
• December 2005
• November 2005
• October 2005
• September 2005
• August 2005
• July 2005
• June 2005
• May 2005
• April 2005
• March 2005
• February 2005
• January 2005
• December 2004
• November 2004
• October 2004
• September 2004
• August 2004
• July 2004
• June 2004
• May 2004
• April 2004
• March 2004
• February 2004
• January 2004
• December 2003
• November 2003
• October 2003

Links

• Full linklist
• Bluemeanie.org
• Scarlett's weblog
• GeoURL
• Blogflux
• LS Blogs
• Blogwise
• Wikablog
• Technorati
• Blogarama
• Oxted Frappr
• Bloggernity.com
• The Blog Directory
• 
  
• 
• 
• 
• The Green Providers Directory

Lately listening to

Site Statistics

• This website has been viewed 365526 times
• Page rendered in 0.8283 seconds
• 43 queries executed

Site Credits

• Powered by: ExpressionEngine
• Based on a design by:
  BlogMoxie
• 
  The original content of this blog is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.

I am currently spending a lot of time driving up and down the M25 every day. Some days, like today, there is gridlock. The truck on the right in the photo above has a notice on the back warning that it contains radioactive materials. One wonders what company would transport hazardous radioactive materials on one of the busiest motorways in the world during rush-hour. I took the photo this afternoon which appears to have been some kind of breakdown day: I counted about seven or eight accidents or breakdowns along my stretch of the M25.

The company that does this is Circle Express:

With global logistics integrators increasingly becoming one-stop-shops for their customers, Circle Express is meeting this need by increasing the number of services it offers. For example, it has established a separate division, Connection Couriers, for the movement of ‘same day’ time sensitive consignments and incorporating radioactive, highly hazardous material and firearms. “It’s specialist, immediate-response work – apart from the distribution side of the business – which is generally overnight. It’s a growing area for us,” said Coffey. “Most of our depots already have a dedicated Connection Courier department and we’ll be extending that service to all of them over the next year. Again, it will benefit from the IT enhancements – in-cab data system, traceability, real-time information and so on.”

They don’t state what the consequences might be if one of their trucks is involved in an accident and some of the radioactive or hazardous materials is released.

Then again, according to GreenPeace,

Every week trains carrying highly radioactive nuclear waste travel on Britain’s outdated public rail network, often during peak hours.

If one of these trains was targetted by terrorists and caught fire while in a tunnel, the radioactive release could spread for over 50 kilometres, spreading cancer-causing radiation in its wake. In a city like London, 350,000 people might have to take shelter or be evacutated and over 8,000 people could die of cancer in the long term.

Yet this deadly cargo routinely passes through more than 20 major cities and towns including Edinburgh, Bristol and London.

Tony Blair wants to build 10 new nuclear reactors, quadrupling the amount of highly radioactive waste already produced - all of which could be transported around the UK. But there is a cleaner, safer and cheaper alternative to nuclear power: decentralised energy.

It takes over 1 million years for the most highly radioactive nuclear waste to become safe, but it only takes one man to make a dangerous decision.  Take action now.

This is a photograph of a poster hanging in my client’s offices. It reminds me of the old joke: “It’s not true that only men can’t multitask. They read the newspaper and go to the toilet at the same time”.  I had a busy evening. After work I drove back from Uxbridge to fetch bluemeanie at a singing lesson in Reigate. We made a quick supper then drove to Heathrow to fetch Sharon, and drop her off in Limpsfield. She’s going to be here for 2 weeks, although she will be delivering a paper at a conference in France so will be travelling for a couple of days.

I snapped this on Saturday coming into London Bridge Station from the tube, on the way home from Lynette and Alan’s farewell party.  That’s Brenda and David waving at me.

I have started loading my photos into flickr again. 

This evening after work we went across the road for drinks at the Swan and Bottle and then on to La Rucola Italian restaurant for a meal. This was to mark the departure of Alan, who I am replacing.

Later tonight while driving home I noticed that there were roadworks taking place at regular intervals along the M25. This was not advertised on the radio traffic reports, and when I got home I noticed it was not reported on the various websites that provide information about live traffic conditions either. Fortunately I had given a colleague a lift home and cut through South West London, so I probably avoided the worst of it.

This is Bar Goosh in Uxbridge at lunchtime today. I have copied the notice from the bottom right of the photo into the bottom left. It reads:

This is a football free zone.
- No football colours
- No children over 21’s
Thankyou

I didn’t know you could get any - children over 21 that is.

Today Fink broke the news with some photographs about the fire in Kings Cross:
here,
here,
here, and
here.
Kings Cross station itself was closed most of the day and may not open tomorrow morning.

On Saturday was bluemeanie’s schools Founders’ Day cum prize-giving so we spent several hours there watching demonstrations, and listening to speeches and singing hymns (the prize-giving takes the form of an inter-faith service). Thereafter, bluemeanie and I dashed into London to see Lynette and Alan left for Australia today. We spent several hours with friends and family at The Ship and Whale in Rotherhithe. The Argentina/Mexico match, dubbed the best so far in this World Cup, was on (several) screens around the pub so we managed to catch some of the highlights.

Today I did some gardening and then watched the fooball.  My knowlege of football is not so great, which is why I have been finding the Guardian Unlimited World Cup Podcast very useful, especially for behind the scenes information. They generally have a good panel discussion and are in touch ("via the miracle that is the telephone") with reporters not only in Germany but as far afield as Sydney and Brazil.

I also played around with a tool called The iTunes Signature Maker. Listen to my 20 second iTunes signature here (Warning: large file!) I notice my mobile phone tune pops up as one of my “most played” tracks. How sad.

I didn’t take this photograph of a poster that the Football Association sent to a Westminster office on 22 June. What he highlights as fantastically inappropriate, I ripped off from Recess Monkey, political blogger of Westminster. As we Meanies use measured language, I am dropping the “fantastical”. 

At the picnic in Regents Park on Sunday (mentioned here) this large group of people came and set up (on a tarpaulin) nearby. They all wore dayglo orange crosses around their neck and some had black tee-shirts with dayglow crosses on front. For that reason, and the fact that they looked like hippies, I dubbed them the Hari-Christians. Unfortunately you can’t make out the distinctive garb in this photograph.  Anyway, who knows what that was about.

I’m doing quite a bit of driving this week (about 2 hours a day) so am getting used to spotting these England flags lying on the motorway, on the hard shoulder, and (like the World Cup hopes of many countries) down the drain. They have always struck me as a bit tacky and flimsy. Tom Wilson posted an old joke about England flags recently, and we learned how these things could cost a motorist an extra one pound an hour in driving costs, and how they scare horses in Hampshire.

Welcome back to Scarlett who returns from a hiatus.

Today, 21 June, is the Summer Solstice. Aurelie left today, and will fly out from Paris tonight and arrive in La Reunion tomorrow morning. She will leave on the shortest night and arrive (in the Southern Hemisphere) on the shortest day. When I told her this she replied that “there is not much difference between Summer and Winter on La Reunion”. The circumstances still reminded me that six months ago The Meanies made such a journey.

The above photograph shows an interesting sign, at the supermarket in Oxted. It is adjascent to another sign which reads:

By Law we are not allowed to:
- Sell tobacco and alcohol products to persons under the age of 16.
- Sell beers, wines and spirits, to persons under the age of 18.
- Sell butane products, or products which contain butane, to persons under the age of 18.
- Sell lighter fluid (petrol based) to persons under the age of 18, should the operator have cause to believe the substance may be abused.
- Sell National Lottery and Instant tickets to persons under the age of 16.
- Sell video tapes (Cert 18) to persons under the age of 18.
- Sell video tapes (Cert 15) to persons under the age of 15.
- Sell video tapes (Cert 12) to persons under the age of 12.

I think the above wording could be more clearly and concisely written. Some of the information is confusing: tobacco and alcohol products can be bought at the age of 16, but not beers, wines and spirits, which can only be bought from the age of 18. One assumes it is supposed to complement the “under 21” sign, but there is confusion over ages: it does not spell out why they ask for ID from 20 year olds, who are buying products they can legally buy at 16 or 18. Another strange thing about the sign is the reference to “the law”: presumably this is to add weight to the injunctions, but it also gives the impression that the supermarket is only doing this under duress, not because it is the right thing to do.  The sign has certain omissions: for example it does not mention the situation with regards to knives (where there are also legal constraints). 

The full text of the sign in the photograph is:

Under 21
If you look under 21 please do not be offended if we ask you for proof of age when you buy alcohol.
Acceptable forms of ID:
- Cards bearing the PASS hologram.
- Photographic driving licence.
- Passport.

Again there is a strange subtext to this message: If you look like you might be over 21 then is it acceptable if you are offended if you are asked to produce ID when buying a Certificate 18 video, or a bottle of schnapps? My overall impression of these signs is that they are there as decorations, and to show compliance with the law (rather than corporate social responsibility).

This is a photo of Shylock in a recent production of The Merchant of Venice at bluemeanie’s school.  Shylock was portrayed by these two actresses, clutching a single handbag. The play was set in Germany at the start of the Second World War.

Kipperfrog breaks the good news!

There will be a demonstration tomorrow, 20 June 2006 at 3:30 PM, at the site of the proposed development in Chichele Road, Oxted (pictured above). Unfortunately I will be at work, but hopefully someone will be able to take photographs and send them to me. More importantly the press will be there to ensure good publicity. (Hat tip: revoxted in a comment in this post).

I have just submitted my comments against the proposed development. I think that it is important to object to all three of:

• the access road development;
• the borehole headworks (and associated constructions); and
• the borehole itself.

If the Tandridge District Council is not prepared to reject a development in this area, then how exactly does it propose to discharge its responsibility to “secure nature conservation interest”, to “retain attractive landscapes and enhance landscapes, near to where people live” and to “retain land in agricultural, forestry and related uses” (as per national Planning Policy Guidance Note #2).

Due to overexploitation of our natural resources, human beings have affected our climate and are entering a drier period with water shortages in this part of the world. It would be irresponsible of the Council to approve any aspect of this development without considering the long-term sustainability of the proposed exploitation of the water below our town by the Sutton and East Surrey Water Company, and what impact this exploitation will have on us. Already there is anecdotal evidence of a lowered water table, and subsidence on properties near to the proposed development.

In addition the Council has not advertised this development widely enough in the community. Due to the “secrecy” surrounding the proposed development, the Council need to restore a proper democratic process and redress the imbalance whereby many residents only found out about the proposed development at a late stage. If the Council does not feel it can reject the application completely at this stage, then it should postpone the decision to allow for a full open and public discussion on the issue. Afterall, this is not a conservatory extension that has been proposed ...

Today Scarlett, Aurelie and I went to a picnic in Regents Park in London with my cousins to say farewell to cousin Ruth who left the UK this evening to take up a position at the Constitutional Court in South Africa.  My (video) camera was “stolen” and I nearly had a heart-attack - then realised it was a practical joke. Unfortunately Scarlett had a singing lesson scheduled, so we left early (at something to four in the afternoon).

I noticed earlier that the Tandridge District Council Interactive (sic) website came back up today, and the details of the contraversial planning application can now be viewed here.  I have started writing my objection, which I will email to the Council by the deadline. 

Go and see too what kipperfrog has to say on this.

One thing other thing: The Tandridge District Council website is a veritable maze of text, which is not particularly easy to navigate. While it is well laid out, and reasonably comprehensive, you seem to have to “click” just too many times to get to the information you are looking for. This is both when “drilling down” to pages with greater detail, and when moving across “horizantally” (to related information). Judging by their published webstats they are pretty well used, so they shouldn’t be complacent. When I first went to the site today they asked me to participate in a user survey to evaluate their site. I closed the pop-up window. Afterwards I wished they had asked me for feedback once I had made some use of the site ... (Actually there is a link on their homepage to the survey, so I may just fill it in when I have some time!).

Thanks to revoxted for highlighting this issue in his comment on yesterday’s post.  Above is a photograph of the site of the proposed road development off Chichele Road, leading to a proposed borehole development.  Click on the picture above to go to the short video clip, or you can view it at Oxted.com.

The sign on the gate reads:

Gateway to
new road for new
borehole with future
planning permission
for new housing estate.
Don’t let them build a new
road to Barnett Shaw,
through here killing trees
and chasing away the wildlife
with diggers and concrete mixers.
You only have until Tuesday
(ie 20 June 2006)
to block it. Go on Tandridge Council
Website, Planning Application 2006/735.
Do it before it’s too late!!!
We know what the plan is
building access to prime
building land and draining it
ready for greedy developers.

Unfortunately I have been experiencing problems accessing the Tandridge District Council Planning Website, as it just seems to hang.  I also noted in yesterday’s post that I find some of the information on the Council website about Commenting on a Planning Application to be rather strange.  In particular it states

You can comment either in support or against any application on any planning grounds. There are no formal rules that need to be followed. As long as we receive your comments in writing within 21 days of the date of the neighbour notification letter we guarantee they will be considered as part of the planning application process.

The Council cannot advise you what comments to make on an application nor will they enter into correspondence about the application or about objections to an application.

However, the following matters are generally held not to be relevant in considering planning applications:

* effect on property values;
* aspects covered by other legislation;
* protection of a private view;
* the existence of covenants and other private legal restrictions;
* impact of construction noise;
* private neighbour disputes;
* financial gain/commercial interests;
* character or motives of the applicant.

I think that one should just argue that some of these should be taken into account in this particular case. The fact that we are in a green belt area which should afford a higher degree of protection to the environment, whether or not this is covered by other legislation, and the impact of construction (and other noise) are clearly important as the site is next door to a school! I also cannot see why the motives of the applicant (ie in potentially preparing a site for stealth-development) should not be raised, nor the fact that they have financial and commercial interests that are in conflict with the rest of the community.

I would like to comment more on this specific application, but I cannot access the planning application (number: 2006/735) from the Tandridge District Council Planning Interactive Website. I suppose that makes the website as interactive as the Council in this case!

This was the scene at Master Park in Oxted shortly after 8pm this evening when a police van pulled over a car with a number of young people in it. They spent some time questioning the driver and occupants, checking documents, the condition of the vehicle, etc. There has been a stronger police presence in Oxted since the incident at the Total garage. This may have more to do with the Surrey Police World Cup crackdown.

In other Oxted news, David Beckham and Sven Goren Eriksson paid a visit to a barber shop in Oxted.  According to one of the owners, they

really drummed up the crowd, Sven was working his magic with the women.