Magnetic Electricity
When I was studying Electrical Engineering at Liverpool University in the 1960s, one of the prize pieces of equipment was a laser. They had been invented only a few years before and the one in the University had cost several thousand pounds. Ideas were being researched for their use in commercial applications.
Now, we all own lots of lasers. Every CD player and computer has at least one and their cost is only a few pence. You see them in bar-code scanners at the supermarket and in many myriad applications from the mundane to the deadly.
So what will be the technology that now is just a scientific curiosity, but in forty years will be as commonplace as the laser is now?
Here’s one! Magnetic electricity.
Will it be the next great scientific advance? Who knows?
Where NOT to Park Your Car
Moneysupermarket has just published a list of the car crime hot-spots.
East London seems to be amongst the worst, with five in the top twenty. It’s probably because they are close to the M11 and M25 to give a good getaway. And then there are city centres in Manchester, Bradford and Leeds.
But also Wells-next-the-Sea, a charming seaside town in Norfolk features.
Who’s have thought the North Norfolk coast would have such a problem?
Stansted Car Parking
When returning from the wedding at the weekend, I brought a guest who had been taken unwell in Holland. The problem was that her car was safe in the long-term car park at Stansted Airport.
So how do you extract a car from the parking, without going into the terminal?
It actually doesn’t show on their web site, but it couldn’t have been any easier. I asked in Customer Services and they said that I should just collect a ticket from the barrier, drive in and then park by my companion’s car. I then had about forty minutes to get out.
What a sensible and user-friendly system!
The Anonymous Widower 