The Anonymous Widower

Britain Goes Nuclear

With the delaying and possible demise of the Severn Barrage, it would appear that we are going to bet on nuclear for our energy for the next few decades.

I don’t particularly mind, as I believe that nuclear is totally safe and of course carbon-free if it is properly designed, built and managed. THe only question is will the opponents of nuclear power stop the stations being built.  Or if they don’t stop them from being built, will it be the decision that gets the coalition turned out at the next election? The public always feel that anything nuclear is dangerous.  That is why you have an MRI Scan at the hospital, rather than an NMRI one. The N refers to the nuclear resonance of the molecules in your body to the magnetic fields imposed on them.

I still think that the Severn Barrage will be built but it will be very different to any scheme so far proposed. Except possibly the one by Sir Frederick Snow.

It will of course have a high and a low lake split by a central spine, so that reversible turbines can either generate electricity as water flows downhill or store energy by pumping water from the low to the high lake.  The trick that makes wind energy viable is being able to store the excess and pumping water uphill is the easiest way to do it.

Whether the spine will have an airport is a more difficult question to answer.  I think it will, and as the need to airports decreases through this century, if the fast rail (Note not high-speed!) was there, then it could replace airports at Cardiff, Bristol, Birmingham and to a certain extent, Heathrow.

As I reread my reflections on my trip to Scotland, then this could be an alternative south-western terminal of the West Coast Line. After all, the airport would be within two hours of most of London and Birmingham.

All this says is that we need to think boldly! In fact, we need to think very boldly!

We tend to base our planning on what we do today, not what we will be doing in thirty years time.

I’m just about to watch football on the television.  In 2040, will I be watching any match I want to in some form of immersion 3D system? And will I use the same technology to have business meetings with colleagues and clients?

October 18, 2010 Posted by | News, Transport/Travel | , , , , | 3 Comments

Blast! I Just Broke a Glass

I like to document all my clumsiness, so that I try harder! I was looking for something to drink and found a bottle of Green’s Premium Golden Ale.  it’s not my favourite, but I try to like it.  Perhaps these thoughts made my hand slip with the opener and the bottle fell over on the tumbler and broke it!

I must be more careful, next time!

October 18, 2010 Posted by | Food, Health | , , | Leave a comment

Where Have All the Hitch-Hikers Gone?

A letter in The TImes today asks this question and even ponders where drivers carrying trade plates have gone.

When I drove, I always gave people lifts and so did C.

In fact we were of an age, where many more people hitched than have ever since.  In one case, C and I actually htched to London from Liverpool to tell her parents, that we were going to get married. Little thanks we got for being up-front and honest, as I was accussed if getting her pregnant.  Not that she was as we just got married in time before she was!  Or else it was a very long pregnancy!

But I used to enjoy hitching and I must admit, I’ve thought about it lately, as public transport is so bad round here.  But then public transport was always bad in East Anglia and I can remember that you had to have a car as as eighteen-year-old as there were no buses or trains from Felixstowe to anywhere interesting.  I suppose there were ones that got you there, but the last bus into the town was about seven in the evening.

But even in those days of the 1960s, hitching was not very productive in East Anglia and I can remember spending a whole day getting from the M1 to Felixstowe.  Or on another occassion, when C was a mother’s help in the summer before we married in Norfolk with the Wright family, having to hitch or almost walk back to Felixstowe from Hingham.

But these days, there is usually some form of transport, so people don’t give lifts as they feel you must be some sort of low life to hitch.  And because no one gives lifts, no-one tries!

October 18, 2010 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , | Leave a comment

Expensive Council Number Plates

The BBC is running an item this morning about how councils have very expensive number plates on official cars.

Apparently, Essex has already sold F1 for £375,000, but it may now be worth up to £5,000,000, so it would appear they may have been short changed.

Northampton would appear to have the most valuable one and that is NH1, which could be worth £400,000.  But as they say, once sold you can’t cash in next year.

On the other hand, one person’s asset could satisfy another’s ego. So would it not be possible to lease the number plate for an appropriate amount of money?

Now, whilst we’re talking about number plates, could the lease apply to other council assets?

  1. How many expensive works of art are languishing in public hands, that people would pay to hire for a year, months or even a day?
  2. Councils have some desirable houses in valuable positions, that might be better rented than sold.
  3. Councils have some of the best car parking in the centre of towns.  It should all be rented to those who can afford to pay!
  4. The list probably goes on!

Returning to number plates, I always remember that when I lived in the Barbican BP had the plate BPO 1L on a corporate limousine.  Later I saw it on a transit mini-bus in the company’s colours.  Do they still own it? It probably wouldn’t be a good idea after the Gulf Oil Spill.

October 18, 2010 Posted by | News, World | , , | 3 Comments