The Sunday Night Chaos at London Bridge
I’ve come back from London Bridge several times lately. Usually, I just catch a 141 bus from the station forecourt direct to close to my house.
But on Sunday night, it’s all different and the bus station on the forecourt is closed, so I have to walk across London Bridge to get the bus from a temporary stop on the other side of the bridge.
It is not a pleasant walk. But I’ve not had any serious problems.
Next time though, I’ll take the Northern Line a few stops towards home and then get a bus from Bank, Moorgate or Old Street.
It’s a pity that weekend connections are not good at New Cross for the East London Line to get me to Dalston Junction.
Why SMEs Don’t Get a Look In
David Cameron is reported as saying that he will open up more contracts to small and medium sized companies.
But it won’t happen, as these sort of contracts don’t fit bureaucrats thought processes.
As an example, a government agency found that my software Daisy would be ideal for an application. The cost would be a couple of thousand pounds for a special system. But as they were dealing with contracts in millions, they couldn’t find a way to buy the software or pay me for the consultancy. In the end I walked away from it. I suspect that in the end they did nothing or spent several millions with one of the major consultancy firms to do a job that was worth five grand at most.
As a contrary example, a division of a major British company found that Daisy was useful to their researchers. So they put it on their approved software list and allowed those who wanted it to buy it with credit cards and then bill it on expenses. I sold many copies that way, just because the accounts department at this company wanted their people to get the work done.
And then there is the question of bribes. Not actual suitcases of the folding stuff, but big companies can afford to have things like days at sporting events and ask the purchasers along. Small and medium sized companies can’t afford that and anyway they have more important things to do, like keeping their business solvent.
Getting Musks Sausages in London
I like my sausages and they have to be gluten-free. But finding my preferred brand of Musks in London is difficult. It used to be that you could buy them in some Waitrose shops and I definitely saw some in Canary Wharf. But after a trip on Friday especially to the shop, they were no longer there.
I could get them mail order, but really I only like to buy a pack occasionally and don’t want to buy a freezer full.
So does anybody know a shop that sells Musks gluten-free sausages in London.
I can get Black Farmer ones in Sainsburys at Upper Street, but although I like them, I prefer the Musks, as they are not so filling.
Update on the 10th March 2011 – I’ve found some in the Brunswick Branch. The only trouble is that that is an expensive Waitrose to visit, as I can’t resist buying a snack or even lunch in the Carluccio’s there.
The Fake Euro Taxi Scam
Someone tried this on me last night.
A guy rang my bell about 10 last night. When he rang a second time, I opened the wiondow from upstairs and shouted down to him.
He said he’d just returned from France and had come to see my neighbour, who incidentally I’ve only met once and can’t remember his name. I’ve only met him the one time as he’s rarely there. My visitor said he’d only got euros for the taxi and could I change some. As there has been e-mails going round about people doing this and then leaving you with a batch of fake euros, I told him to go and try someone else. He seemed a well-turned out white guy of about twenty, and didn’t have fraudster tattooed across his forehead. But then if you want to con someone, the first thing you do is make it look feasible.
I did report the incident to the local police. It was a pity I didn’t photograph him though!
The joke was that if he had been genuine, I wouldn’t have been able to change his euros, as I only had a fiver in the house.
The Anonymous Widower 