Do Coeliacs Like Ocado?
I have been doing most of my food and grocery shopping with Ocado for a few months now!
My first shop was on the 16th of August this year and I have now done a total of fourteen shops.
What is interesting, is that all substitutions made by Ocado has involved products that are gluten-free.
So do coelics and those on a gluten-free diet use Ocado a lot?
That would explain why gluten-free products run out more often. This also applies to products that don’t have a gluten-free label, but are known to be gluten-free from the ingredients.
Drinking And Me
Today, I got up at five and was able to drink my morning cup of tea very quickly.
In fact, I’ve been drinking cups of tea all day at a fast speed.
I’ve also drunk two bottles of Adnams 2.5 % alcohol Ghost Ship beer at a fast pace.
But on other days, I pour a lot away, as I just can’t force it down.
Is it the weather, as it is rather unusual today?
The Americans Who Think RFK Can Make Them Healthy Again
The title of this post, is the same as that as this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
They are poor, sick, jobless and trust no one. But people in one of the most deprived parts of the US are putting their faith in a man who doesn’t believe in vaccines
These three paragraphs introduce the article.
The phone signal vanishes as you drive over the ridge into the purple valley and down to the town of Paw Paw, West Virginia, population 410.
Being born here deals a person a certain hand. A life six years shorter on average than those from California. A likelihood that you’ll be poor and suffer from disease (one in three adults here have a disability).
A high chance of addiction from the opioid epidemic that was brought here by rapacious pharmaceutical companies that has left the valley peppered with children brought up by grandparents.
It is a powerful piece from Louise Callaghan.
These are my thoughts.
As a coeliac myself, I do wonder if there is an epidemic of coeliac disease in Paw Paw.
Coeliac disease is genetic, so once it gets in a close community, it can spread through marriage and childbirth.
My coeliac disease came from my father, who was never diagnosed, but he got it through the generations from his great-great-grandfather, who was a tailor from Konigsberg in East Prussia.
If a coeliac is going to a country, where gluten-free foods are unavailable, they are advised by doctors to take steroids like Dexamethasone. American doctors regularly prescribe this steroid to coeliac patients, as it does work to a certain extent.
Everybody in Paw Paw should be tested for coeliac disease and those with the disease should go on a gluten-free diet.
But I suspect a plan like this wouldn’t go down well in Paw Paw.
‘No Constraints’ On Clapham Junction Tube Extension
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
There are no physical restrictions to extending the Northern line to Clapham Junction, an investigation has found.
These are the first three introductory paragraphs.
In a new report, Wandsworth council said there were “no engineering or geological constraints” that would prevent an extension.
The council is now carrying out a public consultation to see whether there is strong local support for the extension.
Clapham Junction, one of London’s busiest stations, is home to the Overground and National Rail services.
The Current State According To Wikipedia
This Wikipedia section, says this about the current state of the extension to Clapham Junction station.
Provision has been made for a future extension of the Northern line to Clapham Junction station, with a reserved course underneath Battersea Park. During the public inquiry into the extension in 2014, the inspector noted that although an extension to Clapham Junction would be desirable, it was unnecessary to meet the needs of the Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea regeneration area. Additionally, it was noted that an extension to Clapham Junction could overwhelm the extension, due to the high demand.
As part of consultations into Crossrail 2 in 2014, the developer of the Battersea Power Station site suggested that Battersea could be the location of a station instead of at King’s Road Chelsea. This would provide a link between the area and Clapham Junction station. Despite the proposal for the future Crossrail 2 project to serve the station, local residents and politicians have continued to request a future extension of the Northern line to Clapham Junction. In March 2023, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan stated that the “case for an extension is not readily apparent, given Clapham Junction’s existing high levels of connectivity”.
This map from OpenRailwayMap shows the railways that lie between Battersea Power Station and Clapham Junction stations going via Battersea Park.
Note.
- Battersea Power Station station is in the North-East corner of the map.
- Clapham Junction station is in the South-West corner of the map.
- The rounded D-shape by the river is the Children’s Zoo in Battersea Park.
Going via Battersea Park is a rather roundabout and long route.
High Speed One and High Speed Two tunnels have and are being bored under existing railways.
This map from OpenRailwayMap shows the railways that lie between Battersea Power Station and Clapham Junction stations.
Note.
- Battersea Power Station station is in the North-East corner of the map.
- Clapham Junction station is in the South-West corner of the map.
- The main line between Waterloo and Clapham Junction stations runs diagonally across the map.
- Branching North from this line is the line between Victoria and Clapham Junction stations.
Could an Underground sized railway be bored between Battersea Power Station and Clapham Junction stations?
This map from OpenRailwayMap shows the railways around Battersea Power Station station.
Note.
- Battersea Power Station station is in the North-East corner of the map.
- The orange line going North-South is the line between Victoria and Clapham Junction stations.
I suspect if they used the Irish Tunnelling Method or hand digging, as was used recently at Bank, twin tunnels could be dug from Battersea Power Station station to deep under the Waterloo and Clapham Junction line.
This map from OpenRailwayMap shows the railways around Clapham Junction station.
Note.
- Clapham Junction station is in the South-West corner of the map.
- Two deep underground platforms for the Northern Line would be built to the North-East of Clapham Junction station.
- Escalators and lifts would transfer passengers to and from the existing platforms.
- I suspect the Victorian infrastructure is fairly simple and elegant escalators can be threaded through, as they have been at London Bridge station.
I believe that a modern spectacular interchange can be built at Clapham Junction station to connect the National Rail lines with the Northern Line extension at Battersea Power Station station.
Large Scale Hydrogen Storage Sites Could Reduce Customer Energy Costs By £1bn Per Year
The title of this post, is the same as this press release from Centrica.
These four paragraphs summarise the report.
Centrica and FTI report finds that hydrogen storage would help balance the UK’s energy system and reduce bills.
A net zero scenario including large scale hydrogen storage – specifically, a redeveloped Rough gas storage facility – would reduce energy costs by an additional £1bn per year by 2050.
Report also finds that a UK energy system focused on renewable generation risks high levels of intermittency without an established hydrogen market. By 2050, electricity generation from renewables could exceed total demand around 15% of the time.
Electricity generation from renewables could also rise or fall by as much as 100GW over the course of a single day. More than twice current levels of peak demand on winter evenings and the equivalent energy output from over 30 Hinkley Point C nuclear power stations.
Note.
- Hydrogen Central entitles their article about the Centrica press release Centrica Says Hydrogen Can Reduce Household Bills by £35 a Year. That’s almost a bottle of my favourite Adnams beer a week!
- I talked about the redevelopment of the Rough facility into hydrogen storage in Aberdeen’s Exceed Secures Centrica Rough Contract.
- Generating hydrogen from excess electricity and storing it until it is needed, must be an efficient way of storing electricity or powering industrial processes that need a lot of energy, if storing hydrogen makes £1bn per year!
- It should be noted that Centrica have a large interest in HiiROC, who are developing an efficient way to generate hydrogen from any hydrocarbon gas from chemical plant off-gas through biomethane to natural gas. In a perfect world a HiiROC system in a sewage works could capture the biomethane and split it into hydrogen and carbon black. The hydrogen could be used to refuel vehicles and the carbon black would be taken away to someone, who has need of it.
In some ways, it is surely sensible to have enough energy in a store, if the renewables fail. As Rough is already there and functioning, it is surely one of the easiest routes to redevelop Rough, so that it is in top-quality condition.
It should also be noted, that Rough is not far from the Aldbrough Gas Storage, which SSE are converting to a second massive hydrogen store.
So Humberside will have two of the largest hydrogen stores in the world, which Centrica and SSE will use to maxise energy security in the wider Humberside and East Yorkshire area, and I suspect to maximise their profits as well.
This video shows the structure of AquaVentus, which is a pipeline system, that the Germans are building to bring much-needed hydrogen to German industry from electrolysers in the North Sea and other countries like Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and the UK.
I clipped this map from the video.
Note how a branch of AquaVentus makes landfall around the Humber estuary at a UK label.
Will Centrica and SSE be trading hydrogen from Rough and Aldbrough with the Germans through AquaVentus? You bet they will, as the Germans are short of both hydrogen and hydrogen storage.
The Anonymous Widower 