A Brass Band At Spitalfields
It’s good to have read music and this brass band were in Spitalfields.
It reminds me of the time a few years ago, when Ipswich played in Luxembourg and fans were playing musical chairs with a brass band in the main square. Hilarious!
The Spitalfields Snow Dome
Spitalfields have installed a snow dome for the season.
And it’s free to use.
Farage On Breastfeeding
Nigel Farage has been giving his views on breastfeeding, on his phone-in show on LBC. The BBC reports it in full and says this.
“This is just a matter of common sense isn’t it,” he added. “I know particularly people of the older generation feel awkward and embarrassed by it”
As a member of the older generation, I don’t feel awkward and embarrassed by breastfeeding.
But Mr. Farage and his outdated views certainly embarrass me!
Thoughts On Solar Energy
On my trip to Wales on Wednesday, I was surprised at the number of houses and buildings in the valleys that were sporting solar panels.
I was surprised because according to the general view of the Welsh weather, there doesn’t appear to be enough sun. Although to be fair, Wednesday was a day of clear skies and a warm sun.
The cynic in me, asks whether the Welsh government is giving out a big subsidy or there are a lot of aggressive and ultimately successful salesmen about. But as to the latter, the Welsh have never struck me as particularly gullible. They also have a reputation of being rather careful with their money.
So, I have to come to the conclusion that the economics of solar panels must be getting better.
Here, in Central London, you don’t see too many solar panels, although Blackfriars station is roofed with solar panels. Wikipedia says this.
In January 2014 the Blackfriars Railway Bridge became the world’s largest solar-powered bridge having been covered with 4,400 photovoltaic panels providing up to half of the energy for the station.
Blackfriars station is a station that it is a good place to put solar panels.
1. It is an all-electric railway with no polluting smoke from diesel engines, that might damage the panels.
2. The platforms are a long low horizontal building with quite a large roof area.
3. Because of its position on a bridge, Blackfriars station is probably not a prime candidate for building offices or housing on top of the station.
4. Stations are also designed for the long term and I doubt that any major work will be done at Blackfriars for several decades.
I think we’ll be seeing several other stations being given solar roofs if the economics are right. Not all stations have magnificent Victorian train sheds like Kings Cross, Liverpool Lime Street, Paddington and St. Pancras or are candidates for serious oversite development like Euston, Liverpool Street or Marylebone.
Even Sainsburys are getting into the solar game. With supermarkets and other sheds, the adding of solar panels can help to make the stores less dependent on the grid, but I doubt many will last as long as Blackfriars station without a complete rebuild.
It would seem to me that large commercial applications, will have one major effect. They will bring the prices down.
Coupled with technological improvement like this one, we could be entering a virtuous circle for solar energy, as the shorter the payback time, the more likely a company, organisation or individual will invest.
Solar energy as a local power source has a few advantages.
1. As it produces electricity that can be fed back into the grid and the control systems can be very sophisticated, it is a very efficient way of generating and distributing electricity.
2. The drive is on for electrical equipment like lights, washing machines and cookers to use less electricity, which means people are getting used to pay to save energy, thus making the decision to cut energy bills further by installing solar panels easier.
3. Battery technology is getting better and it won’t be long before the sight of small solar powered units which can power the office-in-a garden or other remote sites become very common.
4. There is nothing mechanical to go wrong, as there is with anything to do with the wind.
The only problem that at present seems to hinder the installation of solar panels on buildings, is the attitude of some councils. Getting a better attitude is partly due to better design and sighting, but a bit of government push would help.
Progress Is A Lot Of Small Steps
In Liverpool University’s Insight magazine, there is an article entitled A Surprising New Use For Tofu Ingredient. The details are here on the University’s web site, This is the first paragraph.
The chemical used to make tofu and bath salts could also replace a highly toxic and expensive substance used to make solar cells, a University study published in the journal Nature has revealed.
It appears that a researcher has found that you can replace expensive and highly toxic cadium chloride in solar cells with cheap and safe magnesium chloride.
Small developments like this make me think that the day when I fit solar panels to my flat roof a bit closer.
Zopa Goes With The Flow
This article on CrowdfundInsider talks of a tie-up between a boiler maker; Flow and a peer-to-peer lender; Zopa. This describes the link.
The Flow boiler will be launching in January 2015 and will be available to customers through a new finance package. This will provide a payback time of five years for the complete cost of the boiler. Customers may purchase the Flow boiler using a separate unsecured personal loan via Zopa, with repayments being off-set by reductions in your home energy bill from the value of the electricity generated.
I think we’ll see a lot of deals like this, where two new companies in different fields link up to make two and two add up to six.
This is disruptive innovation at its best.
The Problem With The Mansion Tax
I’ve just been watching Ed Balls on The Andrew Marr Show talking about the Mansion Tax.
I don’t know Andrew Marr’s personal circumstances, but I wonder how many of the commentators like him live in houses that are worth a couple of millions. The Sunday Times today is reporting that Jeremy Paxman is being paid a million for his memoirs. Will he put that into property?
So many of these heavyweight commentators will be passionately against a Mansion Tax.
Incidentally, my view on property taxes is based heavily on the fact we have a housing shortage and it is a serious moral offence to leave a house empty for more than a few days a year.
Common Sense On Energy From The Economist
This article in The Economist reviews the energy market and says that increasing competition is shaking up the energy market. It is very much a must read for everyone.
The article finishes with this point.
Indeed, Mr Miliband’s threat of draconian intervention already looks dated. If anything, argues Mr Reid, the Labour Party leader might have forced prices to remain higher for longer than they might otherwise have been. Companies have been reluctant to reduce prices too much, he says, for fear that they might not be able to raise them again after the election.
It probably illustrates that dealing with the big energy companies is not simple or something for an amateur.
Reflections On Rochester
Rochester and the walk I took, shows a bit of a patchy nature. The eastern end is a bit scruffy and it looked like it wasn’t my sort of High Street. But get past the excellent Visitor Centre and towards the free-to-enter cathedral and it all improves. And then across the bridge in Strood, it all gets scruffy again.
The big change to the area will come when the new station at Rochester opens in 2015 and refurbishment work at Strood station finishes. Judging by the early stage of the building at Rochester station, I do wonder if they’ll meet their target. I do wonder though, if this will make any difference to those in the area, who voted for Ukip in the recent by-election, as I suspect the average Ukip voter probably doesn’t put trains at the top of their priorities!
Rochester together with Chatham is also an easy day out from London, especially if you use the High Speed service. I do wonder if visitor numbers would be improved if Off Peak tickets from London on the High Speed service were more affordable. (At present an Off Peak Return on High Speed is £20.80 and by normal trains it’s £12.65!) My train out was virtually empty, so reducing fares for non-existent passengers wouldn’t cost much!
So Rochester has probably got a lot of things going for it, but whether the negative connotations of the kippers will put off visitors, can only be judged in a few years time.
A Solution To The Tea Bag Problem
In Rochester High Street, I had a very nice cup of tea in a cafe called Dot Cafe. What a good name for a cafe with good internet and wi-fi.
As you can see milk was served alongside in a small wider jug, which was an ideal place to put the teabag. The lady in charge said that was what you did!
A simple idea that solves a messy problem! Perhaps you could put some words on the jug like “Milk – After The Teabag”
The Anonymous Widower 