How To Show Off Technology
On the dockside they were showing off an old electric crane.
Electric Crane on Bristol Docks
Note the scissor lift at the right to give access to visitors.
And here’s a steam one too!
Steam Crane on Bristol Docks
I suppose some might think the smoke was a bit excessive.
Where are London’s working cranes?
An Imaginatively Named Restaurant
This picture sums up the centre of Plymouth
The Roundabout, Plymouth
And guess where it is!
Tearing Newspapers
I like to take bits out of the paper to bring home, so I can read them later and perhaps comment on them.
But newspapers now seem to be made from such poor quality paper you can’t seem to tear them cleanly.
A butler certainly wouldn’t be able to iron and fold The Times, so that Lord Muck could get the Court and Social page on the front, just as the paper used to be laid out.
Is a Sattelite Dish a Human Right?
According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission it is. Read about it here.
In my view satellite dishes are ugly and should be banned. Especially, as there are so many other ways to get the service through broadband.
I have a feeling that in ten years time, we will rarely see a satellite dish. Especially in towns, where so many new methods to deliver signals will be developed. I also think, that hidden aerials that are flat and flush with walls will be developed, if for no other reason than they can be quickly and easily involved.
Human Echolocation
We all know that bats use this, but surely humans can’t! Oh yes they can, if you believe what Wikipedia says here.
I was alerted to this story by yesterday’s Times Magazine, where they had an article about Daniel Kish. Perhaps he read Dark Universe by Daniel F. Galouey. In my view it’s one of the best science fiction novels ever written. And it’s still in print! I have a copy on my bookshelf and like all good science fiction, it has a yellow cover.
The trouble with people is that they use the creative part of their brains for all the wrong purposes rather than to improve themselves or the lives of others.
Disposable Nappies
From a scientifically green point of view, in many places I’m against using disposable nappies, as they clog sewers, end up in landfill and I’ve even seen them in litter bins in parks. We used real nappies for all our three children in the seventies, washing them ourselves in a machine for the first and then using a nappy service for the last two. Here‘s Islington Council on real nappies.
As an aside to this post, I’ve been over a prison, where they had an extensive site-recycling project. It was the training scheme that prisoners wanted to work on most, as they found it satisfying and felt that it might get them a job on the outside.
So is washing real nappies and other similar schemes, the sort of work for prisoners or those on community service?
Returning to real nappies, there is also a London-wide organisation supporting them.
If you think, what right has a man to comment on nappies. Then remember that probably a third or so of the nappies changed on our three children, were changed by me! Not sure if I could still do it and wouldn’t want the responsibility!
C and I tried hard to get our son and daughter-in-law to use them on our granddaughter. Sadly we failed, despite offering to pay for the nappy service!
Another Use For A Clothes Dryer
I have needed a clothes dryer since I’ve moved in and now that my washing machine decided to go wonky on Tuesday, I needed one urgently. Especially, as I had a load full of wet towels.
So I walked to the nearest shop and bought one, carrying it home in the rain.
A Tightly Packed Addis Clothes Dryer
As you can see it is tightly wrapped in plastic, something I normally don’t like, as I have difficulty unwrapping it.
But it did make an excellent defence against the rain as I carried it home flat on head.
My only regret was that no-one was there to take a photograph, as I crossed the zebra crossing in the pouring rain.
Sadly the clothes dryer collapsed and broke with just two towels on it. So it had a short life and a happy one.
Flooding in East Yorkshire
I’ve just been watching the flash floods in East Yorkshire and there is more here on the BBC web site.
It looked like a modern housing estate was flooded. Was it built on a flood plain as many are? If so surely, the stupid council, who gave planning permission, should pay for the damage. And what about the architect, who created beautiful brick car parking spaces that just prevent the water soaking into the ground and just channel it into the houses.
These little boxes should never be built without a proper flood assessment. After this, they’re probably uninsureable anyway.
In the same report on the web, it says that a Tesco in York had to close because the roof started to leak. If it had been a green roof with perhaps grass on it, the problem might not have happened. If Adnams can do it in silly Suffolk, surely everyone can. Here are the reasons for a green roof from the design brief.
To reduce the visual impact of the building.
To reduce heat transfer into the building and to regulate the buildings core temperature.
To reduce water run-off and burden on drainage.
That all seems logical to me.
The roof incidentally was built by Sky Garden Greenroofs. I wonder how many Tescos and other supermarkets have green roofs? I think in the UK, one Co-op does.
Shoe Sizes
The very pregnant news mother, Kate Silverton, on BBC Breakfast, was complaining about getting stylish shoes for her size 9 feet.
As a man with size 6 feet, I have the same problem, but I’ve always found it possible to buy them in Newmarket. And they’re British made too!
The Anonymous Widower 