House Sparrows In Aberdeen Bus Station
I took this picture of a few house sparrows in Aberdeen bus station.
You rarely see them in London these days.
President Maduro Of Venezuela
Seeing President Maduro of Venezuela standing there in his extravagant suit with a multi-coloured sash, he looked so like one of the comic creations of Sacha Baron Cohen.
Now, I’m afraid every time I hear his name mentioned I laugh!
Canada Envisions Small Nuclear Reactors Producing Power And Hydrogen In Remote Towns
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Forbes.
The concept is you put small modular nuclear reactors of around 300 MW in a remote town or industrial site to provide electrical power, alongside wind and solar
Any excess power will be used to create hydrogen to power transport like vehicles and trains, so no power is wasted.
These reactors will be built in a factory and transported to site.
It may seem to be fantastical thinking, but I believe small modular reactors are a viable concept and used with hydrogen in remote locations could be application, that gets them started and acceptable.
Two years ago I wrote Small Modular Nuclear Reactors.
My views haven’t changed, except that adding the hydrogen generation improves the reasons to build them.
Now That’s What I Call A Growing Green Business!
I took this picture as I walked back from the bus stop to my house, this morning.
For the third of our three children, we used a nappy service, where every day or so, a guy would collect a bucket of soiled cotton nappies and return a pile of clean ones.
I have images in my mind of C unwrapping them and burying her face in the pile, as it was just one of those experiences she liked. Later in life, I saw her do it with towels in a five-star hotel in Hong Kong.
Our service was provided by a guy with a van, but surely a bicycle takes a nappy service to a new level.
So many of my generation, who used real nappies on their children, swear that the children preferred them.
Certainly, with a nappy service, they were a lot easier.
I have explored the sewers of London, which I wrote about in We’re Really In It Now. The flushers told me, that disposable nappies along with wet wipes and fat from fast food eateries, are the three major problems in the sewers
So disposable nappies might be convenient, but they have to be filtered out and go into landfill.
My best wishes for Nappy Ever After in the future!
Did The Mounted Met Get Their Man?
Yesterday, around three in the afternoon, I went out to get three bottles of water for my Dyson Humidifier from the corner shop about a two hundred metres away at the junction of Southgate Road and the Balls Pond Road, which has a very advanced traffic-light system
I crossed Southgate Road on the zebra and all seemed quite, as I started to walk up towards the junction.
I then heard a lot of blue lights coming, so myself and a very tall and large black couple, stood back from the road to see what was up. As everybody does!
A scruffy individual with a backpack about thirty riding a high-powered motor-bike doing about sixty towards the lights, in a road, where the speed limit is twenty. He was followed by three Police motorcycles.
All four motor-cycles turned right at the lights and disappeared towards Dalston Junction.
Perhaps twenty second later, they all returned, as obviously the scruffy ride had done a U-turn. I last saw them disappearing towards Highbury & Islington station.
Afterwards, a couple of Police cars came through and then it all calmed down.
Did the Met got their man, in the traffic congestion at the station?
Legal & General Has Acquired One Of The Last Major Crossrail Development Sites
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on City AM.
There have been several stories like this is recent months and I think it shows how Crossrail will generate new housing an business developments across London.
Who Remembers Sides-to-Middle?
Last night, I put my feet through a bed-sheet, creating a large hole.
I suspect, it was probably past its throw away date, but it got me thinking!
My mother would have cut the sheet in half, put the two good sides together and sewed them securely with her reliable 1930s-built Singer.
She used to call it Sides-to-Middle!
This sheet was a fitted one, which didn’t exist in the 1950s and 1960s!
So I doubt, it would have been possible anyway!
These Dreaded Glasses Are Starting To Appear In Hotels
In my hotel in Novara, I didn’t get a proper glass or even a hard plastic one, like those I use at home.
I got one of these design crimes!
Consider.
- They are single-use plastic of the worst kind.
- They are difficult to open with my gammy hand.
- When I opened one in Germany I destroyed the glass.
But the worst thing, is that they are unstable and one tipped over in Novara and ruined my paper, in which I was doing the sudoku.
Ban them!
Where The Queen Gets Her Energy
Yesterday’s edition of Countryfile on BBC1, was entitled Royal Special: Windsor.
In the program, they shows how Windsor Castle and the surrounding estate, use an Archimedes screw in the River Thames to generate electricity.
I found this video on the Internet.
There is also this document on the Internet.
It may look crazy, but after reading the document, it would appear to be cost effective.
This Google Map gives aerial view of the weir and the installed screws.
The two screws are installed in two sections of the weir at the right end.
It may look crazy, but after reading the document, it would appear to be cost effective.
- At peak flow the two units generate a total of 320kW/hour.
- There is a six year return on investment.
- The design life is fifteen years..
- The owner of the generators has a forty year lease on the site.
I suspect, we could see more units like this!
The Anonymous Widower 