Russia Has Killed More Civilians Than ISIS
The title of this post is taken directly from The Times.
Lionel Stapley
It is with great sadness, that I must report the death of Lionel Stapley, who was a colleague at Metier Management Systems and a friend since we first met in the 1970s.
Jerry’s Attempts On The Other Side Of The Kitchen Are No Better
These pictures show that what lay behind the awful steel-fronted units on the other side of the kitchen was no better than those on the first, that I descrtibed in Behind Jerry’s Cabinets.
So we’ll have to chisel out some concrete, make up the floor and sort the wiring before we can put in the new cabinets.
It’s My Birthday!
So I’m celebrating by putting flat-pack furniture together for my kitchen, wearing just a pair of tight but comfortable briefs so I don’t hit something painful!
Choose Your Energy Company With Care
This tale from the Observer is entitled Co-operative Energy didn’t bill us, but claims we owe it nearly £1,500.
It probably shows how various get-rich-quick and incompetent groups are entering the energy market.
I wouldn’t have chosen the Co-op, as on their record over the past few years, they seem incapable of organising a piss-up in a brewery.
This is said in reply to the request for help.
Frankly, Co-operative Energy hasn’t had the systems in place to issue coherent bills for nearly a year after botching the launch of a new computer system last summer.
Surely, there is a case for withdrawing the licence of Co-operative Energy.
I wouldn’t touch them with Nigel Farage’s barge-pole, let alone mine!
Especially, as I’m very happy with Ovo Energy and have no possible reason to change.
They now even pay me for the energy I generate with my solar panels.
Heaven Help The World If Trump Becomes US President
That idiot Trump has sunk to a new low with the statements reported in this article on the BBC, which has a title of US election: Anger over Donald Trump gun rights remarks.
As nearly all Brits, Aussies, Canadians and most Europeans will tell him, guns are the cause of a lot of America’s problems and not the solution.
I fear for the world if someone as stupid and hot-headed as Trump should become President of the United States.
Hopefully, good sense will prevail.
Perhaps, the worst scenario would see Corbyn, Le Pen, Petry, Trump, Wilders and Xi Jinping, sitting down to decide the world’s future.
An Unusual Free Gift
I recently bought a metal cable tidy from Ironmongery Direct. I intend to use it to pass aerial cables to y television, through the kitchen work-top.
An Unusual Free Gift
As you can see it came with an unusual free gift.
It gives a whole new meaning to adding a little sweetener to a deal.
A Good Start To A Day
Yesterday morning, I went to IKEA and ordered the last set of cabinets for my kitchen. Remember, that for some reason, their computer has banned me from buying anything on-line.
What I needed is scheduled for two deliveries this week, as one item isn’t available for home delivery from their Tottenham store, as it has to come centrally.
So imagine my surprise, when the first delivery happened at 08:15 this morning.
But at least, it means I don’t have to wait in all day for a delivery.
Russia ‘secretly working with environmentalists to oppose fracking’
The title of this post is not taken from some right-wing scandal sheet, but from this article in The Guardian.
I have an open mind on fracking, but keep these facts in mind.
- A lot of the bad stories about fracking originate in the United States, where quite frankly a lot of get-rich-quick cowboys got involved in the process, in a manner that would be illegal in the EU and the UK.
- The largest on-shore oil-field in Western Europe is Wytch Farm, which is close to Corfe Castle. I can’t find a report of any environmental damage around this oil-field, since production started in 1979. This proves to me, that we can extract oil and gas safely on-shore over a long period, which in Wytch Farm’s case is without fracking.
- We have some of the best engineering Universities in the world and we should use them to develop better ways of extracting, transporting and processing oil and gas. A big project involving several European universities called SHEER, is looking at fracking on a Polish site.
- Remember that if we need to import gas from outside Europe, we deal with countries with impeccable human rights like Qatar, Russia or the United States.
- Fracking techniques are used in the Highlands of Scotland to extract water out of rock.
- We need a lot of gas to keep us warm in winter.
I may have an open mind, but no-one could deny, that if Western Europe obtained the gas it needs from fracking or perhaps by finding a massive conventional gas field onshore in the UK, that the biggest loser would be Russia and President Putin.
I
I’m All For More Of This!
This article from Global Rail News is entitled Toronto park plan for downtown railway.
The article describes how Toronto wants to purchase the air rights over a 21-acre railway through the City Centre and put a park on the top.
There are certainly places in the UK, where this approach can be used to create parts, housing or commercial buildings over the railway.
Especially in Londom, where land is so expensive.
Look at this Google Map of the rail lines into Liverpool Street as they pass Shoreditch High Street station on the East London Line.
Lines Through Shoreditch
Surely, a better use could be found for the space above this railway. I estimate this space must be about ten hectares and if properly developed could contain lots of buildings and a green walkway connecting Shoreditch High Street station to Liverpool Street station.
And what about the waste of space that is Euston station?
Euston Station And The Approach Lines
Hopefully adding HS2 to the station will improve things.
The Anonymous Widower 