A Lazy Fish Pie
This was one from Lindsey Bareham in The Times last week, called an Emmental and Spinach Fish Pie.
A Lazy Fish Pie
It was little effort at all, and I made two, one of which I froze.
Twin Pies
I shall be eating it on Saturday night, when I get back from the football.
High Buildings And High Winds
This tragic story from Leeds about high winds round a high building is a cautionary tale.
All too often we don’t fully test a building’s affect on the environment properly, before it is actually built. Look at the problems of the Walkie-Talkie in the sun.
I tend to not linger in the bus station at London Bridge, as sometimes the downdraught from The Shard is more than too much for me.
The only thing that would make architects think more, is if one of these troublesome buildings had to be demolished.
Scrapping The Car Tax Disc
It has been reported that the government is going to scrap the car tax disc.
It won’t affect me, but I think there will be an alliance of those, who want to keep it.
There will be those, who will object solely on the basis, that the only way to check will be to look it up on a database and this is an infringement on their liberties.
It will also make it difficult for busybodies to report neighbours, who constantly park outside their house, for not having a tax disc.
If the DVLA did the system properly, you would only be able to pay road tax on-line, so that would annoy the Internet refuseniks.
And then there’s the unions, who may complain about the job loses at Swansea and in the Royal Mail.
I’ll be surprised, if they are abandoned it, without a fight from a very odd alliance of troublemakers.
nPower Says Sorry
I’m leaving nPower after three years to go to OVO Energy. This is mainly because I want to try out one of these new energy suppliers and see how easy it is to swap from one supplier to another.
I will save myself just over a hundred pounds a year, although the price changes announced by the Government may mean that this figure changes.
Today though, I received an apology from nPower for bad service. Here’s the start of it.
We look after 5.4 million customer accounts in the UK. Our aim is to make sure everyone has the best possible experience as an npower customer.
However, we’ve let many of you down recently in the overall levels of customer service we’ve been providing. We apologise unreservedly. We promise that if you have been impacted by the billing system problems we’ve had, you will not lose out financially as a direct result.
It goes on to give a good explanation of their problems.
I should say though, that I’ve not had one negative issue with the company.
So even if prices aren’t as low as we’d like, the customer service of one of the Big Six power companies is doing things properly.
More Progress On The Bacon Factory Curve
The Bacon Factory Curve at Ipswich is progressing well.
I should be going back to the dentist in the Spring, so it will be interesting to see the progress as it is slated from completion next year.
Travelling With Michael Palin
The Class 153 train, that shuttled me to Felixstowe was named after Michael Palin.
Travelling With Michael Palin
I wonder how many other trains have been named after comedians?
Freight Trains At Ipswich
On my trip to the dentist in Felixstowe yesterday, I changed trains at Ipswich. There was a wonderful example of the problems that the Bacon Factory Curve is designed to eliminate, as two freight trains going to and from London, passed through the station at the same time.
One thing that worries me, is that these trains were going through a busy station, where lots of people were waiting for trains like I was. Is this a good idea from a Health and Safety point of view?
Many of these trains, are routed by the North London and Gospel Oak to Barking lines to complete their journey.
When the curve is fully operational, they will go on a more direct route, via Stowmarket and Peterborough.
But will those who live on that line be complaining of very noisy Class 66 locomotives at all hours of the day and night?
Incidentally, as a lot less freight trains will be travelling to or from London, they should be able to use the direct line through Ipswich station, which is between the main lines used by passenger trains to stop at platforms 2 and 3. This will certainly make things less frightening and probably a lot safer.
Will Peer-To-Peer Lending Be Allowed In ISAs?
According to this article in the Telegraph, it looks like it might happen. Here’s the first bit from the article.
Savers will be able to earn tax-free returns on peer-to-peer lending websites under plans to allow this type of investment within an Isa, The Telegraph understands.
Industry sources said a consultation on opening up Isas to peer-to-peer lending – sometimes referred to as “crowdfunding” – is expected to be unveiled by George Osborne in the Autumn Statement on Thursday.
At present my total losses from my Zopa lending is £708.93. That should be judged against total earnings of £16,009.32.
But if they allow losses to be set against tax in ISAs, then I suspect, we may see peer-to-peer losses to be set against your tax bill. So on that basis, I will be a couple of hundred pounds or so better off.
Zopa at present is lending a small amount less per day, than it was a month or so ago. So allowing losses to be set against tax, may well get more people to put their savings there.
The only losers in this case, will be the banks and building societies, who pay a derisory rate of interest.
A Game Of Four Odd Goals
Yesterday, I went to the football at Ipswich on a very cold evening.
As I needed to go to the dentist in Felixstowe at lunchtime, I went early. This meant that as the cost of my dentist in Felixstowe is so much lower than one in London, I effectively was able to buy a First Class ticket on the saving, thus avoiding the need to pay rush hour prices to get to the match.
The idea was then to come back to Ipswich and waste time by going to a museum, watching a film, exploring the shops and having a pizza in Pizza Express.
All I did was have the pizza and get very cold, as Ipswich shut down virtually completely around five, giving me nearly three hours to find something to do. Since, I worked in the town, all my friends there have either moved away or now live way out of the town.
The biggest disappointment was that the first showing in the cinema was 19:30, whereas in Cambridge today several films start at around four. I could have walked to the multiplex, but I wanted to go to the cinema in the Corn Exchange, where C and myself had so many happy memories.
Even Debenhams and Starbucks shut at six, whereas John Lewis in Cambridge and Norwich shut yesterday at seven.
No wonder the town centre was as dead as a doornail.
But then the crowd at the football was less than fifteen thousand, which is very low for Portman Road.
The game was a pretty good one and memorable for four rather odd goals.
Luke Hyam and Carlos Edwards seemed to stumble over the ball before they put it in the net and Jordan Rhodes, for Blackburn, got the best of the Ipswich keeper in a rush for the ball.
And then to seal the match, Frank Nouble, thundered in on the Blackburn keeper and stole the ball, before slotting it in the net. Mick McCarthy, summed it up as follows on the BBC report.
He is a handful and a frightening prospect when he is bearing down on you.
He certainly scared the goalkeeper. For a big man, Nouble’s pace is astounding.
At least the train was warm, going home, even if it wasn’t a Class 90 and Mark Three coaches.
The Anonymous Widower 