Computer vs. Bible.

Some views from Erith river front, taken by me with my Nikon D300 camera. The place can be quite beguiling in the right circumstances. All three shots were taken by me on Erith Pier earlier today.

I was walking through Erith town centre earlier this week; I was passing by a distinguished African couple, who politely nodded in my direction; I acknowledged them and continued on my way. Only after a few moments did I consider their reaction - they had come from one of the two large African churches in the town; I was holding a small leather bound tome under my tweed clad arm, and I presume that they had thought that it was a Bible. In fact it was something even more dangerous and subversive than religion - it was a computer. The two rival African churches in Erith are the Redeemed Christian Church of God (who have a "Praise Embassy" adjacent to the hideous fish sculpture on the roundabout on Bexley Road), and the Celestial Church of Christ - both of which sound faintly impressive, though from what Shirley tells me, the more expansive the title of an African organisation, the more mundane the reality is. I live and learn anyway. I have found that the two organisations are engaged in bitter rivalry over membership and publicity - they regularly rip each others' banners and posters down, and I have witnessed quite ugly confrontations between the two groups in the town. I saw an instructive incident some weeks ago almost right outside my own front door; a mini bus belonging to one of the churches (it really does not matter which, and I will not specify) broke down. Some of the passengers started praying for God to restart their vehicle, whilst one of the more practically minded occupants got out his mobile phone and called the RAC.

Here is a photo of my Asus mini netbook PC, running the Opera web browser, under Ubuntu 9.04 Linux. it sits on the little table adjacent to my settee, ready and waiting for when I feel the urge to Google something I have seen on the television.



I have now had a response to my complaint about the conduct of a driver of the 99 bus a couple of weeks ago; the reply is below for your information:

I am writing in response to the complaint you made about the driver of a bus on route 99.

I was concerned to learn of the events you described and while the driver managed to avoid a collision, his actions beforehand were not acceptable. The driver concerned has been interviewed by his garage manager and the incident has been discussed, following which appropriate action has been taken under our disciplinary procedure. In addition, arrangements have also been made for covert driving observations to be undertaken, from which further action may result.

Please accept our apologies for any discomfort caused.

So that is out of the way now. Nice to get an official reply from the bus company.

As you may know, I am a big fan of all things Atari, having worked for them for quite some time in my formative years. Here is a link to an interesting web site.

I see that Fawlty Towers is finally being re-shown on satellite TV over the next few weeks, and that a documentary featuring the cast members is being transmitted. Here is the classic scene with the concussed Basil Fawlty encountering the Germans....