Unwell.

 

I took the photo above recently - click on the photo to see a larger version. It shows yet another electric hire bike, this time dumped in Bexleyheath. As I have written previously, the London Borough of Bexley is not a participant in an electric bike hire scheme, and as such no hire bikes should be used in the borough. Even in parts of Greater London where such bikes are permitted, there are a number of increasing problems. A growing tide of abandoned, vandalised, and carelessly dumped e-bikes blighting the urban landscape. From parks and pavements to canals and even trees, these brightly coloured bikes are turning up in the most unexpected places. This is not just an eyesore; it is a multifaceted problem with serious consequences. Dumped bikes block pavements, creating accessibility issues for pedestrians, particularly those with disabilities or pushing prams. They can also obstruct emergency services and pose a safety risk to cyclists and drivers. Improperly discarded batteries pose a fire risk and leach harmful chemicals into the environment, particularly when dumped in waterways. Many bikes are vandalised, stripped for parts, or simply abandoned after use, creating a culture of disrespect for public property and contributing to waste. Local councils and operators face a growing burden in terms of collecting, storing, and repairing or disposing of these bikes, costing taxpayers money. The sight of neglected e-bikes scattered across the city tarnishes the image of both the hire companies and the sustainability of the scheme itself. Comments to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

At this point I have to  apologise - this week's Blog update is a little shorter than usual; although I have been fully vaccinated, I have caught a rather nasty case of Covid-19 and am feeling somewhat under the weather at the time of writing. 

At this time of year, quite a number of people have received new tablets or mobile phones for Christmas - this leads to a somewhat unexpected problem. The UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has warned that many adults do not know how to wipe their old devices, and a worrying number of young people just don't care. Clearing personal data off an old device is an important step before ditching it or handing it on to another user. However, almost three in ten (29 percent) of adults don't know how to remove the information, according to a survey of 2,170 members of the UK public. Seventy-one percent agreed that wiping a device was important, but almost a quarter (24 percent) thought that it was too arduous. This means that the drawer of dusty devices is set to swell – three-quarters of respondents reported hanging on to at least one old device, and a fifth did so because they were worried about their personal information. Though this might be true when it comes to figuring out the new remote control, it is less so when seeing the need to deal with data on old devices. More than one in five (21 percent) of young people in the survey didn't think it was important to wipe personal data, while 23 percent said they did not care about what might happen to that data. Fourteen percent of people aged 18-34 said they would not bother wiping their devices at all, compared to just 4 percent of people over 55. On the plus side, the majority (84 percent) of respondents said they would ensure data was erased before disposing of a device. The survey also found that more than a quarter (27 percent) of UK adults were planning to treat themselves to a new device over the festive season. Suzanne Gordon, ICO Director of Public Advice and Data Protection Complaints, said in an interview on The Register technology news website:- "Many of us will be looking to replace our phones and other devices over the Christmas period, so it's great to see that so many people recognize the importance of safely wiping your personal information. With the New Year being an ideal time to de-clutter, there's no reason to leave your old devices to gather dust in a drawer. Erasing your personal information from an old device doesn't need to be difficult, and it means that your data can't be accessed by anybody else, either by mistake or for malicious purposes such as fraud. For example, a factory reset via the settings can adequately erase your personal information from most mobile phones."

Regular reader and occasional contributor Miles sent me the photo above, which he took on Erith Pier on Saturday night. It would seem that a person or persons unknown has removed all of the life rings on the pier. I need not say what a irresponsible and dangerous act this is. 

As regular readers will be aware, I wrote an article on John Downton, local painter, writer, musician  philosopher and poet last week;  Following this, local historian  Ken Chamberlain sent me his account:-"Re your article on John Downton. A few years ago we at the local history society had a talk on him by a lady from the National Portrait Gallery. At the conclusion by way of a thank you I said it would be nice if we could have one of his works for the Museum..The next morning I had a call from Hilda's Downton's carer in Sevenoaks. (She was totally blind, but mentally very sharp). offering me to visit her home I could indeed have SOME of his works. I contacted a very reluctant Curator at Hall Place telling her of the offer. We visited the house only to find that in a lengthy hallway she had arranged  a dozen or so of his works. We chose I think SIX. We decided to make a bit of a show about the exhibition and in invited her to unveil the works. What we didn't think of was her immobility. There was of course no lift, so we decided it would be good idea to carry her up on a chair!. We made it. When the museum closed they were taken into storage, and there they remain. I have often thought how much they would be worth. Hilda and John's mother was indeed  from the Mitchell family who farmed the Lesney Farm Estate. Another of the children was Hedley, he of the Department store fame. Hilda died just short of 105th birthday. I was invited to her memorial service. There were scores of people there from all over the world. One was Hedley junior who asked me if I was interested in paintings of Mr and Mrs. Mitchell. I took a chance and said I would be delighted with that we went to Hilda's house and collect two huge portraits. I took them to the aforementioned Curator, and haven't seen them since. In store I hope. The Downton's lived in a grand house at the top of Lesney Park, now replaced by the School. He worked at Callenders Cables. I recently learned he invented something and patented it John and Hilda lived off the proceeds for ever. She was a lovely lady who proudly  boasted she was the first lady in Erith to own a new fangled motor car".

Regular reader and occasional contributor Jeff sent me the following historic photograph, which shows -"An RT on Service 99. Seen here at Alford Road, Erith. (The Pom-Pom) On its way to Woolwich, Earl of Chatham. The Road on the left is Riverdale Road. At the end of the road the bus turns left up the hill, Erith Road.  Photograph by John King-April 1959".

Last February I wrote:-"There has been a great deal of press coverage of the new Apple Vision Pro 3D virtual reality headset, even though it has not yet gone on sale in the UK. Personally I have doubts if it will ever get released outside of the USA, for a number of reasons. Firstly the price - in the USA the headsets retail for a huge $3,499, secondly at present there is no "killer application" for the Apple Vision Pro; thirdly many early adopters have found that after a few minutes wearing the virtual reality headset they experience disorientation, headaches and nausea. In the USA, pre-orders for the Apple Vision Pro began on January 19th and the machines went on sale to all-comers from February 2nd. Apple has reportedly sold around 200,000 of the virtual-reality headsets. The Apple Vision Pro comes with a 14 day "no questions asked" return period, and it would appear that many of the early adopters are taking advantage of this and returning the product to Apple". Apple is said to have told Luxshare, a Chinese company that serves as the Vision Pro's assembler, that it would need to wind down production in November. Luxshare was making around 1,000 Vision Pro headsets per day as of October, which was half that being produced at its peak. Apple will apparently still be able to resume Vision Pro production if sales pick up since the production lines are not yet due to be dismantled. Moreover, Apple has purportedly suspended work on the original second-generation Vision Pro for at least a year to focus on developing a lower-cost headset. Interestingly, Apple told suppliers to prepare to build four million low-cost headsets over the entire lifespan of the future product. This is half the total number of Vision Pros that Apple told suppliers to produce, suggesting that sales expectations are even lower for the cheaper headset. Weak demand for the Vision Pro has been attributed to its high $3,499 price point and insufficient content ecosystem. Apple CEO Tim Cook described the device as an "early-adopter product," targeting users interested in cutting-edge technology rather than the broader mass market. The headset has not been offered for sale outside of the US market, and with the poor sales levels, it looks like this will remain unchanged. The headset was too limited in function, fragile, and way too expensive. A classic case of  a solution looking for a problem in my opinion. 

The end video this week features footage of the local area which was shot back in 1958 by the then Kentish Times. Comments and feedback to me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.