The satisfaction tour.

When the light and weather is right, parts of Erith can at times look positively exotic. The photo above shows the key worker apartments (called Tramway House) on the corner of Stonewood Road and West Street, right next to the new Bexley College site. The apartments overlook the Riverside Gardens and the River Thames in one of the nicest locations in the town. If the flats had been built in somewhere like Putney, they would be the thick end of a million pounds or so.

Only a matter of weeks after Erith KFC gave up in their bid to open their drive through around the clock, another local restaurant is bidding for a late – night licence. K’s Spice – the Nigerian restaurant in Pier Road, has submitted an application to Bexley Council to extend its opening hours; currently the place opens from 10am until 11pm, and the owners wish to extend this until 2am daily. I don’t think that the application will meet with success, as there are flats located above the shop unit, and opening into the early hours of the morning would undoubtedly cause noise and disturbance. It would be interesting to see if the council licensing team take other criteria into account when deciding whether to grant opening hour changes to food outlets. For example, should they take account of the restaurant’s “Scores on the Doors” food hygiene rating? If this is the case, then K’s Spice would be on a sticky wicket, as it only gets a rating of one out of a possible five stars for kitchen cleanliness. As I have written in the past (and many reader have agreed with) in my opinion, any restaurant that fails to meet a minimum of three out of five stars (which is described as being the lowest acceptable rating) should be compulsorily closed until such time as the place is deep cleaned, and new equipment installed so that  their rating meets or exceeds a three star rating. The “Scores on the Doors” rating sticker should also have to be displayed by law. I notice that whilst food outlets in Bexley hardly ever have their rating stickers displayed, food outlets in Dartford are far more likely to publicly show their stickers. I think this could at least part be because Dartford’s restaurants seem to overall have a higher standard of food hygiene. I was walking around Dartford Town Centre last weekend, and I noticed with satisfaction that almost all places had a four or five star rating, which they proudly displayed on their window sticker. I don't know the reason for the discrepancy between Dartford and Bexley, other than as we know, the London Borough of Bexley has the worst food hygiene ratings in the whole of the UK. Whether Bexley have less staff available to police the system, or Dartford better promote and foster good food handling and preparation techniques I don't know, but the message seems to be clear. If you are going out for a meal in the local area, you are probably better off going to Dartford if you want to avoid the possibility of food poisoning. Dartford has another point in its favour if you read comic books. News Stand Comics have opened a comic book store in the shop unit at the base of the clock tower opposite Dartford Station and behind the Orchard Theatre. It used to house the tourist information centre, but now is the home of a wide variety of comics, action figures and collectibles. Until now local comic fans had to go to Bluewater or London to buy the latest editions. Now there is somewhere more local to go. I wish them well.

Hearing of the sad death of actor Bob Hoskins this week, it did remind me of an incident that happened many years ago, not long after I had passed my driving test. I was accompanying a friend who was still a learner so that he could get some much needed practice (back in those days you could legally accompany a learner as soon as you had passed your test, unlike today). It was a Sunday afternoon, and we were driving along Romney Road in Greenwich, right outside the National Maritime Museum, and had stopped at a Zebra crossing.  There was a bang and a sudden jolt; momentarily I thought my friend had dumped the clutch and stalled the car. We then both realised that the car had been rear – ended by another vehicle. I looked over my shoulder and saw a large, dark green Jaguar XJ-6 saloon far too close for comfort.  I told my friend to pull over to the side of the road, and the Jaguar followed. The night before this incident, ITV had shown the television premiere of “The Long Good Friday” – a movie which is now regarded by many critics as the finest British gangster film ever made. I had watched it, and was much taken by the performance of Bob Hoskins, as the tough and resourceful London gang leader who tries to move into property development, and unwittingly ends up on the wrong side of the IRA. Anyway as we checked the very minor damage the bumper – little more than a small dent if I recall, who should get out of the Jaguar than Bob Hoskins himself! As he came over to us, a woman at a nearby bus stop came over and started jabbering “I saw it all – he rear ended you – it’s all his fault!” Hoskins turned to her and said “it OK lady, I have it under control”. He turned to us and said “completely sorry – all of my fault”, and the interloper cut in a second time with more nagging. Hoskins now growled at her “I have told you – SHUT IT!” Which did the trick – the woman was so taken aback she was silenced. He pulled out his wallet, saying “can we sort this out like adults? Would £200 do to fix your bumper?” Bearing in mind the entire car was probably worth a maximum of £200 back then, my friend accepted gladly – he knew he was getting an amazingly good deal. Bob Hoskins was friendly and open, though we only spent a few minutes with him, he seemed like a genuine, completely down to earth bloke.

The advert above was first published back in 1903. It does rather infer that other local bakers were not hygienic - I am not sure if such an advert would be permitted nowadays. Still, it does show that even 111 years ago, a local food producer was very conscious about cleanliness. Something that some local outlets today seem to have forgotten.

Have you ever dug an old computer, games console, or other bit of long forgotten old electronic kit out of a cupboard or loft, only to find that the original, light grey plastic case had turned a nasty tobacco brown colour? Many people think that this is just a bit of ingrained dirt – but the staining does not come off, however much you scrub. This unwanted phenomenon has been known for several years, and has been researched by a number of people keen on restoring vintage home computers. The problem is caused by the special kind of plastic used to manufacture the cases. It is called ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene – you can see why even the scientists just call it ABS!) The plastic is made of three different substances, which when mixed together in certain proportions give the plastic its strength, flexibility and impact resistance. The trouble with ABS plastic is that it is very flammable unless steps are taken to do something about it. Scientists came up with a flame retardant chemical that could be added to the ABS plastic mix to stop it combusting. The chemical was one of the CFC group – which you may recall used to be widely used, until  it was discovered that they caused serious damage to the Ozone layer, and were then internationally banned in the 1990’s. Back in the 1980’s though, the chemicals were used in all sorts of ways. The discolouration of ABS plastic cases is caused by a chemical reaction when strong sunlight containing a high percentage of Ultra Violet (UV) light is allowed to shine onto the plastic. Any computer left on a desk in an office, or games console left in a kid’s bedroom would suffer this. The UV light causes the element bromine from within the CFC fire retardant to slowly leak out of the mix – bromine, which is naturally a brown colour – and this is what causes the tobacco – like staining to the ABS plastic. A group of hobbyists, some of whom have a background in chemical engineering have worked on a way to remove this horrible discolouration which can seriously affect the looks of what otherwise would be some attractive and historically important computers. They have created a cleaning gel called RetroBrite, which when pasted onto the discoloured ABS plastic surface of an old piece of electronic kit, then exposed to a UV lamp for a few hours, will completely remove the brown discolouration and return the object to an “as new” appearance. For various technical and legal reasons, this bunch of enthusiasts have been unable to patent RetroBrite, and instead publish online their formula for making it, and instructions on how to use it. To be honest, RetroBrite is pretty nasty, corrosive stuff, and has to be treated with caution. You can read more about it here.  If you ever see RetroBrite available for retail sale, it has been produced by a third party, not the original creators. Because one of the active ingredients in RetroBrite is high strength Hydrogen Peroxide, it is illegal to transport by post or courier. Some shady characters have offered pre – mixed RetroBrite bottles for sale on EBay. This actually contravenes the website’s rules, as it is regarded as a hazardous chemical. If you ever see RetroBrite for sale, it is dodgy. Making it from the recipe on the RetroBrite website is perfectly acceptable, however, and to be honest, it works best when it is freshly made. You can read a detailed account as to how it is made, and how it actually works by clicking here.

I seem to be having a bit of a Dartford oriented theme this week; readers may recall that a couple of years ago that I observed that whilst Liverpool never ceases to find excuses to celebrate the Beatles, and their links with the city, Dartford seems almost embarrassed to be the home of the Rolling Stones in comparison. OK, you have the Mick Jagger Centre, but that is about as far as it goes. Some years ago a campaign was started to get a blue plaque erected on Platform 2 of Dartford Station, to commemorate the place where Keith Richards and Mick Jagger first met on returning from buying obscure blues albums in Soho. They discovered they shared a deep love for the music, and the rest, as they say is history. The plaque campaign came to nothing, and currently there is no form of commemoration at all. One thing has changed though. A local company has started running something called the Satisfaction Tour, which describes itself as “Join us on a fascinating and fun – filled coach tour of Dartford – Mick Jagger and Keith Richards’ home town. Discover where Mick and Keith grew up and met before the formation of the Rolling Stones, the world’s greatest rock and roll band. Tour guests staying at the Hilton Dartford Bridge Hotel will be collected from the hotel and taken to Dartford Railway Station, where the tour begins. The tour will then take you onto the places associated with Jagger and Richards early years, such as visits to their childhood homes and schools. Dartford Railway Station where Keith and Mick became reacquainted on platform 2 in October 1961; The hospital where they were born; Keith's teenage home; Holy Trinity Church where Mick was christened and Keith sang in the choir; Len Goodman's Dance Studios; Keith's childhood home where we visit the garden and his bedroom. Near here you will have the opportunity to stop for refreshments. Mick's childhood home; Wentworth Primary School where Keith and Mick first met; Dartford Technical College where Keith attended (now Wilmington Grammar); Mick's teenage home; Dartford Grammar School where Mick attended.” I would imagine that this would generate a lot of interest amongst foreign Stones fans, though personally paying a tour fee of £32.50 to stand on Dartford Station and then to look at Len Goodman’s dance studios (which incidentally are situated above a kebab shop in Market Street, Dartford) has a somewhat limited appeal. I hope the tour does well. You can read more about it, and see some vintage photos of the legendary rockers if you click here. 

Last week I featured Walnut Tree House, which until 1932 used to occupy the site now the home to Erith Council Offices. Walnut Tree House was owned by John Parish, a successful businessman who owned Erith Ballast Wharf on the banks of the River Thames, and also the ballast and loam pit in what is now the Europa Industrial Estate in Fraser Road. Once the pit was exhausted, it was decided that the great big quarry was ideal for use as a sports venue. Erith Cricket Club, Erith Football Club and Erith Shooting Club all used the facilities. A later ballast and loam excavation site was located on the land sided by Bexley Road and Fraser Road, which was eventually worked out in 1970. Since then it has been unused, though as Malcolm Knight of Bexley Is Bonkers has pointed out, there are rumbles that the site may finally get redeveloped – it got purchased by an Essex based property development company called the Anderson Group back in January, most likely as a housing estate. The situation is still far from decided. I will be keeping tabs on it. Other planning news indicates that the traveller pony that has been living on a piece of waste land at the end of James Watt Way may be in danger of losing its home. Bexley Council are discussing the potential redevelopment of the old RMC Aggregates site (currently in temporary use by Abbey Car Breakers as an overflow from their main site) and the adjacent river front land, including the area currently occupied by the pony. They are keen for the site to be used for industrial or commercial purposes; I quote:- “The eastern part of the site offers opportunity to make use of the river frontage. Accordingly there is a preference for industrial and commercial uses. As these are in close proximity to existing and potential residential areas it is necessary to ensure that new industrial and commercial development is of high environmental standard, especially where close to residential properties”. It will be interesting to see where they go with this. More news as it arrives.

The ninth Bexley CAMRA Beer Festival is almost upon us; it runs from the 15^th to the 17^th of May, and is held at the Old Dartfordians Sports Club in Bexley Village. It is an excellent venue, and is much better served by public transport than the old venue, which used to be Sidcup Rugby Club (a great venue, but miles from anywhere and a pain to get to and from).  Not only is the Old Dartfordians Club far easier to travel to and from, but it is in fairly close proximity to Bexley Village itself – which is helpful if one fancies a post festival curry, as there are several Indian restaurants in the town that display a three star or higher “Scores on the Doors” rating. I will be covering the festival in greater detail after the event.

I received the following message in the week from a local musician and Vox enthusiast, following my piece on the connection between Vox and Erith. "I am contacting you about your recent MS story about the Stones and/or The Beatles visiting the Vox factory in  Erith. I would refer you to Jim Elyea's excellent book "Vox Amplifiers - The JMI Years" Vox's main facility was at 119 Dartford Rd. According to Jim's book, JMI production moved to the Erith building in 1965 and production continued there despite a fire on December 1 1965, it is not clear whether Vox actually owned the building as it also housed another Royston Industries company Burndept's Ltd (JMI was partly owned by Royston at this point). In January 1967 there were 150 employees at Erith. The Vox factory in Erith was closed in 1970. Apparently Mick and Keith were regular visitors to the Dartford factory as they were Dartford boys themselves but all reliable sources confirm that the Beatles never visited the Vox factory in Dartford or Erith. The Kinks, also Vox users, never visited the factory as "it was too dangerous for Muswell Hill boys to go to Dartford". Tony Hicks, lead guitarist with The Hollies was a frequent visitor, as were the Dave Clark Five. Hank Marvin brought his red Fender Stratocaster that he had bought at Jennings shop at 100 Charing Cross Road into the Dartford factory one day because he was having trouble keeping it in tune...the powers that be simply decided to give him a new one. The Charing Cross Road shop was more likely to have been frequented by the stars of the time. Much more information including photos, lists and details of JMI employees can be found in Jim's excellent book ".

Local bus company Stagecoach buses are currently testing new, hybrid engine double decker buses. On Tuesday afternoon I saw one running on the 602 school bus route. The very smart looking, brand new bus was in the middle of Bexley Road at the bus halt in front of the Erith Riverside Shopping Centre. It had broken down! The driver and another Stagecoach person (possibly a mechanic) were trying to restart the vehicle, which appeared to be completely dead, apart from working hazard warning lights. These vehicles are largely reliant on computer control, and I would not have been surprised if there was a computer related problem – this is one of the most common causes of faults on the networker trains used by South Eastern. I have witnessed this whilst on the platform at both Cannon Street and Dartford stations. The driver could not get the train to start up  - it had completely frozen. He ended up doing what many PC users do in such circumstances – he switched it off, then back on again. I suspect that the bus crew would probably end up having to try the same technique. I hope that the teething troubles are soon overcome, as it would be a great move for Stagecoach to replace the older vehicles in their fleet with more economical and lower emission buses. Ideally they would go for Hydrogen fuel cell powered buses, as have run in and around Waterloo in the past. The trouble with these zero emission vehicles (OK, they emit a little water vapour, but that is it) is that currently they are prohibitively expensive to purchase. Hopefully as the technology matures, the costs involved will come down and we will have many hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles.

Word reaches me from one of my confidential sources that the closure last Wednesday of The British Music Experience exhibition at the O2 Arena was long overdue.  My source, who had some involvement with the project in the past wrote “It was a fabulous exhibition with interesting exhibits and lots of audio visual interaction, but unless you went around it slowly and logically there was almost too much to take in. The ticket booth was set up on the assumption that there would be huge queues lining up, but I found both the 02 and the British Music Experience like a ghost town, and sometimes I saw more staff than visitors. The entry fee was very high indeed - it was always my view that the place could not survive”. This is all a great pity. From my understanding the reason for the closure is that their sponsors refused to renew their support for the 2014 / 2015 season; the Experience is now looking for a new home. I wonder if a local venue might make a good place for The British Music Experience might be the former Woolwich Granada Cinema? It is currently being used as a cathedral by the Christ Faith Tabernacle Church, who seem to have made a very good job of restoring the old Art Deco building, which has Grade II listed status, so I very much doubt if they would be interested, which would be a pity, as the Granada has strong historical musical connections;  it was used in the 1950’s and 60’s as a live music venue as well as a cinema. Buddy Holly held some gigs in 1958 (one of which my late Dad attended), Roy Orbison, and even the Beatles played the place back in 1963 – though I doubt they would have been heard over the screaming!

The video to end this week is a curiosity. It, along with several others, has been made by a professional Hollywood film editor. He's taken an episode of Gerry Anderson's "Space:1999" and intercut it with an episode of the original "Battlestar Galactica" to tell a completely new story. It really does go to show just how much a good editor can do to influence a film. It is very well done; for the most parts you cannot "see the joins". Feel free to leave a message below, or Email me directly at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The Brick.

I took the photo above last Sunday afternoon, minutes after publishing last weeks’ Maggot Sandwich update. It shows the Bexley Council owned and operated recycling centre behind Morrison’s supermarket in Erith. Regular readers will know that I have been conducting a minor war against illegal fly tipping in and around Erith for some time.  I get the impression that many residents are unaware as to exactly how bad the fly tipping problem has now become.  The photograph above illustrates the problem very well. Fly tipping of this nature is becoming an almost daily occurrence. As I have previously written, there are a small number of local businesses who illegally dump waste, rather than taking stuff for proper disposal at the Council waste facility at Thames Road in Crayford. The reason that they dump rather than responsibly recycle is purely down to money. Commercial enterprises have to pay to dispose of waste at official disposal stations; I understand that a van load of mixed material would normally come to around £100. The crooks would rather skimp this and pollute the environment. When I was taking the photograph above, I was approached by a couple who readily identified themselves as scrap dealers. What was interesting was their approach – they run a local, ethical scrap recycling business. Unlike most “scrappies”, they will not take items without asking the owners’ permission first; they have full accreditation, insurance and registration, and they abhor fly tipping. It was instructive to see the other side of the coin – a scrap dealer who detests the fly tippers as much as most other people. They told me that nothing hurts their reputable business more than the illegal activities of less scrupulous operators. I was told that two years ago, their van insurance cost £500; this year it was £2000 and they have had no claims. They were told by their broker that merely operating a scrap business put their premiums up by this huge amount. They also told me that the legitimate companies in the scrap game will as of next year have to pay a £350 annual fee to the council to contribute towards the cost of clearing up fly tipping carried out by their criminal business competitors. Of course, the crooks won’t pay this, as they are not registered. This does put the legitimate operator at a distinct disadvantage, which I think is morally wrong. A properly regulated and responsibly run scrap and recycling industry is vital to the UK in many ways; recycling glass, for example, uses only around ten percent of the energy of making glass from raw materials, and of course it saves using raw materials in the first place. Recycled metal forms a vital contribution to the countries’ balance of payments, as much ferrous and non ferrous metal is exported after being recycled from scrap. The list could go on, but you get the idea. On top of all this, getting old appliances recycled saves a ton of stuff going to landfill; being the small island that Britain is, we would rapidly run out of space, as well as risking pollution on a massive scale. Scrap collectors / dealers may get a bad rap (and in quite a few cases, deservedly so), but the good ones perform an absolutely vital service which we would all be far worse off without.

I was watching a documentary on the Sky Arts channel the other night; it featured an international convention of Beatles tribute bands – there were South Korean and Ghanaian Beatles covers groups, amongst a huge number of others. I did not realise that there is a shop in Liverpool that specialises in selling costumes, wigs and boots to Beatle tribute bands, it is that much of a lucrative market. The programme was light hearted and warm and followed a few of the bands as they visited the locations featured in so many Beatles songs. This got me thinking; the Beatles have spawned a huge tourist industry in Liverpool, with Beatles themed tours, events and shows all over the city, all eager to being in the cash from the tourists eager to explore the place that the band called home. Their major contemporaries have fared less well. When you mention the Beatles, you immediately form an association with Liverpool. When you mention the Rolling Stones, you don’t immediately think of Dartford, do you? Yet the band had their roots in Dartford, even though their music had more in common with the Mississippi Delta than the Thames Estuary.  Apart from the excellent Mick Jagger performing arts centre, there is nothing to commemorate the band in Dartford – which is ironic, as unlike the Beatles, the Stones are still a (just about) going concern. I wonder if a lot of this is because the band abandoned the town to move to a house in West London as soon as they started to find success? There was a campaign to get a blue plaque installed on platform four of Dartford railway station a few years ago – where Mick and Keith first met after both visiting the West End to buy rare American blues records, where they discovered they shared the same musical passion, and the seeds of the band that would become the Rolling Stones were sown. Unfortunately nothing came of the campaign, which I think epitomises the rather ambivalent attitude some locals have to the group. The local area has been instrumental  (if you will excuse the pun) in being home to Kate Bush (Welling), John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin (Sidcup) and David Bowie (Bromley).  The musical influence this part of South East London / North Kent has had worldwide has had is huge; we just seem to be exceptionally poor at celebrating its’ success.  Going back to the Rolling Stones, one thing which has been unclear for years is the actual origin of their name. Some think it comes from the Muddy Waters song of the same name, which may indeed be the case. The thing is, what exactly is a rolling stone? Well, according to a source I read, it is nothing to do with a stone rolling down a hill. The “rolling stone that gathers no moss” actually refers to a 16^th Century garden lawn carved stone roller; so the Rolling Stones, with all of their “bad boy” image are actually named after something you would find in a garden shed...

Nowadays most of the weekly Maggot Sandwich update get written during the week, and nailed together with photographs and video content on the weekend, prior to its’ publication on Sunday afternoon. This final fettling and formatting gets done on my bespoke Apple iMac in my home office. I often have the radio on whilst I am working away on the blog. Not that long ago I came across a radio station that may well be worth you trying out. KBC Radio is a Dutch radio station mainly aimed at truckers and other commercial travellers. In the week it broadcasts in Dutch, but at the weekend it switches into English, much in the same way the late and much lamented Arrow Classic Rock on 675 medium wave used to do. KBC Radio broadcasts between 8am and 4pm on Saturday and Sunday on 6095 kHz shortwave, with an absolutely massive signal here in the UK. The transmitter puts out a massive 150 kilowatts of RF power, which means it can be heard all over the world.  The station features classic DJ’s like The Emperor Rosko and Dave Mason and plays 50’s rock and roll, classic rock, rhythm and blues and 60’s soul. Their musical selection is far more eclectic and varied than most of the commercial “gold” stations, and they are certainly worth a listen. If you have an old radio that receives shortwave, put the band selector on the 49 metre band, and tune the radio up towards the top third of the band. If you do this when KBC Radio are on air, they will spring out of the speaker, their local signal is so strong. Do give them a try – they are a not for profit, licenced station that are really trying to do something  a little bit different. I have them set as one of the memory presets on my JRC NRD 345 desktop shortwave radio receiver, right next to the preset for Laser Hot Hits on 4026 kHz – my favourite shortwave broadcaster.  Perhaps I will write a full article on some of the lesser known specialist radio stations that are quietly broadcasting away, right under the noses of many people in the near future. Whilst the UK government continues to try and browbeat the population into migrating onto DAB, so that they can sell off the vacated frequencies to the highest bidder, a number of radio enthusiasts continue to make good and productive use of the analogue broadcasting bands. As I have said before, when all other forms of communication have failed, whether through natural disaster, war, or other calamity, analogue radio still works and will get through. You may recall the end of the movie “Independence Day” when Morse Code was used to co-ordinate the final battle against the invading aliens. Well, it may well have been the only factually accurate part of the (dreadful) movie. Radio will always get through.

Here is the trailer for the 50th anniversary of the start of Doctor Who; unusually for the BBC, they have not blocked embedding of the video in external websites - see what you think anyway.

I was on a largely empty train on my way home after a work visit to Watford Last week; sitting opposite me was a chap who spent most of his journey with his mobile telephone glued to his ear, engaged in a long and detailed conversation; usually I find this behaviour incredibly irritating, but this time I was fascinated. The chap was evidently an IT hardware salesman, who specialised in the education market. He was first talking to his boss, then later a couple of potential customers. It would seem that many schools are now getting rid of physical textbooks and are instead migrating to tablet computers with E-Book reading software installed. Some schools foot the bill themselves, whereas others charge the parents £10 a month in a shared ownership scheme. This has the advantage of meaning the tablet is insured against theft, loss or accidental damage (instead of “the dog ate my maths book” it will be “my dad sat on my tablet”).  What was the most interesting facet of this overheard, one sided conversation was that Apple and the iPad have a total domination of the educational tablet market; apparently school heads will not even consider Android powered devices, and Windows Surface machines are regarded as being beyond a joke. It will be instructive to see how this choice of platform affects the buying decisions of the school children when they become adults and are able to purchase their own technology. It has been said for the last couple of years that the desktop PC is dead (not quite yet, but it is starting to smell that way) and that laptop sales have dropped measurably. This is also true. Nowadays many people view and take part in online content via a tablet or smart phone. Personally I don’t see the death of devices with physical keyboards for a while yet – there is no way a three thousand words plus Maggot Sandwich update would ever get typed on a virtual screen keyboard – I would develop RSI way before the update was typed, and I am certainly not alone in this regard. The thing is, in all o f this future development, Microsoft have almost no presence. The only parts of Microsoft that make a (admittedly huge) profit are the desktop and server operating systems division, and the Office division. Both of these have been, and still are, dependant on their customers having desktop or laptop computers connected in a client / server environment. This is fundamental to their entire business model. Nowadays kids have mobile devices that connect via the cloud – the conventional client / server model is completely out of the window as far as they are concerned. Once these children become adults, the entire ground rock that Microsoft base themselves on will cease to have relevance. I feel that the direction that Microsoft are heading really needs a massive shakeup, with new top management. If they don’t do this, and soon, they will end up going the same way as Sun Microsystems – another former technological giant that could not change when it was required, and are now nothing more than a name plate owned by Oracle Corporation.

Well, it is now official; the A206 roundabout in the centre of Erith, adjacent to the council offices, Erith Station and the Redeemed Christian Church of God in the converted tyre warehouse is now officially named “The Fish Roundabout” – according to a letter from Bexley Council. Well, I suppose that has cleared it up for a lot of people. It has been known locally as the Fish Roundabout ever since the eyesore statue was installed. I have to concede that its’ local notoriety has now transformed into a kind of collective pride in that “it is so bad it is good”. At least it makes an easy landmark for people who are unfamiliar with the area. News reaches me that the Fish Roundabout, and the area adjacent to the station and Bexley Road is going to be even more of a bottle neck than ever during rush hour than normal. The long term plan is to build a brand new road bridge over the railway by Christ Church, but my understanding is that whilst this is on hold for budgetary reasons (a new, double width bridge would cost a fortune, cause even more disruption at what is a very bad bottleneck, and also cause problems for the Dartford to London via Greenwich railway line which runs underneath). From Monday the 28^th October, works will be started to reinforce, refurbish and then resurface the existing bridge. This is going to mean disruption to the trains, which cannot use the line whilst engineering is being carried out over the track; it is also likely to cause traffic problems on the road. I understand that diversions to southbound traffic that wants to head towards Northumberland Heath and Bexleyheath will be made. This will most likely mean that locals will have to allow a little longer for their car journey times. The bridge will not be closed either way for pedestrian use, so commuters travelling to and from Erith railway station should not be too inconvenienced. How the trains will be affected by the works, I am unsure. I would imagine that works will be carried out overnight when the railway has stopped its’ scheduled passenger services for the night, though this will still be a problem for freight operations, which tend to run round the clock. The whole thing will be a pain for all concerned; though nothing compared with when (if) the Council eventually bite the bullet and completely replace the bridge with one twice the width, as they originally intended, which I first wrote about back in May 2011, which you can read by clicking here. The fact that the Council have given the green light to the refurbishment work almost certainly signals that the bridge replacement has been kicked into the long grass for the next few years. No surprise there then.

I thought that British electronics manufacturer Binatone had disappeared years ago; around the time of the end of Woolworth's - who were a major outlet for the discount goods produced by Binatone. I was wrong. Carphone Warehouse are selling a range of new mobile phones, one of which you can see above. The new phone is called "The Brick" and it is a retro design harking back to the mobile telephones of the late 1980's and early 1990's. By modern standards it might look bulky and cumbersome, but it has a hidden advantage over modern smart phones - a truly staggering battery life. One charge will keep The Brick on standby for an amazing three months! You may be aware that I am not a fan of mobile phones, and don't actually own one at all - I understand that they have certain uses, but they just leave me cold - it is also very entertaining to see the look on people's faces when they ask for my mobile number, and I tell them that I don't have one! Nevertheless The Brick does have a degree of retro charm, based as it is on the design of the 1992 Motorola International 3200 model. Do feel free to leave a comment, or Email me directly with your thoughts to hugh.neal@gmail.com.

It seems quite ironic, following all of the issues I have recounted in relation to illegal fly tipping, and the actions of unscrupulous scrap collectors, that the News Shopper has reported this week, that the level of metal thefts reported in Kent have dropped for the second year running.  This is indeed good news. Reported thefts have more than halved; this seems to be due to a combination of factors – scrap dealers are now prohibited by law from offering cash for scrap metal – all transactions have to be made via a recognised bank account. Dealers also have to request photo identification such as a passport or driving licence from anyone wanting to sell them scrap. Whilst this has undoubtedly cut down the criminal metal theft, one other factor that may be an even bigger influence is the recent drop in scrap metal prices. For example, bright copper has dropped from £440 per tonne a year ago to £370 a tonne today – a still substantial amount, but when the drop in price is coupled with the stricter scrappage rules and the recent Police crackdown on unlicensed scrap dealers, it all adds up to an enterprise that is becoming less attractive to crooks.

Some time ago I featured Welling based beer house “The Door Hinge”. The place, a real ale only licenced premises located in a converted shop in Welling High Street has recently launched a new website which you can see here. A beer house, sometimes referred to as a micro pub, is a recently reintroduced phenomenon; they are generally converted from empty shop units, offer real ales and maybe a cider, along with soft drinks. They almost never offer spirits, and food other than snacks like crisps is usually not on offer. Beer houses are a return to a very old and traditional method of serving ale – historically beer houses were often operated from a room in a private house, and as such the licensing criteria were less strict than that required for a full public house. Modern beer houses are usually run as a hobby, or as an adjunct to another business, and as such are only open for a few hours each day, and tend to attract real ale enthusiasts. Most micro pubs are in Kent, for some unknown reason - there is a directory of them which you can see by clicking here. I will be making an updated report on The Door Hinge when I visit the place again in a couple of weeks.

Whilst travelling around the local area, I have encountered a couple of examples of technical archaeology, in the form of BSB "Squarials" - antennas used to receive the long defunct British Satellite Broadcasting Service, that was beaten in business by the technologically simpler, but cheaper and more reliable service from Sky. Much in the way that VHS beat the superior Betamax video recorder format a few years earlier. Twenty four years or so later, a very few people still have the defunct antennas attached to the outside of their houses - there is one I have seen in Northumberland Heath, and one in Barnehurst. They are now of some minor historical importance. Here is a video clip from "Tomorrow's World" from 1989, featuring Maggie Philbin comparing the two rival systems. Little was anyone to know that BSB would be beaten by Sky, and taken over by them not much more than a year later. It all looks horribly dated now, but back then this was cutting edge stuff. 

10,000 and up.

The photo above shows a wrecked phone kiosk in Manor Road earlier this week, after a car stolen by some local low lives had rammed into it. The kiosk was effectively destroyed; the next day it was removed by a couple of BT engineers, and it appears that it will not be replaced. You can read more about the incident on the Erith Watch website here. Please feel free to sign up and join Erith Watch - the site already has the support of both local MP's: Teresa Pearce (Labour) and David Evenett (Conservative). The website has been set up with the intent to become the "village notice board" for the neighbourhood watch and local community.

Cult E4 superhero television series Misfits is filmed on location in Thamesmead, mainly around Southmerere Lake, and the areas originally used by Stanley Kubrick when he filmed A Clockwork Orange in the town, back in 1971. I have not seen the show myself, but according to the article in the Telegraph on Saturday magazine yesterday, it is an influential and important piece of teen drama. It features a group of chav young offenders who gain super powers during an electrical storm, and their subsequent adventures. You can read more about the show by clicking here.

The Bexley Chronicle reports this week that both Bosworth and Carrack houses on Pier Road, Erith (see  the photo above - click for a larger view) are potentially threatened by fire, as thieves have stolen the bronze and gun metal fire hydrant fittings that form part of the dry risers on each floor of the blocks of flats. The worry is, if a fire broke out, the fire brigade would be unable to connect their hoses, or run any water up the building. This is a direct result of unlicensed scrap dealers and scumbags deliberately endangering life in order to make a quick buck by selling the somewhat unusual alloy. I understand that the stolen parts had been physically marked in order to deter metal thieves, but this did not have the desired effect; it strikes me that there is a local scrap merchant who is conspiring with the thieves, and is turning a blind eye to all the marked metal that is turning up on his doorstep. He is just as guilty as the people who are taking the fire fittings to my mind.

The classic Monty Python comic musical Spamalot is going to be visiting the Orchard Theatre in Dartford in April next year. You can read all about it here. I hope to be in the audience, as I missed it in its' award winning West End run.

You are probably wondering what the title of this weeks' blog entry signifies; well, since Blogger enabled statistical monitoring in June of this year, the humble Maggot Sandwich has been visited by something over ten thousand unique individuals since then. I am getting approximately three thousand hits a month; allowing for re - visits and mis - hits, this is a pretty satisfying number. I know that the local newspapers, police, politicians and other opinion formers read my weekly online submissions (why?) This week alone I have had nearly a thousand people from all over the world reading my humble meanderings. The screen shot above shows one of the statistic reporting views within the Blogger control panel. Click for a larger view.

I cannot understand why platform two of Dartford station does not get a blue plaque; it is where Mick Jagger and Keith Richards first met, and subsequently went on to form the Rolling Stones. There has been much in the press about Keith Richards and his new autobiography over the last couple of weeks, including a very interesting television interview, where he makes several mentions of his former home town. It strikes me as strange that Liverpool makes so much of its' connection with the Beatles, but Dartford seems almost faintly embarrassed by the Rolling Stones.

A slightly surreal photographic view of the Erith fish sculpture I took a while back. I still don't like it.

I had to spend a couple of hours in Medway Hospital at Gillingham on Friday. Part of my normal job of work involves identifying how people and processes work in the office or industrial environment, then analysing if technology could could be utilised to improve efficiency or change processes to make the business easier or run more smoothly. A bit like the old "time and motion" concept. As I was sitting in the hospital waiting room, I noticed that the reception desk had five receptionists, who seemed to spend as much time talking to each other as they did dealing with the long queue of patients who were waiting to register. I reckoned that in private industry you would have had two receptionists doing more work that the five. I also noticed that  although all patient records were online, there were also duplicate paper records in old fashioned folders that had to be looked out and taken to the relevant doctors' office for each patient - a lot of double handling and unnecessary work. There seemed to be a lot of people being paid to hang around and not do very much at all - some of the volunteer helpers appeared to be busier than the waged staff. No wonder the NHS is the UK's biggest employer. From the example at Gillingham, it would seem there is massive over employment within the health service.

Whilst making my way from Gillingham railway station to the hospital via the town centre, I was accosted by an extremely dirty and smelly scrote who appeared to be on his third or fourth can of Stella - at 8.30 in the morning. It would seem that it is not just the Woolwich and Erith area that suffers from these people. I do think that I seem to attract the unusual members of society. On my way back to Erith on the train, it stopped at Rochester to pick up passengers. A group of well - heeled Norwegian tourists boarded, after what would appear to have been a day sight seeing in and around historic Rochester. The chap that sat directly opposite me appeared to be suffering from both Autism and Aspergers Syndrome - at any case he was rocking back and forth in his seat and occasionally barking out what I took to be Norwegian swear words. His companions were obviously used to it, but I have to say although I had sympathy for the chap, it did leave me feeling somewhat uncomfortable. I suppose I could have moved elsewhere in the carriage, but that would have only signalled my feelings, and to be honest, it was not like the guy or his fellows were setting out to cause problems. Anyway, once the train arrived at Dartford I was able to change for one stopping at Erith, and the issue was at an end.

I was mortified in the week when I saw that rock God and all round icon of cool Lemmy of Motorhead has sold out, and is appearing in a TV commercial. I suppose it is his way of ensuring a comfortable retirement, but to appear on the telly, playing an acoustic version of "Ace of Spades" in an advert for that abominable devil's wee, the gassy and chemical laden Kronenbourg 1664 really is taking selling out to the limit. I thought more of him that that, but it would appear he too has feet of clay. I know it is a bit ironic embedding the commercial here. but if you have not seen the TV ad, it makes sense to make you aware just what depths Lemmy has sunk to, I am sorry to report.

I have come to the conclusion that the checkout staff in most major supermarkets have been trained in advanced interrogation techniques. Almost every time I visit, I get the third degree. "Would you like a savings voucher"? followed by "Would you like me to help you pack"? then supplemented with "Are you collecting the vouchers for schools"? I just want to get my groceries, pay for them and get home, not play the game of twenty questions.

This weeks' ending video is a bit of a plug for the forthcoming movie Tron: Legacy. I was a fan of the original movie, which was one of the first to make use of CGI, albeit in a rather primitive form. Things have moved on quite a bit now, and it will be interesting to see how the new film compares to the original. As always, please feel free to comment below - moderation will usually be completed within a day at most.

Platform Two and the Stones.

A yacht on the River Thames off Erith. I took the photo from Erith Pier last Sunday afternoon; it was bitterly cold and windy. In the background you can see part of the huge rubbish dump in Rainham, Essex. The Northerly wind blows dust and pollution from there straight into Erith, one of the reasons why we suffer from some of the worst air pollution in the United Kingdom. Still, it was nice to see members of Erith Yacht club braving the cold weather for what looked like some excellent sailing.

The photo above shows the M.V Folgefonn, the former Norwegian car ferry that has been used as the home for Erith Yatch Club for many years; I understand that it is being prepared for the sea journey back to Norway. It is being returned there now that the new Yacht club HQ is nearing completion, courtesy of a substantial National Lottery grant. Both the ferry and the new club HQ can be seen in the photo above - click for a larger version. In the background can be seen the Queen Elizabeth road bridge, which links Dartford in Kent, and Grays in Essex over the River Thames. I can see this view from my back garden. To see more of my photos, you can click here to visit my Flickr photo stream. Here is a photo of a scale model of the Folgefonn as she looked during WW2:

Those nice chaps from local free radio station WNKR are on their annual trip to the USA to attend the Short Wave Listeners convention at Kulpsville in Pennsylvania. As per last year, they have set up a blog with photos and video clips of their trip, but it is private, so you will just have to take my word for it. One thing that is not private is their customary American radio show, which as well as being transmitted over parts of America on FM, is also available streaming online. The four hour show, which runs as a loop can be heard by clicking here. Great stuff. If you want to drop them a line, their Email address is WNKR@rock.com.

An update from last weeks' posting; it turns out that Erith Police office may be some time from opening; apparently the authorities have decided that the building is too big to house just one Safer Neighbourhoods team, and are now planning to expand the office to house a total of four teams. This will mean some alteration to the existing structure, but in time will mean that the facility should be staffed pretty much full time, by the four overlapping Police teams, which can only be a good thing in the middle of the wild and lawless cesspit that is Erith town centre.

As you may be aware, before the 1997 hand gun ban, I was a keen and active licenced full bore pistol shooter. I was a weekly visitor to the Stone Lodge range at Dartford, and used to own a Glock 17, 9mm pistol. I was trained as a range safety master and qualified as an advanced pistol coach. The gun ban has done absolutely nothing to combat illegal gun ownership, or the level of firearms crime in the UK. Before the ban, legal gun owners were some of the most respectable and responsible members of society; before being granted a class 1 firearms certificate, we all had to be checked out by the Police, involving a number of detailed home security and applicability visits, and having clean bill of mental and physical health from ones' local GP.  Anyway, here is a video clip showing a new assault rifle that I feel would be a great improvement on the now venerable, unreliable and somewhat poorly made SA 80 5.56mm assault rifle currently used by the British Army. Here is the Tavor TA-21. See what you think from the video below.



My review of "The Boat that Rocked' (also known as "Pirate Radio" in the USA) has now been published in Popular Communications magazine. Thanks to Andy Walker for the photograph of the piece, which you can see below. Click on the picture for a larger view:

News just in; A 40 ton artillery gun has been put on permanent display at the Firepower Royal Artillery Museum at Woolwich, after being in storage for more than a decade. The Gibraltar Gun is one of the largest and heaviest objects in the Royal Artillery’s collection and will now be on display at Firepower. This type of heavy artillery was used to protect important coastal locations throughout the British Empire such as Dover and Hong Kong. I will be popping along to see it just as soon as this execrable bout of cold and inclement weather is over.

Bexley Council is once again accused of spying on its' residents - here is an excerpt from an article from the News Shopper:

At least 2.6 million households now have microchips in their bins which can be used to weigh the amount of waste used. Critics fear the chips will lead to "pay as you throw" charges. Bexley council revealed its microchip of choice was a radio frequency identification read-only tag, pre programmed with a unique number. Big Brother Watch's report, Lifting The Lid, found councils had spent more than £1 million installing the chips in the past year. Alex Deane, director of Big Brother Watch, criticised the "surreptitious" installation of the chips. He said: "The number of local councils placing microchips in bins is increasing, despite the fact that only one of them has volunteered to trial the Government's 'pay-as-you-throw' scheme. "Councils are waiting until the public aren't watching to begin surveillance on our waste habits, intruding into people's private lives and introducing punitive taxes on what we throw away." He added: "The British public doesn't want this technology, these fines or this intrusion. If local authorities have no intention to monitor our waste then they should end the surreptitious installation of these bin microchips." 

This follows on from a new practice that many local authorities and private individuals now have of discouraging or moving on chavs hanging around shopping centres and other municipal areas by fitting loudspeakers that play classical music - apparently the low lives hate anything that smacks of civilisation or high class, and disappear as soon as the music starts. There is an article about the practice here. Once again, I am a proponent of civil liberties, but my own line is drawn in the sand when it comes to low life chav scumbags. Nuke them until they glow, then shoot them in the dark. It is the only way.

Have you noticed that as soon as anything to do with the city of Liverpool is mentioned, it is almost inevitable that the Beatles will crop up in the conversation. The two are inextricably linked. One cannot say the same for the Rolling Stones. Most people are unaware that they started in Dartford, and the town seems almost embarrassed by the connection; some years ago there was a proposal to put a blue plaque on platform two of Dartford Station, to commemorate where Mick Jagger and Keith Richards first met, which soon led to them forming the world famous band. The proposal has seemed to evaporate into nothing, and the general public are still ignorant of the link between the medium sized town in Kent and the worldwide musical phenomenon. If this was America, the town would now be a Stones theme park.

This weeks' video is a new one; it shows Jimi Hendrix playing the Glastonbury Festival. Before you comment that he never played there, I know. A clever bit of digital manipulation and a pretty good video to boot.