Following my article last week on the imminent retirement of the PSTN analogue telephone system in the UK, it sparked a large response from readers, most notably from a very long time reader called Steve who had a very extensive and distinguished former career in the military. Some years ago he was awarded the MBE, and now resides in the West Country. He wrote to me earlier last week in response to my piece with his own experiences in respect of his now elderly mother. I reproduce his text in full below, with his permission. In my opinion, it does not make for confidence inspiring reading. Steve writes:-"After my Dad died and my Mum returned home (alone), we had a lifeline installed by the local authority. Because the house was already on fibre, the installer advised us to contact the phone & wifi supplier to order back up battery's (BBUs), for both the router and fibre box, to prevent loss of service during a power cut. Her provider is one of the companies that has signed up to the scheme to provide these free of charge to vulnerable customers with medical equipment connected to the network. I took me 8 weeks, 5 phone calls, 2 forms and 3 e-mails to finally get the correct equipment delivered. The challenge of getting this done is now under investigation by both the provider and Ofcom, although to date I have had no response from the provider. The greatest challenge was getting the call centre staff to understand the problem and then ensure the right boxes were ticked on their system. They simply did not understand the difference between a power cut causing the phone line to stop working versus a guarantee to quickly rectify a fault on the line (that their vulnerable customer service seems to be aimed at). I also took dispute with the necessity to have 'no mobile phone back up' as a qualifying criteria for a BBU, because a fall or medical incident requiring use of the lifeline is not automatically covered by the presence of a mobile phone (i.e. a fall in the shower). I am determined to push this issue because, as you mentioned last week, the fibre switch is going to put at risk numerous current lifeline users - many of whom may not have anyone to support them to get the BBUs they need to remain safe. *As an aside for anyone reading this who faces the same problem; having now received the equipment (which replaces the router and fibre box AC/DC adapters with battery-embedded versions), a normal computer-type uninterrupted power supply (UPS) is just as good if the exiting router and fibre adapters are just plugged in to it".
A death was announced in the specialist music press last week, but unfortunately it was almost completely ignored by the mainstream media organisations. Yet the deceased was hugely influential in 1960's and early 1970's music technology, and was a massive influence on the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, among many others. The man's name was Del Casher, an American who collaborated with a local company with a large manufacturing facility that used to exist on what is nowadays the large housing estate adjacent to West Street, Erith. Del Casher was a session musician, a performer, a composer and studio producer in addition to being an inventor. He died of cancer in Los Angeles aged 88 in October, although his death was only reported on the 9th of November. In the mid to late 1960's, he worked closely with Dick Denney of JMI / Vox. The Vox factory in Erith was formerly the Vickers factory which used to be located in Nordenfeldt Road, off West Street. The factory had several owners over its life; after Vickers no longer had need of it, the place was sold to a company called Elizabethan Electronics, who made radios and record players primarily for domestic use; when the company relocated to a new factory in Romford in the early 1960’s the place was sold on to Jennings Musical Industries (JMI), a company that was soon to be better known by the name of their best known products – the Vox range of guitar amplifiers. Dick Denney lived for many years in a house in Halt Robin Road in Upper Belvedere, and was one of the main creative and engineering sources at the JMI / Vox factory in Nordenfeldt Road, off West Street - photo above - click on it to see a larger view. Casher and Denney collaborated on one of their most influential musical hardware designs, the Wah Wah pedal, A sound effect that was employed by numerous musicians, most famously by Jimi Hendrix. The prototype of the pedal was a modified Vox Continental organ volume pedal, which the two inventors modified with additional tone controls and audio filters. Determined to demonstrate what the pedal could do, he recorded a promotional album showcasing its possibilities across blues, jazz, rock, country and other styles. He then took the prototype to music stores and industry events in the USA, demonstrating the effect to guitarists and trying to generate interest. The response was initially disappointing. Del Casher eventually found a more receptive audience in Frank Zappa, with whom he had worked before the Wah-Wah's development. According to Casher, he gave Zappa a pedal and encouraged him to introduce the effect to Jimi Hendrix. Zappa helped bring it to Hendrix's attention, and the guitarist would go on to make the Wah-Wah an integral part of his sound. Hendrix's use of the effect on his groundbreaking 1968 album Electric Ladyland helped establish it as one of rock's defining guitar sounds. His performance at Woodstock the following year further cemented its place in the electric guitar vocabulary. Other major players quickly embraced the effect. Eric Clapton put it to memorable use with Cream on "White Room," while Jimmy Page, David Gilmour and Tony Iommi were among the guitarists who incorporated its distinctive vocal quality into their own playing. The Wah-Wah would become a staple of rock, funk and countless other styles. The pedals were mainly made in the Nordenfeldt Road factory, but some were made under licence in the USA by the Thomas Organ Company.
Over the past year or so, the residents of Slade Green and Erith have suffered an ongoing series of major roadworks causing disruption to local traffic, bus diversions and all kinds of serious inconvenience. There have been major long-term issues such as the closure of Fraser Road in Erith for the best part of 12 months whilst the drainage was replaced in the major road, which caused serious problems for a number of small, independent local businesses. In June of this year, Manor Road in Erith was completely closed to traffic for 2 weeks due to a burst water main. Ironically, the leak had been originally reported 6 months prior to any action being taken, but Thames Water did nothing about it, meaning that the leak became progressively worse, and presumably much more expensive to repair because of their earlier apparent negligence. Coincidentally, on Friday morning the temporary traffic lights shown in the photo above - click on it to see a larger view - were set up in exactly the same place as the original June major roadworks. This time it was apparently to regulate traffic not only in Manor Road but that coming to and from the Frobisher Road housing estate. The reason for this was some kind of remedial engineering work taking place on the corner of Frobisher Road and Manor Road. This was ironic as no workers were on site apart from to deliver the temporary traffic light, and set up road cones and temporary signage. After this they left site, and no work was undertaken whatsoever.
