After all of the controversy surrounding last year's licence application by the owners of The White Hart African Restaurant and Wine Bar at 44 Erith High Street, and their rejected request to open until 5am every day of the week, I was hoping that the restaurant would settle down and become an active part of the local community. Proper sit down restaurants are not as common as many would like in Erith, and anything that would encourage more local night life should be welcomed. Unfortunately The White Hart seems not to be living up to that ideal. It was recently examined by health inspectors from Bexley Council, and ended up with a deplorable one star out of a possible five on the "Scores on the Doors" food hygiene rating website. Bearing in mind the kitchen installation is only eight months old, and was apparently brand new when installed, it beggars belief into what must have happened in less than a year to qualify it for a one star health rating. I have had reports from a couple of trusted local sources that on top of the poor standard of hygiene, the food produced by the restaurant is of dubious quality - one local critic wrote "it looked like it came out of a tin". Another customer wrote that:- "We were seated at 7.30pm. I received my food 9.42pm. The last person received their food after 10pm. There was no kind gesture, or proper apology. No discount off the bill for poor service. They admitted that the mistake was on their part but didn’t see how they could ensure that customers left feeling satisfied. Restaurants stay afloat because customers come in and choose to spend their money there. If they have to wait 2.5 hours for food that was pre ordered days in advance, this is considered poor service. The manager refused to be a part of this conversation. They left a server to deal with a matter that was beyond her. I am deeply disappointed with this service and the lack of compassion and lack of professionalism!" It would also seem from the photographs posted online on various social media channels, that the former pub beer cellar, which has been converted into a VIP lounge would appear to be in regular use, despite the licence condition that the cellar could not be used as it did not have a fire exit, which contravenes health and safety legislation, and also, if true, would be in breach of the building's fire certificate. I attended the council licencing meeting for The White Hart, and was present when a senior Bexley fire officer underlined this fact. This is all very disappointing. I was hoping that The White Hart would become a destination venue for the town, and a lead venue in regenerating night time socialisation in Erith; at present many people - if they go out at all - journey to Bexleyheath, Dartford or Bluewater, rather than eat and drink locally. This also is disappointing when one considers that the food health standards in Bexley have been improving markedly over the last few years. Bexley continues to be one of the highest rated places to eat out in London. Figures released by The Food Standards Agency (FSA) for 2018/19 show that 93.4 percent of food businesses in Bexley are rated at 3, 4, or 5. This is higher than the 90.5 percent rating for the whole of London. The food hygiene ratings scheme scores food businesses from 5 to 0. The ratings are: 5 - very good; 4 - good; 3 - generally satisfactory; 2 - some improvement is necessary; 1 - major improvement is necessary; 0 - urgent improvement is required. Food safety officers from the Council inspect businesses to check that it follows food hygiene law so that the food is safe to eat. Food hygiene ratings are given to restaurants, pubs, cafes, takeaways, food vans and stalls, canteens, hotels, supermarkets and other food shops, schools, hospitals and care homes. The allocated score is supposed to be displayed both at the premises and online, although low scoring premises often use fake ratings stickers, or re - use previously issued stickers with higher ratings. Currently it is not compulsory for food outlets to display their "Scores on the Doors" ratings - however much this might be desirable. What do you think? Have you eaten at The White Hart? What was your opinion of the food and the service? Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com with your thoughts.
Yesterday the London Evening Standard published a story which damned the local area with faint praise, and made a factually inaccurate statement - the article read:- "With an average asking price of £305,700, the riverfront area of Erith in south-east London is the cheapest place to buy in the capital. It’s not currently the most prepossessing spot – it's surrounded by sewage works and industrial estates – but you can buy a detached house for under £500,000 and there is change on the horizon. There are new-build three-bedroom houses for less than £400,000 at The Quarry, which describes itself as an eco-development with 600 new homes, a primary school, park and play areas. Help to Buy is available on the scheme. In the as yet undetermined medium to long term the area will also benefit from Crossrail stops at Abbey Wood and Woolwich once the new line is finally up and running. Erith’s western neighbour, Thamesmead, is the second cheapest place to buy in London with an average price of £309,400". You can read the whole of the original article by clicking here.
Did you know that Gmail in the UK is fifteen years old in the this week? Google announced the (then) revolutionary browser based Email client in the USA on April 1st 2004, and released it in the UK later in June. Many industry pundits at the time thought the whole thing was an elaborate April Fool’s Day hoax – who would ever offer each and every user an online message storage capacity of 1 Gigabyte – five hundred times the capacity of the then market leader, Microsoft’s Hotmail? As history shows, it was anything but a trick – it was the single most important release Google had made to date since it launched its search engine in 1998. Gmail was revolutionary for a number of important reasons: It has vast storage, a very zippy and responsive user interface that was well thought out, user friendly and intuitive. It also had a very powerful message search function, which other browser based Email solutions were not able to replicate. On top of this, it was the first major cloud based application that was feature complete and capable of replacing conventional PC software, rather than complimenting it. Gmail was started by a chap called Paul Buchheit – a (then) young software engineer, who was Google’s 23rd employee. He wanted a tool that would search through his archived Email messages, and realising nothing suitable was available, decided to write a search function himself. Initially the Email search engine was running on an old PC on his desk; then other Google engineers asked if they could use Paul Buchheit’s search engine to search their own emails. At the time, the likes of Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail had little or no inbuilt search functionality – but then, it was not really a priority when users were limited to twenty megabytes of storage, and were having to continually delete messages in order to keep under their storage limit. Messages were hard to lose when the limits were so small. Gmail gave users a Gigabyte of storage – all for free. Initially the web based Gmail was a product only used within Google itself. The company managed much of its business via Email, and having an in – house solution made a lot of sense to them. A decision was made to offer the web application (a first – previous web based Email clients from other vendors had been clunky and dog – slow efforts written in HTML – every time something changed on screen, the whole page needed to be reloaded, which was slow and flickery and gave a very poor user experience – something Google were keen to avoid). Instead Google wanted Gmail to feel like an installed application that one merely happened to be accessing via a web browser – something revolutionary at the time, and not that common nowadays. With Gmail, Paul Buchheit worked around HTML’s limitations by using highly interactive JavaScript code. That made it feel more like software than a sequence of web pages. Before long, the approach would get the moniker AJAX, which stood for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML; today, it is how all web applications like FaceBook and Google Docs are built. But when Gmail was pioneering the technique, it wasn’t clear that it was going to work. The fundamental issue was that back in 2002/3, when Gmail was being developed, web browsers were far less sophisticated than nowadays. The problem with using large chunks of JavaScript programming code to make a slick, quick web experience was that Internet Explorer 6 (by far the most widely used web browser at the time) was pretty poor at handling JavaScript, (actually IE6 was pretty poor at everything, but that is another story). Google were worried that by making a sophisticated, cutting edge product, they would end up crashing Internet Explorer 6 every so often, which would annoy and alienate their key user base. Eventually the quirks and shortcomings of Internet Explorer 6 were tamed, and Gmail was ready for release. Initially it was going to be offered to a limited number of public Beta testers (I was one of these people – I have one of the first 1,500 Gmail user accounts ever created). Google were so unsure of how Gmail would be received that they initially hosted the entire service on three hundred old Pentium III computers that nobody else at Google wanted, and were otherwise going into the recycling skip. The initial limited run of accounts was soon boosted, as a Gmail address became the new, fashionable thing to have – the scarcity made it cool. Not everything was going Google’s way though. The Gmail business model, which was (and still is) based on scanning the message text, and serving up discreet, context sensitive adverts was not universally well received. A U.S politician, California State Senator Liz Figueroa sent Google a letter of her own, calling Gmail a “disaster of enormous proportions, for yourself, and for all of your customers.” She went on to draft a bill requiring, among other things, that any company that wanted to scan an email message for advertising purposes get the consent of the person who sent it. (By the time the California Senate passed the law, cooler heads prevailed and that obligation had been eliminated.) Nevertheless, if ultimate privacy is a concern of yours, Gmail is not for you. Despite this, the last time Google released usage figures was back in 2012; at that time Gmail had 425 million active and frequently used accounts - it is now thought that figure comfortably exceeds 1.4 billion, which suggests to me that discomfort with Google’s approach to online advertising is a minority concern (either that, or many people know no better, which is a possibility). Compared with Hotmail (now Outlook.com) the look and feel of Gmail has changed little – any updates and changes are incremental and subtly performed; Google realise that a substantial portion of their customers value the familiarity of the application, and don’t want change for change’s sake. Whatever your views, Gmail has come a hell of a long way in the last fifteen years, and it is a cornerstone of many people’s lives. Happy Birthday Gmail.
Last night I attended the final performance of Spamalot, performed by members of Erith Playhouse. It was a sell - out show of the classic Monty Python comedy musical. Incidentally the production made history - it was the first time that Spamalot had been performed by an amateur theatre company - all other shows until now had been professionally presented. It was a wonderful - if extremely hot evening, and a very entertaining play. You can read a review of the Erith Playhouse production of Spamalot by clicking here. Click on either of the photographs above to see a larger version. You can visit the Erith Playhouse website by clicking here.
Once again Belvedere has come out with the dubious distinction of being the hardest place in the UK to pass your driving test, with a pass rate of just 31 per cent over the last decade. December is the least fruitful of months, with success rates declining as low as 29 per cent, the recently reported statistics suggest. The national average of passes is just over 50 per cent. If you sit your driving test in Scotland, you have a far higher chance of passing - go to Campbeltown, Argyll and Bute where it is 73 per cent, rising to an incredible 90 per cent in May. Quite why it is so difficult to pass your driving test in Belvedere is not clear; if any reader can cast light on this situation, please feel free to contact me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.
It would seem that after several years of on / off negotiations, the theme park that has been so long planned for North Kent is not only back on, but the original partner - Paramount - who backed out of the huge project, are now suddenly back on board. The theme park was originally due to open this year, but has now been delayed until some point yet to be determined. It is to be located on the Swanscombe Peninsula, which will feature Europe’s largest indoor water park, theatres, live music venues, attractions, cinemas, restaurants, event space and hotels. Allied to the project will be a training academy for the entertainment and hospitality sectors, a new country park, a large science and education visitor complex and the biggest performing arts centre in Europe. The plans for the park received considerable backing from the British government when Paramount London became the first commercial venture to be awarded Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project status allowing the developers to bypass local planning requirements. It will involve at least 25,000 permanent full and part time jobs in an area which has exceptionally high regional unemployment. An area estimated to stretch between Dover and Greenwich will benefit from the jobs and money that the theme park will generate. The theme park have hired a new Chief Executive in the form of PY Gerbeau, who famously took on the failed Millennium Dome project, prior to its conversion into the successful O2 Arena that it is today. London Resort Company Holdings (LRCH) said in a recent press interview:- “The new partnership with Paramount is fantastic news for everyone. Now the best of Hollywood will be joining the best of British from BBC Studios and ITV Studios, to create amazing and unique experiences for the whole family. I am delighted to join The London Resort and to play my part in helping to create a world-class destination to rival all others. Central to that strategy is to partner with the best brands from across TV, film, music and entertainment. Having Paramount on board is a major step towards realising that ambition". I suppose that the pessimist in me says that Paramount have dropped out once before; I can see no guarantee that they won't do it again. Having said that, with intellectual property from the BBC and ITV, along with Paramount, if the theme park does indeed go ahead, it will be a huge benefit to the entire region in terms of jobs and prosperity that will follow. Three times larger than other UK parks, it will have 200 acres dedicated to rides and experiences and a bespoke entertainment district devoted to a full-suite of hospitality experiences including the provision of thousands of hotel rooms. This is inevitably going to push up the local house prices, and the areas such as the North of the London Borough of Bexley are almost certain to be disproportionately affected. If you are contemplating purchasing a property in Erith, Slade Green or the surrounding towns, I would strongly advise you to do it as soon as possible, as prices are set to go through the roof.
I was pretty much self taught in computing; when I was at school, computer studies was a very new field, and generally maths teachers were given the job of teaching pupils about computers. Some were excellent, many had little training and less aptitude for the job. At my school, a fair number of pupils knew way more than the computer studies teacher. I recall the time when my friend Roy and I rewrote the CP/M operating system disk on the school’s solitary Research Machines 380Z so that instead of saying on boot up “Research Machines 380Z Basic (C) RM 1979” it said “Washing Machines 380Z Basic (C) Hugh and Roy”. The teacher went ballistic – saying “you’ve broken the computer” and banning us from the computer room for a month. He could not grasp the fact that we had copied the operating system onto a fresh floppy disc, and only made changes to the copy. This kind of innocent (and sometimes not so innocent) tinkering was a key way we learned how to program and also modify computer hardware. It also helped that this all happened at the beginning of the home computer revolution in 1981/82. The BBC Micro, the Sinclair ZX81, and a little later the ZX Spectrum, and a host of other pioneering machines were making their way into the bedrooms of children all over the UK. Compared with kids in the USA, who had Apple II‘s and IBM PC’s, which at the time had a substantially greater amount of processing clout, us Brits were struggling with computers with very limited resources indeed. Back then almost all kids could program their computers with a varying degree of skill. My own programming abilities were okay – my BASIC programming code was horribly inelegant and messy, but it usually worked – in the end. Since these golden days of the dawn of the home computer age, things have changes in many ways, some for the better, but many for the worse. School children have not been taught programming for years; instead computer studies lessons are mainly in how to use Microsoft Office or other proprietary applications. This was until as recently as 2012, when a charitable organisation called the Raspberry Pi Foundation was established. They are a not for profit group aiming to promote children learning programming by using a Raspberry Pi computer - a cheap and easy to use personal computer, which has just been updated to its fourth incarnation. Raspberry Pi computers are a partial return to simple, easy to use and learn computers; in spirit very similar to the original Sinclair ZX Spectrum, although in reality many magnitudes more powerful. It has been commented that the new model 4 Raspberry Pi is actually more powerful that the Cray 1 Supercomputer, which, in 1976 was the most powerful computer on the planet. The photo above shows my own Raspberry Pi 3 model B+ - it is inside the small black box a little smaller than a kitchen matchbox next to the monitor. I use it as my backup computer; it runs a version of Linux designed for the Raspberry Pi. I will be upgrading it to the new model 4 in due course. Click on the photo above for a larger view.
Now for the weekly local safety and security updates from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association, firstly a report from Barnehurst ward:- "Yet another week goes by and no burglaries on Barnehurst Ward so good news there. We have just had one incident of vehicle crime, this took place in Twigg Close on Tuesday 25th June 2019 at 2.00pm. A Grey Yamaha Vity Motorbike Registration number LY62 GJO was stolen from outside the victim's property. The victim heard the alarm sound and on looking out he saw the motorbike being driven away, the lock to the bike had also been broken. The suspect riding the bike was wearing a brown Nike fleece type jacket and was not wearing a helmet. Three other suspects on motorbikes were seen driving off too. If you have any Information regarding this Incident please contact us. Our next community contact session is on Tuesday 2nd July 2019 at 11.00am, Barnehurst Golf Club". Belvedere ward:- "The team have visited the Smerdon Centre in Lumley Close in relation to damage to the roof that was caused recently and have also been patrolling around Nuxley Road and the Albert Road park area as we have been informed that there are incidents of criminal damage (in the park) and youths gaining access to the rooftops of certain shops. These patrols will continue for the foreseeable future as these incidents appear to be continuing. We were able to return a found wallet to the owner recently – many thanks to those helpful members of the public that were kind enough to approach the team to hand the found item to us. Happy to report that the wallet was not stolen, just lost. The team witnessed an off road bike being driven in Halt Robin Road and Lower Road last weekend, the rider of which refused to stop and speak to us. The team believe we have identified the rider and will be visiting his home address in the coming days. We have had a report of a strong cannabis smell lingering around Battle Road / Stanmore Road / Glendale Road. We have been unable to place where it is coming from yet. If anyone has any ideas or know where it is emanating please get in touch". Bexleyheath ward:- "There has been no reports of burglaries or attempted burglaries on the ward Along Martin Dene Bexleyheath there was a report of a theft from motor vehicle that seemed to have happened overnight between Tuesday 18/06/2019 & Wednesday 19/06/2019; A theft of purse was reported along the Broadway Bexleyheath on Wednesday 19/06/2019. No exact time or location was given. There has been three report of phones being taken. One was taken from the victims pocket in TKMAX, reported on Saturday 22/06/2019. Another one reported stolen from Costa Coffee shop in the Broadway on the same day – Saturday 22/06/2019. The others had their phone stolen along Belvedere Road Bexleyheath on Thursday 20/06/2019. Phone was taken from victims hand whilst suspect was riding a bike. There was also a report of cash taken from the victims pocket on Sunday 23/06/2019 in the Lidl Store in Bexleyheath; Thursday 20/06/2019 - Four males stopped by the bowling alley Bexleyheath and one was found to be in possession of cannabis. Also a PND was also issued for possession of cannabis which was also by the Bowling alley. On Tuesday evening the ward panel meeting took place and new ward priorities have now been set, these are now as follows: - Tackle Drug Dealing along Methuen Road, Hawthorn Road, Oaklands Road, & Sherbrooke Close; - ASB with bikes/youths along Braeside Close and Bursted Woods including the surrounding roads; - An increase use of social media regarding information around theft of purses along the Broadway. The team regularly conduct patrols along drug hot spot areas and ASB areas on the ward and conduct regular stops and searches where necessary". Crayford ward:- "Tools were stolen from a blue Peugeot 307 whilst parked at Tower Retail Park on Monday 17th June at 11.55. A white Mercedes Sprinter (number plate YF18FXW) was stolen from Crayford Way in the early hours of Friday 21st June, no keys were used. Between 22.00 on Friday 21st June and Sunday 22nd June at 07.00 a wing mirror which had been turned in on a Citroen whilst parked at Perry Street was forcefully kicked off. Criminal damage was caused to five vehicles whilst parked at Bookers Cash and Carry on Monday 24th June, it is believed that the suspects of this were going to rob other vehicles. On Wednesday 26th June between 19.00-19.05 there was an attempted robbery in Watling Street, the male was walking towards London Road when he was approached by two Males on a moped who attempted to rob him. Number plates RF66ONB were stolen from Swale Motor Group at Thames Road on between 17.30 on Thursday 20th June and 08.30 on Friday 21st June. These plates are registered to a grey three door Fiesta. Criminal damage was caused to vehicles parked at Crayford Industrial Estate by males in a black Volkswagen on Monday 24th June at 12.30. In the early hours of Monday 24th June a suspect attempted to turn and push away a motorcycle parked in Woodside Road, luckily it was well secured. The Crayford Ward Panel meeting was held at Vintage Lindy Lou's on Tuesday 25th June, our thanks to Fay for refreshments. The new ward promises are Anti-social behaviour and preventing burglary. There will be no community contact sessions for the next two weeks". Erith ward:- "We spoke about scams and took questions from members of the public in Erith Library. This small event went well and we will be looking at doing this again soon. Weapon sweeps have been carried out across Erith. Nothing of note has been found which is a good thing. The next Community Contact Session is at Erith Costa Coffee on Saturday 29th June 2019 at 5pm. Crimes of note - Theft from motor vehicle Tuesday 18/06/2019 Bexley Road; Theft from motor vehicle Thursday 20/06/2019 James Watt Way; Criminal Damage motor vehicle Thursday 20/06/2019 Maximfeldt Road; Theft from motor vehicle Monday 24/06/2019 Vickers Road; Theft from motor vehicle Sunday; 23/06/2019 Fraser House, Fraser Road; Theft of motor vehicle Monday 24/06/2019; C/Dam Vehicle Sunday 23/06/2019 Erith Road; Theft of motor vehicle Tuesday 25/06/2019 Compton Place; Theft of MV Wednesday 26/06/2019 Arran Close". Northumberland Heath ward:- "PCSO Lorraine has been conducting patrols on Bexley Road in relation to an increase of ASB, She has also visited the affected venues and gathered CCTV footage and liaised with local schools and managed to identify 3 of the main youths causing this ASB. Joint home visits will be arranged in conjunction with a member of the Bexley council ASB team. There have been no burglaries on the ward this week. This is good news, however Please do remember to keep doors and windows locked and secured when you leave your premises. In the warmer weather it is more likely your windows are open, so just be mindful to remember to check your property from top to bottom and make sure all windows are secure. There have been a number of Motor vehicle crimes of note as follows: Friday 21st June there was criminal damage to a motor vehicle parked on Swanton Road; Sunday 23rd June there was criminal damage to three motor vehicle parked on Belmont Road. (same suspect caused all 3); Monday 24th June a Grey Ford Transit Van was stolen from Swanton Road; Monday 24th June a Blue Honda Motorbike was stolen from Brooke street. Our next community contact session is on Thursday 4th July at 11am in the Mill Road Library, please do come along and meet a member of the team and discuss any issues or concerns you have, or just pop in and say hello".
It would seem that after several years of on / off negotiations, the theme park that has been so long planned for North Kent is not only back on, but the original partner - Paramount - who backed out of the huge project, are now suddenly back on board. The theme park was originally due to open this year, but has now been delayed until some point yet to be determined. It is to be located on the Swanscombe Peninsula, which will feature Europe’s largest indoor water park, theatres, live music venues, attractions, cinemas, restaurants, event space and hotels. Allied to the project will be a training academy for the entertainment and hospitality sectors, a new country park, a large science and education visitor complex and the biggest performing arts centre in Europe. The plans for the park received considerable backing from the British government when Paramount London became the first commercial venture to be awarded Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project status allowing the developers to bypass local planning requirements. It will involve at least 25,000 permanent full and part time jobs in an area which has exceptionally high regional unemployment. An area estimated to stretch between Dover and Greenwich will benefit from the jobs and money that the theme park will generate. The theme park have hired a new Chief Executive in the form of PY Gerbeau, who famously took on the failed Millennium Dome project, prior to its conversion into the successful O2 Arena that it is today. London Resort Company Holdings (LRCH) said in a recent press interview:- “The new partnership with Paramount is fantastic news for everyone. Now the best of Hollywood will be joining the best of British from BBC Studios and ITV Studios, to create amazing and unique experiences for the whole family. I am delighted to join The London Resort and to play my part in helping to create a world-class destination to rival all others. Central to that strategy is to partner with the best brands from across TV, film, music and entertainment. Having Paramount on board is a major step towards realising that ambition". I suppose that the pessimist in me says that Paramount have dropped out once before; I can see no guarantee that they won't do it again. Having said that, with intellectual property from the BBC and ITV, along with Paramount, if the theme park does indeed go ahead, it will be a huge benefit to the entire region in terms of jobs and prosperity that will follow. Three times larger than other UK parks, it will have 200 acres dedicated to rides and experiences and a bespoke entertainment district devoted to a full-suite of hospitality experiences including the provision of thousands of hotel rooms. This is inevitably going to push up the local house prices, and the areas such as the North of the London Borough of Bexley are almost certain to be disproportionately affected. If you are contemplating purchasing a property in Erith, Slade Green or the surrounding towns, I would strongly advise you to do it as soon as possible, as prices are set to go through the roof.
I was pretty much self taught in computing; when I was at school, computer studies was a very new field, and generally maths teachers were given the job of teaching pupils about computers. Some were excellent, many had little training and less aptitude for the job. At my school, a fair number of pupils knew way more than the computer studies teacher. I recall the time when my friend Roy and I rewrote the CP/M operating system disk on the school’s solitary Research Machines 380Z so that instead of saying on boot up “Research Machines 380Z Basic (C) RM 1979” it said “Washing Machines 380Z Basic (C) Hugh and Roy”. The teacher went ballistic – saying “you’ve broken the computer” and banning us from the computer room for a month. He could not grasp the fact that we had copied the operating system onto a fresh floppy disc, and only made changes to the copy. This kind of innocent (and sometimes not so innocent) tinkering was a key way we learned how to program and also modify computer hardware. It also helped that this all happened at the beginning of the home computer revolution in 1981/82. The BBC Micro, the Sinclair ZX81, and a little later the ZX Spectrum, and a host of other pioneering machines were making their way into the bedrooms of children all over the UK. Compared with kids in the USA, who had Apple II‘s and IBM PC’s, which at the time had a substantially greater amount of processing clout, us Brits were struggling with computers with very limited resources indeed. Back then almost all kids could program their computers with a varying degree of skill. My own programming abilities were okay – my BASIC programming code was horribly inelegant and messy, but it usually worked – in the end. Since these golden days of the dawn of the home computer age, things have changes in many ways, some for the better, but many for the worse. School children have not been taught programming for years; instead computer studies lessons are mainly in how to use Microsoft Office or other proprietary applications. This was until as recently as 2012, when a charitable organisation called the Raspberry Pi Foundation was established. They are a not for profit group aiming to promote children learning programming by using a Raspberry Pi computer - a cheap and easy to use personal computer, which has just been updated to its fourth incarnation. Raspberry Pi computers are a partial return to simple, easy to use and learn computers; in spirit very similar to the original Sinclair ZX Spectrum, although in reality many magnitudes more powerful. It has been commented that the new model 4 Raspberry Pi is actually more powerful that the Cray 1 Supercomputer, which, in 1976 was the most powerful computer on the planet. The photo above shows my own Raspberry Pi 3 model B+ - it is inside the small black box a little smaller than a kitchen matchbox next to the monitor. I use it as my backup computer; it runs a version of Linux designed for the Raspberry Pi. I will be upgrading it to the new model 4 in due course. Click on the photo above for a larger view.
Now for the weekly local safety and security updates from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association, firstly a report from Barnehurst ward:- "Yet another week goes by and no burglaries on Barnehurst Ward so good news there. We have just had one incident of vehicle crime, this took place in Twigg Close on Tuesday 25th June 2019 at 2.00pm. A Grey Yamaha Vity Motorbike Registration number LY62 GJO was stolen from outside the victim's property. The victim heard the alarm sound and on looking out he saw the motorbike being driven away, the lock to the bike had also been broken. The suspect riding the bike was wearing a brown Nike fleece type jacket and was not wearing a helmet. Three other suspects on motorbikes were seen driving off too. If you have any Information regarding this Incident please contact us. Our next community contact session is on Tuesday 2nd July 2019 at 11.00am, Barnehurst Golf Club". Belvedere ward:- "The team have visited the Smerdon Centre in Lumley Close in relation to damage to the roof that was caused recently and have also been patrolling around Nuxley Road and the Albert Road park area as we have been informed that there are incidents of criminal damage (in the park) and youths gaining access to the rooftops of certain shops. These patrols will continue for the foreseeable future as these incidents appear to be continuing. We were able to return a found wallet to the owner recently – many thanks to those helpful members of the public that were kind enough to approach the team to hand the found item to us. Happy to report that the wallet was not stolen, just lost. The team witnessed an off road bike being driven in Halt Robin Road and Lower Road last weekend, the rider of which refused to stop and speak to us. The team believe we have identified the rider and will be visiting his home address in the coming days. We have had a report of a strong cannabis smell lingering around Battle Road / Stanmore Road / Glendale Road. We have been unable to place where it is coming from yet. If anyone has any ideas or know where it is emanating please get in touch". Bexleyheath ward:- "There has been no reports of burglaries or attempted burglaries on the ward Along Martin Dene Bexleyheath there was a report of a theft from motor vehicle that seemed to have happened overnight between Tuesday 18/06/2019 & Wednesday 19/06/2019; A theft of purse was reported along the Broadway Bexleyheath on Wednesday 19/06/2019. No exact time or location was given. There has been three report of phones being taken. One was taken from the victims pocket in TKMAX, reported on Saturday 22/06/2019. Another one reported stolen from Costa Coffee shop in the Broadway on the same day – Saturday 22/06/2019. The others had their phone stolen along Belvedere Road Bexleyheath on Thursday 20/06/2019. Phone was taken from victims hand whilst suspect was riding a bike. There was also a report of cash taken from the victims pocket on Sunday 23/06/2019 in the Lidl Store in Bexleyheath; Thursday 20/06/2019 - Four males stopped by the bowling alley Bexleyheath and one was found to be in possession of cannabis. Also a PND was also issued for possession of cannabis which was also by the Bowling alley. On Tuesday evening the ward panel meeting took place and new ward priorities have now been set, these are now as follows: - Tackle Drug Dealing along Methuen Road, Hawthorn Road, Oaklands Road, & Sherbrooke Close; - ASB with bikes/youths along Braeside Close and Bursted Woods including the surrounding roads; - An increase use of social media regarding information around theft of purses along the Broadway. The team regularly conduct patrols along drug hot spot areas and ASB areas on the ward and conduct regular stops and searches where necessary". Crayford ward:- "Tools were stolen from a blue Peugeot 307 whilst parked at Tower Retail Park on Monday 17th June at 11.55. A white Mercedes Sprinter (number plate YF18FXW) was stolen from Crayford Way in the early hours of Friday 21st June, no keys were used. Between 22.00 on Friday 21st June and Sunday 22nd June at 07.00 a wing mirror which had been turned in on a Citroen whilst parked at Perry Street was forcefully kicked off. Criminal damage was caused to five vehicles whilst parked at Bookers Cash and Carry on Monday 24th June, it is believed that the suspects of this were going to rob other vehicles. On Wednesday 26th June between 19.00-19.05 there was an attempted robbery in Watling Street, the male was walking towards London Road when he was approached by two Males on a moped who attempted to rob him. Number plates RF66ONB were stolen from Swale Motor Group at Thames Road on between 17.30 on Thursday 20th June and 08.30 on Friday 21st June. These plates are registered to a grey three door Fiesta. Criminal damage was caused to vehicles parked at Crayford Industrial Estate by males in a black Volkswagen on Monday 24th June at 12.30. In the early hours of Monday 24th June a suspect attempted to turn and push away a motorcycle parked in Woodside Road, luckily it was well secured. The Crayford Ward Panel meeting was held at Vintage Lindy Lou's on Tuesday 25th June, our thanks to Fay for refreshments. The new ward promises are Anti-social behaviour and preventing burglary. There will be no community contact sessions for the next two weeks". Erith ward:- "We spoke about scams and took questions from members of the public in Erith Library. This small event went well and we will be looking at doing this again soon. Weapon sweeps have been carried out across Erith. Nothing of note has been found which is a good thing. The next Community Contact Session is at Erith Costa Coffee on Saturday 29th June 2019 at 5pm. Crimes of note - Theft from motor vehicle Tuesday 18/06/2019 Bexley Road; Theft from motor vehicle Thursday 20/06/2019 James Watt Way; Criminal Damage motor vehicle Thursday 20/06/2019 Maximfeldt Road; Theft from motor vehicle Monday 24/06/2019 Vickers Road; Theft from motor vehicle Sunday; 23/06/2019 Fraser House, Fraser Road; Theft of motor vehicle Monday 24/06/2019; C/Dam Vehicle Sunday 23/06/2019 Erith Road; Theft of motor vehicle Tuesday 25/06/2019 Compton Place; Theft of MV Wednesday 26/06/2019 Arran Close". Northumberland Heath ward:- "PCSO Lorraine has been conducting patrols on Bexley Road in relation to an increase of ASB, She has also visited the affected venues and gathered CCTV footage and liaised with local schools and managed to identify 3 of the main youths causing this ASB. Joint home visits will be arranged in conjunction with a member of the Bexley council ASB team. There have been no burglaries on the ward this week. This is good news, however Please do remember to keep doors and windows locked and secured when you leave your premises. In the warmer weather it is more likely your windows are open, so just be mindful to remember to check your property from top to bottom and make sure all windows are secure. There have been a number of Motor vehicle crimes of note as follows: Friday 21st June there was criminal damage to a motor vehicle parked on Swanton Road; Sunday 23rd June there was criminal damage to three motor vehicle parked on Belmont Road. (same suspect caused all 3); Monday 24th June a Grey Ford Transit Van was stolen from Swanton Road; Monday 24th June a Blue Honda Motorbike was stolen from Brooke street. Our next community contact session is on Thursday 4th July at 11am in the Mill Road Library, please do come along and meet a member of the team and discuss any issues or concerns you have, or just pop in and say hello".
Slade Green and Northend ward:- "There was an attempted break in at St Pauls Primary school overnight on Weds 19th June. Entry wasn't gained but damage was caused to one of the doors. CCTV enquiries have been negative. 2 criminal damage to vehicles have been reported. Overnight on June 19th a van in Craydene Road had its locks damaged in a possible attempted break in. And overnight on Friday June 21st a vehicle had deliberate scratch marks made to the bodywork in Fern Close. No suspects at this time. PCs Mark and James saw 2 motorbikes being ridden with no licence plates on Sunday evening in Bridge Road. After a short chase one of the males was caught and arrested and the bikes recovered. The other male has been identified and will be arrested in the coming days. A great bit of team work from both PCs again. PCSO Mark attended the St Augustines Summer fete last Saturday with many people enjoying the various stalls, bouncy castle and BBQ". Thamesmead East ward:- "Burglaries: Good news, no burglaries this week. Crime Prevention - Close and lock all your doors and windows, even if you're going out for a few minutes. Photograph and keep a detailed inventory of each item of jewellery and keep it in a separate place. Remain vigilant at all times. Motor Vehicle Crimes: Theft of Motor Vehicle, between the hours of 06:30 am of Saturday 15/06/19 and 06:30am of Friday 21/06/19. A vehicle parked in Holstein Way was stolen; On Sunday 23/06/19 between the hours of 07:30 and 08:00 a vehicle parked in Wolvercote Road had the passenger window smashed and £7.00 taken; Theft of Motor Vehicle between the hours of 06:00pm on Saturday 22/06/19 and 02:30 pm Tuesday 25/06/19 - a vehicle parked in Maran Way was stolen; Theft from Motor Vehicle overnight between the hours of 05:30pm Tuesday 25/06/19 and 07:30am Wednesday 26/06/19 . A vehicle parked locked and secure in Glimpsing Green - a small amount of money was stolen. Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention - Did you know that your vehicle is like a shop window? If you can see ANY property left on view then so can a thief . Take it with you. Goof news - Following good work by PC Pruden, a female who failed to appear at court for various theft offences was arrested, appeared at court and was sentenced to 18 weeks". West Heath ward:- "Good news to start with this week, no burglaries have been reported. On Saturday June 22nd PCs Mo and Gill arrested a male wanted on recall to prison. A second arrest of a male was made in relation to harassment on Monday June 23rd. Once again we have been hit with several Motor Vehicle crimes. A ford Fiesta was stolen from the Pantiles between 2am and 7am on Thursday June 20th. Theft from a motor vehicle in Gypsy Road on Saturday June 22nd. The victim discovered the car had been rifled through and cash to the value of £5 was taken. A similar incident took place in Harvel Crescent on Saturday June 22nd when the victim discovered their car had been entered by an unknown suspect but nothing had been taken. On Monday this week PCSOs from West Heath, Crook Log and East Wickham wards attended 'Raising the Flag for Armed Forces Day 2019' which took place outside the Civic Centre in Bexleyheath. The Mayor was in attendance along with other dignitaries to give our thanks and support to past and present members of the Armed Forces".
The end video this week is from popular YouTube channel Hub Nut, by motoring journalist Ian Seabrook, which specialises in videos of old and unloved cars such as the Austin Allegro, Vauxhall Chevette, and even the three wheeled Invacar. The video features the 2019 Bromley Pageant of Motoring. Comments to hugh.neal@gmail.com.
The end video this week is from popular YouTube channel Hub Nut, by motoring journalist Ian Seabrook, which specialises in videos of old and unloved cars such as the Austin Allegro, Vauxhall Chevette, and even the three wheeled Invacar. The video features the 2019 Bromley Pageant of Motoring. Comments to hugh.neal@gmail.com.
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