The 10th Bexley CAMRA Beer Festival.

The photos above were taken by Maggot Sandwich reader and prolific local musician, Ian "The rEV" Doherty. We met at the 10th annual Bexley Beer Festival, held at the Old Darfordians sports club in Bexley Village. The event also celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Bexley branch of CAMRA, which was formed on the 21st July 1975 at the (then) Blue Anchor pub in Bridgen Road. Many of the founders are still members all these years along. I have been fortunate to attend every Bexley Beer Festival since it started back in 2005 at the Sidcup Sports Club; the Sidcup venue was lovely – a really classy location. The only problems were that it was a very long way from the centre of Sidcup, and very poorly supported by public transport. It was a very long walk from the bus stop to the venue, and cabs in the area were not very reliable in my experience. Added to this, after the first few festivals, the operators of the Sidcup club decided that they did not want festival visitors using the excellent club toilets, and instead Bexley CAMRA had to spend money hiring a load of Portaloos – which if you have every tried using one in a pitch black car park, is absolutely no cause for joy, and a very easy way to end up with wet feet. A couple of years ago the committee made the decision to relocate to a venue that was more central to the Borough, and which also had excellent public transport links. The new venue at the Old Dartfordians club is outstanding – inside loos, a large club house and a giant marquee at the rear, where the beer festival actually takes place. The weather this year was better than expected, and the rain held off, but once the sun went down the temperature outside plummeted and the wind rose. Most festival goers headed inside, either to the marquee or the club house itself. I think last year we were spoiled with stunning, tropical weather, but this year we were back to bog standard British fare instead. Still, it is not that many years since we had almost hurricane force winds and rain that was almost horizontal because of it, so I suppose we cannot complain too much. Erith’s own Bexley Brewery featured strongly in the event, which saw all of their casks run dry very early on the Friday; in fact by the end of the Friday session, there were only a handful of casks with any beer remaining at all – the Saturday session looked like it was going to be pretty short indeed. The event was very well attended as always, though I did not manage to see Cliff Murphy of the Bexley Brewery in person. The festival is a well-managed and run event that is a credit to those behind it. Now the countdown begins to the 2016 festival!

Wednesday evening saw a large delegation from the Save Belvedere Splash Park group visit Bexley Council Offices in an attempt to persuade the majority Conservative councillors to preserve what has become an invaluable community asset, not just to Upper Belvedere, but to the whole area. Many families with small children relay on it in the summer months. You can read a very detailed and insightful report of the events that took place on Wednesday by Malcolm Knight of the Bexley is Bonkers Blog. 

The photo above shows the block of flats and retail units that is located opposite Erith Health Centre. I have heard very good things about the quality of the flats - in fact some time back I visited one of them and found it to be lovely, with a great view out over the River Thames. Not so good things can be said about the retail units at the ground floor level of the block, unfortunately - they have stood empty ever since the block was built. My understanding is that a couple of businesses have shown interest in moving into the units, but various impediments have stopped them. Originally one of the units closest to Morrison's was under consideration by a company wanting to set up a children's soft play facility with a ball pit and climbing frame. I am sure that this would have gone down well with the many local families with small children. The cost of the lease proved to be too much, and the people pulled out - although on a happier note, I understand that the same company is moving into the site of the old Blockbuster video store diagonally opposite soon. The other two large retail units were under serious consideration by a Nando's franchise, which would have created a number of full - time and part time jobs. The problem was that the retail units have not got fume extraction or electrical power at present, and fitting this essential equipment would have cost small fortune. The Nando's franchise company negotiated with Bexley Council to get a council tax holiday to put towards the cost of the work, but the council rejected it (as with anything they do, the bottom line of the spreadsheet overrules any and every other consideration). Consequently we don't have a Nando's in Erith, and several people don't have a much needed job. Hopefully as the local economy slowly recovers, some organisation with deeper pockets will be able to turn the empty retail units into a productive business. There is a rumour going around Erith that a Subway franchise owner is interested in taking the White Hart / Potion bar and converting what was the ground floor bar into a Subway fast food outlet. I can find no evidence to support this, and there has been nothing to indicate a food use for the former pub and wine bar that has come to my notice. The two planning applications that have been submitted have been far more concerned with the potential for a residential conversion of the upper floors of the locally listed building. If a Subway outlet was to take over the former bar area of the building, it would be a very expensive concern, as not only would a replica of the original Victorian frontage have to be installed, as I demonstrated last week, along with a copy of the architect’s drawings, but a brand new kitchen and restaurant interior would need to be installed, along with proper fume extraction and ventilation equipment. Conservatively any investor would be looking to spend something in the region of a quarter of a million pounds before the doors on the outlet would even be ready to open, and to be honest, I just don’t see this going to happen. The chance of making back the investment, and getting the operation into a decent profit is just too small – any canny business person would realise that less risky investment opportunities exist elsewhere. I feel that the Subway rumour is probably little more than wishful thinking, and it is unlikely to amount to anything – as much as I would like it to be true. I would be happy to be proved wrong. if you have any information on this, or any other stories you feel would be of local interest, please feel free to drop me a line to hugh.neal@gmail.com in complete confidence.

I took the photo above the Thursday before last, whilst I stood talking to Dr. Julian Hilton of the Aleff Group on the rear patio of the Cross Keys Centre. The view out over the River Thames from the former pub, and now business and community centre is stunning. Whilst we were chatting, I saw the ship in the photo above slowing cruising down river - it is the M.V Bert Prior, which has been trading on the Thames since she was built back in 1961; she's a small (175 ton) bulk carrier specialising in the transportation of sand and gravel for use in construction. She looks pretty much unchanged over the decades, although I do suspect that her radar was probably added quite some time after she was originally commissioned. People tend to forget that Erith is a maritime town with a long and (mostly) proud history of marine trade and exploration. It is certainly the only place in the London Borough of Bexley where you can gain access to the River Thames via both Erith Pier and the jealously defended Erith Riverside Gardens, which certain developers would dearly love to build on, which won't happen if many concerned locals have anything to do with it.

You may recall that last week after my article on Clickbait websites, I wrote that I would be revisiting the subject with some more details. Clickbait websites are those which you find featured on the web page footers of some reputable websites. They tend to have titles such as “Tiny trick kills erectile dysfunction” or “Steroid alternative putting gyms out of business” – you know the kind of thing – a strap line featuring some kind of statement, often linked to “miraculous” weight loss or some other far – fetched health benefit that encourages the reader to click on the link to read more on the subject. As I said last week, these invariably link to websites chock full of flash adverts for unlicensed, illegal and potentially harmful diet supplements, slimming pills and all sorts of nastiness. One other tactic the Clickbait producers rely on is pandering for people looking for a way to make a quick buck, unaware that “if it looks too good to be true, it usually is”.  As you will see from the screen capture above, the site promises great financial wealth if the reader follows certain steps – the graphic even encourages this; it shows a wild – haired man standing by some shelves holding gold bars – with the inference that he obviously knows how to make money. You may well have seen the graphic yourself. All however, is not what it seems. The man in the photo is not actually some financial wizard. In reality his name is Professor Sir Martyn Poliakoff CBE CChem FRS FRSC FIChemE, who is the Research Professor in Chemistry at the University of Nottingham. The photo with the gold is actually a screen capture from a YouTube video the professor made on the element Gold, as part of his online video series on the Periodic Table of Elements – a very easy to understand and entertaining series of educational videos he has presented, which are widely watched on YouTube. I somehow doubt the professor is even aware that his likeness is being used to promote a Clickbait site and dodgy financial advice. It happens that the professor has a unique look, and I follow his educational videos on YouTube, and recognised him straight away. The best way to discourage clickbait websites is to not click on them. They are parasites and offer nothing for the user except stress and loss of cash –  and possibly also your identity. The problem of people being fooled into buying unregulated and often fake medicines online – often via Clickbait websites has been unfortunately thrown into sharp relief this week;  a young lady named Eloise Aimee Parry aged 21, from Shrewsbury, took the “Miracle Fat Burner” diet tablets which are believed to contain the highly toxic industrial chemical dinitrophenol, also known as DNP. Shortly after taking the tablets, Eloise started to feel unwell.  She drove herself to Royal Shrewsbury hospital, where she explained to doctors what she had taken. At this point she was still fully conscious, and she still seemed to be OK. All that changed when doctors carried out a toxicology report that revealed how dire her situation was.  “The drug was in her system, there was no antidote, two tablets was a lethal dose – and she had taken eight",  Her mother Fiona Parry said in a tribute. “As Eloise deteriorated, the staff in Accident and Emergency did all they could to stabilise her.  As the drug kicked in and started to make her metabolism soar, they attempted to cool her down, but they were fighting an uphill battle. She was literally burning up from within. When she stopped breathing, they put her on a ventilator and carried on fighting to save her. When her hearted stopped they could not revive her. She had crashed. She had taken so much DNP that the consequences were inevitable. Eloise Parry died the same day. West Mercia Police are currently investigating the source of the lethal, so called “diet” pills. It is highly likely that they will have come  from somewhere with little or no regulation, such as the Philippines, where many of the shady criminal outfits tend to base themselves. Needless to say one should never under any circumstances buy any form of medication online – the risks are just too great; you don’t know if what you receive (if anything) will actually contain the active ingredient of the medicine – or indeed what the other components of the medication actually are. On top of this, you lack the safety of a consultation with a Pharmacist to ensure you are getting what is safe and effective for your medical condition.  In extreme cases like the one above, buying online medication can prove fatal.

I have written before as to how back in 2012 I purchased a Samsung ES 8000 smart television, and how unimpressed I was with the whole smart TV experience – the interface is slow and clunky, and the applications less than inspiring. I must admit that I don't use any of the smart TV functionality at all – it might as well be just a dumb screen (albeit with stunningly good picture quality). It turns out that owners of anything other than the very latest technology may well be in for a bit of a surprise. Google are shutting down an older version of the YouTube app built in to Smart televisions and other multimedia devices. According to a revised product support page, the YouTube apps built into certain devices manufactured in 2012 or earlier will soon stop functioning, beginning this week. The cut off will apparently happen regardless of whether the manufacturers advertised their devices as supporting YouTube at the time customers bought them. Google, characteristically, has tried to cast the end of service in a positive light, describing it as an "upgrade." "As we upgrade the YouTube Data API to bring more features, we'll begin shutting down the old version on April 20, 2015," Google's post explains. "We will continue to focus our efforts on improving our official YouTube app for TV which is available on most 2013 and newer Smart TVs and Blu-ray players, game consoles and streaming devices." The devices that will be locked out of the streaming service include pre-2013 TVs and Blu-Ray players by Panasonic and Sony. But a surprising number of other, even "smarter" devices will no longer work, either, including many from Apple. Any device not running iOS 7 or above won't support the new API (Application Programming Interface) – meaning the iPhone 3GS and earlier, the fourth-generation iPod Touch and earlier, the first-generation iPad, and the second-generation Apple TV are all shut out. People also have to realise that their fancy sets, however expensive, may actually have a shorter working life than their picture elements suggest, and that the services that make them "smart" may disappear long before the screens themselves burn out, as vendors stop supporting the installed applications whilst the hardware still has life in it.

The News Shopper have featured the story that the long – awaited new Micro Pub The Broken Drum has now opened in Blackfen. I have featured the ale house a while back; I understand that there have been a number of legal and building related issues which needed to be overcome, which led to much of the delay in the place opening . South East London and Kent have been very much at the forefront of the micro pub phenomenon. The Broken Drum is the third micro pub in the London Borough of Bexley – the first two were the Door Hinge in Welling, followed by the Penny Farthing in Crayford. The name of the broken Drum comes from the phenomenally successful “Discworld” novels by the late and much missed Sir Terry Pratchett. It was the name of a popular pub in the city of Ankh Morpork. There is a rather cunning twist to this; the Broken Drum is to be visited by a jolly nice chap by the name of Richard Reeve, who aims to cycle around Britain, visiting all one hundred micropubs to raise money for research into a cure for  Alzheimer’s Disease. Here is how Richard describes his aims:- “My quest for 2015 is to cycle to all 100 micro pubs in Great Britain! I'll be raising money for the Alzheimer’s Society. To make a donation to Alzheimer’s Society, please visit my fundraising page at uk.virginmoneygiving.com/RichardReeveCycling. What is a Micropub? The Micropub Association website describes a micropub as "a small freehouse which listens to its customers, mainly serves cask ales, promotes conversation, shuns all forms of electronic entertainment and dabbles in traditional pub snacks". Notably micro pubs do not serve any form of lager.  As of 1/1/2015 there were exactly 100 micropubs on the association's website. From Kent to Devon to Swansea to Berwick-upon-Tweed. My task is to visit them all!" The poignant side to this excellent venture is that Sir Terry Pratchett suffered from Early Onset Alzheimer’s for the last years of his life, so it will be doubly fitting that Richard should plan to visit. What is also interesting is what congenial and friendly places micro pubs are; at the time of writing , I understand that there has never been a recorded incident where Police have been called to a micro pub – which I think says something about both the clientele and the kind of places that micro pubs are. No lager = no louts.

There are times when the News Shopper leads in highlighting important local issues, and other times when they unfortunately lag well behind events; this week that have shown the latter behaviour. You may recall that back on the 11th January I wrote a blog post describing a group of criminals illegally riding a variety of motor bikes and scooters around parts of Lower Belvedere. They knew what they were doing was illegal, as they had uploaded a series of videos onto YouTube, and had made a crude attempt to digitally obscure the number plates of a couple of the bikes that actually had registration plates. I subsequently passed the information onto the local Police. Now the News Shopper is reporting the same kind of thing that is happening in Lower Belvedere is also widespread in Thamesmead – to the extent that crooks are coming from other parts of the country specifically to carry out traffic offences in the area. You can read their report on the worrying matter here. It seems that the local area is, of the report is to be believed, becoming the recipient of “yob tourism” – with undesirables apparently travelling from as far away as Manchester and Scotland to illegally ride off – road bikes with no registration plates, insurance or MOT. There are a number of groups engaging in this activity, and a large number of riders. The new Thamesmead anti – gang Police team are aware of the problem, and I understand that work is being done, though I don't know of the specifics (and for obvious reasons would not publish here – as it is just possible that one or two of the thugs can read). We have a similar, but thankfully smaller problem in and around Erith, with a number of illegal bikes being ridden along the pavements of Manor Road and onto the Slade Green Marshes, where they have caused damage to the unique, protected local ecosystem, ripping up the foot – traveller only pathways and causing erosion and damage to the bulrushes. It would seem that some kind of compromise needs to be achieved;  I cannot believe that all of the bikers who currently ride in an irresponsible and illegal manner are hardened crooks – perhaps if a legal off – road bike course was set up on a piece of waste land, a club could be established to permit riders to have a good time in a controlled and safe manner? What do you think? The news that thefts of motorbikes and scooters have doubled in the London Borough of Bexley over the last year may quite possibly be linked to the previously mentioned problems with illegal bikers in general; one of my local contacts who is in a position to know about such things told me recently that Police are investigating a gang who are stealing motorbikes from Barnehurst and Northumberland Heath and then take them to Erith and Slade Green to be broken up and sold as parts, or cobbled together to form bikes with a new identity. I suspect that at least some of the illegal, unlicensed and uninsured bikes that the criminal bike gangs use may well come from this source – in fact they may be one and the same – something for the authorities to determine. Whatever the specifics, it is clear that there is a rising problem with bike related crime in the area; it must be very difficult for the vast majority of law abiding motorbike owners – they must be constantly worried that their pride and joy may be threatened by organised thieves. Some years ago a friend of mine, who at the time was living in a quiet road on the Crayford / Dartford borders; he owned an immaculate Harley – Davidson motorbike, which was stored in his garage when not in use. Not only was the garage securely locked, but the bike was additionally chained to bolts cemented into the garage floor. Despite these precautions, thieves broke in and used bolt cutters to free the bike in order to steal it; he never saw it again. Not long ago I, along with many others saw a couple of kids aged not more than fourteen or fifteen who were racing a very high powered sports / racing bike around Erith Town Centre, along the High Street, and eventually into Manor Road, where they headed at very high speed towards Slade Green. Needless to say not only were they a danger to members of the public, but they were in great danger themselves – neither wore a helmet or protective leathers, and  hoodie, facial bandanna and sweat pants don't exactly provide much protection if you come off at sixty miles per hour. Feel free to leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Much has been written in the popular press about the end of Top Gear - the most popular factual television programme in the world. I am not intending to add to that body of work, as I feel that enough has been said already; instead I am featuring a video presented by a thoroughly nice chap called Harry Metcalfe, a wealthy former magazine publisher and car enthusiast who now works as a consultant for Jaguar Landrover. He has started a YouTube channel reviewing all sorts of classic and modern cars of interest, some of which come from his extensive personal collection. Harry's Garage is one of my favourite YouTube channels; Harry is quietly spoken and thoughtful, and it is obvious that he has both a deep love and insight into the cars he features. A sample video is below. 

The Hub in a Pub.

I took the photos above on Thursday, when I was a guest at the inaugural local small business advice and support event held in the newly opened Cross Keys Centre in Erith High Street. You may recall that back in the summer of 2010 the old Cross Keys Pub was invaded several times by a large group of travellers who rode ponies into the pub building on multiple occasions. The story made the national press, and for a while Erith got a reputation akin to the Wild West with outsiders thinking that this kind of behaviour was normal. Sense prevailed, and the Cross Keys lost its drinks licence, and it was compulsorily shut down. It stayed empty and abandoned for ages, but as I have recounted previously, international management consultancy the Aleff Group purchased the building and have been employing local contractors to extensively refurbish the locally listed building for multiple alternative uses. The building offers reasonably priced air conditioned meeting rooms and hot desking space for small local businesses, complete with WiFi and printing facilities. On top of this the presentation suite that you can see in the photos above will be open for community events - more details in the near future. It is hoped that local organisations such as the rotary club and Bexley College will also use the resources of the Cross Keys Centre. Local graphic design company IV.Q Branding and Design have relocated their offices from Redhill in Surrey to the Cross Keys Centre; in the top photo you can see IV.Q CEO Mark Smallcorn giving a very well received talk on what mistakes small business make in their graphic design policy and public image. In the second photo you can see Dr. Julian Hilton of the Aleff Group outlining their strategy to promote and support local small businesses. In the third photo you can see Dr. Malika Moussaid talking about their strategy to ensure the building gets wide community use. Over the next couple of months I will be covering this innovative and important new business and social resource in the centre of Erith in greater detail.

In the photo above, taken by Studio Coordinator Liam Hinds of IV.Q, you can see the group of local entrepreneurs, business leaders and executives who attended this first Cross Keys session; further events will be held throughout the year, and I will be featuring these in due course. If you look carefully, you may also spot yours truly in the shot. You can also see the custom made railings that have recently been fitted to the first floor balcony, including the iconic crossed keys logo. Eagle - eyed locals may recall that the last railings were made of wood, and ran horizontally. This is the only visual change to be made to the front of the building during the fastidious and very expensive restoration - and it was done due to changes in the health and safety laws; railings with horizontal elements are no longer allowed on balconies - as small children are able to climb up and over them - all railings must instead have vertical bars, which are far harder to climb over.

The campaign to save the Belvedere Splash Park has taken a new turn after a period of apparent inactivity; an online petition hosted by Change.Org has been started by the team behind the overall campaign. In three days they have already got over 2,000 signatures - whilst the Facebook site they set up a few months ago now has a total of just over five thousand members. There is going to be a protest at the Bexley Council meeting on Wednesday the 22nd April at 7.45pm. All concerned residents are encouraged to go along to the meeting to show their support for the retention of this important local facility. Some time ago Councillor Sawyer told the Save the Splash Park campaign that he did not recognise or accept petitions; it is now being reported that this is contrary to Bexley Council official policy which is to accept petitions. There seems to have been a misunderstanding on Councillor Sawyers behalf; either that or he has not been telling the truth - with the reputation for chicanery Bexley Council is already renown for, I know what version I believe to be more likely.

One story that started out as little more than a footnote on a couple of local news websites seems to have got a life and momentum of its own over the course of this week; Councillor Gareth Bacon has announced that he is renouncing his roles as deputy leader of Bexley Council, and cabinet member for finance and corporate services to concentrate on his position as chairman of the London Fire Authority. He will step down at the council’s annual meeting on May 20th, although he will remain a backbench councillor. The relevance of this will not be lost to anyone who is a regular reader of Malcolm Knight's excellent "Bexley is Bonkers" blog. 

Within an hour of publishing the Maggot Sandwich update last week, one of my very well – placed and reliable local informants sent me a copy of an Email that they had received concerning the possible future of the White Hart / Potion bar. As you may recall I expressed my concern that the place has been standing empty and unused for so long, and that it seemed like nobody wanted to take the place on, due mainly to the high cost of refurbishing the interior of the pub, installing a new kitchen and fume extraction system, and most importantly of all, the replacement of the hideous plate glass frontage which was illegally installed by the operators of Potion, despite explicit instructions to the contrary by Bexley Council planning department. Plans have been in place since the middle of 2011 to replace the current anachronistic pub frontage with a close replica of the original acid etched glass and salt glazed green tiles that the original Victorian design had. You can see the plan above – click on the picture to see a larger version. I can clearly recall the horror I felt when back in 2009 I was standing outside of the corner by Matalan, looking across the road to the White Hart as the criminals from Potion talked to the borough planning officer about the work that they were undertaking. I clearly heard the council official tell the crooks that they were to leave the existing White Hart pub sign in place, as it had historical and aesthetic significance. Literally moments after the planning officer drove off, one of the Potion workers got out a large angle grinder and cut down the protected sign and threw it into a nearby skip. From this point I knew Erith was in for trouble; sadly I was not wrong. After several years of drug dealing, fights, public drunkenness – and even a visit by Peter Andre, the venue closed after a series of enforcement notices by both Bexley Council and the Metropolitan Police. It was also convenient for the operators of Potion to declare themselves bankrupt, as it absolved them from having to restore the historic building frontage, as per two court orders that they successfully ignored. News now reaches me that something may finally be happening to the historic building – although the details are currently sketchy. My informant questioned the Development Control team at Bexley Council, and got this response “Discussions have taken place with the current owners regarding the outstanding enforcement notice requiring the reinstatement of a more historic frontage. I understand they are currently obtaining quotations for some of the replacement materials and mouldings that would be installed in the event that the application  for the pub front is successful. Whilst they are aware of the importance of this element they are  also reviewing the possibility of an application that includes a residential element on the site. I understand that the Local Authority may receive two applications by the end of the month the first being for the replacement of the historic pub frontage and the second possibly for a residential element on the site. The two applications would be mutually exclusive and looked at on their individual merits”. This strikes me as being both encouraging and worrying; OK, the restoration of the historic pub frontage is most definitely to be applauded, but I do get the impression that if a developer was to come along with an offer to convert the entire pub into flats, they would get a sympathetic hearing from the Council – after all, they are never ones to turn down an opportunity to rake in extra cash from council tax to feed their huge wage bill. Nevertheless, I feel that the White Hart (no longer the appalling Potion to my mind) needs to retain a public use in at very least part of the building. A restaurant would be nice – but I doubt the cost of conversion and upgrading the ground floor would make a restaurant financially viable. I would understand the upper floors being sympathetically converted for residential use, but the essence of the historic building needs to be retained. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com .

Every so often someone comes up with an invention or idea so simple, yet so elegant that I think “why didn't I think of that?” Recently the Bexley Times announced a scheme that is formally backed by Bexley Trading Standards Department. It is run by a commercial company called trueCall who market a range of smart devices designed to filter phone calls to remove nuisance messages from persistent PPI companies, debt consolidation organisations and energy suppliers. This information is then transferred back to other trueCall units that are part of the community, which are automatically updated to block those numbers using software containing a dynamic database called Community Blocking. Users can choose how they want to handle calls from Community Block list numbers.  For example, they can be intercepted, sent directly to the built-in answer machine or played a block message, such as: “We're not interested in your call – please hang up and don’t call us again”.  trueCall can even play the unobtainable tone so the call centre thinks that you have moved – this encourages them to delete your number from future campaigns. The Community Blocking software becomes smarter as more information is fed into it, and is a valuable line of defence against call centres that change the numbers from which they call. trueCall’s algorithms are designed to place more emphasis on recent blocked numbers, allowing it to quickly identify the latest numbers which are being used. true call  have been selling services along these lines for several years, and reports are that they are pretty successful. They have now introduced a new service which is stunningly simple, but very clever. People often find that when they try to complete online forms, such as for booking tickets, donating to charity, making a sales enquiry or obtaining an insurance quote, they are asked for their phone number. In reality there is no reason to provide a phone number. If the company needs to contact you they can email. Unfortunately, these online forms often cannot be completed unless a phone number is provided, even if you would prefer not to give it out. Personally my home phone number is known by perhaps a dozen people at most.  The beauty of the new service by trueCall is that they supply a phone number that you can input into any online forms in place of your own number. If you use 0333 88 88 88 88 instead of your own phone number,  when a call centre or other nuisance phones, they will then hear the announcement: “TrueCall38 is handling my calls. I prefer not to be contacted by phone, so please contact me via email address. Goodbye!” Very simple, but very effective. Do you have problems with nuisance calls? What do you do about it? I know someone who keeps a football whistle beside the phone – I am unsure how effective blowing it down the phone at the unwanted caller actually is, but I am sure it is very satisfying.

It is often difficult to recognise that we have a national arena almost on our doorstep; the O2 Arena in North Greenwich is pretty close by, and hosts all sorts of events, including a lot of concerts. For some reason it does feel a lot more remote than it actually is – mainly I feel due to the relatively poor public transport links from North Kent and South East London to the Arena. The only quick and relatively reliable method to get to the O2 Arena from Erith is to get the train from Erith station to Charlton, and then pick up the dedicated bus service from just outside the station. The bus journey takes about fifteen minutes – not too bad at all. Nevertheless many locals think that the O2 Arena is on the North side of the River Thames, as the cross river communication courtesy of the Jubilee Line tube is so excellent. Nevertheless, visitors from the area do visit the O2 Arena on occasions, and this week, guest contributor Dana Whiffen describes the 50^th anniversary concert for The Who at the venue recently. "The Who 50th Anniversary Concert at the O2 - 22/23rd March 2015 Review by Dana Wiffen. As the crowds made their way into the O2, looking around it was clear that there were many oldies like myself in the early sixties. I find it harder to motivate myself to go to large venues around London although once there I always enjoy myself. The audience cross section was of thirties couples and some grandparents with their grandchildren, as well as sixty and seventy plus followers. It was also quite clear that there were a large number drinking a lot It was also quite clear that there were a large number drinking a lot of alcohol, not only the younger ones either. Three guys next to where I was sitting arrived 'blotto' and one of them then fell asleep during Pinball Wizard which is one of their loudest songs. Call me Victor Meldrew if you like but I sometimes wonder what this country is coming to! Unlike the old-days and now in their seventies The Who were on stage prompt at 8pm, to a packed audience at this O2 concert, which was rescheduled from December 2014. Titled “Greatest Hits Tour” the band smashed straight into their hits, including all the well-known songs including Substitute, My Generation, I can see for Miles, Pinball Wizard and; Won’t Get Fooled Again, the last two songs probably receiving the loudest cheers. They added some songs that they had either not played for some time or in the case of 'Slip Kid' not at all, Slip Kid being on their album 'The Who by Numbers'. Other tracks that were seldom included in previous tours were my favourites The Seeker and Join Together and Pictures of Lilly. They also played for the first time for many years Pete Townshend’s early stab at a 'rock opera' originally written as a birthday present for their then manager Kit Lambert, called 'A quick one while he’s away' from their album 'A Quick One' and this also included a rarely heard song called 'Ivor the Engine Driver' followed later by 'So Sad' There were three songs from 'Tommy' and two from 'Quadrophenia', Two hours and ten minutes later they finished and it was time to leave. The O2 arena has numerous facilities outside and around it, including restaurants, bars, coffee shops, noodle bars and a bowling alley, not forgetting the smaller venue called the O2 Indigo. The Who are of course visibly looking older but aren't we all.?There is still the microphone twirling by Daltrey and the occasional windmill guitar playing from Townshend. They have a superb support band of six additional musicians including Pete’s younger brother Simon and Beatle Drummer - Ringo Starr’s son Zak on drums who was taught to play by Keith Moon. This was the first of two nights at the O2, before a midweek concert at The Royal Albert Hall as part of a week-long series of concerts for The Teenage Cancer Trust, before they are off to North America next month, which will be their last full tour. They are promising to still play one off dates and a new album.  They are also headlining a concert at Hyde Park on 26th June which includes Paul Weller, The Kaiser Chiefs and Johnny Marr amongst others". Thanks Dana - excellent stuff. 

I feel a rant coming on; I have not had one for quite a while – but there is a subject I feel is hiding in plain sight – so called “Clickbait” – websites that exist only to get as many visits as possible to increase the rates that they can charge for online advertising. You often find photos at the bottom of the page on some relatively otherwise reputable websites with titles such as “Hurry up before this video gets banned”, “Eat this and never diet again”, “Rich people try anything to ban this”, “Diet trick that melts fat like butter” and so on. You will have no doubt come across these many times before. You also get what appear to be ads personally directed at yourself. These have titles like “Moms in Dartford earn $30 an hour” – it does not take a genius to work out that an automated script on the web server looks at the I.P address of the incoming page request, does a basic lookup of the I.P address and where it is geographically located, then inserts the name of a nearby town to try and attract your attention. Obviously the word “Mom” instead of “Mum” and the dollar rate quoted give the game away. Clickbait is a pox on the web – if people did not click on the stories, the companies who run websites like Timetobreak.com and Healthymumdaily.com would go out of business. Not only do they fill your browser with annoying animated adverts, but some pages have code that hijacks your browser and takes you to other unwanted sites – Healthmumdaily.com also markets expensive, untested and quite possibly illegal diet pills and “miracle” slimming aids to gullible people with more money than sense. What amazes me is that these Click Baiters have used exactly the same techniques to elicit visits to their tawdry websites in exactly the same way for years; it seems like the techniques still work – as soon as they post an announcement along the lines of “you have to check this out before it is banned” (they love using the threat of something posted online being “banned”) – as to who or what could actually ban something is left unsaid for the reason that the whole thing is blatant tosh designed to farm clicks to create advertising revenue. In the graphic above you can see a typical “warning” message which was crafted to overcome the pop – up blocker in Google Chrome when a user clicked to shut the browser tab with the Clickbait page on it. This is just one of the less dodgy activities these scumbags get up to.  I visited a few Clickbait sites whilst researching this piece – so that you don’t have to do the same. Please leave them well alone. More on this subject next week - how Clickbait sites mislead and sometimes defraud the gullible.

A reminder that the 10th annual Bexley CAMRA Beer Festival will be taking place from the 23rd to the 25th April, at the Old Dartfordian's Sports Club in Bourne Road, Bexley Village. This festival will also celebrate the 40th anniversary of the founding of Bexley CAMRA. I will be going along on the evening of the 24th - generally the Friday session is regarded as the best time to attend. Do come and say "hello" if you see me - I shall be taking along my trusty camera to get some shots for the Maggot Sandwich. The two graphics above show the beer list for the festival - click on either for a larger view. I find one ale particularly intriguing - the arrestingly monickered "Nessun Korma" from the Loch Ness Brewery; it is described as "A curried stout - a Black and Tandoori if you will". It sounds vile, but I am certain that it will sell well - out of curiousity, if anything else. Interestingly the Indian Restaurants in the nearby Bexley Village always seem extra busy over the beer festival period.

Streaming ultra-high definition video could soon be significantly less of a burden on your home broadband network. As I have mentioned previously on the Maggot Sandwich, one of the biggest barriers to widespread adoption of the new 4K Ultra High Definition TV format has been the huge amount of data a 4K picture stream requires – something that most home broadband or fibre optic systems would seriously struggle to deal with - I have covered this issue in the past, and advised readers to steer clear of 4K televisions because of this limitation. Recently an announcement has been made which, if it lives up to the hype, could go a very long way to solving this problem. This will be due to a new method of compressing data that can reduce the size of 4K video files without a noticeable depreciation in footage quality. The technology, which has been developed by a company called V-Nova, uses around fifty per cent of the space currently needed by existing 4K formats. V-Nova has roused interest amongst the telecoms and broadcasting industry, with twenty large companies now backing the technology, including Sky, Intel, and the European Broadcasting union. The actual compression method is called ‘Perseus’, and could potentially see the average UK home broadband connection become capable of handling three simultaneous 4K streams. At present, the average UK home data network – that’s a speed of around 22Mbps - can only facilitate a single UHD stream, because the high-quality footage demands such vast amounts of bandwidth. Netflix currently recommends a steady 25Mbps (Megabits Per Second) broadband connection to utilise its 4K streaming service, while analysis shows that between 12-16Mbps is typically required. According to V-Nova, its Perseus technology can offer the same picture quality, albeit using network speeds of just 7-8Mbps. Media expert Ian Maude, from Enders Analysis, said: “This is cutting-edge technology that will be welcomed by pay TV companies, and TV manufacturers because it will help drive 4K sales; but there are still limiting factors to the take-up of 4K including whether networks are capable of meeting demand, having a device able to display an ultra-high definition picture, and the amount of content currently being shot in 4K. Ultra HD will still remain niche for some time but this technology will help.” V-Nova claims that the compression technology will also make it easy to stream Full HD 1080p footage to mobile devices, by bringing bandwidth usage down to a similar level needed to play music. UK content distributors and broadcasters, meanwhile, will begin utilising the technology ‘before the end of this year’. My guess is that Sky will launch a dedicated 4K service that will require a new set – top box incorporating the Perseus codec in some kind of dedicated processor. Knowing Sky’s normal business strategy, I think that they will sell the boxes pretty much at cost – not more than £200, but recoup their huge investment in 4K subscription fees. What is not known is how many of the Sky satellite fleet have transponders capable of handling 4K data streams, even if they do feature this revolutionary new method of data compression?

The ending video is a piece of film showing the exhibitors at the 2015 Erith Model Railway Exhibition. Erith Model Railway Society meet Founded in June 1962, the Erith Model Railway Society (or EMRS for short) has been in existence for more than fifty years. It is very friendly and informal in nature, and comprises people engaged in modelling railways in most scales including N, HO, OO and O. As well as modelling railways, the society holds an annual modelling contest and many social events. Members' families are more than welcome to attend any EMRS-organised events such as dinners, Christmas and summer celebrations, held at a local family restaurant, pub or club, visits to prototype railways and rail-tours. The society meets every Wednesday evening from 7:00pm up to 10:00pm at their dedicated clubroom in Belvedere Working Men's Club, Invicta House, 66 Gilbert Road, Belvedere, Kent, DA17 5DA. They are in the enviable position of not having to share their facilities with anybody else, so the rooms are potentially available every day of the week. Some of the members also meet on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 7:00pm up to 10:00pm to work on the various club layouts that they are currently building.

The Angerstein Wharf branch line.

I took the photo above a couple of months ago; it shows the ongoing work to construct an affordable rented apartment block in James Watt Way, between Morrison's supermarket, and the KFC Drive Through in Manor Road. I regularly pass the site, but it is unusual to see any building work going on , as when I pass it is either before the start of the construction day, or after the builders would have packed up and gone home. Word reaches me from a couple of sources that there has been no activity on site for several weeks. At this point I don't have any idea why no further work is being undertaken. Local Councillor Abena Oppong - Asare is on the case and investigating. Hopefully by next week the situation will have become clear. More news as it happens.

The Erith Riverside Shopping Centre still has empty and un-let retail units available. Bearing in mind how long it has now been open, this is something of concern. I understand that the original aim was to have small local shops in the centre, alongside the larger national chains. With the exception of the wildly successful Mambocino (which is technically part of a small chain, but seems to operate to a very different business model to other branches, it being far more concerned with serving “sit down meals” than just serving coffee). Pretty much all of the other shops in the centre are branches of large chains. I predict that this may well change as the profile and demographic of Erith changes with the influx of new residents over the next few years; not only will phase two of Erith Park come on stream, but the Erith Quarry development, the housing being built on the old Bexley College site in Tower Road, and the affordable housing apartments in James Watt Way as previously mentioned, and the proposed development on the old Erith Riverside Swimming Baths site will all attract new local residents. More people will by default mean more shops of a greater diversity to supply their needs. If what I have been told is true, and Erith’s demographic does begin to become more prosperous, then the kind of shops will reflect that increase in disposable income. The arrival of Crossrail to Abbey Wood in 2018, and the opening of the Paramount theme park in Swanscombe at Easter 2020 will also do much to raise the popularity of the whole region – things are now looking cautiously optimistic.

Longer term readers may recall that back in last February I wrote a piece about Low Energy Nuclear Reaction (LENR) – a process that used to be known as Cold Fusion. Back in 1989 Martin Fleischmann (then one of the world's leading electrochemists) and Stanley Pons reported that their experimental cold fusion apparatus had produced anomalous heat ("excess heat"), of a magnitude they asserted would defy explanation except in terms of nuclear processes. They further reported measuring small amounts of nuclear reaction by products, including neutrons and tritium. The small table top experiment involved electrolysis of heavy water on the surface of a metallic palladium electrode. The reported results received world - wide media attention, and raised hopes of a cheap and abundant source of energy. Many scientists tried to replicate the experiment with the few details available. Hopes fell with the large number of negative replications, the withdrawal of many positive replications, the discovery of flaws and sources of experimental error in the original experiment, and finally the discovery that Fleischmann and Pons had not actually detected nuclear reaction by products.  By late 1989, most scientists considered cold fusion claims dead, and the popular press rained derision on the two scientists. At this point pretty much all third party experimentation and external funding ceased, and the whole thing was deemed to be little more than a hopeless quest for a perpetual motion machine.  A few independent scientists and engineers did continue with research and for many years this was considered to be a “garden shed” business, with little hope of anything concrete resulting from it. The tinkerers continued their experiments, away from press attention, and the general public forgot all about the subject. Nowadays there is renewed interest in what has been re – branded as Low Energy Nuclear Reaction (the proponents are aware that the term “cold fusion” may not only be technically inaccurate, but that the term is now poisoned). LENR is a phenomenon where unexplained amounts of heat are created in specific conditions when certain metals (for example, nickel and palladium) interact with hydrogen or deuterium, and an external stimulus such as heat or an electric current is applied. During these reactions it has also been observed that the atomic mass is altered as energy is released. These reactions can take place at relatively low temperatures, and in many cases far more energy is produced in LENR reactions than is input into reactors. At the moment the most promising forms of LENR are those that are able to operate using nickel and hydrogen — both plentiful and inexpensive natural resources. In LENR reactions no pollutants or emissions are produced, neither are harmful radiation or radioactive waste. This makes LENR a clean and sustainable form of energy. We are in the very early days of research and development in this field, and much about this phenomenon is poorly understood. There are competing theories proposed that try to describe the exact mechanism by which this anomalous heat is generated, but none has as yet been accepted as authoritative. There are many researchers and companies studying LENR at the moment, many of whom are competing to patent a viable commercial power plant based on this little understood phenomenon. Understandably many in the established scientific community are intensely sceptical about LENR, and view it as being a gigantic scam. Personally I think it is certainly not a con – too many respectable scientists and engineers have been able to successfully replicate the reaction under controlled laboratory conditions. Indeed, only last month Professor Alexander Parkhomov of Lomonosov Moscow State University has published a paper describing his successful replication of the experiments, and was able to generate an output of 2.78 times the energy input. In a recent visit to Italy, billionaire Bill Gates said that for several years he has been a believer in the idea of LENR, and is a sponsor of companies developing the technology. Gates is not only the Chairman of TerraPower, a company developing a “new class of nuclear reactors using innovative core physics.” He is also a member of the American Energy Innovation Council and supporter of new technologies through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which he founded in 2000. Other mega corporations such as Mitsubishi, Sony and Hitachi are investing heavily in LENR research, but they are keeping very quiet indeed about it. This is not surprising, if the technology does indeed work as described, and can be up – scaled to commercially viable levels, it could be a breakthrough in clean, cheap and renewable energy production. Potentially there are fortunes to be made and lost. It will be interesting to watch this story develop. You heard it here first.

The future of Britain’s small, independent cider makers is under threat;  Last week the European Commission demanded that the British government do away with a duty exemption worth £2,500 to small-scale producers of Cider and Perry. Under the exemption, introduced in 1976, cider-makers who produce fewer than 70 hectolitres a year – about 12,000 pints – do not have to pay duty. The National Association of Cider Makers calculates that this accounts for about 80% of the UK’s 480 cider-makers. Some small cider producers believe the intervention by the EU came about because of sour grapes from their counterparts in the wine trade who are not exempt from the duty. Others have blamed “big cider”, the industrial-scale makers who account for the bulk of the 130 million gallons of cider produced in the UK each year. Either way, the UK Government needs to make a stand soon, or risk many of the small, craft producers closing their businesses. There is a far greater variety of ciders produced by smaller makers than by the industrial giants. With the loss of smaller producers, the range of choice and diversity of cider would be sadly diminished, with the market even more dominated by corporate brands; this cannot be good for consumer choice. Talking of consumer choice, earlier this week I was sent the following press release:- "There's gold in Eltham!  Gold from two of Eltham's gardens.  To be precise Eltham Gold, strong cider!  Now, you may have thought that cider making was the province of Somerset and Cornwall, and that the last place you would expect it to be made is in Eltham in S. E. London, but it is and it has been recognised by aficionados. The person behind Eltham Gold is Eltham resident Mike Allen, who lives very near to where the old farmhouse was when it was a farm. It is made primarily from apples from two Eltham gardens. It is thought that some of the apple trees used for the cider were part of the original orchard and so Eltham Gold truly is a produce with a firm local connection. Eltham Gold has had recognition, including being cider of the festival at both South East London and Bromley Beer festivals last year.  But unfortunately it is only made in small quantities and so truly is cider gold.  On the other hand it is 7.8% strong and so a little goes a long way. Should you wish to sample this delight, the good news is that it will feature at this year's Bexley Beer Festival along with a staggering range of real ales. This year's Bexley Beer Fest, 23rd – 25th April, is itself a milestone celebration being the 10th such Festival, and which in turn marks the 40th anniversary of the formation of the Bexley Branch of CAMRA (the Campaign for Real Ale) which was founded in 1975. The Bexley Beer Festival regularly sees visitors from outside Bexley, and even from beyond London.  Eltham folk will be most welcome, and if they come to sample some of their community's cider then so much the better: what better way to celebrate local heritage than imbibing it. The beer fest will be held at the Old Dartfordians Sports Club, War Memorial Club House, Bourne Road, Bexley, DA5 1LW.  This is not far from Bexley rail station and is on the 132, 229, 492 and B12 bus routes. See http://www.camrabexleybranch.org.uk. All welcome. Cheers".

There has been so much media hype over the new range of Apple smart watches this week; anyone would think that the whole smartwatch concept was brand new, when in fact they have been available for Android devices for over a year – albeit in a slightly different form factor. I have a theory as to why the launch of any new product by Apple gets the press in a feeding frenzy. Journalists have always used Apple Macs since the brand was first launched – mainly because back in the day, desktop publishing and page layout software tended to be written primarily for the Mac, rather than the PC in the pre – Windows 3.1 era. The Mac habit stuck, and even today you will be hard pressed to see a PC in the offices of any media organisation. I can cite an example – a few weeks ago I visited the large advertising agency Grey London in Hatton Garden as part of my “day job”. The place was pretty much as you would expect – a converted warehouse with bare brick walls and a floor covered by zinc plates (it looked very stylish and trendy, but was very noisy and echoey). The place was staffed by bearded hipsters, and pretty much every advertising cliché was present – including every member of staff was equipped with a Mac. This is par for the course, and thus when journalists see a new device by Apple, they go mad over it, assuming that everyone is like them. The fact remains that the Apple Watch is going to sell well, especially after the free publicity so many magazines and online commentators have given the range of devices. There has also been a lot of online comment and opinion about the wide price range the Apple Watch covers. In the UK the entry level models will undoubtedly prove popular with many; the £299 to £349 models will be the main sellers. I don’t think that the stainless steel “mid-range” models at £479 to £949 will fare as well, and the ones that have really grabbed the headlines – the top end 18 carat gold models which start at £13,500 will be something that Premiership footballers and others with more money than taste will opt for. Bearing in mind that all models will incorporate the same internal hardware, and all models are being built on the same automated production line, there seems  to me to be very little to differentiate the model ranges, except the materials being employed. In the world of premium mechanical watches, the value added is not so much of the exotic and expensive materials of which they are made, but of the hours of hand – built craftsmanship which goes into their production. On top of this, whereas a premium mechanical watch will, with regular servicing and maintenance last for several generations, a smart watch will be out of date almost as soon as it is purchased. Additional to their famously short period between charges, the battery will have a finite life (usually around five hundred charge and discharge cycles). No information has yet been forthcoming concerning battery replacement on the Apple Watch, but I advise against buying one for now. You can be utterly sure that a new, thinner and more powerful model will be out within a year – a fact borne out by the history of the iPad and the MacBook Air. I am still of the opinion that the whole smart watch thing is a solution looking for a problem, but obviously as I always say – “if it works for you”. Personally I will stick with my vintage 1969 Longines and 1976 Omega mechanical dress watches – no charging required every eighteen hours – just a quick wind up every couple of days. They keep good time, look great, and will never be replaced with a better model. The choice as ever is yours.

Earlier this week I had an Email from regular Maggot Sandwich reader and local resident Tony Fairbairn. He's not keen on the concept of a road crossing that has been proposed to connect Rainham in Essex with Lower Belvedere. I am always keen to reflect all sides of local arguments, and so I asked Tony if he would like to be the guest contributor this week. Tony has written the following piece, which certainly makes food for thought:- "As Blog readers you will know that TFL supported by Bexley Council are proposing to construct two road bridges across the river at Thamesmead and Belvedere. These are not going to be Tower Bridge lookalikes, but built on a massive scale as per the Dartford Bridge, each with a potential carrying capacity of up to 3000 vehicles per hour i.e. c60k vehicle movements per day. A few other facts: 90 percent of the Dartford and Blackwell Tunnel traffic continues south on reaching Kent. The A13 in Essex has five times the volume of traffic than the A2016. Bexley Council are proposing to build 15,000 new homes within one mile of the bridges; this is equivalent to 22,500 additional cars each needing two parking spaces one at home and one somewhere else, probably in North Bexley. Surprisingly the AA recommended route south from the Belvedere Bridge and the majority of new houses towards the A2 (Black Prince and Blackfen) is via Erith and the Bexley Road. History tells us from the construction of Tower Bridge in 1880, through to Rotherhithe, Blackwell, and the crossings at Dartford that the traffic congestion problem has not been solved, and there is no real evidence to prove that two new road bridges will do the same. The log jam will simply move elsewhere, and now it is our turn. From 8000 survey responses with a population base of 1.5m (0.05 percent) TFL claim that the crossings are necessary to enhance jobs growth, attract new businesses to the area and to construct new houses. Extracts from the TFL and other reports; 83 percent of businesses say they have no recruiting problems, the remaining 17 percent cite poor quality of applicants. around 75 percent of employees either lives locally or commutes by public transport. Jobs growth in the Thames Gateway Boroughs is almost twice the national average, and 54 percent higher than West London which has 15 River crossings. ASDA, Lidl, Tesco, Iron Mountain among other major distributors operate successfully and now Ocado are bringing 1200 new jobs to Erith despite the lack of river crossings. Large scale housing is moving ahead at Abbey Wood, Belvedere Park, Tower Road, Erith Quarry and the Larner Estate etc. There is continuing demand for these new properties without the promise of river crossings. Reading from a Quote by a leading estate agent in the Bexley Times 25 Jan 2015. “Bexley enjoys high levels of demand for houses. It offers good transport links into the city centre.” Road crossings may be wanted by some, but there is no proven need. It is true that the journey time between Belvedere and Dagenham can be improved, but that implies one needs to make such a journey between those two particular points in the first place. A further argument is that the crossings will be for local users only, this is nonsense because once a bridge is installed traffic ceases to be local in nature. It is noted that from the Bexley and TFL questionnaires options were not offered for cycle or train crossings and TFL have dismissed the ferry options including Woolwich. Now new pressure groups are promoting viable alternatives in train and cycle crossings:  TFL are looking at an extension of The Overground to Barkingside; from there it is only a short distance to Thamesmead and a link to Crossrail and the North Kent Line at Abbey Wood. The Fenchurch Street to Southend Line comes closest to the North Kent Line between Belvedere and Erith; there is no reason why the two could not be linked. This opens up the possibility of connections to Southend Airport, Lakeside and the Channel Tunnel line as well as supplementary routes towards East and Central London. Either or both of the above offer links to the Outer Orbital Railway proposed by Boris Johnson with extensions via the Loop lines to Bexleyheath and Sidcup, therefore embracing much of Bexley’s Strategy For Growth. This effective and environmentally friendly alternative is surely more attractive than the road crossings offered by TFL. Wake up Erith, Belvedere, Bexley Road and Northumberland Heath; under the present plans massive traffic jams and environmental problems are coming your way. If you need further detail please contact me by Email at: tonyfairbairn@btinternet.com" - Thanks Tony; if you agree with him, or have an alternative viewpoint, you can either leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com. I am keen to reflect and expand on topics of local importance.

Some rather surprising news this week; almost exactly twenty years to the day when it was discontinued, Burger King are bringing back the Mushroom Swiss burger. This beef burger, topped with mushrooms and melted cheese is the sandwich that is most often requested by customers though not available. Many other Burger King franchises outside of the UK returned the burger to their menu some years ago - once again the UK lags behind countries in Europe. I am not a fast food eater; the last time I had a burger must have been at least a couple of years ago - maybe even longer. I live around five minutes walk from the Erith McDonald's drive through, but I have been there precisely three times in eighteen or so years. Even so, I do have a soft spot for the Mushroom Swiss burger, though I don't think it will be very likely I will be availing myself of one nowadays. I know that there are many out there who will be delighted by the news the long gone specialist sandwich is due back.

The council seem to have attracted the ire of News Shopper readers this week; at a recent council meeting the Conservative councillors voted to reject a bid to reduce their remuneration package by thirty percent, and also voted to impose a £33 per year charge for the collection and disposal of garden waste. I will leave the arguments about the excessive pay of certain senior council members to Malcolm Knight of Bexley is Bonkers (he does a far better job than I on such subjects) and will concentrate instead on the issue of the charge for garden waste. Anyone who lives or works in the London Borough of Bexley, or who has spent any length of time reading this blog will be fully aware of the endemic problem the area has with fly – tipping. Any money saved by charging for garden waste collection will be more than offset by the increase in fly tipping, and the need to clear up afterwards. I have been told by someone directly involved with monitoring and controlling environmental crime, that it costs Bexley Council something like £300 to clear up a van load of dumped waste for proper disposal. One thing also strikes me – garden waste is a valuable commodity. It can be sold on to companies that produce compost for further garden use. If the council were more business – savvy they would be able to engineer a cost – neutral solution to waste disposal, but once again the councillors involved choose the easy option that not only penalises people who need to get rid of garden waste. No doubt much will end up dumped by residents who don’t want to pay the charge, or by rogue waste disposal companies that offer to dispose of the waste on the sly for a consideration. Once more I suspect that the cheap option will actually end up being the most expensive in the long run. What do you think? Leave a message below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The end video this week is a bit of a curiosity; I was notified of it by fellow blogger Darryl of the 853 Blog, which covers the Charlton and Greenwich area. If you, like me, commute on the North Kent line on the trains that run from Dartford to Cannon Street via Greenwich line, you may have noticed that when heading in the London - bound direction, just after your train passes Charlton, the line divides just before it passes over the Blackwall Tunnel approach road bridge. One of the lines appears never to get used. This little known rail line is called the Angerstein Wharf branch line. It was built and opened by Russian born Charlton landowner John Angerstein in 1852 in order to get rail access to the to Angerstein Wharf on the River Thames; it also ran deep into the old East Greenwich gas works. Nowadays it is purely used for freight. Many of the ballast and gravel trains one sees passing along the North Kent line divert onto the Angerstein Wharf branch line. In a very special event on the 8th of November last year, a passenger train service ran on the line. It was a first class service in all carriages, with hot food being served, including a full English breakfast and a hearty dinner served with plenty of wine and beer. The passengers were pretty much all transport enthusiasts. You can see a video of part of the journey below. You certainly get a very different perspective on what you may well have thought you were familiar with. Fascinating stuff indeed.