The Erith Arboretum.

Worryingly, Charlton and Greenwich blogger Darryl Chamberlain of the excellent 853 Blog (853 was the old telephone dialling code for the area) is reporting that “contrary to what library staff were telling customers, the old East Greenwich Library is also set for sale to the highest bidder. At the last full council meeting, regeneration councillor Danny Thorpe confirmed that the building - donated to the community in 1905 by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie - was not protected by a covenant”.  As mentioned recently, this sounds very similar to the also Andrew Carnegie gifted Erith Library in the photo above (click on it for a larger picture), which was opened in 1907 and closed in 2010, and has stood empty and unused since. I sincerely hope that the sale of the old East Greenwich Library does not become a blueprint for the old Erith Library in Walnut Tree Road. In my opinion it is one of the best looking buildings in the town, and it deserves to be restored and returned to productive use. It is certainly one of, if not the most important buildings in the town, and should be treated as such. 

The News Shopper is reporting on a subject close to my heart – illegal fly tipping; something that the Maggot Sandwich has covered in some considerable detail over the last couple of years. The paper writes that a poll has been carried out by a furniture company into the public’s attitude towards fly tipping; the results, if accurate, are quite surprising. An astonishing seventeen percent of the people surveyed admitted having fly tipped on at least one occasion. Of that seventeen percent, the reasons they stated for their fly tipping broke down as follows:-

1. There is nowhere else to take rubbish (38 per cent)

2. Unaware it was illegal (30 per cent)

3. It was the easiest option available (28 per cent)

4. The cost of disposing properly was too high (20 per cent)

5. Because they didn’t realise they were fly-tipping at the time (16 per cent)

I find this utterly staggering, and frankly somewhat hard to believe; for a start, if the respondents were only allowed to pick one response, how come it adds up to 132 per cent?. According to Government statistics, local authorities reported 852,000 cases of fly-tipping last year, and almost 98 per cent of fly-tipping prosecutions resulted in a conviction. I feel that the responses listed above are actually covering the real truth. From my own experiences investigating fly – tipping, the proponents are well aware of what they are doing is illegal – but they just don't care, as they think the chances of them being caught are minimal at best. It is a cynical and exploitative attitude from criminals who should (and indeed sometimes do) get jailed for their activities. Your thoughts would be appreciated; either post a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Wikipedia has launched an anti-copyright campaign – but it is one that experts say is bogus and misleading. Thousands of pages on the online encyclopaedia site have been  plastered with an appeal to "Save the Freedom of Panorama", a crusade started by copyright activist and Europe's only Pirate Party MEP, Julia Reda to make the copyright rules the same throughout Europe seem to have backfired. Europe likes "harmonising" things, and one of the things Reda said she wanted to harmonise was an exception to copyright that most European countries already have in place, allowing you to take pictures of (say) buildings in public places. ” Freedom of Panorama” is in essence an exception to copyright that most European countries already have in place, allowing you to take pictures of (for example) buildings and objects such as statues and artwork located in public places; it is a provision in the copyright laws of various jurisdictions that permits taking photographs and video footage and creating other images (such as paintings) of buildings and sometimes sculptures and other art works which are permanently located in a public place, without infringing on any copyright that may otherwise subsist in such works, and to publish such images. Wikipedia issued an announcement saying “Photos of modern buildings must remain on Wikipedia. A proposal in the European Parliament puts thousands of images on Wikipedia in danger” Several newspapers, including the Guardian have jumped on the bandwagon, assuming the story is accurate; actually it is not. Reda’s proposal in a report to the European Parliament prompted an intemperate reaction from a Dutch MEP, who feared its ambiguity would have unintended consequences, and tabled an amendment wishing that French-style Panorama copyright should apply to the whole of Europe. However, neither proposal nor the counter-amendment have any legislative weight. The European Parliament cannot write legislation, and most of its resolutions are thrown in the bin by the European Commission anyway. Wikipedia are now saying “we saved the Internet” – not the first time that the site has created a non – story, then later claimed victory for a battle that actually never existed. This is a great pity – it tarnishes their reputation and makes them appear as self-publicists. What do you think? Please leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

In 1842 a wooden pier was built on the riverfront at Erith (well, there would not be much point in building it anywhere else). Alongside the pier, a pier hotel was constructed; to add to the attraction a large formal garden, complete with an Arboretum (a tree garden) was also created. For a period it was a popular holiday destination You can see the pier and hotel in the photo above, which was taken in around 1860; click on it for a larger version. Some locals were more than a little impressed with the place. A certain James Barnard of Erith was a watchmaker and occasional, very bad poet. He wrote the following poem about the Erith Arboretum, for which I can only apologise in advance - (for long term readers, you may have seen this once before - look on the bright side - you can cheerfully skip it - I don't see why newer readers should get away with suffering as you did!). It is one of the most excruciatingly awful poems ever put to paper. You have been warned!

Upon my life, my dearest wife,
The children we must treat ‘em,
So dress them gay, and we’ll away
To the Erith Arboretum.

We’re now afloat in this fast steamboat,
(There go two more – we’ll beat ‘em),
As with the tide we swiftly glide,
To the Erith Arboretum.

A day like this is health and bliss,
The doctors, how we cheat ‘em,
When we take the air in the region fair
Of the Erith Arboretum.

Now mark the flowers and the shady bowers,
Where lovers fondly seat ‘em,
Or laugh and talk as they take their walk
In the Erith Arboretum.

At the Pier Hotel they’ll serve them well –
No other house can beat ‘em –
So we will dine and take our wine
At the Erith Arboretum.

‘Tis time, I see, to take some tea,
(The shrimps by scores we’ll eat ‘em),
And then away, at the close of day,
From the Erith Arboretum.

Now if my song has been too long,
The strains I’ll ne’er repeat ‘em,
But nevertheless I’ll drink success
To the Erith Arboretum.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote at some length about why I felt the rumours of the old Potion / White Hart pub would not get converted into an Indian Restaurant, and went  on to explain some of the trade secrets of the experienced British Indian restaurant curry chef, and how they were able to whip up a tasty meal in only few minutes from a stock of pre – prepared ingredients. Basically the chefs mix spices into a pre – made base curry gravy – the meat and vegetables are pre – cooked and just need to be heated through – all very clever stuff. And when done well, the results are excellent. This highlighted a problem which has been getting worse over the last decade, and has now got to the point that restaurants have become unable to recruit sufficient kitchen staff.  The government has tightened immigration rules, making it almost impossible to hire chefs from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The restrictions may be popular with the swelling ranks of the unemployed in Britain, but it seems that very few Brits want to learn the curry trade and work in a British Indian restaurant kitchen. Younger generations of Bangladeshi and Pakistani cultural background are now more likely to seek an education and careers outside the kitchen. They understandably don't want to spend nine hours a day slaving over a hot tandoori oven for little pay – they would rather use their education and become a doctor, architect or accountant. It is all happening at a time when interest in Indian cuisine in Britain seems to be growing, after somewhat of a lull. Many new “mid-range” curry houses are opening, and they are struggling to recruit staff. Whilst high - end chefs are still available from the Indian subcontinent – those with fluent English, lots of experience, and the talents to earn around £30,000 a year in an upmarket establishment, the less skilled and experienced chefs are rejected by UK Immigration as they are regarded as having low employability and little English. The government have established a policy of advising restaurant owners to stop recruiting from abroad, and instead to train UK staff to carry out the skilled work. A new scheme has been set up to address this shortage –the Mastara Chef Apprenticeship Programme. Mastara Chef financially supports trainees through a Culinary Arts degree at the University of West London, with a specialism in Asian cuisine. Upon completion of the course, graduates are given an apprenticeship at some of the country’s best Asian and Oriental restaurants. Thus far the Mastara Chef programme has had fourteen successful candidates pass through and get full – time paid work in a curry house restaurant. Candidates have come from a number of backgrounds – including Morocco, the Caribbean and the UK have all passed the programme. Not all British Indian restaurant owners agree that this is the way forward; when interviewed by Public Radio International, restaurateur Sachin Mulane said “I really don't think that’s a very good idea, to become an Indian chef you have to work really hard. It’s not like a one day, one year or two year job. It is an ongoing process and it should be within you for years. That’s where you become perfect. In years past, many curry houses were true family operations and cooks learned the craft at their parent’s side. Nowadays younger generations are now more likely to seek an education and careers outside the kitchen. It is all happening at a time when interest in Indian cuisine in Britain seems to be growing. It is going to produce a problem, because a lot of these restaurant owners go to India because they know they can get staff. Maybe they're friends of families or they know they can get these guys in. They're going to come into a kitchen environment where everybody speaks the same language and these guys will work hard, they will work hard for very little pay, something I believe most British workers will not do”.

Don't forget that next Saturday is Erith Fun Day. It takes place between 12pm and 5pm in Erith Riverside Gardens, opposite the Running Horses pub. I would strongly recommend that if at all possible you come along; last years event was excellent, and all the indications are that this year will be even better. I will be along for the whole day - so look out for me and my trusty camera. Do come over and say hello - you all know who I am, but I don't know who all of you are. It would be nice to put some faces to names. Fingers crossed for some nice weather, and I look forward to seeing you there. 

My prediction about the bike gangs which have taken to congregating around Lower Belvedere and Thamesmead has proved true. I recently wrote about “Bike Life TV UK” and other groups of irresponsible individuals who ride around illegally without helmets, some with unregistered and uninsured bikes, and many pulling stunts such as wheelies, standing on the seat and other illegal activities on public roads. They film videos of themselves, which get posted onto YouTube and other media websites. One of the riders got killed on Thursday last week, when he lost control of his bike and collided with a lamp post at the roundabout which joins Eastern Way junction with Yarnton Way, opposite the Morgan carvery restaurant /  Pub. The London Air Ambulance attended the scene to take the critically injured motorcyclist by air to the Royal London Hospital where he later died. If the Air Ambulance attends an accident scene, then one can generally be sure that it is a serious case. What is also disturbing is the group of around twenty bikers with whom it is said the accident victim was racing did not stop to help; they continued riding around pulling wheelies whilst two witnesses have stated that one rider in particular used a hand held video camera to film the accident scene and the emergency workers trying to save the man’s life. So much for comradeship. No doubt further details of the incident will come out with time. Looking at the Bike Life UK Facebook page, it seems that whilst they claim to be a UK wide group, many of their illegal activities seem to be focused on Thamesmead and Lower Belvedere. The group are fully aware of the antisocial and illegal nature of what they do, and actually seem to revel in it. Quite what the Police will do in response is currently unclear. Whilst attempts are made in various Bike Life TV UK online videos to digitally obscure the vehicle number plates, as I have written before, there are many occasions where the number plates can be clearly read (of course, this assumes that the bikes in question are legally registered, and not on false plates, or stolen, both of which are strong possibilities). The group are also aware of Police surveillance on them – their website even has a news story which reads “Brimsdown Feds filming riders - to all uk bikelife  riders .looks like the police are filming  the riders   mostly on the crossers . then putting names to the faces the paying you a visit at a later time so just  be careful  and be aware that you being filmed . keep stuntin uk bikelife.” Apart from the dreadful English, and quite why they refer to the Police as “the Feds”, the picture is one of  a group who are deliberately going out of the way to break multiple laws. 

What responsible and legal bike clubs and organisations like the Gravesend Motorcycle Club - (photo above taken by the Rev at their annual bike and music show at The Railway Inn, Sole Street, Meopham yesterday) make of all this I don't know, but I would guess that they would view Bike Life TV UK in a rather poor light. If you are a biker, please get in contact; I am keen to hear your opinion on this group who seem to be hell – bent on causing trouble locally – even to the extent of the death of one of their own members. One local I talked to about the problem referred to Bike Life TV UK as "Chavs on mopeds" - and I was hard pressed to argue. 

Since my musings on the future of the drive through McDonald’s at Plumstead last week, I have been contacted by a fellow local blogger, who specialises in detailing and analysing the planning applications and development in South East London. From the Murky Depths brought the matter to my attention; it looks like the McDonald’s and the adjacent postal sorting office are to be demolished to make way for a new housing development by the Peabody Trust. Their announcement states:- “350 new homes plus shops, workspaces and community facilities by 2020; and a further 520 homes and new park by 2024”. You can read the full text here. Whilst it is a fair time in the future, it is good to see that a very run down and unwelcoming part of Plumstead is finally going to get some much needed attention. I used to pass through the area daily when visiting my late Dad in the Gallions Reach nursing home, so I am more than familiar with the challenges in the very scruffy industrial area that is only around the corner from Belmarsh Prison. How this timing will affect the reputedly poorly performing McDonald’s I don't know. If the franchise owner can hold out long enough for the site to be compulsorily purchased, they could come out of the arrangement with a substantial pile of cash. Whether they would wish for this I really don't know. What do you think? Either leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Pretty much anyone who works in an office, runs their own business, or who works with figures to any extent will be familiar with using a computer spreadsheet – most commonly Microsoft Excel. Many will curse at them from time to time, but would also find working with numbers far more difficult without a spreadsheet. It was not always the case. The term “Spreadsheet” has been in use for several hundred years; originally. In the realm of accounting jargon a "spread sheet" or spreadsheet was, and is a large sheet of paper with columns and rows that organises data about transactions for a business person to examine. It spreads or shows all of the costs, income, taxes, and other related data on a single sheet of paper for a manager to examine when making a decision. The problem with this is that if a value on the sheet changes – for example if the rate of tax was to increase, then the business person had to erase the related values in the relevant column, manually recalculate the new value, and write it onto the sheet – this could be a complex and time consuming business. Accountants and business owners would spend frustrating hours wrestling with figures in this way. In the early 1960’s several electronic versions of spreadsheets were created, which needed to be run on complex (for the time) and hugely expensive mainframe computers. Thirty six years ago this week, the first spreadsheet application was published for use on a personal computer, and it became the first “killer app” – a piece of software so powerful and groundbreaking that many businesses bought a computer just to be able to run it. The program was called Visicalc, and it is debatably the most important piece of software for business ever written. In 1979, personal computing was very much in its infancy; outside of large companies and universities, computers were really only used by hobbyists and engineers who wanted to learn about the new technology, and how to program. The Apple II had just been released in the USA, which was arguably the first computer for home use that did not require a high level of technical expertise to run. It was a perfect storm –the first widely available and (relatively) easy to use personal computer, along with an incredibly powerful spreadsheet program in Visicalc. Consequently both flew off the shelves; business people bought an Apple II purely to run Visicalc, which greatly pleased Apple, and ultimately led to their giant size and influence nowadays. Visicalc was ported onto a wide variety of other computers in the early 1980’s, and without a doubt it led to the adoption of computers in many companies that had previously done without. Once Visicalc became available for the then new IBM 5150 (what we now refer to as the PC mark one) the future was assured. By this time many other software companies had produced their own versions of an electronic spreadsheet – often with more functions, and Visicalc fell by the wayside. The creators of Visicalc had made one decision which benefitted many in the long run, but led to the demise of their own product – they did not patent or copyright it.  What I find fascinating is that whilst most software has changed beyond recognition over the years, the computer spreadsheet has stayed pretty much the same. If you were to time travel a Visicalc user from 1979 and put them in front of a Windows PC running Microsoft Excel now, they would find that the basic operation was exactly the same, albeit with many more functions and options. The principle has not changed at all. You can see a short video about Visicalc, and the impact it had on businesses large and small below.

Finally the long - awaited report on the Belvedere Splash Park has been published, and not before time. The report, by consultants Waterman Building Services, says closing the park could actually end up costing the council more than fixing it. These are some quotes taken from the report " Soiling from smaller children and babies has resulted in the closing of the facilities for an emergency clean and replacement of the water. The filters lack the efficiency to remove cryptosporidium (an organism which causes stomach upsets), which is resistant to chlorine. There are no ultraviolet filters, which would provide effective control of both legionella and cryptosporidium. The shallow pool for babies and younger children provides an area where standing water can be trapped all day, providing a breeding ground for bacteria, with dirt, debris and whatever else comes into contact with it exposed to high temperatures on hot sunny days". The first option is to update the park’s water treatment system, which would improve water quality and reduce maintenance. This would cost between £230,000 and £380,000, with an additional £42,000 each year for maintenance. The second is to scrap the water treatment and recirculation system and feed the park from the mains water instead. This would involve getting rid of the toddlers’ pool – which the report recommends anyway – and removing some of the features to limit the amount of water used. It would be cheaper than the former option, costing between £175,000 and £330,000, with an additional £35,000 annually for maintenance. The third option is to remove the park and replace it with new play equipment – but even this would cost between £150,000 and £200,000, with annual maintenance costs of £10,000. Many locals suspect that Bexley Council have always favoured the third option; the thinking behind this is that if the Splash Park was fitted out with the swings and roundabouts transferred from the recreation park on the opposite side of Woolwich Road, it would enable the council to sell off the whole plot of land, including the adjacent library to developers - not only would it rake in a lot of cash, but the inevitable blocks of flats that would be built would themselves bring in long term steady revenue in the form of Council Tax. The fate of the Splash Park is now to be decided at the council’s budget meeting on Tuesday, July 21 at 7.30pm in the council chamber. Faye Ockelford, secretary of the Save Belvedere Splash Park campaign, said the report had been “the biggest complete and utter waste of money. They have only looked at three options, The mains-fed solution will never be a viable option because it is a highly residential area and the environmental impact would be horrendous. With no recycling of the water, there isn’t the capacity in the water mains in the area. We want a safe, sustainable splash park, and if the council can't afford to run it we would be happy to look at private alternatives. We have spoken to someone who has offered to take over the running of it. But when we asked Cllr Craske if we could have a meeting, he said no. It seems to me that it has been a cut and dried decision – Old Manor Way is in a Conservative ward, so that has been saved, but the splash park is in a Labour ward, so it’s gone.”

The ending video this week is a little unusual; popular YouTube car review channel XCAR carry out a retrospective review on the Bristol Fighter - a 200mph supercar that many car enthusiasts may not even have heard of. Bristol Cars are a tiny bespoke car manufacturer who have a single showroom in Kensington High Street in London. The make very exclusive, eye wateringly expensive, but very discreet cars - I suppose that you could say that they are the automotive equivalent of a Savile Row tailor. The company make vehicles for extremely wealthy people who consider Ferrari, Aston Martin or Bentley to be too indiscreet and vulgar, or indeed just too commonly seen. Bristol Cars went the way of so many small volume British car manufacturers and went bust in 2011; they were subsequently bought, and have had a large investment made in new premises and machine tools. The company plan to launch a brand new model later this year.  Below is a rare road test of the Bristol Fighter - a car that is rumoured to be one of only fourteen ever built. You can visit the Bristol Cars website by clicking here.

Lazy journalism.

The vintage photo above (click for a larger view) was originally taken by me as part of a school geography project on the River Thames, way back in 1981. You can see Erith Police Station - when it still was a police station, and not a seedy and badly converted bunch of low rent apartments as it is nowadays. Next to it are some buildings that were a remnant of the old Erith - they are boarded up in the photo; not too long afterwards they were demolished to make way for sheltered housing. The Cross Keys pub looks in better fettle back then than it does nowadays. At the time of writing it is still boarded up with "For Sale" signs festooned on it. It was auctioned in December last year, but thus far the buyer has not made any apparent changes or improvements to the structure; I have fears that it may soon be demolished to make way for yet more flats. I came across the photo whilst going through a huge pile of photographs whilst clearing out a cupboard in my old bedroom at my Mum's house. Nearly all of the shots were consigned to the bin - I have not looked at them in over twenty years, so I am unlikely to do so in the future. A few choice ones I have kept, and may share a couple with you online in the next few weeks. Unfortunately the rest of the geography project photos of Erith have disappeared - I was hoping to be able to archive them, but sadly this is not going to be the case.

I cannot think of a better example of lazy journalism as happened earlier this week; you may have seen several articles in the press about a new TV advert for dog food that was the first one “aimed at dogs”. The reports said how the commercial had been made with whistles and squeaks only audible by dogs and very young children. This was repeated by a number of publications, apparently without bothering to check or verify the information. Digital terrestrial TV uses a codec called DVB-T and satellite uses a codec called DVB-S. Both these systems employ a lossy compression algorithm that removes parts of the signal that humans cannot register – mainly very high frequency sounds. This saves on bandwidth - and makes for a more efficient transmission, after all, there is no point in transmitting information that the audience are unable to detect. Dogs could not react to very high frequency sounds from the advert, as they were not there. So the whole story trotted out by Bakers Dogfood PR company has been swallowed hook, line and sinker by an uncritical and unquestioning press. Poor, lazy journalism. If you have a dog, and want to both buy a quality product, and also support an important local business, I would recommend you try the Bob and Lush range.

Talking of TV (and who says I don’t plan these things?) The News Shopper is reporting that the number of TV licences issued in Bexley is falling. I think this is a bit of a red herring in some respects; whilst the recession and rising unemployment probably impacts some local people so that they have to cut down on spending to the extent that legal requirements such as TV licencing are overlooked, I think much more is down to the power of the Internet. YouTube and BBC iPlayer, to cite but two examples, are changing the way people watch TV content. Many are happier watching content on demand; whether whilst travelling, via mobile phone or tablet, or merely when at home, but not at the time the programme was originally shown. Internet enabled TV’s are also taking off. The whole BBC licencing model is seriously outdated, and really does not fit the broadcast environment of today. I completely fail to understand why a compulsory licence has to be purchased. A pay per view system as per Sky television would seem to be a more appropriate business model. I suppose this may be revisited when analogue TV signals are switched off later this year; once a fully digital environment is in place, it would make encrypted subscription content much easier to control and enforce. I guess that pirate TV cards from Southern Ireland will continue to be a problem though.

Bob Hewitt’s excellent weather website, fed from his high end digital weather station, located at his home on the Erith / Belvedere borders is now fully functional once again. Contrary to my original concerns, Bob managed to keep many of the functions up and running, despite having had to send a major circuit board back to the manufacturer for repair / replacement. I have re – added the link to the website on the quick links to the right of this text, You can also see the local weather conditions in real time by clicking here.

Both Ken and Boris are playing for the commuter vote in the forthcoming London Mayoral elections. Personally I think they are both untrustworthy. Both also want to take the outer London rail network into their remit; understandably residents in Dartford are concerned, as they are outside Greater London and unable to influence the decision as to who gets the job of mayor – a classic case of taxation without representation. Both candidates have back tracked on their positions regarding trains in particular. Boris stated that he was going to prevent ticket office closures on the parts of the line he already controls – since this, he’s witnessed in excess of 200 office closures. Ken is no better in my opinion. He oversaw the introduction of the draconian and intrusive Oyster system (did you know that every journey you make using an Oyster card is recorded, and the information stored in contravention of the Data Protection Act?) Ken said that Oyster would make travel cheaper, yet in a classic piece of double thinking, kept the fares at the same level for Oyster, but increased the cash fare – to make Oyster appear to be cheaper, whilst still raking in the dosh. Cynical? Oh yes. I feel that Lib Dem candidate Brian Paddick is going to struggle to get to third place in the mayoral race; his vote looks like being split by other minority parties such as UKIP and the Green Party. If the option was available on the voting slip, this time around I would select “None of the above”.

On Friday evening I had cause to vist Morrison's, which is undergoing a fairly major refurbishment at present. I went to buy a rather expensive bottle of 18 year old single malt Scotch Whisky as a present. When I got to the check out, the cashier opened the box the bottle was presented in and removed the big metal and plastic security tag from the neck of the bottle inside; I thought nothing more about it, paid my bill and went to leave the shop, only to have the theft alarm go off when I went through the detectors by the exit. It turns out that high value, very portable items are also fitted with an RFID chip / sticker - as the security guard informed me afterwards. You may have read my previous posting about "contactless" debit cards a couple of weeks ago, and how my bank issued me with one of the cards. Eventually I got them to cancel the card and issue me with a conventional one, minus any RF shennanigans. The banks are keen on deploying this technology, even though they know it is less than perfectly secure, as they reckon the gains made through the 2.5% transaction commission charged to the vendor will far exceed any losses via fraud. This pernicious technology is spreading; it has serious privacy and security problems as well. Last year, the producers of the excellent US TV series "Mythbusters" made an episode dedicated to RFID technology. It never got broadcast, due to the threat of legal action from the multinational banks and credit card companies. You can see an interview with Adam Savage of Mythbusters on the situation below:

Every so often I like to feature independent local businesses; this week it is the turn of the Chandelier and Mirror company, who quite unsurprisingly supply a huge selection of chandeliers and mirrors both to the trade and the public. They are better known locally as Georgie Gray, which is what they display on their sign outside the showroom. They have been featured a couple of times on home makeover TV shows. Their showroom is at 14 Fraser Road, almost opposite the entrance to the Europa industrial estate. Their showroom is not in the most prepossessing of locations, but they have a great stock (apparently they are one of the best specialist lighting shops in the UK). They also have an excellent website that you can view here.

I have had quite a lot of positive feedback and interest in my story about the forthcoming Raspberry Pi computer last week. There has been astonishment that a “proper” computer could be manufactured and sold at such a low price. The release date has now been set for tomorrow. I will (along with a lot of other people, I suspect) be logging on to their website to place my order as soon as I possibly can. I would not be at all surprised if the initial production run of 10,000 units does not sell out very rapidly indeed. News is starting to leak into cyberspace (when did you last hear that term used?) that the BBC are going to become officially involved in the project, sponsoring a developers tool kit, aimed primarily at children wishing to learn how to program. This, if true, is indeed excellent news. The Raspberry Pi really is becoming the BBC Micro release two.

MP for Erith and Thamesmead Teresa Pearce recently raised an issue that I had not even considered; there are no banks in Thamesmead. When you consider the large geographical area covered by the town, and the population, which numbers around the 50,000 mark - there are no banks at all; one has to venture to Woolwich to visit one; hardly an ideal situation. Why has Thamesmead no physical access to a banking service? I think the question needs to be asked.

The RNLI have been in action in the Thames at Erith again this week; they were called to rescue a man that had deliberately jumped into the river and attempted to drown himself; they rescued him and put him in the control of local Police; apparently the man was extremely disturbed and violent, according to a report in the News Shopper. Later that afternoon the RNLI were called a second time – the same man had thrown himself back into the river, in an apparent suicide attempt. You can read more about the story here. What it does illustrate is how swift the responses by the lifeboat are. They are based at Gravesend, and seem to be able to get anywhere on their patch in an amazingly short time. As I mentioned last week, they exist entirely on charitable donations, and receive no government assistance at all. It would seem, following the earlier news about the Gravesend RLNI life boat, and the excellent work that it has been undertaking, that it is actually the sixth busiest lifeboat station in the United Kingdom. Not bad going for a small inshore team. You can see their website by clicking here.

My favourite, very eccentric and utterly British business, the incomparable Bristol Cars can be seen below; Ian walked past their one and only showroom in Kensington on Saturday afternoon - he took the photo below of a Bristol Blenheim 3 pictured; it is a low mileage, pre - owned model - you can see more by clicking here. As so often happens with specialist British car companies, they ran out of cash last year and ended up going into administration. For various legal reasons I was unable to go into the details at the time (the company I work for was somewhat involved in the rescue). Anyway, they are back on a stable footing now. Bristol make the automotive equivalent of the Savile Row suit - subtle, distinctive, eye wateringly expensive, and completely individual. You can see their website by clicking here.

I am going up to the Houses of Parliament in a couple of weeks for a visit to the Strangers’ Dining Room. It is nothing to do with the Maggot Sandwich unfortunately, but rather more to do with a role I carry out at work. I don’t think cameras are allowed in the place, and I would expect overall security to be on the tight side. I'll let you know how things went after the event.

Erith has been in the local news this week for not the usual reasons. You may recall that some time ago I featured the the News Shopper has reported that members of the Nemesis Thai boxing gym in Cross Street, Erith have won kick boxing championships You can read the story here. What shocked and surprised me was the exceedingly young age of the competitors – one was only six years old, and the News Shopper reports that he has been kick boxing since the age of three! He also apparently trains five days a week. What parent would let their toddler participate in a violent contact sport? I understand that pre teenage children can be permanently affected by high impact sport and similar violent activity; it seems to me to be highly irresponsible for the parents of the six year old kick boxer to allow him to undertake such an injury threatening pastime. I feel that many other countries would set age limits for this kind of undertaking. I would be interested on what readers think, as I realise that this is a bit of a contentious issue.

This weeks' video is a re - run of something I featured back in 2010, but I have the feeling that many readers may not have seen it. It is a short video about Bristol cars, as mentioned above - do feel free to leave a comment below on anything that I have featured this week.

Erith Trade & Social Club - the end?

I was passing the Erith Trade & Social Club (photo above - click for a larger view) this morning when I noticed that the place is now closed and boarded up. It celebrated its' centenary about eighteen months ago, but has now suffered the fate of several other licenced premises in the local area. Although I only live less than five minutes' walk from the club, I had only ever been inside as an invited guest on one occasion, many years ago. The place was pretty shabby and run down even then, although it was clear that the club was held in high esteem by many of its' members. Bearing in mind that the other working men's club in Erith closed down last year, and the Royal Alfred, The Cross Keys, the Chequers in Lower Belvedere, and the Woolwich Infant are all other public licenced establishments that have closed in recent history, it is pretty sad to see these places disappear.

3D television seems to be a somewhat of a dead end, despite what the marketing people say. Personally I feel that 3D is a fad and it will die out in the near future. You can read the following opinion piece from the Register: Brits are steering clear of 3D TV, with only one per cent of the population owning such a set already and a further one per cent hoping to acquire one this coming Christmas. And consumers in the rest of Europe aren't much keener on the technology, either. So reveals a survey of European punters conducted online by price comparison site Twenga. Just over 3000 people were polled, in six countries, so if you're willing to accept that 500 Britons realistically show what all the rest of us think, read on. To be fair, 48 per cent of UK respondents said they would like a 3D TV, but only one per cent of the total said they're definitely getting one this festive season. Five per cent hope they will, but aren't sure. Even if you count those as folk who will buying into the technology, the total is as nothing comparing to those who won't, whether because it's too expensive (32 per cent), the technology isn't up to snuff (12 per cent), want some other kind of TV (12 per cent), or simply don't want one at all (35 per cent). Three per cent of respondents said they don't know whether they want a 3D TV or not. We'd put the ditherers into the 'no' camp, along with the one per cent of punters who admitted they don't know what 3D TV is. The equivalent figures for France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands are slightly different but generally confirm a big public thumbs down for 3D TV because it costs too much or doesn't appeal. Northern Europeans seems more sceptical: Germans, Brits and the Dutch have higher 'not interested, thanks' percentages than the French, Italians and Spanish populations. But while the latter are keener on owning a 3D TV, they're just as likely to pass by because it's expensive.

I was standing at the bus stops opposite Woolwich Arsenal Station during the week, when I noticed an atypically well dressed for the area chap of about thirty, looking somewhat lost and bewildered; before he got accosted by one of the numerous ne'er do wells of the area, I introduced myself, and made a small leap of thought. "Are you looking for the bus to Belmarsh?" He looked relieved and replied to the affirmative. My guess that the guy was a solicitor looking to travel to the prison had turned out to be correct. To be honest, it is not the first time that I had seen a lawyer on their way to the notorious jail. He then asked me "How will I know when I have reached the place - what does Belmarsh look like?" I told him that it was a large building, full of prisoners - I don't think he got the joke, but as the 380 bus terminates at the prison gates, I don't think he had too much to worry about - though I cannot say the same for his client. The prison is full of the very worst scum and villainy the country has to offer.

On my daily train journey to and from London, I pass through part of Abbey Wood and Thamesmead; one thing I notice is the relatively large number of CB radio antennas attached to houses and flats. As a radio enthusiast and advanced class licenced amateur, I am keen to see people using radio in its' myriad forms. CB was popular in the early 1980's, though a lot of mis - use and deliberate jamming by idiots tended to spoil the service for many people. You can read a concise and well written account of the whole CB radio story by clicking here.

I read in the News Shopper that the African churches that had applied to use a number of local industrial buildings for holding religious services have been turned down. I am in two minds over this; many buildings remain unused and empty, and it would seem a good idea to put them to some productive use; on the other hand, they may well not be suitable, or indeed safe for use by large numbers of the public. The old tyre warehouse adjacent to the notorious Erith Fish Sculpture shown in the photo above has been used by the Celestial Church of Christ for a number of years. They don't cause much in the way of bother, although the area can become a bit congested on a Sunday morning. I think this is a potential "big society" issue that probably needs some more thought from both sides. Comments and feedback below, as always.

You may recall that back in August, I commented on the unusual and perplexing murder case involving the MI6 and GCHQ analyst Gareth Wyn Williams  and that it was something worthy of a Sherlock Holmes investigation. Well, in the meantime, someone has written a Holmes mystery about the case. You can log on and read the story - Sherlock Holmes and the Alderney Street Mystery by clicking here.

I was round at the bottle bank behind Morrison's the other evening, dropping off some glass bottles for recycling; Several long distance lorry drivers park in Wheatley Terrace Road and James Watt Way, though for some unexplained reason one had chosen to park right next to the bottle bank. He opened his cab window and shouted at me for disturbing his sleep, after I finished returning the glass to the relevant skip. What did he expect, when parked slap bang next to a bottle bank? Maybe he would prefer to kip next to a kettle drum and plastic explosives test site in future?

Microsoft Windows is 25 years old this week; it is highly probable that you are reading the Maggot Sandwich whilst using a computer running this pervasive and dominant computer operating system; personally I only use 'doze when I am being paid to. I find Apple OS X and Linux far more to my personal liking. You can read more about the birth and development of mad uncle Bill's stepchild by clicking here.

I have just subscribed to the Chap Magazine - something that I should really have done some years ago. You can read an interesting article on Chappism here. The video this week is a great piece on the Bristol Car Company - the most unique and individual bespoke car manufacturer in the UK, and quite probably the world. See what you think, and please let me know. Personally if I had the money, I would definitely own a Bristol myself.

Old Rosie and the Dial Arch.

Above is a view of the old Erith library, located in Walnut Tree Road. The building was donated to the local area by the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, of Carnegie Hall fame. In addition to originally housing the library, it also was home to the small but excellent Erith Museum, which was run by a group of local volunteers. The library has now been relocated in a new building in Erith Riverside development, opposite the Health Centre, and the "museum" has been relegated to four small glass cabinets in the reading area. The new building is lifeless and uninspiring, unlike the old building which was both beautiful and interesting. You can view details of the new library by clicking here. The old building is now used as the HQ for Bexley Commission for Race Equality, who I believe only occupy part of the available space - bearing in mind the whole construction had undergone a specialist and costly refurbishment only a few years ago, it seems a waste of a valuable local resource.

I see that another UK resident has won the Euro Millions lottery, trousering something in the region of 39 million Euros. Good luck to them; if I was ever to come into substantial money, I would not go tthe common way of buying an Aston Martin or Ferrari (which have now got the reputation as up market Chav mobiles, thanks to the antics of several well known Premier League footballers). Instead I would have one of these (click for the details). Discreet, understated, entirely hand built and extremely exclusive. Bristol Cars motto is "Always understated, never underrated" A bespoke Saville Row suit for the road. A review of their Fighter sports car (faster than the Bugatti Veyron) can be read here.

I see that the press has picked up on the consternation from the West Country about the disproportionate excise duty increase on Cider in the recent budget. It has got to the point that seminal Somerset beat combo The Wurzels have issued the following statement: "Having just heard the news we are all very upset that Scrumpy Cider, being one of the few pleasures that we cherish down here on the farm in the West Country, is being hit by such a tax rise. We all realise that, in these current times, we have to tighten the string on our trousers but we must admit that having to cut down on this local favourite leaves us feeling that we are being unfairly penalised, and we'll tell him something, he won't be the Darling bud of our May". I think the Chancellors' attitude that cider is only drunk by the feckless criminal fraternity is short sighted; most social inadequates and chavs steal strong cider like White Lightning from corner shops and off licences, so any cost increase will be immaterial to them. Only last night I was out with a few friends in Dartford at the historic pub the Wat Tyler, where they were serving draught pints of Weston's Old Rosie Scrumpy. An organic, craft produced, locally sourced Herefordshire drink which is fruity and subtle, with hints of spring flowers and herbs with a good measure of ripe autumn apples and a sharp, dry after taste.  It does have an unfortunate habit of partially dissolving your teeth however, and should not be put into contact with polished surfaces or organic material. Nature's own rocket fuel.

The new owners of the Nordenfeldt pub at the Pom Pom have submitted a planning application to convert the building into eight apartments. Bearing in mind the pub has been closed, boarded up and empty for around eighteen months, with no sign of interest from any brewing chain or pub company, I suppose that this was pretty much inevitable. I believe that the same destiny awaits the Royal Alfred pub in Manor Road, as shown below. This too is now boarded up, though I understand there are tenants living in the accomodation above the bar.

I see that ITV have now announced that they will shortly be cancelling their long running Police soap "The Bill".  I don't think it is a moment too soon; in my opinion it started going down hill the moment the producers switched it from being a 30 minute Police procedural drama to an hour long soap - one of the original tenets in the show runners' "bible" was that the characters lives outside of their career would never be mentioned, the show was to be exclusively about the police work. Once this was dropped it started losing my interest, and apparently that of many other people.

BBC Radio 2 did an excellent documentary on Ian Dury this week. You can listen to it on BBC iPlayer here.

I had another celebrity encounter this week; I had got off the train at Woolwich Arsenal and decided to walk back towards Plumstead for my daily Dad visit. For a change I thought that I would cut through the new Royal Arsenal housing development, mainly to see how progress on the forthcoming Young's pub / restaurant The Dial Arch on the site was going. I was walking along Major Draper Street, when I saw Kelly Brook getting into the passengers' seat of a black Range Rover Sport; there is a row of eight newly restored Victorian town houses in the street, which have just come up for sale. I surmise that she had viewed one with the possible idea of having it as a London base, having recently put her house in Sydenham up for sale. You can see details of the properties for sale in Major Draper Street by clicking here. They are nice houses, but I think the restoration has got rid of too many period features, and that they are so modern looking inside that they will quickly date; also they are no more than 200 metres from Woolwich town centre, and adjacent to the forthcoming Dial Arch venue, so noise may well be an issue.

Here is a blast from the past - Rik Mayall (pre The Young Ones) and his investigative journalist character Kevin Turvey. Comments below if you so wish.

Continuing this weeks' pub theme, Ian has written an exhaustive and very informative review of the Red Lion at Snargate, one of the most important and historic pubs in the whole of the U.K. You can read his review by clicking here.

I could not make this up: staunch old - school socialist and professional Northerner John "Two Jags" Prescott is about to become a Lord. What a hypocrite; he's spent his life slagging off what he now aspires to. Still more evidence of politicians and their snouts in the trough I suppose.

The Times Online is going to become a subscription only news service, costing £1 per day for access; fat lot of good this will do them, there are so many free outlets of news online that readers will simply go elsewhere.

According to the Government's own figures, the roll - out of biometric ID cards will only be capable of issuing a total of 700,000 cards a year; bearing in mind the UK now has an estimated population in the region of 61 million people, this is patently an untenable situation for an already discredited and unworkable project that threatens the security and privacy of everyone. You can read more about it here.

The main video this week is an excerpt from a recent story from Sky News. It features a fellow radio amateur who has managed to capture some astonishing sub orbital photo images, using cheap and readily available materials, something that rather puts NASA to shame.

Peter and Pooshun.

I was walking towards Morrison's last night, after getting off the 99 bus to Erith; I noticed a much higher than normal level of Police activity outside of Potion (spelled with an umlaut over the "o" making the correct pronunciation "Pooshun", but I digress).  I wondered if a fight had broken out in the bar, or the Police were in the middle of a drugs raid. I also saw a couple of utterly huge and scary looking private security men, not the usual flabby balding bouncers the place normally uses. There was a Mercedes Benz - McLaren SLR parked outside too - not the kind of vehicle one expects to see in Erith. My curiosity piqued, I slowed my walking pace and studied the view. The answer soon came - a couple of drunken chavettes in the bar garden were screaming into their mobile phones to their brood mates "you gotta come down 'ere - Peter Andre's appearing!" It then all made sense - some premier league bouncers, the local Police and no doubt a Paparazzi or two to greet the current poster boy of Britain's under class; the number one neverwas and shamelessly narcissistic self publicist. In Erith. I ground my teeth, hastened my pace and did not look back.

A mini mystery has come to my attention; as the aforementioned 99 bus wends its' way from Plumstead towards Upper Belvedere, I regularly have to suffer sitting in close proximity with a large, uncouth and sweaty individual who last washed his lank and greasy hair some time around decimalisation. He wears multiple layers of heavy clothing, even when it is blazing hot, and a pair of towelling jogging bottoms that have innumerable stains whose origin I shudder to contemplate; to round it all off he emits an aroma that is an equal mix of stale cigarette smoke, body odour and wee. He gets off the bus at a stop at the top of Bostall Hill - there are no houses or businesses in  the vicinity - merely Bostall Woods, a popular area for dog walkers. I have come to the conclusion that the bloke is employed by the local council as the official Yeti for the woods. He no doubt shambles  and lurches around the bushes to give the dog walkers a scare and to create some local colour to attract the tourists. Having a Sasquatch type character will give the woods some much needed P.R. You heard it here first!

I attended the recording of episodes three and four of the cult BBC Radio 4 comedy series Hut 33 on Friday. You may recall that a couple of months ago I wrote about seeing episodes one and two being performed at the BBC Radio Theatre inside Broadcasting House; well, this was more of the same. Episode three had the team from Hut 33 involved in an operation with the French resistance, flying in a captured German bomber over occupied France to send and receive some coded radio messages. The plane is piloted by Joshua's brother, who if anything is even more clueless and inept than him. inevitably they end up getting lost, dropping a bomb on Cambridge, and Minka brings new meaning to the term "Booby Trap". The fourth episode featured Charles gambling £100 from the Bletchley Park Spitfire fund in a game of poker with his old public school prefect in an attempt to join a private club. He loses the cash after being swindled, and it comes down to Joshua to win it back, despite thinking he is playing Monopoly rather than poker. Series 3 will start transmission on 14th October on Radio 4.

You can hear a ten minute audio clip of the very first episode of Hut 33  by clicking here.

Although my job is a technical one, and I spend my working hours involved with computers and electronics, one could not really call me an early adopter of technology in my personal life. I don't have a high definition television at present, my current Toshiba 36" CRT television is getting a bit long in the tooth now, but it has given excellent service, and I don't see the need to replace it until it fails. I don't have a blu - ray player (indeed, I rarely play DVD's at all) and my hi fi gear is mostly years old; I want to get my superb Linn LP 12 turntable serviced and updated at some point, but not now - and yes, I still listen to vinyl. As previously mentioned, I don't own a mobile phone, and have never sent a text message. I think the reason for not adopting new technology as soon as it appears is because most people who work professionally in technical support tend to be naturally conservative - new tech means new problems; our default attitude when encountering a shiny new piece of kit is not "ooh - that looks good", but "So what do I do when it goes wrong?" So many devices come with their manuals on CD as PDF files, rather than as they should be - in a ring bound A5 book. Why ring bound? Well, when you are scrabbling around on your hands and knees, trying to reach an inaccessible socket or the like, you want a manual that stays open on the correct page, without having to use a mug of tea as a paperweight. I am sure we have all been there at some stage. Those thin instruction pamphlets that come with so many modern appliances are generally also as much use as a CD of The Lord of the Rings in Morse code.

Another bus related mini  encounter this week - a woman was sitting directly behind me on the lower deck of the 99; without warning she reached around and stuck a mobile phone under my nose and in broken English screeched "Unlock, unlock?". I brushed it away and ignored her, - it was patently obvious the phone was stolen - only to have her shove the phone in my face for a second time. I turned around and gave her a lesson in the advanced use of Anglo Saxon expletives. She did not bother me again.




I don't play the National Lottery, as in my opinion it is a tax on the stupid. The chances of winning a large amount of money are so statistically small that it seems not worth the effort. There are times when one does entertain the possibility, only as it is very likely the only way I would ever be in the position to afford a Blenheim coupe (see the photos above) from bespoke British luxury car makers Bristol Cars. Bristol make the most exclusive, discreet and understated luxury vehicles for a very select customer base. - they make Rolls Royce look like vulgar populists in comparison. Bristol produce less than 150 cars a year, and aim to keep it that way. They have no dealers or agents, and operate from their showroom in the Cromwell Road. They are possibly the last bastion of the British Empire, and long may they continue. You can read a review of the Blenheim 3S here.

It is now officially 25 years since the release of truly ground breaking game Elite on the BBC Model B computer. Apparently as many copies of Elite were sold as BBC model B computers; it certainly was the reason many people persuaded their parents to buy that particular computer - excellent thought it was anyway. Here is a video of the gameplay - feel free to leave a comment below.

Onto modern computing. I don't know what Email client you use (many still using the execrable Outlook Express no doubt) but if you want a free and open source Email program that looks and feels very similar to Outlook Express, but has new features and is more robust and secure, then I strongly encourage you to try Mozilla Thunderbird, which is now in its' second stable incarnation. It is easy to use and sufficiently similar to other Email programs that it has a very short learning curve. I am currently testing the 4th Beta version of Thunderbird 3, which has a substantial increase in features, and also takes on much of the look and feel of Firefox 3.5. Not something I would recommend most people to do. Beta software can be flaky and unstable - but testing is the order of the day.

You may have heard in the press this week that popular Rockney group Chas and Dave have decided to call it a day, they first started performing together in 1975, but have decided to split after the death of Bass player Dave Peacock's wife from cancer. The band will be remembered by persons of a certain age for their sound tracks to a number of Courage Best Bitter TV commercials in the early 1980's. Thanks to the magic of YouTube, I have found three of these comic TV adverts, which run back to back - see below. This is a blast from the past...

The spud cannon.

For those who dip in and out of the Maggot Sandwich on an occasional basis, and who may not be familiar with my home setup - the photo above (click for a larger version) shows the operations centre of Pewty Acres, where the whole Blog update gets nailed together each Sunday afternoon. I work from home quite a lot, and also do a lot of radio listening and operating in what little spare time I have - the radio gear is at the other end of the bench, hidden out of sight in this photo. You can see my DAB radio on the window sill, along with my cordless home phone. My work laptop is at the far left of my work bench (actually a three metre long kitchen work surface - it's great!) Sandwiched between the Roland studio reference monitor speakers is my all singing and dancing Apple iMac 24" with bluetooth wireless keyboard and mouse. to the extreme right is my 1 Terabyte backup drive, which is connected to the iMac by a Firewire 800 cable. The cable going through the window frame is a bit of a giveaway - it leads from my Icom VHF / UHF transceiver to the large colinear antenna I have mounted on the chimney pot. I spend many hours in this room - as you can probably see why.

After much prevaricating, I have finally given some attention to my Asus EeePC, on which the operating system installation died a few weeks ago for no apparent reason. I installed the full desktop version of Kubuntu Linux (Ubuntu with the KDE, rather then the default Gnome desktop user environment), but the new whizzy KDE 4.1 desktop (which looks a bit like Windoze Vista) was just too much for the low powered netbook and it ran like a asthmatic slug on Valium. It is now running the stripped down Ubuntu Linux specially for netbook PC's called (not very imaginatively) EeeBuntu.

After my comments about Michael Jackson a couple of weeks back, I read in the News Shopper that he is going to be a local resident for a while; apparently he is renting a large mansion in Chislehurst, according to the super, soaraway Sun. Of course they have to put a spin on in, and make great capital out of the allegedly haunted Chislehurst Caves which the mansion is apparently close to.

A couple of the local low - lives have taken to making others more aware of their nefarious existence. They have removed the sound deadening baffles from their wheezing 49cc mopeds in the vain hope that this will make them go faster than their 30mph limit. All it really does is make the motors - that would come second to many hair dryers in a power contest, sound even more like a bunch of wasps in a biscuit tin. The inept riders twist the throttle on their steeds and rather than leap forward with sudden acceleration, the tinny whine from the under powered engine just gets louder and even more irritating.

My quest for an "interesting" car when I eventually decide to purchase one has taken another side route. I am fascinated by the output of probably the most exclusive and discreet car manufacturer in the world. Many people will never have heard of the long established company - They don't have any dealers or third party franchises, they do not advertise and have only one showroom. You can read more about the world of Bristol Cars and their supply of bespoke motor vehicles for discerning gentle people by clicking here. Unfortunately they are ruinously expensive, even second hand. I can but aspire I suppose.

This weeks' video clip is interesting. It shows a small group of American Radio Amateurs setting up an antenna for the 160 metre amateur radio band (this is an area of the radio spectrum just off the top end of the Medium wave AM band on a domestic receiver, and very long antennas are required to send and receive signals). For this and several other bands, one of the best ways to erect the antenna is to sling it as high as possible between two tall trees. These Americans have found a way to do this involving the eponymous Spud Cannon. Watch on and wonder...