An invasion of foxes.

The photo above might initially not look very interesting, but it has provided a somewhat contentious site for one of Erith’s most disruptive sets of roadworks within recent memory. You may recall that back in June I wrote about the huge and extensive road works which were carried out in Manor Road, Erith. The road was closed for ten weeks whilst it was completely re- engineered, as it had been in a state of near collapse for several years. Manor Road is nearly a mile long, and the section between the KFC drive through and Appold Street was the first to be dug up. Bexley Council Highways Department had devised a diversion via Slade Green, which had been locally published a week or so prior to the start of the closure period. Some devious drivers who know the area very well realised that there was an illegal cut through which would avoid having to use the diversion. Instead they drove along James Watt Way (the road that runs around the outside of Morrison’s car park) and then up Appold Street and past the road works. For many years the junction of James Watt Way and Appold Street has been a no – through – road, with a number of bollards blocking the way. The reason for this is that Appold Street is a quiet residential road, mainly populated by small Victorian cottages whose front doors open directly onto the pavement; any increase over normal local traffic would be disproportionately detrimental to the lives of local residents. The problem always was that the bollards were too few in number, and too widely spaced, meaning that smaller cars and vans could squeeze through the gaps, and for many years one could see vehicles illegally cutting through in this manner. Once the road works began, the increase in traffic via this route was phenomenal, to the point where there was a queue in each direction to get through the gaps in the bollards. Vehicles were revving their engines and hooting their horns in frustration, and I witnessed a couple of incidents of road rage. All this badly affected the residents of Appold Street. After a couple of days things went further downhill. The road contractors removed a couple of bollards and allowed the illegal traffic to move more freely – though it still was only one vehicle per time through the resultant gap. The drivers understood this barrier removal to mean tacit approval for the unplanned diversion work – around, and thus the traffic levels increased still further, making life for people living in Appold Street a nightmare. There were two reported incidents of toddlers being hit by cars on the cut – through, though fortunately in both cases there was no serious injury. I was one of many people to complain to both the Police and the Council about the situation, and I had an Email from the borough Chief Engineer, who had witnessed a number of incidents during a site visit. The results can be seen above – click on the photo for a larger view. Soon after the road works were completed,  began on improvement works in Appold Street. The cut through has now been completely sealed to all vehicles except motorcycles, push bikes, prams and buggies, which is as it was always intended, and the resulting disturbance to those living in Appold Street has been reduced to a minimum. It does go to show that complaining can have a positive result.

Recently, Malcolm Knight of the “Bexley is Bonkers” blog wrote an account of a visit he had made to a Bexley Council meeting where the various Council budgets and incomes / outgoings were debated. The council use auditors Grant Thornton to advise them on matters pertaining to finance. In the course of my day job I have had the odd occasion to deal with Grant Thornton staff, and in my experience they are very sharp cookies and very good at what they do. They have advised the Council that at present only 66% of residents pay their council tax by direct debit. Many of those who are listed as paying by other methods effectively do not. This leaves a very big hole in the Council finances which ends up being recouped by cuts to services, or an increase in the council tax; as we know, Bexley Council are philosophically opposed to increases in the council tax - as they know that this is a vote loser, and they don’t want to lose their cushy and excessively well paid jobs. The result has been the permanent cancellation of the Bexley Festival, the loss of “Bexley in Bloom” and a host of other projects and services. The reason Grant Thornton came up with the figure is that compared with other similar boroughs such as Bromley, Bexley has a very high transient population, and a very high percentage of privately rented housing. People move into the area, privately rent, don’t register with the council, pay no tax, and by the time anything is done to try and get them to pay, they have moved on elsewhere - quite often another address still in the borough, and the cycle continues again. The people who do this are often part of the black economy - they pay no income tax or national insurance, and effectively live as close as possible to “off the radar”. Personally I don’t think there is a huge amount the Council can do to address the problem at a local level; this is the kind of issue that has to be dealt with as a national issue, as it is happening all over the country. The only way to deal with the black economy is to recoup the missing money via taxes that they cannot avoid - by using an increase in taxes on products and services to compensate. In so doing you could remove a whole level of council and national insurance taxation and remove a level of bureaucracy from local government, thus saving in administration costs. What do you think? Leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Long term Maggot Sandwich readers will know that I am a particular fan of the Google Chromebook range of computers. They are cheap, lightweight and surprisingly fast laptops which run a cut down version of Linux called Chrome OS and the Chrome web browser. They are not a full replacement for a machine running OS X, Windows or Linux, but a cut down laptop that just runs the Chrome web browser. You can watch YouTube videos, send and receive web based Email such as Gmail, use FaceBook, Instagram or any other web based service. You can also use Google Docs or other third party web based productivity tools. If you are happy with your data being stored in the cloud, a Chromebook may be ideal for you. They are certainly fast; my Chromebook boots from cold to the logon screen in eight seconds flat. They are also good, if like me you don’t get on with tablet computers – I have a Samsung tablet that belongs to work; I certainly would not buy one, or an iPad personally. I need a decent keyboard, and Chromebooks have excellent ones. Until recently the big drawback with Chromebooks has been that certain heavy duty applications such as Microsoft Office and Photoshop don’t work on them, as you are unable to locally install applications. This is starting to change; not only have Microsoft launched Office 365 – a web based version of MS Office, which can run in a web browser, and now software giant Adobe have announced a version of Photoshop which is designed specifically to run on Chromebook computers.  On Monday,  Google and adobe jointly unveiled "Project Photoshop Streaming," an effort to get Adobe's flagship photo editing software running inside browser windows via application streaming. "This streaming version of Photoshop is designed to run straight from the cloud to your Chromebook," Google's Steven Konig said in a blog post. "It's always up-to-date and fully integrated with Google Drive, so there's no need to download and re-upload files – just save your art directly from Photoshop to the cloud." What's more, Konig said, streaming makes managing applications like Photoshop easier for IT  system administrators, because there's no client software to install or maintain on individual users' machines. The bad news is that this project is initially confined to North America, and further confined to educational users. I have the feeling that once the word gets out, the demand will be so great that Google and Adobe will have to release to a world – wide audience. This good news comes shortly after Google announced a project to get popular Android applications to run on Chromebooks via a virtual machine with no perceptible loss of performance. Google are heading for a major head to head with Microsoft for the future of the desktop, and the outcome will be fascinating. Whichever way it goes, it will be good news for the consumer. I have written in the past that in my opinion the days of having heavy duty PC’s with huge processors and expensive memory are likely to become a rarity. Most users will do what they are already doing – using a web browser to access an application that sits in the cloud, on high powered servers that do all of the “heavy lifting” enabling smaller, lighter and far less power hungry mobile devices to carry out the user interface; it would seem that this is the way things will head in the future.

Recently I have been watching a lot of episodes of “Old Top Gear” on YouTube. Some of you may recall the original, long running TV series, prior to its incarnation as the Clarkson / May / Hammond jokey blokey show that it has been on air in the current format since 2002. Many people don’t realise that the show had been produced in a more conventional format on BBC2 since 1979. I recalled watching the old version of the programme, and my memories were of a somewhat staid and boring presentation style. When I watched a dozen or so clips on YouTube, I found that the programme was excellent and very entertaining. It certainly had humour - see what I mean by watching the clip above. It just shows how memory can play tricks over time.

Now for something a bit more sombre. I have discovered the owners of graves in Erith Cemetery in Brook Street are being contacted by Bexley Council’s cemetery officer (I did not know that we had one) to inform them that the next phase of work to create a new Memorial Terrace has begun. A new mausoleum and double burial chambers have been installed. The letter states “Using a new specially designed and manufactured burial system it was possible to create burial spaces on the new side embankment, an area of the cemetery that was previously seen as being unsuitable for traditional earthen graves. This bespoke system has made it possible to form the first of a series of terraces containing a selection of fully memorialised burial chambers, raised sarcophagi and a mausoleum for below and above ground internment”. The photos above (click for a larger view) show what the development is going to look like when it is finished. The Council do not state what prices they will be charging to interr your loved ones in the new chambers, but you can bet your bottom dollar that it is going to be very pricey – even a simple burial runs into thousands of pounds, and something far more ostentatious like this is going to be much more expensive.

Until a year or so ago, I was entirely unaware that Erith was home to a multi – award winning singer and songwriter. It was only when the Bexley Times ran an article on a chap from Riverdale Road called Wayne Jacobs that I found out. Wayne has had three awards for songs he has written. One would think that he would be better known because of this, but outside of a relatively small sphere, he’s unknown still. The reason for this is not very difficult to understand. Music, like many things is a question of taste, and Wayne Jacobs writes and plays Country and Western music. Not something that is likely to find mass market appeal in South East London; there are a substantial number of people who like this somewhat unusual style of music in the area, but they are in a minority. I am quite surprised that Wayne Jacobs has not emigrated to somewhere like Nashville where his talents would be better put to use. Country and Western is a style of music that to my mind does not travel well. It is so intrinsically linked with certain parts of the USA that to my mind it has little relevance outside of it. It is good to hear of a local artist doing well; I just feel if he wants to hit the big time, he’s going to have to emigrate. What do you think? Am I being unduly harsh? Leave a comment below, or Email me directly at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The burglar who recently hid up a tree near Charlton Station, stopping all trains on the Dartford to London via Greenwich line for seventeen hours has been sentenced to eighteen months in prison. The London Evening Standard reported earlier in the week that Carlton Andre (36) of no fixed abode, caused the rail lines to be shut and 780 trains to be cancelled, costing nearly £500,000 in lost revenue and passenger compensation. Andre, clad in motorcycle gear and a balaclava, had used an angle grinder to cut open the shutters of a Curry’s store at Stone Lake Retail Park in Charlton, causing £1,500 worth of damage. When police were called he panicked and tried to escape empty-handed on a stolen motorbike. When the bike failed to start he fled on foot from police who tried to Taser him, before he hid in a garden shed. When Andre was located by a police helicopter he once again fled across live railway tracks before climbing a tree near Charlton railway station. The feckless scrote spent the night of the 16^th, and most of the 17^th August up a tree overlooking the railway lines; he was surrounded by Police and unable to escape, but for seventeen hours he refused to come down, and all trains had to be cancelled as a safety precaution, and the traction power had to be switched off. Fortunately the case made it to court relatively swiftly. Carlton  Andre pleaded guilty to burglary, driving a car without the owner’s consent, and driving while disqualified at an earlier hearing. He also pleaded guilty to  obstructing police, criminal damage and obstructing the railway following an attempted burglary at a commercial unit. Personally I think he should have gone down for longer, but nevertheless it does send out a strong message that if you compound your crimes by resisting arrest, then it will be reflected in the eventual sentence.

The garden at Pewty Acres has had a major makeover this week; the lawn has been looking very sad and bedraggled for the last couple of years. It seemed to be more moss and clover than actual grass, and my efforts to restore it to health were unsuccessful. I seemed to spend more time trying to keep the lawn looking half respectable than I did enjoying it. As you may know, my “day job” involves applying technological solutions to all sorts of unusual business problems. I decided that I needed to take some of my own advice, and so I looked into how I could go about rectifying my ailing and somewhat unsightly grass. After some research I decided to go for broke and replace the lawn with a professionally installed synthetic replacement. You can see the results above - click on the picture for a larger view. Synthetic grass technology has come light years since the days of lurid bright green Astroturf, and the stuff they used to use in butcher’s shops meat displays. Modern synthetic turf is visually indistinguishable from the real thing; the individual blades of grass are made of subtly different colours and thicknesses, just as in real life. The supplier / installer I used guarantee their synthetic lawns for ten years against fading and staining. You can put heavy garden furniture and pots on the grass without causing any damage – about the only thing they do not recommend is using a wood or charcoal barbecue on synthetic grass, as dropped hot coals will melt and burn the surface. The installation of a full – sized lawn can take a couple of days. The installers begin by using a specialised turf cutting machine to remove the top layer of soil and old grass down to a depth of a couple of inches. Once this is done, A water permeable membrane is laid and secured to a wooden frame which is secured around the edge of the lawn area. Once this is completed, a layer of crushed granite chippings is laid and levelled with a Wacker plate. Then sharp sand is laid over the top, and rolled smooth with a large lawn roller. A second water permeable membrane layer is then laid on top and also secured to the wooden battens. Once this has been completed, the actual grass is then laid. Watching the work being carried out, it does strike me that the procedure is halfway between laying block paving and laying a carpet. I will report over time how I get on with the synthetic lawn. It is certainly not a cheap option, but I look at it as an investment. I have a handful of dead strimmers in my shed, along with an electric lawn mower that has seen better days. Over the minimum guaranteed ten year lifespan of the synthetic lawn, how much will I save in not having to purchase lawn care tools?

I must admit that I have been somewhat sceptical when I have read accounts in the press of people encountering foxes in their houses, and the odd tale of foxes attacking small children and pets. My view was changed somewhat on Tuesday evening. I was sitting in my living room, watching old “Top Gear” excerpts on YouTube on my Google Chromebook (research for the piece I wrote above) and generally minding my own business. I noticed something out of the corner of my eye; when I looked up there was an adult fox standing in the middle of my living room! I was astonished – I did not think that a fox would be daring enough to enter anywhere that had a strong scent of human. I stood up and shouted at it – which it completely ignored. It was only when I moved toward it that it ran out of the living room and into the kitchen, where it picked up one of the pair of work boots I leave by the back door for wearing in the garden. It then ambled out into the garden and across my newly laid synthetic lawn. It was only when I ran at it waving my arms at shouting that it dropped the boot and ran off into some undergrowth near the bottom of my garden. Only a few hours earlier a fox (possibly the same one) stole a trainer from one of the lawn fitting team; he'd taken them off to change into builder’s boots whilst he prepared the granite chippings that formed part of the lawn base. He told me that he and his colleague watched as a fox came out of a bush, watched them for a minute or so, before snatching the trainer and ambling off as if nothing had happened. I know that an extended family of foxes are living on a small patch of waste ground near to Pewty Acres. The area has been home to foxes for many years, and up until recently humans and foxes have coexisted peacefully. What now seems to have changed is that the foxes have lost all fear of humans and are now encroaching where they are certainly not welcome. One of my neighbours has a small child, and I understand that they too have had foxes trespassing inside their house. Another neighbour told me that she too had several fox visits, even though she has a dog. I am afraid that repellents don't seem to be effective, and I am contacting a licensed pest exterminator to deal with the problems. I am fully aware that if you remove a family of foxes from an area, another family is likely to move in. The problem is not with foxes in general, but with this particular family, who have no fear of humans. My hope would be that any replacement fox family would be wary of people and leave us alone. Have you had any experiences of this nature? What did you do? Drop me a line to hugh.neal@gmail.com and let me know.

The ending video this week is a short documentary about the history of Erith which was made by some pupils at Trinity School back in 2011. It is a very well produced look at the riverside town and the way in which it has changed over the years. Indeed, since the film was produced Warmlake Sports, the independent sport shop in the Erith Riverside Shopping Centre has closed, but other than that not much has changed. Do give it a watch and see what you think.

Farewell Sweet and Spicy.

With the construction programme now well under way on the new Bexley College campus in Walnut Tree Road, focus has once again fallen on South Eastern Trains and their lack of provision of a lift or other step free access to the London bound platform at Erith Station. At present, the only method of getting onto the London bound platform is via an ancient and very steep wrought iron footbridge as seen in the photo above (click for a larger view), which is functionally unusable by anyone with a baby buggy or who has to use a wheelchair. Local MP Teresa Pearce started an online campaign to try and get South Eastern to do something about this, but their bland reply was that anyone needing to use the London bound platform should get on a Kent bound train on the platform adjacent to the ticket office, to travel three stops in the opposite direction to Dartford Station, use the lift there to change platforms to pick up a London bound train, then travel back through Erith towards London. Aside from any additional expense and inconvenience that this would cause to someone, there is the matter that even if you managed to get a quick connection at Dartford, it would still add at least thirty minutes to the journey time. This clearly discriminates against travellers with a buggy or using a wheelchair. I know that many locals feel strongly about this issue, but the rail company just don’t seem to want to do anything about it – probably due to the expense. The fact that they are almost certainly in direct breach of the Disability Rights Act seems to completely pass them by. You can join the ongoing campaign on the Fix My Transport website here.

Some readers may be aware that I am very fond of a curry; back in the mid to late 1990’s I was a reviewer for the Good Curry Guide – an unpaid volunteer who would assess and rate my visits to Indian restaurants. I got quite a few entries in the guide, and wrote a number of articles for “Curry” magazine (now sadly no more).  At the time I worked for a company on the boundary between the City of London and the East End, which meant I was well placed for lunchtime curry house visits. Back then, the area now known as “Banglatown” was just plain Brick Lane, well prior to the areas’ gentrification. It was rough. Brick Lane and its’ environs were still the home of the rag trade, with multiple sweat shops and factories churning out cheap clothing which would mainly go on to be sold on market stalls and discount shops around the country. Around a third of the shops in Brick Lane itself were showrooms for the clothing and cheap jewellery factories, and you would see men unloading overfilled vans with armfuls of fabric. Back then, Brick Lane was pretty much the sole domain of the Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshi people who both lived and worked locally. I was unusual in exploring the area during my lunch breaks – the place was not like it is now – a tourist trap with many visitors. Then it was fairly insular and inwards looking. Whilst not exactly hostile, many locals were pretty ambivalent about visitors. Then, as now there were many curry houses in the road, and most of them were as bad then as they are now, though then they did not employ hustlers to try to tempt passers by into their restaurant with improbable offers of discounts and free offers – a practice I understand has recently been banned. One thing became apparent during my walks down Brick Lane. The locals only ate at one place – they studiously avoided the commercial curry houses, which were there purely to extract money from external visitors (nothing has changed there, to be honest). There was a cafeteria type restaurant on the corner of Brick Lane and Chicksands Street, almost opposite the Police station which seemed to attract a lot of local men – looking through the window, one could see a mass of skull caps and beards. It occurred to me that if the locals rated the place, it must be worth checking out. Later that week I plumped up the courage to go into the place – it did look pretty scary, and I was the only white face in the establishment. It was a revelation; the food was ordered and paid cafe style from the counter; the staff then brought the dishes to your table, which was a McDonalds type Formica affair. The floor was plain linoleum, and the walls were decorated with posters of Indian wrestlers from the 1950’s (I later found out that the proprietor was a former Indian Olympic wrestling champion). The food was amazing – not restaurant type fare, but high quality Bangladeshi home style food in huge portions at a very low price. Back then I could have a spicy mutton curry, boiled rice, a couple of chapattis and a samosa or two, plus a side dish of natural yoghurt, their trademark red sauce, sliced raw onion and a few green chillies for around £5.50. The place had no licence and did not allow the consumption of alcohol, but they had a wide selection of soft drinks, and anyway each table had a large complimentary metal jug of water which was kept refilled by the serving staff; cups were self service and obtained free from the counter. The place was called “Sweet and Spicy”, and it was an East End legend and institution. I was a regular, going there for lunch at least twice a week until I changed jobs in the year 2000. After then I would still visit when able, and the owner, Omar Butt would always greet me warmly, usually with a free cup of tea. “Sweet and Spicy” had been opened in 1969, and it was one of the only places in London that you could have a curry for breakfast. Over the years, as Brick Lane changed, market staff from the nearby Petticoat Lane Market would eat at the place, and gradually more European faces would be seen sitting at tables. Sweet and Spicy became a melting pot of the East End – the food was consistently good, whether one popped in to pick up a kebab roll takeaway (a kebab roll was a mutton sheikh kebab wrapped in a chapatti with finely sliced onion and lettuce, a chilli or two and a generous dash of their secret red sauce) it was cheap, tasty and very filling. If you went for a full sit – down lunch you would be unlikely to want to eat again for twenty four hours – I don’t think Omar Butt had any concept of portion control. Curries were simmered very slowly, and the meat was served on the bone – something almost unheard of anywhere else. The result was meltingly tender and stunningly flavour full curries. Over time, word got out (possibly helped by a glowing review I wrote for the Good Curry Guide) and "Sweet and Spicy" won the Time Out cheap eat award as best cheap eating venue in London.  The restaurant went from strength to strength and it was often hard to find a seat, especially on a Friday when the local Mosque kicked out after midday prayers.  Over the last couple of years I have only managed to eat there a couple of times, though I did manage to introduce a couple of friends to the eaterie. I was shocked to discover this week that after 44 years of serving London the finest authentic curries, that Sweet and Spicy has closed down. I was truly gutted – it was a key place in the East End. It would appear that I am not the only person to feel so strongly about it – you can read an obituary on the end of "Sweet and Spicy" here – check out the comments under the article – there are a lot of people who mourn the loss of one of London’s culinary landmarks. You can also read more about the place here. Brick Lane really is not a place worth visiting for food any more; it is just a tourist trap and that is all. The nearest other curry houses worthwhile visiting in the East End are the Lahore Kebab House in Umberston Street E1, a huge 350 cover restaurant that is very popular with the braying city trader types - it offers outstanding tandoori cooked meats and some very creditable curries, though it does tend to get quite loud. My own favourite alternative place is one of the oldest Indian restaurants in London, that first opened its' doors to the paying public in 1939, and has been in the same Grade II listed building ever since. The place is called the Halal Restaurant and it can be found in Mark Street, E1. It is a more quiet and traditional affair than the Lahore Kebab House, but the food is excellent - properly "old school". Their meatball vindaloo is a thing of wonder. Recommended if you are in the area. 

The photo above was taken earlier this week by regular Maggot Sandwich readers Dawn and Richard of a seal swimming in the River Thames at the Crossness Outfall in Thamesmead. Seals will not swim in polluted water - their presence is a very good indicator of the health of the river water, so seeing them locally is a very welcome thing. People look at the greenish - grey colour of much of the lower Thames and assume that it is still terribly polluted, as it indeed used to be; in fact the colouration is mainly due to the large amount of silt and other natural particulates that are held in suspension by the water. Ironically these are good news for much of the wildlife that lives in or on the river - lot of nutrients eaten by small bugs, larvae and other creatures at the bottom end of the food chain, which in turn get eaten by the fish, and then the fish get eaten by the top end predators like the seal in the photo above. Dawn and Richard tell me that the Crossness Outfall is an excellent spot for nature viewing. I may well take my camera along there soon and see for myself. You can see some photos taken by a local bird watcher here. 

The compact cassette has its’ 50^th birthday this month. Whilst now a dying, (if not quite truly dead) breed, the cassette did as much in the 70’s and 80’s to spread and popularise music as the 45rpm single did in the 1960’s. The cassette format was developed and patented by Philips, and the European launch of the cassette took place at the Berlin Radio Show in August 1963. To be honest, the early cassette recorders were pretty dire – the format was originally created to be used for voice recording and other dictation type duties. It was only later when Sony and Nakamichi (a specialist Japanese electronics company that made the Dragon – the ultimate audiophile cassette player / recorder) became involved in created much higher quality read / write heads and far greater precision tape transport mechanisms that the format started to get used for high fidelity recording and playback. The “killer app” for the compact cassette was the invention of the Sony Walkman in 1979 when music could be enjoyed on the move by an individual for the first time. It is hard to credit now the impact the invention of the Walkman had at the time – I recall saving up for ages to be able to afford the Sony WM-10 Walkman, which was actually physically smaller than the size of a cassette box, and expanded to take a cassette. It was an amazing bit of precision engineering; back in the early to mid 1980’s Sony really were on a roll – their portable cassette decks and radio kit was exceptionally good. I still have my Sony ICF 2001D receiver in good working order – a portable shortwave communications receiver that has not been bettered to this day. The model had such a good reputation that the BBC issued it as standard equipment to all of their foreign correspondents for many years. Mine sits on my bedside cabinet, acting as a alarm clock / radio, and means I can lay in bed listening to the broadcasts of shortwave stations like Laser Hot Hits on 4.026 MHz. 

On Monday afternoon I popped into Morrison’s to pick up something for my dinner. As I picked up a hand basket, I noticed a chap giving me what I term “the Look”. The Look is a combination of curiosity, surprise and recognition – and is nearly always when a Maggot Sandwich reader has twigged that yours truly has made an appearance. It was indeed the case on this occasion; I had a very pleasant chat with the gentleman, who has been a reader for a couple of years. It is always nice to get feedback from readers. I am aware that there have been some intermittent problems with the comments function on the Maggot Sandwich – sometimes a comments box appears, and other times not. The behaviour is intermittent, but would seem to be more common when viewing the site with Google Chrome (which is curious – one would have thought any rendering issues would be more likely with a non Google browser). There is also a bug which shows the location of the posting as “undefined” when in fact the location is correctly set as Erith. Both of these issues I need to log with Google’s Blogger support. I think both issues are problems with the Blogger template that I use.  Hopefully I will be able to get both resolved before too long, as both problems are annoying, if not actual show - stoppers.

Talking of Google Chrome, sales figures for the first half of this year are now in, and the biggest surprise has been that sales of Google’s Chromebook laptops have greatly exceeded expectation . On both Amazon US and Amazon UK, Chromebook sales have dominated the under £300 laptop sector. Fears that buyers would return the machine once they discovered it only ran a web browser, rather than being a fully featured laptop have been unfounded. Users spend 95% of their time on the web – social media, Email, and even relatively demanding tasks such as photo editing can all be done online via the browser, and video is supplied by sites such as BBC iPlayer and YouTube. I think that most users would find the Chromebook an ideal second computer – I certainly do, and would not be without it. A real bargain at £229, and well worth a go if you are curious.

If you ask most locals what the oldest building in Erith is, they don’t have a clue. This is understandable, since nearly all of the original, Victorian town was butchered when the hideous concrete shopping centre was constructed in 1966 to 1973, leaving only the High Street in a conservation area, and relatively untouched. The oldest building is actually the Post Office. The structure was originally built as a stables and livery store in the 17^th Century – if you look at the roof of the structure from a high point such as the steps leading into the Erith Riverside Shopping Centre opposite, you can see the ancient design of the gabled roof. Actually the Post Office takes up less than half of the building. The rest is occupied by long established local sign making company WDS Signs, whose website you can see by clicking here. The history of Erith was obliquely referenced yesterday morning in a BBC Radio 4 documentary presented by Steve Punt about a chap called William Cantelo, who allegedly was the original inventor of the recoil operated machine gun. Cantelo was a Southampton pub landlord whose experiments in the cellar of his pub often caused consternation to both his regulars and his neighbours. Once he was confident that his machine gun was ready for the world, he packed several prototypes up and went off to market the weapon. That was the last anyone ever saw of him. Not long afterwards, Erith's won Hiram Maxim (born in America, but a naturalised Briton) started producing his range of Maxim Guns - touted as the first recoil operated machine gun, which were made at his large factory in Fraser Road, Erith - to this day the area is known locally as "The Pom Pom" - after the noise of the guns being tested made. Investigators have noticed that Cantelo and Maxim looked remarkably similar - and certain conspiracy theorists have had a field day in supposing what the connection between the two men was. The thing is, back in the late Edwardian period, most men over the age of thirty had large bushy beards - as did both Cantelo and Maxim, and a lot of their physical similarity would seem to be due to the beard element. Later, Hiram Maxim claimed that he had a double who was impersonating him, but this was never independently confirmed (Maxim was fond of making sweeping statements, so this was nothing remarkable or at all unusual). Anyway, UK residents can listen to the radio programme investigating the very strange case by visiting the BBC iPlayer website here. It is a fascinating story that I was unaware of, though as long - term Maggot Sandwich readers will recall, I have written at length about Hiram Maxim in the past, listing some of his less well known inventions (the spring loaded mouse trap, for one) and his semi successful attempt at heavier than air flight which took place in Danson Park five years before the Wright Brothers claimed the record for themselves. Listen to the excellent documentary and then decide for yourself.

The ending video this week is something of a curiosity. It is the first episode from a BBC2 situation comedy starring George Cole, called "Comrade Dad" from back in 1983. Personally I don't remember it at all, but when mentioning it to a couple of friends, they do dimly recall it. "Comrade Dad" is basically a version of George Orwell's "1984" but with laughs. The premise of the show is that Britain in 1999 has been invaded by the Russians, and is now under Communist rule. George Cole plays the everyman head of a London family trying to make their way through the layers of socialist bureaucracy and petty rules, whilst trying to remain true to his communist beliefs, despite the clear evidence that Communism does not work. It is actually quite good, and I am surprised that they only made one series of it. This clip shows the first ten minutes of the pilot episode. When this was uploaded, you could only upload a maximum of a ten minute video to YouTube; if you want to see the rest of the episode, you will need to click here and here. Enjoy. Please feel free to leave a comment below.

Seven years of the Maggot Sandwich.

This week marks the seventh birthday of the Maggot Sandwich The drawing above (done by best friend Ian) shows what he thinks the fictional Arthur Pewty would look like - comments below as always. When I started the blog back in 2006 I thought it would be something that would last a couple of months at most. I certainly had no intention of it becoming a regular part of my life. I have never missed publishing on a Sunday afternoon in all that time, even on the odd occasion where I had lost my Internet connection – I have been to my Mum’s house to use her computer to ensure that some content gets posted. Back in the day my posts were short, rather inconsistent and generally rather idiosyncratic. Nowadays the style has settled down into something rather more consistent and (hopefully) readable. I did not really realise until 2010 just how many people were reading the Maggot Sandwich, and the impact it was making, until I was one of London’s 50 top Bloggers who were invited to the OFCOM headquarters on The South Bank for a conference on hyper – local websites and how bloggers and the professional press can interact. It was there I met Malcolm Knight of Bexley is Bonkers (the single most dedicated and probing of local bloggers) and Darryl of the 853 Blog – who specialises in news on the area in and around Greenwich and Charlton. Darryl’s writing is consistently of very high quality (but then he is a “proper” journalist, whilst the rest of us are just enthusiastic amateurs).  When I started the blog, it was really nothing more than a place to have a whinge about things that annoyed me, and was generally a rather self indulgent piece. I soon realised that if I was going to make the Maggot Sandwich into a realistic, ongoing concern, then it was going to need a tighter structure and a wider degree of content to attract a regular readership. It was then that it took on its’ current form. Over the years I have had hundreds of comments and all sorts of feedback – most of it good, some of it not. The Maggot Sandwich now has a regular 23,500 unique visitors a month, and gets hits from all over the world – mainly English speaking countries, but pretty much every major country has visited the blog at some point or other. I have encountered many new and interesting people through the medium of the blog; none more so than Malcolm Knight, campaigner, citizen journalist and much needed pain in the backside to certain lazy, vindictive and incompetent members of our local government, via his excellent website - Bexley is Bonkers. Malcolm has kindly sent me the following piece:- Congratulations on the Sandwich getting to seven. I bet you didn't think about that when you wrote its first entry. I didn't consider the future when the first words crept on to 'Bonkers' nearly four years ago. Now it is a treadmill going too fast to allow escape. I first came across the Sandwich early in 2010 and we first met in the September of that year when you cost me a thousand pounds by letting me look at your camera and amply demonstrating that things had moved on since I had bought my digital SLR seven years previously. Replacement followed within a couple of weeks. We were at the OFCOM sponsored gathering of London bloggers and I felt very much the new boy and in your shadow. We have since taken very different paths. I particularly enjoy your inventive descriptions of the low lifes you encounter on your travels, particularly those you used to meet on the bus to Plumstead, sadly no longer on your itinery, and your regular forays into the world of antique computing. My memory of computing goes back to those you walked through and tried not to break the valves! (Tubes for your American readers.) I have even forgiven you for your 'Pitchforks and Flaming Torches' metaphor. No, forgiven is the wrong word, without it and the ensuing police involvement Bonkers might not have survived its childhood. So cheers Hugh for brightening up so many otherwise dreary Sundays. Long may the Sandwich continue. Thanks for your kind words Malcolm - very much appreciated.

I am pleased to see that local MP’s  Teresa Pearce and David Evennett have both spoken out over the proposed rise in MP’s pay. Teresa Pearce has said that she thinks a pay rise would be wrong when so many people are struggling financially, whilst David Evennett said that cost of running Parliament should be going down, not up. I have seen comments in a couple of local newspapers to the effect that civil servants have been subject to pay freezes for several years, which with the level of inflation has effectively meant that they have taken pay cuts in real terms, and if this is the case, why should MP’s be any different. The thing is, that MP’s are not civil servants. They are actually self employed contractors on a retainer, and as such able to independently negotiate their remuneration. I think it is reassuring that both our local representatives are speaking out about the situation; I just hope that they stick to their guns and refuse any pay rise should their colleagues vote it through.  The whole issue is contentious in the extreme. To be honest, the pay level of an MP is pretty low for what they do. The hours are long, and I suspect that much of the work is pretty tedious. If I look at a roughly equivalent role in the professional services field where I work, a person with a similar level of responsibility and power is on a package worth around £400,000 a year – when you compare this with an MP’s annual pay of £66,363, it is quite a difference. Even cabinet ministers earn relatively little when compared to their compatriots in the commercial world. Of course many ex ministers go on to very lucrative consultancies and director ships once they leave Parliament, so  I suppose that it is swings and roundabouts. One can also say that the pay alone should not be a subject that attracts a person to stand as an MP; a level of passion and belief should be the deciding factor. It will be interesting to see how things pan out with the whole MP pay situation – it is entirely possible that many constituency MP’s, fearful of their electorate, will vote against the pay rise, or the whole issue may get kicked into the long grass as being politically inexpedient, as the whole issue is so poisonous with the general public.

Overall PC sales have plummeted over the last couple of years. This can be attributed to a number of factors; businesses have held back from renewing their desktop and laptop fleets as they struggle to keep their overheads down in the middle of the recession; Personal users have switched their spending to smart phones and tablet devices running iOS and Android instead of Windows, and the days of needing a bulky and unattractive desktop or tower system to run a web browser or other piece of relatively simple software are now long gone.  What is interesting is that certain types of devices have seen massive increases in sales, bucking the overall downwards trend. Amazon report very strong sales of Google Chromebooks, citing them as being the surprise sales hit of the year. I must admit that I bought one last Christmas, and I have been extremely impressed with it. A Chromebook is basically a device that runs the Google Chrome web browser. It is not a full PC, as it is not capable of running other applications - it is the modern equivalent of a VT100 terminal. This might sound like a bit of a disadvantage, but when one considers that most general computer users spend around 90% of their time using a web browser, it starts to make more sense. Chromebooks run a cut down version of the Linux operating system that has been optimised and tuned for the Chromebook system architecture. I have found that even though on paper the hardware specification is nothing to write home about, in reality, the machine flies along. It is robust, reliable and very secure. The other upside of the Chromebook is that most models are very reasonably priced. My model, built by Samsung, was only £229. A bargain. In contrast (and as I correctly predicted a couple of weeks ago) Microsoft have dropped the retail price of the Surface RT tablet (the cut – down ARM processor version that cannot run conventional Windows software) by around thirty percent in all worldwide markets. It is rumoured that they are selling the RT in America only to schools and colleges for $199, and to attendees at certain software conferences for only $99.  This is most definitely selling at a large loss; industry rumours say that Microsoft have taken a $900 million hit on their balance sheet this financial quarter, on the Surface RT alone. The rumour is also that Microsoft have realised that the Surface is not selling as they had quite optimistically predicted, and they are trying to offload their warehouses full of unsold stock at bargain basement prices. Apparently they are still undeterred by the lukewarm reception the Surface has received, and they plan a new Surface 2.0 device for early next year. You may recall a comment I made last week, when I said that the first thing you should do when you find yourself in a hole is stop digging. I think that perhaps someone ought to impart this advice to Steve Ballmer of Microsoft.

The recent spate of unspeakably hot weather has had some unexpected consequences. Places like the Belvedere Splash Park have been extremely busy indeed – with many parents finding it an ideal place to take small children where they can both play with others and keep cool at the same time. It is amazing to think that it is only a few months ago that Bexley Council had planned to severely curtail, or possibly permanently close the splash park as a cost saving measure. It was only the result of a concerted web based campaign that prevented it from happening. It is debatable as to how much cash the closure would have actually saved. Another activity which seems to have been encouraged by the ultra warm weather is the resurgence in traditional pub games – not dominoes, cribbage or bar billiards, however, but the more elaborate and old fashioned games that used to be played in the pub garden or on the local village green. Dwyle Flunking is a very traditional but rarely played pub game that is almost exclusively played in Kent.  At the Red Lion in Snargate, a pub that has a long tradition with unusual pub games, they manage to find enough volunteers for two teams of 8 players on a regular basis. The game was played thus:- Having tossed up to see who ‘went in’ first, the fielding side holds hands and dances around the member of the batting side who moves in the opposite direction. Next to him is a small bucket of beer slops with a rag ‘the dwyle’ and holding a broom handle ‘the swadge’. When the music stops the batter is allowed to make a throw or ‘flunk’ by launching the beer soaked rag at a member of the fielding side. A direct hit on the head scores ‘3’; a hit on the body ‘2’; and a hit on a limb (arm or leg) scores ‘1’. The batter has 3 strikes then he or she was handed a half pint of beer and had to drink it in 5 seconds flat – if not all the beer was consumed you are obliged to pour the rest ‘over you head’!  Sounds like a candidate sport for the next Olympic Games I think. Talking of Olympics, whilst I was photographing the 150th annual Thames Barge Race, which finished on Erith Pier last weekend, another illustrious event was happening in central London. The 2013 Chap Olympics. You can see some excellent photographs of the competition by clicking here.

Some time ago I wrote about Low Energy Nuclear Reaction (LENR) and how 2013 was going to be a landmark year for this little understood, emerging technology. Well, it would appear to be the case. The first LENR production power plant has been manufactured and is now under test in the USA. Low Energy Nuclear Reaction used to erroneously be called Cold Fusion, and was debunked in the late 1980’s / early 1990’s. It is now looking increasingly like there is something behind the reaction after all, even if it is not what the discoverers originally thought. The originator of the new process is a chap called Andrea Rossi, and Italian scientist and engineer, who has been working on LENR for many years; he’s not done himself many favours in the past by making some pretty outrageous claims about his work, and to be honest he’s annoyed much of the scientific community at one point or another. It would appear that after several years of appearing to be a big mouthed fraud to many, he’s actually come good. His LENR generator has now been independently tested by a group of very well respected, reputable scientists and the results were overwhelmingly positive. You can read the details of the tests by clicking here. I am generally very suspicious of anything that appears to be too good to be true – as usually it is too good to be true. If this is a fraud, it is one of the biggest and most elaborate cons of all time; I feel that too many experts with internationally acclaimed reputations have been involved in the testing for it to be fake – their good names would be in tatters if they had been duped into believing the generator was doing something that it was actually not.  I suppose that we can only judge the veracity of the technology when commercial LENR generators start being offered on the retail market. It is a very strange way for what could be a completely ground breaking energy generation technology to come to market. One way or another it is going to be a headline grabber – either as the beginning of a cheap, pollution free and unlimited source of energy for all, or as the one of the biggest cons of all time. We should know soon, one way or another.

I am known for not being very fond of Tesco. Like many, I find the supermarket chain to be the epitome of all that is wrong with big business.  Just for once I am pleased to say that they are doing something constructive which is going to bring something in the region of 650 jobs to the local area. Tesco are opening a distribution centre for their online delivery service in Church Manorway, Erith in October, but prior to the new venture actually going live, there will be a period of training and familiarisation for the new recruits. I understand that job applications are already being accepted for the outlet. Very pleasingly, of the 650 positions that will be created, well over 100 will be offered specifically to local people who have been unemployed for six months or more. Job openings include drivers, stock pickers, warehouse personnel, administrative staff, team managers and several types of support personnel. There will be part time as well as full time jobs available, something to be applauded. I am not actually surprised that Tesco have chosen to open a distribution centre in Erith. It makes economic and operational sense. Firstly, commercial land and property is plentiful and relatively cheap in the area; secondly Erith has excellent road communications with the whole of London and the South East – you have the M25, A2 , M20 and South Circular all in relatively close proximity, and thirdly you have a local population in a relatively deprived and generally overlooked area who are crying out for work opportunities. It would seem to be a win / win for all parties. Coincidentally, there is another  supermarket related story in the news; Asda are opening their rather more controversial store in Lower Belvedere, in what was half of B and Q on the 5th of August. This seems to have divided local opinion fairly sharply. Some welcome the fact that the residents of Belvedere will be getting a proper supermarket, rather than just having the existing small Tesco Express which seems to combine having a very small stock range with also being out of anything you happen to want. Until now, to go to  a “proper” supermarket meant a trip to Morrison’s at Erith, not always easy if you are old or infirm. Arguments against the new B and Q store seem to focus on two areas – the potential increase in traffic, and the effect on existing local shops. The traffic issue may well turn out to have some substance. Picardy Road (often incorrectly called Picardy Hill) is steep and rather narrow in places, especially near to the bottom, very close to the Asda entrance. It is quite possible that traffic jams may occur, especially when the double deck 401 bus comes along. You only need to get a couple of cars parked on the bend by the Methodist Church / Church hall for the road to gridlock. I can see this being a real problem, though I understand that Asda’s planning team have run traffic simulations which indicate very little change in flow up and down Picardy Road. As with many of these situations, time will tell.  I think the second main point raised by objectors is a little less clear cut; that the opening of an Asda store will adversely affect the independent traders in the block adjacent to Belvedere Station. There is a dry cleaners, bakers, cafe, pharmacy and a newsagent. With the possible exception of the baker, I think it unlikely that the Asda will adversely affect their trade. To use a real life example, the Londis store on the corner of Appold Street and Manor Road in Erith was thought to be doomed when the giant Morrison’s super store opened literally around the corner from it, back in 1999. Instead of going out of business within a few months as many people (I have to say, including myself) thought at the time, the Londis flourished and is still in very rude health to this day. The reason being that the store caters for passing trade – a lot of lorry drivers coming to and from the Slade Green Industrial Estate stop off to buy a paper, a cup of tea and a filled roll. Locals also use it for single items – prices are broadly comparable with Morrison’s, and you don’t have the fuss of queuing. I anticipate that something similar may happen to the parade of shops in Lower Belvedere.

Here is something different. A full length Superman film made by fans. It is a bit creaky, and has a few fairly large plot and logic holes, but overall it is great fun, and has obviously been made with love; see what you think by clicking below to make it full screen.  Comments at the bottom of the page, as always.