Petrol.

I took the upper photo above last week; in case you were wondering what a bar in Fitzrovia, just around the corner from the landmark BT Tower is doing on a Blog about events in and around the North part of the London Borough of Bexley, read on, and I will explain. Regular and long term readers will recall that I wrote extensively about Potion Bar in Erith High Street (historical photo shown in the lower of the two photos above) - the notorious drug den and hive of scum and villainy, which was eventually closed down back in 2014. The lower photo of Erith Potion was taken back in 2011. The building in the upper of the two photos above - click on it for a larger view - was the other branch of Potion, though in fact it was a far more upmarket wine and cocktail bar in a very nice part of the West End of London. The two branches were owned by a couple of nefarious businessmen, of whom I have heard some worrying stories. The two Potion bars were only in existence for a handful of years. The Erith branch caused much concern to local residents. As I have previously written, the erstwhile owners of Potion were in deep trouble with both Bexley Council and the Police, even before the place opened to the paying public. The building had previously been a pub called the White Hart, and not only was it fitted with a green, salt glazed tile exterior (the green tiles were made locally – the green colouring was a characteristic of Erith tiles) and ornate, acid etched windows, both dating from Victorian times, but it also had a pretty pub sign hanging from a bracket. When Potion took over, these features were all ripped out and destroyed, even though the Council specifically prohibited them from doing so. Not only was the White Hart a grade II listed building, but it was located in a conservation area. The new owners then installed a hideously inappropriate plate glass frontage which looked completely out of place. Bexley Council did go to great lengths to prosecute the owners of Potion. Initially they issued an enforcement order, which instructed Potion to install a replica of the original Victorian pub frontage -  Potion was then given a period of six months to comply with the order, which ended on the 8th April 2010. They did not undertake any work to restore the appearance of the building, and in the first hearing at Bexley Magistrates Court on the 16th July 2012, neither defendant appeared. Arrest warrants were then issued by the court for the owners. A new trial was set on the 18th December 2012 at Bromley Magistrates Court. The owners of Potion pleaded guilty to all charges, to which they were fined a paltry £350, plus £500 in court costs, along with a £15 victim surcharge. Bexley Council Legal Services were then authorised to commence injunction proceedings against Potion, and the ownership of Potion was subsequently taken over by the freeholders of the building. It was then closed down some months later. The Fitzrovia branch closed shortly thereafter, and the current owners subsequently refurbished the bar and opened it as Simmons music and cocktail bar. The Erith Potion is now the White Hart African Restaurant, and the hideous plate glass frontage was removed, and a close replica of the original Victorian frontage was installed a couple of years ago. Feedback and comments to hugh.neal@gmail.com.

One of my favoured sources of accurate and up to date information on IT and technical related issues is the excellent website – The Register. Stories that get into the general press usually break on The Register at least a day earlier, and in greater detail. The site is very tongue in cheek, and often finds a humorous angle on technology issues. It broke a story a while ago, that caught my attention; an employment agency are looking for programmers who have skills in writing and maintaining software for the DEC PDP-11 series of mini computers. What is so unusual about that? I hear some of you ask. Well, the PDP 11 computer range was first introduced in 1970, and went out of general production in 1990. They are absolute antiques nowadays. The machines were large – even a relatively small installation would be the equivalent of three or four full height fridge freezers, plus a terminal the size of a small school desk. By any modern standards they are museum pieces – indeed, The National Museum of Computing does have some examples of PDP hardware in its collection. When they were first offered for sale, they offered a relatively cheap and reliable entry into business and industrial computing; indeed many PDP 11’s were used to control machine tools in factories – some of the early car welding robots were controlled in this way. Other key users were (and in some cases still are) large banks and insurance companies, who require reliability and very high up time over performance and the latest features. Quite often the old computers such as the PDP 11 range are still employed on the “back end” systems that the customers (and indeed many of the staff) never see. Many of such organisations are exceptionally risk averse, and would rather support an ancient technology than take a chance on upgrading to a modern alternative that may have new and undocumented bugs, possibly causing loss of earnings and damage to reputation. I know that there are a small handful of independent contractors who earn a very good living continuing to support these old clunkers – because the knowledge required to maintain and repair the hardware and software is so specialised, they are able to charge pretty much what they like for their services, as they have their clients “over a barrel” – nice work if you can get it. My first foray into the world of “serious” computers was back in the early 1980’s, when I had a Saturday job as an assistant in Silica Shop in Sidcup. During the 1980’s, Silica Shop were the largest privately owned, independent computer retailers in the UK. They specialised in the early 8 – bit home computers, especially the range made by Atari – for whom they were the European dealers. Silica Shop had its’ HQ in Hatherley Road, Sidcup, where there was a large retail unit on the lower floor of the two storey building, and on the upstairs was a warehouse, an office, and an air conditioned computer room, which housed a large DEC PDP 11- 44 mini  computer - almost identical to the one in the photograph above. As well as working in the shop on Saturdays, I was also able to work during school holidays; during this time I would sometimes be called out of the shop to help the computer system administrator, who for a while made me his unofficial assistant. I learned lots about working with large scale business computers, and all of the basics of system administration – adding and removing users, changing security settings, creating files, running batch processes and the like. Even back then, the 11-44 was quite an elderly piece of kit – the company having purchased the machine second hand, as new they were well over two hundred thousand pounds, depending on the specification and peripherals required. One quirk of the 11-44 operating system was that you could not reformat the large 8 inch floppy disks it used (earlier versions of the machine used reels of magnetic tape). In order to re – use the expensive floppy disks, you first had to manually wipe them of data using a degaussing machine – which was basically a large electromagnet. I think everyone was scared of the degausser – it hummed and buzzed, occasionally emitting a crackle of electricity, accompanied by a faint smell of ozone. I think even by the lax health and safety standards of the time, the machine should have been condemned! What I did to avoid the dreaded machine was looking back, pretty imaginative. The computer room had several old – style telephones with rotary dials. I would place a small pile of disks underneath a phone, then ring it from another extension. The bell ringer built into the phone was an electromagnet, and in ringing it would wipe the disks! Silica Shop wrote their own customer database; what would nowadays be called a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system. Whenever someone came into the shop and bought something, a sales docket would be completed by the shop assistant. It included the buyer's name, address and what they bought, along with an itemised total. Each item of stock was allocated a unique part number, which staff could look up on VT100 computer terminals in the shop, which would also record how many of that particular item were left in stock; the real old hands would know most, if not all of the popular stock item codes off the top of their heads. When the stock level got down to a certain point, the system would automatically place a re – order, and debit the company account accordingly. The system would also target postal advertising at customers according to what they had already purchased – there was no point in sending a leaflet on Atari 800XL software to a customer who had bought a Commodore 64 for example. All this is targetted advertising is routine nowadays, but back in 1983 it was unique, and debatably the most sophisticated customer database used anywhere in the United Kingdom. My own thoughts are that if Silica Shop had taken this ground breaking business software and ported it onto the then new IBM PC, they would have had a huge business in selling and supporting enterprise level CRM applications now. Instead they continued to shift boxes of home computers, and eventually went out of business in the mid 1990’s. If the management had employed a more creative vision, Silica Shop could have been a global software name like Oracle now. I have to say that I learned more about computing in my few years working at Silica Shop than I have learned anywhere else. My entire career in IT has been built on stuff I picked up in a quiet side street in Sidcup. 

The world's first female motorist was an Erith based lady called Kate Gildersleeves; she was the wife of engineer and inventor Edward Butler. They can be seen in the upper of the two photographs above, along with their niece. Edward Butler invented the motor car before Karl Benz in Germany, who is popularly thought to be the inventor. this three-wheel fore-car had an elegant 650cc twin-cylinder, four-stroke, water-cooled engine with electric spark ignition. Years ahead of DeDion and Boulton, the Petrol-Cycle made Gottleib Daimler’s “Reitwagen” look like something from the Medieval Period. Butler designed his “Velocycle” while working for an engineering company and filed for a provisional patent in 1884 under the title “A petroleum motor tricycle or small automobile carriage since it is not provided with auxiliary pedalling [sic] gear and was fitted with a comfortable seat and footboard.” That year he exhibited drawings of the vehicle at Stanley Cycle Show in London and in 1885 at the Inventions Exhibition, but neither produced financial backing. Unknown to the English inventor, in Germany Karl Benz was developing his own gasoline-powered internal combustion engine, as was Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach. In 1887 he filed for a limited patent and began actual work on the Velocycle, now renamed “Petrol-Cycle” (this is the first known use of the word “petrol”) in the machine shop of F.B. Shuttleworth—an engineer, designer of torpedo boats, and boiler builder—and it was fabricated by the Merryweather Fire Engine Company in Greenwich. The Petro-cycle originally had a two-stroke engine with a magneto ignition when it was test ridden in 1888 at the Invicta Works in East London. Between 1888 and 1890, Butler converted the engine to four-stroke, replaced the magneto ignition with a battery and coil, and invented a spray carburettor he called the “Inspirator.” (Wilhelm Maybach would not invent his spray carburettor until 1893.) In Edward Butler's patent application in 1884, he described the Butler Petrol Cycle thus:- "In this machine one gallon of petroleum or benzolene is designed to furnish sufficient power to accomplish a run of forty miles, at a speed of from three to ten miles per hour. At each side is a motor cylinder whose pistons operate in the four-stroke cycle . . . The pistons operate a crank shaft carried by the rear or driving wheel bearings, the hub of this wheel at one side inclosing a specially devised epicyclic [sic] gear by which the motion of he shaft is communicated to the driving wheel axle in the ratio of six to on. The shaft also carries a flywheel, mounted to be as close as possible to the spokes of the driving wheel. The motor cylinders are each controlled by a balanced rotating valve, and both cylinders are supplied with explosive mixture by drawing air through an inspirator situated over an oil reservoir contain a supply of benzolene, or a similar petroleum product. A valve regulates the oil feed, and the mixture of air and oil spray formed in the atomizer is volatilized before distribution to the cylinders. The compressed charges are alternately ignited by an induced current of electricity passing across terminals fixed in the cylinder covers, the current being generated by a small single-fluid battery under the seat. Stopping and starting is effected by raising and lowering the driving wheel from the ground by a foot lever, the weight of this portion of the machine being then thrown upon small caster wheels. . . . the crank shaft is set in motion by a handle before the driver mounts to his seat. The speed of the motor is regulated by a throttle valve lever, shown at one side, and over-heating is prevented by water circulating through a radiating tank over the driving wheel. The tank is of 3½ gallons capacity, but with a very large proportionate surface. Steering is effected by a pair of rocking handles actuating the front wheels, which move on separate pivots, and the brake is applied to both of these wheels by a foot lever. The diameter of the wheels is 32 inches, and the whole of the framing and the engine rods are made of oval steel tubing". Butler used to run his vehicle on local roads, most notably he used the long and relatively straight Manor Road as his main area for testing; thus Manor Road in Erith is the world's first automotive test track. Butler's wife Kate, commonly known as Kitty used to drive the car on a regular basis, though as far as I can tell, there are only photos of her as a passenger, not as the driver. Kitty thus became the world's first female driver. As if this was not enough, Edward Butler coined the term "Petrol". Unfortunately Edward and Kitty faced a real problem - British law at the time. The Locomotives On Highways Act of 1865 limited all self-propelled vehicles to a speed limit of 2 mph in towns and 4 mph in rural areas. In addition, it required three people to attend to the vehicle, one of which had to walk in advance of the vehicle waving a red flag to warn people of its approach. In the 1890 issue of The English Mechanic, he wrote, “The authorities do not countenance its use on the roads, and I have abandoned in consequence any further development of it.” He sold his patents to Harry Lawson. Upon the repeal of the Red Flag Act in 1896, Butler and his wife took at least one last ride in the Petrol-Cycle on the roads of Erith—his diaries allege reaching a speed of 12 mph - before selling it as 163 pounds of scrap metal. (The weight of the machine was 280 pounds so it seems plausible that the “very compact motor” was salvaged.) Henry John “Harry” Lawson was a bicycle designer of note who clearly saw the future of the internal combustion engine. He acquired exclusive English rights to manufacture the De Dion-Bouton and Bollée vehicles and, in 1896 after acquiring English patent rights from Gottlieb Daimler, formed the Daimler Motor Company Ltd. and the British Motor Syndicate. Ironically, it was Lawson’s successful lobbying that resulted in the repeal of The Red Flag Act in November of 1896, the major obstacle Butler faced in obtaining financial backing to manufacture his vehicle. Despite the failure of this venture, Edward Butler did not immediately fade into obscurity - he published papers on internal combustion engines and carburettors until at least 1920 - yet, his place in automotive history has been eclipsed by that of Diamler, Benz, Maybach, De Dion-Boulton, Duyrea, and a host of others. It is unknown if any aspects of his inventions were incorporated into later ventures such as Daimler cars, but there is one thing he created that has endured to the present day: the word “petrol.” 

The photo above is a part of the history of Erith. It shows the now long gone interior of the old Manor Fish Bar, which used to be in Manor Road, on the corner of Crescent Road. When I first moved to Erith in 1996 the fish bar was run by an Iranian couple who had recently purchased the shop. They were excellent – the fish was immaculately cooked, reasonably priced, very tasty and served in large portions. On occasion I would go into the shop not long before it was due to close; rather than giving me a piece of fish from the warming cabinet, they would always insist on cooking it for me from fresh. The wife spoke very little English, but when I saw her in the street, or shopping in Morrison’s, she would always smile and say “hello”. They were by far the best proprietors of the shop in my experience. The photo below was taken during their tenure – it shows the 1950’s vintage marble effect Formica that lined the shop. It was kept immaculately clean and tidy. I had a gut feeling that if I did not take the photo when I did (September 2005) it would not be around for much longer. I was correct; only a couple of months later, the Iranian couple sold up and moved on. Over the next few years the shop changed hands a number of times, and it got progressively worse with each new owner. Eventually back in 2014 the place was gutted, and the historic Formica interior was destroyed to make way for the King of the Grill kebab shop, which has been there ever since. 

Now for the weekly local safety and security updates from Bexley Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association. Firstly the report from Barnehurst ward:- "Over the past week Barnehurst have had no reported burglaries however there was an attempted burglary in Brasted Road on Saturday 7/03/2020 at 00:45 hours. The victim heard someone attempting the rear door handle. This was followed by the victim's dog barking. On looking out a white male was seen making off over the garden fence. In Swallow Close two males were seen vandalising a parked vehicle. Both males fled when they realised they were being watched. Police attended and found the vehicle had been stolen, the vehicle has since been recovered and the owner aware. In Parkside Avenue on Tuesday 10/03/2020 at 07:00am victim found registration plates LV61HTT had been removed from a vehicle in Parkside Avenue.   On Wednesday 18/03/2020 at 11.00am we will be holding our community contact session at Barnehurst Golf Club. We look forward to seeing you". Belvedere ward:- "The team assisted our colleagues in Thamesmead Moorings with two warrants toward the end of last week. Both took place after information given to Police by members of the public relating to suspected drug misuse. Over last weekend there were two reported attempted burglaries in Picardy Road and Elstree Gardens. There were also two reported residential burglaries in Bunkers Hill and Heathdene Drive. There were no signs of forced entry at either location and both addresses were broken into whilst residents were asleep (through the night). At the incident in Heathdene Drive two cars were stolen form the driveway after car keys were taken from the house – one of these vehicles has now been recovered. We have also completed a warrant at an address in Lower Belvedere this week after information relating to suspected drug dealing from the property. This investigation is ongoing at this stage". Bexleyheath ward:- "03/03/20 Other Theft Mobile phone stolen after being put down in Metro Bank, Bexleyheath Broadway 02/03/20 1800 – 03/03/20 1400 Theft From Motor Vehicle Rochester Drive no signs of forced entry to car but items from within stolen 04/03/20 1825 Attempted Burglary Rochester Drive Back Patio Door – Glass Smashed No Entry gained Nothing Taken, believed to have been disturbed by homeowner returning 04/03/20 1600 – 05/03/20 0800 Theft from Motor Vehicle Latham Road Tools stolen from van which was left locked and secured 03/03/20 1600 Theft iPod left at Creams, Broadway Bexleyheath when returned items have been stolen 05/03/20 1945 Criminal Damage Garden Avenue – Brick thrown at window 06/03/20 1400 Theft Kings Arms, Broadway, Bexleyheath - Oil stolen from location 07/03/20 1330 – 2300 Burglary Other Theft Marriott Hotel; Items stolen from within hotel room Please revisit home security and ensure that you have deterrents in place to prevent crime, lights on timers, alarms, security lights outside, and ensure side/back gates are locked". Crayford ward:- "Another week of mainly vehicle related crime but unfortunately there have also been some burglaries. On Wednesday 4th March it was reported that two Males pushed their way in to an address in Iron Mill Lane demanding watches and cash, they appeared to know the victims, they left with nothing. On approx. Wednesday 26th February it was noted that a bank card and £500 cash was missing from an address in Cray Close, not known by what means it was taken. Overnight between Thursday 5th and Friday 6th March a shed was broken in to in Dale Road, entry made by moving bins to gain access to side gate, a motorcycle was stolen with the registration plate of GK18VJU. A white Transit van was stolen from Thames Road between 19.00 on Thursday 5th March and 7.55 on 6th March, registration number DN08ORU, this van is distinctive. A Hermes delivery driver had his vehicle, a silver Mazda, registration YR05MPF stolen from Iron Mill Lane on 6th March at approx. 19.56 hours. Keys, wallet, phone and parcels were also taken at this time. A catalytic converter was stolen from a red Honda Civic between Monday 2nd and Sunday 8th March from Old Road. Number plates LY16KVA were stolen from a black Nissan Note between 12.20 and 12.25 Saturday 7th March at Tower Retail Park. The rear number plate GU12 JZE was stolen off a silver Peugeot whilst parked at Heatherbank Close on Saturday 7th March. Front and rear number plates F11KHP were stolen from a grey Ford Fusion whilst parked at Chapel Hill on Tuesday 10th March between 10.00-10.40. We completed some Met Trace visits at Woolbrook Road on Saturday 7th March, this will be an ongoing project over the coming weeks. Officers from our team assisted with a knife arch initiative at Barnehurst BR Station. They have also recovered some stolen vehicles. Our next community contact session will be on Friday 20th March at Crayford Library between 10.00-11.00, please come along for a chat if you are in the area". 

Fire crews from the three stations in the borough (Sidcup, Bexleyheath and Erith) recently attended a training exercise at the Coca-Cola factory in Sidcup. This was done in partnership with Coca-Cola and allowed the crews to practice carrying out search and rescue of workers following a simulated chemical spill. The exercise went well, with all three ‘missing' workers being located and rescued.

Erith ward:- "An incident occurred on Thursday 27th February at Erith Leisure Centre in the Swimming Pool changing rooms at approximately 15:55pm. 3 lockers were broken into and items including bank cards were taken. Car keys, and house keys, were also taken and a car was stolen from the car park disabled bay with badges in window. This week the PCs on the team have been carrying out plain clothes patrols in hotspot areas, which include stop and searches, We have been doing daily weapon sweeps across the ward as part of a Bexley wide operation. No burglaries this last week in Erith but theft from and of motor vehicles is still on the increase. High street patrols in Erith at school closing times". Northumberland Heath ward:- "Good News no Burglaries reported this week. The team having been completing weapon sweeps on Northumberland Heath Recreation , Horsa road and Northumberland Park. Nothing found. The wall has been removed in Northumberland Park preventing youths congregating and smoking drugs. A new secure fence has been put up to prevent youths from damaging the centre. Theft of motor vehicle from Ightham Road and theft from motor vehicle on Colindale Ave. The team have also seized a dangerous dog and the investigation is still ongoing". Slade Green and Northend ward:-"No crime trends happening over the last week which is good news. PC's Mark and James have completed patrols over the whole ward in the last week culminating in 6 stop-and-searches with 3 positive results. Operation Sceptre is run in relation to knife related crime and we have completed weapon sweeps in Rainbow Road, Frobisher Road and in and around Orchard House, no weapons found. PCSO Mark has twice visited Little Daydreams Nursery at Orchard House this week, spending time with the young children and partaking in story time as well as their other activities. He has also made a visit to Peareswood Primary School on World Book Day last week and popped in every class to say hello to all the pupils. Our next Community Contact Session is on Saturday 21/03/2020 from 9am at the Forest Road Café". Thamesmead East ward:-"No Burglaries this week. If you have a video doorbell such as a Ring device and you get alerted to someone up to no good, please report this. We can often identify suspects who are blissfully unaware of the doorbell camera. Even when having hoods up we often get good facial images which are useful in identifying individuals. If this happens, please report online at www.met.police.uk. This will then come through to us so we can arrange to collect the footage. We will come to your property with a USB memory stick to copy it to. Motor Vehicle Crime - Southmere Drive Saturday 7/3/20 10:30am victim informed by member of public that suspects were seen trying to break into victim's van. Victim reports x3 drill holes were seen in the passenger slide door. Entry not gained, nothing taken. Fairway Drive Monday 9/3/20 4am – 4:37pm Front number plate removed from Nissan Leaf. St John Fisher Road Tuesday 10/3/20 9:15am – Wednesday 11/3/20 7am Victim reports vehicle broken into, nothing reported as stolen at time of reporting. St Brides Close Tuesday 10/3/20 4pm – Wed 11/3/20 9:10 Victim reports front passenger widow smashed, nothing taken. Wolvercote Road Tuesday 10/3/20 7:30pm – Wednesday 11/3/20 9am Victim reports driver's side window smashed, nothing taken. Kale Road Wednesday 11/3/20 6am 6:15am victim reports Theft from motor vehicle. The team were working in partnership with Police Scotland conducting arrest enquiries which proved successful after a male was arrested at New Eltham Station. The team recovered a Suzuki Jeep which had been stolen since October 2019 in Hartslock Drive". West Heath ward:-"We have had one burglary reported to us this week in Brixham Road. The burglary took place between Friday March 6th t 12.00 – Sunday 08/03/20 at 13.35 when the victim returned and discovered the incident after a short break. Entry was gained by smashing the window on the back door and conducting an untidy search of the property. A quantity of cash and jewellery was stolen. Theft of a BMW from Woolwich Road between Friday 06/03/20 - Saturday 07/03.20. Last week I reported that two Skodas that were stolen by means of a burglary in Chessington Avenue had both been recovered, sadly this was not the case and just one was found which had sustained damage. The team have been extremely busy as usual and have had some good results over the past week. A number of stop and searches were made across the ward which resulted in two suspects found in possession of drugs being dealt with by an out of court disposal. Two arrests were also made for outstanding suspects who were wanted on warrants".

The end video this week features a time lapse film of traffic on the River Thames adjacent to Erith Pier. Do give it a watch and Email any comments to hugh.neal@gmail.com.

The Kentish Belle.

The photo above (click on it for a larger version) shows the former Port of London Authority hut next to the recently repaired wooden jetty adjacent to Erith Riverside Gardens. As regular readers will be aware, I have been calling for this to be put to some constructive use for several years. The hut has been empty and unused for over a decade. It has drainage, running fresh water and electricity, and I had suggested that it would make an ideal substation for the RNLI. My suggestions have not been taken up, but the hut has recently come back into productive use. The hut is now used as a rest point for local bus drivers between shifts. They use the hut to put their feet up and have a cup of tea during their legally required rest breaks. It is not quite the outcome that I had anticipated, but the hut is being used, which to my mind is a very good thing. I also noticed that the new mini bushes have now been planted in the Riverside Gardens, and these will hopefully look really good in a few months’ time. I do have concerns that the bushes may suffer due to the recent lack of rain. Hopefully they will get watered from time to time. FORGE (the Friends of Riverside Gardens Erith) have been instrumental in obtaining and planting the new bushes.

Yesterday morning there was a very serious assault that took place at the junction of Bilton Road and Manor Road in Erith; a man was stabbed in the head, and suffered life threatening injuries. Details of the case are still sketchy, but the London Air Ambulance was called to take the victim to hospital, and a man in his thirties was arrested by the Police. I understand that he was found in possession of a knife, and has been charged with GBH. Anyone who witnessed the incident or has any information is asked to contact police on 101 or via Twitter @MetCC Alternatively, Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111.

The Association of Bexley Charities '78 is holding a Spring Fair at the United Reformed Church, Geddes Place, Bexleyheath DA6 7DJ (near the Broadway Shopping Centre) on Saturday 29th April 2017 from 9.45 am  - 1.00 pm. Do give this worthwhile event your support.

Press reports in the last week have given weight to my long held personal concerns over the use of mobile phones, and their possible long - term health effects. An Italian court has ruled that excessive, work-related use of a mobile phone caused an executive to develop a benign brain tumour. In what could become a landmark ruling, the court in the northern town of Ivrea awarded the plaintiff a state-funded pension. The judgment, which was handed down on 11th of April but only made public on Thursday, is subject to a possible appeal. Roberto Romeo, 57, had testified that his work duties obliged him to use his mobile for three to four hours of each working day for 15 years. “For the first time in the world, a court has recognised a causal link between inappropriate use of a mobile phone and a brain tumour,” his lawyers said in a statement. Romeo said he did not want to demonise mobiles, “but I believe we have to be more aware about how to use them. I had no choice but to use my mobile to talk to colleagues and organise work – for 15 years I was calling all the time, from home, in the car. I started to have the feeling of my right ear being blocked all the time and the tumour was diagnosed in 2010. Happily, it was benign but I can no longer hear anything because they had to remove my acoustic nerve.” A medical expert estimated the damage to Romeo at 23 percent of his bodily function, prompting the judge to make a compensation award of €500 per month to be paid by a national insurance scheme covering workplace accidents. It will be interesting to see if this sets a precedent.

You may recall that some months ago I reported that it was hoped that a micro pub was being planned for Barnehurst, but due to a number of factors, the plans ended up falling through. Well, now there is some good news; whilst the Barnehurst deal failed, another entrepreneur is currently transforming the shop at number 8, Pickford Lane, Bexleyheath into a micro pub which will open in June. It is going to be called The Kentish Belle, due at least partly to its close proximity to Bexleyheath Station, which is only seventy five metres from the venue. You can see the Twitter account for the forthcoming micro pub here. When looking at the location of the micro pub, some observers may think that the William Camden pub very close by would mean that the new venture would struggle to attract customers. I feel strongly that this will absolutely not be the case. The two places cater for very different customers; the William Camden is primarily a lager and football pub, whereas The Kentish Belle will cater for discerning real ale enthusiasts. Experience in other areas shows that micro pubs not only survive, but in fact thrive in the presence of mainstream pubs in their vicinity. The Kentish Belle also will benefit from a large foot fall from passing commuters getting off the train at Bexleyheath Station on their way home. I would imagine a number would pop in for a swift pint before their dinner. I will be visiting The Kentish Belle as soon as it opens, and I will be contacting the owners in the meantime; more on this subject in the coming weeks. It is just as well that a new micro pub is opening in the local area, as news was released this week that the number of pubs in London has fallen by more than a quarter because of developers and rising business rates, according to City Hall research. In total the number of pubs in the capital decreased from 4,835 to 3,615 between 2001 and 2016, a decline of 1,220 at a rate of 81 pubs a year. Mayor Sadiq Khan commissioned the research as part of his 2030 Cultural Infrastructure Plan to identify which buildings and businesses should be protected to maintain the capital’s cultural and community life. The study was conducted in partnership with the Campaign for Real Ale and looked only at pubs, as opposed to bars and restaurants. The study is to become an annual audit. In an interview with the London Evening Standard this week, Mayor Mr Khan said: “I’m shocked at the rate of closure highlighted by these statistics. We have partnered with CAMRA to ensure we can track the number of pubs open in the capital and redouble our efforts to stem the rate of closures.”

Many people like tablet computers such as the Apple iPad range; personally for any small and portable computing device, I really need a keyboard. Tablet devices are fine for consuming content, such as watching YouTube videos, but less than satisfactory for creating content, such as writing a Blog. Back in 2012 I experimented with what was then a very new technology; Google had recently announced their range of Chrome OS devices, not to be confused with tablets and mobile phones running the similar, but separate Android operating system, also developed by engineers at Google. I have been surprisingly satisfied with it. If you have not heard about Chromebooks, they are a cut down laptop that runs Googles’ Chrome operating system (basically a customised version of Linux) and the Chrome web browser. Chromebooks don’t directly run any software other than the browser, which might make them sound rather restricted. Nowadays however, most people spend a vast majority of their time using a computer on the web – Email, social networking, video watching etc, so a browser only machine is not as stupid an approach as initially thought. The upsides of a Chromebook are 1) very fast start time (my £229 Chromebook starts from cold in seven seconds; half the time of my custom build, very high end iMac, which cost well over ten times as much). 2) They have a very long battery life – eight hours between charges, even with WiFi on and showing HD video. 3) They integrate seamlessly with GMail, Google Docs and other online services (they should  - that is what they were designed for). 4) They are pretty secure – all updates occur automatically in the background. I suppose I have to reboot the machine once a month – that’s it. 5) Unlike a tablet, you don’t need to tether a Bluetooth keyboard to it in order to do some serious typing – and the keyboard (on the Samsung model, anyway) is actually rather good – something that is very important to someone like me who writes around 6,000 words a week online, over half of that on the blog). 6) They are cheap – you can get some models for under two hundred pounds, brand new on Amazon and elsewhere. Chromebooks won’t replace the full computer, but they are great as a second machine on which to surf the web, catch up on Emails and generally keep up with the online world. Something that has happened in the USA, and will almost certainly also happen here. The late 2013 introduction of the low-cost Chromebook has given U.S school districts an affordable alternative that they are gravitating to with enthusiasm. Official numbers from market research firm IDC confirmed the news last December when the company announced that while Apple had shipped 702,000 iPads to U.S educational buyers in the third quarter, Google partners had shipped 715,000 Chromebooks. They are cheaper, more robust, easier to remotely administer, and are better suited to use in classrooms. I wonder how long it will be until we see widespread use of Chromebooks in British schools? And now onto another computer related subject, but one that is far older. 

One of my favoured sources of accurate and up to date information on IT and technical related issues is the excellent website – The Register. Stories that get into the general press usually break on The Register at least a day earlier, and in greater detail. The site is very tongue in cheek, and often finds a humorous angle on technology issues. It broke a story recently that caught my attention; an employment agency are looking for programmers who have skills in writing and maintaining software for the DEC PDP-11 series of mini computers. What is so unusual about that? I hear some of you ask. Well, the PDP 11 computer range was first introduced in 1970, and went out of general production in 1990. The machines were large – even a relatively small installation would be the equivalent of three or four full height fridge freezers, plus a terminal the size of a small school desk. By any modern standards they are museum pieces – indeed, The National Museum of Computing does have some examples of PDP hardware in its collection. When they were first offered for sale, they offered a relatively cheap and reliable entry into business and industrial computing; indeed many PDP 11’s were used to control machine tools in factories – some of the early car welding robots were controlled in this way. Other key users were (and in some cases still are) large banks and insurance companies, who require reliability and very high up time over performance and the latest features. Quite often the old computers such as the PDP 11 range are still employed on the “back end” systems that the customers (and indeed many of the staff) never see. Many of such organisations are exceptionally risk averse, and would rather support an ancient technology than take a chance on upgrading to a modern alternative that may have new and undocumented bugs, possibly causing loss of earnings and damage to reputation. I know that there are a small handful of independent contractors who earn a very good living continuing to support these old clunkers – because the knowledge required to maintain and repair the hardware and software is so specialised, they are able to charge pretty much what they like for their services, as they have their clients “over a barrel” – nice work if you can get it. My first foray into the world of “serious” computers was back in the early 1980’s, when I had a Saturday job as an assistant in Silica Shop in Sidcup. During the 1980’s, Silica Shop were the largest privately owned, independent computer retailers in the UK. They specialised in the early 8 – bit home computers, especially the range made by Atari – for whom they were the European dealers. Silica Shop had its’ HQ in Hatherley Road, Sidcup, where there was a large retail unit on the lower floor of the two storey building, and on the upstairs was a warehouse, an office, and an air conditioned computer room, which housed a large DEC PDP 11- 44 mini  computer - almost identical to the one in the photograph above. As well as working in the shop on Saturdays, I was also able to work during school holidays; during this time I would sometimes be called out of the shop to help the computer system administrator, who for a while made me his unofficial assistant. I learned lots about working with large scale business computers, and all of the basics of system administration – adding and removing users, changing security settings, creating files, running batch processes and the like. Even back then, the 11-44 was quite an elderly piece of kit – the company having purchased the machine second hand, as new they were well over two hundred thousand pounds, depending on the specification and peripherals required. One quirk of the 11-44 operating system was that you could not reformat the large 8 inch floppy disks it used (earlier versions of the machine used reels of magnetic tape). In order to re – use the expensive floppy disks, you first had to manually wipe them of data using a degaussing machine – which was basically a large electromagnet. I think everyone was scared of the degausser – it hummed and buzzed, occasionally emitting a crackle of electricity, accompanied by a faint smell of ozone. I think even by the lax health and safety standards of the time, the machine should have been condemned! What I did to avoid the dreaded machine was looking back, pretty imaginative. The computer room had several old – style telephones with rotary dials. I would place a small pile of disks underneath a phone, then ring it from another extension. The bell ringer built into the phone was an electromagnet, and in ringing it would wipe the disks! Silica Shop wrote their own customer database; what would nowadays be called a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system. Whenever someone came into the shop and bought something, a sales docket would be completed by the shop assistant. It included the buyer's name, address and what they bought, along with an itemised total. Each item of stock was allocated a unique part number, which staff could look up on VT100 computer terminals in the shop, which would also record how many of that particular item were left in stock; the real old hands would know most, if not all of the popular stock item codes off the top of their heads. When the stock level got down to a certain point, the system would automatically place a re – order, and debit the company account accordingly. The system would also target postal advertising at customers according to what they had already purchased – there was no point in sending a leaflet on Atari 800XL software to a customer who had bought a Commodore 64 for example. You can see an example of a typical Silica Shop advertising flyer below - notice the large amount of detailed text - this was a Silica Shop trait - they lumped huge amounts of technical detail into all of their advertising; something that would put off a lot of potential shoppers today. All this is targetted advertising is routine nowadays, but back in 1983 it was unique, and debatably the most sophisticated customer database used anywhere in the United Kingdom. My own thoughts are that if Silica Shop had taken this ground breaking business software and ported it onto the then new IBM PC, they would have had a huge business in selling and supporting enterprise level CRM applications now. Instead they continued to shift boxes of home computers, and eventually went out of business in the mid 1990’s. If the management had employed a more creative vision, Silica could have been a global software name like Oracle now. I have to say that I learned more about computing in my few years working at Silica Shop than I have learned anywhere else. My entire career in IT has been built on stuff I picked up in a quiet side street in Sidcup.

Don't forget that the twelfth Bexley Beer Festival will be taking place in the Old Dartfordians Rugby Club. The popular festival will take place between Thursday, May 4th to Sunday, May 6th, though the busiest day is the Friday afternoon / evening session, which is when I will be attending. Do come over and say hello if you happen to see me.

KFC have just announced that they are partnering with takeaway food delivery company JustEat to enable local people to order fried chicken and chips and have it delivered to their homes. The pilot scheme is taking place in the following fast food outlet locations:- Bexleyheath, Bromley, Erith, Thamesmead and Welling. The Bexley Times are reporting that Graham Corfield, UK Managing Director at Just Eat commented: “We’re adding KFC restaurants every week, meaning more customers will be able to enjoy KFC at the click of a button in their area very soon.” The growing appetite for home delivery has reportedly seen growing favour for chicken, with JustEat claiming it as one of the top five cuisines ordered through the service in the past 12 months. Not my kind of thing I am afraid. There are additional costs to having your KFC delivered, which the new adverts neglect to mention. Suffice to say that I live a couple of hundred metres from the Erith KFC, but have only visited the outlet twice - and the second time was merely to use their toilets when I had a seriously upset stomach. I don't think that I need to say more.

It seems that the illegal activities of uninsured, unlicensed and no - helmet wearing bikers are not now limited to the Slade Green and Crayford Marshes. Reports have been made to the Police in respect of illegal biker activity in Lower Belvedere. Local Safer Neighbourhood officer PC Robert Holmes reported "Over the Easter period the team have been out and out about across the ward. We have been attending Frank’s Park responding to residents’ concerns over off road bikes driving in the woods. The team did stop one youth and warned him about his conduct. His mother was also spoken to advised on the legality of her son using an off road bike, as well as safety implications. Upcoming events: Police Surgery on the 28/04/2017, Belvedere Library, Woolwich Road at 14:00. Coffee with Cops on 03/05/2017 at the Pop In Parlour, Woolwich Road (next to the library) at 11:30". Another bike related crime has recently taken place in Barnehurst. PCSO Cathy Nolan reports "Barnehurst Ward have suffered another incident of vehicle crime in Martens Close whereby a Silver PCX Honda Moped was taken. Witness saw two persons riding a similar moped to the one that was stolen, both riders were wearing dark clothing with helmets on. The moped was seen driving down Martens Close, one person got off the bike, approached victims bike and was seen then to drive off on it. This incident happened at 21:15 on 12th April 2017. If anyone has any information please call 101 or contact your Local Policing Team. Barnehurst Team will be available to discuss any local issues at Barnehurst Golf Club on Friday 21st April 2017 between 11:00 – 12:00".

The great comic actor Will Hay, a comedy legend in his own lifetime and a huge star of early British film, died this week back in 1949. Will Hay is largely forgotten today, but a comic actor whose best work influenced the likes of The Goon Show, and Monty Python, and his most famous film "Oh, Mister Porter!" was a direct influence on "Dad's Army". I have to declare a family connection with Will Hay; my Great Uncle Horace (whom I have written about previously) was a very close friend of Will Hay for many years. Born in Stockton in 1888, Hay’s family moved him south to Suffolk before his first birthday. As his father became a jobbing engineer so the family’s mobility quickly increased – moving next to Hemel Hempstead then to London and finally to Manchester where Hay Senior established his own firm. Wanting independence, Will refused to join the family company and started instead as an apprentice engineer for Westinghouse. Yet Hay was no typical engineer and his humour hid by the fact that, by the age of 19, he had learnt German, French and Italian to such a high level that he was able to leave engineering and became an interpreter. His nineteenth year also saw him married to fellow teenager Gladys Perkins and when his daughter Gladys Elspeth was born some eighteen months later Hay decided he could make a better living for his new family in the pre-Great War music halls. Stealing some of his sister Eppie’s staff room reminiscences – she was a full time teacher – Hay began to develop his pompous, bumbling schoolmaster act. After working for over three years with the Fred Karno troupe, where Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin had developed their craft, Hay swiftly found himself the talk of the town: selling out Britain’s biggest music halls, playing sets for the Prince of Wales and successfully touring America, South Africa and Canada. Then came Boys Will Be Boys (1935) his first starring film role with a screenplay written by Hay himself. The story wasn't overly deep – a prison teacher cons his way into a boarding school job and helps stop a diamond theft – but it did have its moments. And it was the perfect frame for Hay’s idiot teacher routines. Then, in 1937,  Graham Moffat joined Moore Marriott as Hay’s two sidekicks in the finest comic film any of them would ever be involved with, Oh, Mr Porter! wherein Hay discovers the (Northern) Irish railway station he’s been sent to run, Buggleskelly, is actually a run-down mess. Gun-runners, ghosts, secret windmills and missing trains – Hay and his two stooges come out on top in a film that is, even now, genuinely funny, at times hilarious. Oh, Mister Porter! (1937) was a deserved box office smash in its day, taking some £500,000 in British cinemas alone – the equivalent now would be over £30 million. In the immediate pre - war years, Will Hay was the second highest paid entertainer in Britain, earning a reputed £800 per week - narrowly pipped in the earnings stakes by George Formby. Outside of show business, Will Hay was a dedicated and respected amateur astronomer. He constructed a personal observatory in his garden in Mill Hill and built a glider in 1909. He became a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1932 and is noted for having discovered a Great White Spot on the planet Saturn in 1933. The spot lasted for a few months and then faded away. He also measured the positions of comets with a micrometer he built himself, and designed and built a blink comparator. He wrote the book Through My Telescope in 1935, which had a foreword by Sir Richard Gregory, formerly Emeritus Professor of Astronomy at Queen's College, London. When Hay died, a few items of his equipment were bequeathed to the British Astronomical Association. Some years ago I came across a long out of print book on the life of Will Hay, and it had some photos taken of his garden and his private observatory; in one of the early shots, the construction of his observatory is shown; several people are helping with the digging. One chap is seen stripped to his string vest and leaning on a shovel - it was my late Great Uncle Horace on what must have been a very hot day for manual labour. I wish I had a copy of the book. In 1947, Will Hay suffered a stroke which left him physically disabled. He died at his flat in Chelsea, London after a further stroke in 1949, and is buried in Streatham Park Cemetery, London SW16.

The video clip below dates from the time when Will Hay was approaching the height of his fame and fortune; it shows Danson Park as it looked back in 1935. Do give it a watch and either leave a comment below, or Email me at hugh.neal@gmail.com.

Sound of Contact.

Travellers are still keeping Cob Ponies on the unlicenced enclosure that is sandwiched between the back of Erith Morrison's supermarket and the Council recycling facility. I have had several local people express concerns as to the health and wellbeing of the animals, and I have spoken to the RSPCA on a couple of occasions this year. I am led to understand that as long as the ponies are fed and watered, there is very little that the authorities can actually do. I believe the owner of the small parcel of scrub land is the Orbit housing association, but the precise details are somewhat sketchy and unclear. It would appear that the lands' legal owners are unconcerned about the use to which it is currently being put. "Pony squatting" is increasingly common in London and the South East, with the high cost of stabling for animals which essentially have zero financial value being quoted as one of the main reasons. 

Local paper the News Shopper have recently announced that they are restarting their very effective "Shop A Yob" campaign. The campaign which ran for several years showed CCTV and other photos of local criminals when caught in the act - for example. vandalising bus interiors. The original campaign was very successful in identifying and prosecuting local low lives and scum bags. Whilst most of the offences were of the anti social behaviour kind, it did stop some offenders from going on to commit more serious crimes. On top of this it sent the message that the local community would not stand for criminal behaviour. I am fully behind "Shop A Yob", and have managed to get clear photos of criminals in the act myself in the past. 

When I visited the Erith Riverside Festival a couple of weeks ago, most of the Maggot Sandwich readers who approached me to say “hello” asked me the same question. They all wanted to know where the name of this blog came from, as it appears so surreal and unusual. Well, I have told the story once before, but it was rather a long time ago, and I seem to have picked up quite a few readers since, so I suppose the story could do with repeating. It all dates back to the beginning of 1987, when I first got involved with Bexleyheath based FM pirate station Radio Lumberjack (see the photo above of me taken in the studio in March 1987, a couple of years before I moved to Radio Caroline, and a big step up in the radio world). I got named “Arthur Pewty” by the chap who ran the station, after the meek and mild accountant character from the Monty Python sketch. Now  I had a radio pseudonym, I needed a name for my late night show, which featured mainly album tracks. I was reading a book on the history of offshore radio at the time, and had come across the story of John Peel and his show on Radio London, which was called “The Perfumed Garden”. I was trying to think of a suitably satirical alternative to this, when an incident from a few years previously popped into my mind. For a couple of years I took up coarse (fresh water) fishing, and would spend much of the school summer holidays either at Dartford lakes or at Horton Kirby, unsuccessfully trying to catch a few fish. I sometimes used to go with a friend, who had a somewhat unique idea of practical jokes. On one occasion I was about to take a bite of a cheese and coleslaw salad sandwich when I noticed something wriggling around in the filling. I opened up the sandwich to find a small mound of maggots! My compatriot had filled the sandwich from his bait tin when I was not looking. Nice chap. Anyway, the idea came to me that how could I combine the bland and anodyne (Arthur Pewty) with something uniquely revolting (the Maggot Sandwich) and the name for my show was born. When I started blogging seven years ago, it seemed logical that my web based voice to the world would follow my radio based venture from years before. The idea stuck, and back in 2010 it was voted the most unusual blog name in London, at the Online Conference hosted by Ofcom. So now you know.

I think that Bexley Council would be more open and honest in its’ dealings if it was headed by Kim Jong-Un, rather than Teresa O’Neill. At least the North Korean dictator is starting to talk to his opponents around the world now, unlike Bexley Council, who for a second time are directly disobeying an order issued by Eric Pickles, the Local Government Secretary, who said on the 14th June that “I want to stand up for the rights of journalists and taxpayers to scrutinise and challenge decisions of the state. Modern technology has created a new cadre of bloggers and hyper-local journalists, and councils should open their digital doors and not cling to analogue interpretations of council rules. Councillors shouldn’t be shy about the public seeing the good work they do in championing local communities and local interests”. Quite, well said mister Pickles; the trouble is that Bexley Council are having none of it. They have re-stated their long standing policy that filming and audio recording of council sessions is forbidden. The council say that they are concerned that the data protection act may be contravened (Pickles explicitly says that it will not), and the privacy of people attending the council meetings may be affected. The fact remains that if you walk down Bexleyheath Broadway at any time, day or night,  you will be recorded by a plethora of CCTV cameras, both publicly and privately owned. I recently counted seventy cameras between the Council offices and as far down the Broadway as Asda – and I am pretty certain that I missed some. The council argument is utter rubbish, and they know it. They don’t want to be recorded as they don’t want to be held accountable for the decisions that they take. It is like something from Eastern Germany circa 1983. One of my sources – a person very much in a position to know, not long ago told me that if Bexley Council were to transmit council meetings live on YouTube (which some other local authorities have been doing for some considerable time) most viewers would either fall asleep or click away onto content that was less tedious. Most Council meetings are actually very boring to the observer – nevertheless, I, and many others feel that we have the right to know what our elected local officials get up to – after all, they answer to us, not the other way round as some in the Council would have you believe. I know that Malcolm Knight of Bexley is Bonkers also feels very strongly on this subject, and has been directly involved in the issue on several occasions in the past, and attended a council meeting only this week where a person was repeatedly threatened with Police intervention when he made an audio recording of the proceedings; I get the feeling that this story has a lot further to run – we shall have to wait and observe developments. I would not be at all surprised if this story did not become of national interest very soon.

I don’t know how many Maggot Sandwich readers read the comments that are posted by others at the bottom of most entries; I do get some fascinating feedback. Comments don’t go live automatically, as for a long period of time I was beset by (mainly Chinese) spammers who were posing as genuine comment makers. Google have improved the filtering now, and things are a lot better, but I still have to moderate comments – and I do publish negative ones on the odd occasion that they are submitted – I don’t censor other than to remove spam. Last week I had a very interesting message from a chap called Brett Smith, who is a presenter on a web based radio station called Radio Sutch. The original Radio Sutch was a station that was set up on the 27th May 1964, and was based on the old WWII Shivering Sands army sea fort. It was run by “Screaming Lord Sutch” and broadcast (intermittently) on 194 metres (1542kHz) medium wave. The broadcasting hours of Radio Sutch were somewhat variable – DJ’s would wake up late for their shows, or the studio equipment would experience regular breakdowns. Even the transmitter was a total lash – up, based on a heavily modified wartime Royal Navy H.F unit re – crystalled for medium wave, which powered from a bunch of truck and milk float batteries. After four months, Sutch got tired of running the station, and sold it on to businessman Reg Calvert for a reported £5000, who renamed it as Radio City, and re-launched it. The new station has the same musical format as the original Radio Sutch – basically music from the 50’s and 60’s that was considered “left field” at the time. You can read more about the re-launched Radio Sutch by clicking here. You can also listen online to their pre – recorded and live shows. I think it is great to get a really unusual niche station broadcasting online – the FM and AM bands are full of so much generic rubbish nowadays, that it takes an online broadcaster to do something significantly different and a sight more adventurous. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.

The News Shopper have been very active in promoting Ray Hurley’s Welling based Micro Pub,  “The Door Hinge”. This week they have given the place a second write – up, complete with an embedded video, which is an unusual touch from them. You can see their coverage by clicking here. It will be interesting to see whether the place gets considered for Bexley CAMRA pub of the year next year; the Robin Hood and Little John will not be eligible to enter (under Bexley CAMRA rules, a pub that wins one year is not allowed to enter the competition the following year – this was brought in a while ago to stop the Robin Hood and Little John winning every year, as it had done for the previous ten years in a solid row). I think the Door Hinge is an excellent little place with much to commend it; about the only down side for me is the location, which in practical terms means a cab ride, as the journey by bus from darkest Erith is on the tortuous side, involving a change and much hanging around in areas like Bexleyheath Broadway – not somewhere I am keen to venture at night. Having said that, the Door Hinge is a congenial and welcoming place; Ray is an excellent landlord (like his namesake in the Robin Hood and Little John) and the novelty of a micro pub in the locality is a bonus too. It helps that the beer is of superb quality and very well kept. Do give it a try.

One of my favoured sources of accurate and up to date information on IT and technical related issues is the excellent website – The Register. Stories that get into the general press usually break on The Register at least a day earlier, and in greater detail. The site is very tongue in cheek, and often finds a humorous angle on technology issues. It broke a story earlier in the week that caught my attention; an employment agency are looking for programmers who have skills in writing and maintaining software for the DEC PDP-11 series of mini computers. What is so unusual about that? I hear some of you ask. Well, the PDP 11 computer range was first introduced in 1970, and went out of general production in 1990. The machines were large – even a relatively small installation would be the equivalent of three or four full height fridge freezers, plus a terminal the size of a small school desk. By modern standards they are museum pieces – indeed, the National Museum of Computing does have some examples of PDP hardware in its’ collection. When they were first offered for sale, they offered a relatively cheap and reliable entry into business and industrial computing; indeed many PDP 11’s were used to control machine tools in factories – some of the early car welding robots were  controlled in this way. Other key users were (and in some cases still are) large banks and insurance companies, who require reliability and very high up time over performance and the latest features. Quite often the old computers such as the PDP 11 range are still employed on the “back end” systems that the customers (and indeed many of the staff) never see. Many of such organisations are exceptionally risk averse, and would rather support an ancient technology than take a chance on upgrading to a modern alternative that may have new and undocumented bugs, possibly causing loss of earnings and damage to reputation. I know that there are a small handful of independent contractors who earn a very good living continuing to support these old clunkers – because the knowledge required to maintain and repair the hardware and software is so specialised, they are able to charge pretty much what they like for their services, as they have their clients “over a barrel” – nice work if you can get it.  My first foray into the world of “serious” computers was back in the early 1980’s, when I had a Saturday job as an assistant in Silica Shop in Sidcup. During the 1980’s, Silica Shop were the largest privately owned, independent computer retailers in the UK. They specialised in the early 8 – bit home computers, especially the range made by Atari – for whom they were the European dealers.  Silica Shop had its’ HQ in Hatherley Road, Sidcup, where there was a large retail unit on the lower floor of the two storey building, and on the upstairs was a warehouse, an office, and an air conditioned computer room, which housed a large DEC PDP 11- 44 mini  computer - almost identical to the one in the photograph above. As well as working in the shop on Saturdays, I was also able to work during school holidays; during this time I would sometimes be called out of the shop to help the computer system administrator, who for a while made me his unofficial assistant. I learned lots about working with large scale business computers, and all of the basics of system administration – adding and removing users, changing security settings, creating files, running batch processes and the like.  Even back then, the 11-44 was quite an elderly piece of kit – the company having purchased the machine second hand, as new they were well over two hundred thousand pounds, depending on the specification and peripherals required. One quirk of the 11-44 operating system was that you could not reformat the large 8 inch floppy disks it used (earlier versions of the machine used reels of magnetic tape). In order to re – use the expensive floppy disks, you first had to manually wipe them of data using a degaussing machine – which was basically a large electromagnet. I think everyone was scared of the degausser – it hummed and buzzed, occasionally emitting a crackle of electricity, accompanied by a faint smell of ozone. I think even by the lax health and safety standards of the time, the machine should have been condemned! What I did to avoid the dreaded machine was looking back, pretty imaginative. The computer room had several old – style telephones with rotary dials. I would place a small pile of disks underneath a phone, then ring it from another extension. The bell ringer built into the phone was an electromagnet, and in ringing it would wipe the disks! Silica Shop wrote their own customer database; what would nowadays be called a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system. Whenever someone came into the shop and bought something, a sales docket would be completed by the shop assistant. It included the buyers’ name, address and what they bought, along with an itemised total. Each item of stock was allocated a unique part number, which staff could look up on VT100 computer terminals in the shop, which would also record how many of that particular item were left in stock; the real old hands would know most, if not all of the popular stock item codes off the top of their heads. When the stock level got down to a certain point, the system would automatically place a re – order, and debit the company account accordingly. The system would also target postal advertising at customers according to what they had already purchased – there was no point in sending a leaflet on Atari 800XL software to a customer who had bought a Commodore 64 for example. You can see an example of a typical Silica Shop advertising flyer below - notice the large amount of detailed text - this was a Silica Shop trait - they lumped huge amounts of technical detail into all of their advertising; something that would put off a lot of potential shoppers today. All this is targetted advertising is routine nowadays, but back in 1983 it was unique, and debatably the most sophisticated customer database used anywhere in the United Kingdom. My own thoughts are that if Silica Shop had taken this ground breaking business software and ported it onto the then new IBM PC, they would have had a huge business in selling and supporting enterprise level CRM applications now. Instead they continued to shift boxes of home computers, and eventually went out of business in the mid 1990’s. If the management had employed a more creative vision, Silica could have been a global software name like Oracle now. I have to say that I learned more about computing in my few years working at Silica shop than I have learned anywhere else. My entire career in IT has been built on stuff I picked up in a quiet side street in Sidcup.

Unusually there are two ending videos this week; they are both from a brand new band that have just released their debut album, which is called "Dimensionaut" and the group is called "Sound of Contact". I would be interested in what you think of the two videos below. The first was filmed out Sound of Contact's first ever live gig; the second is a more conventional music video designed for use online and on television. If the singer / drummer looks and sounds somewhat familiar, it is not too surprising. His name is Simon Collins, and his dad is Phil. Watch the videos and please feel free to leave your comments below.