May 27, 2004
Impressed by the fuzz
My Bent Bike Wheel - thanks mr. thief
I had a strange day. The data centre for our servers lost power (should never happen), a bloke fell off his scooter coming round a corner near me, I was frustrated late to the pub and then, on returning to my d-locked bike, I found that someone had tried to steal it. I'm guessing, but as they attempted to pull the bike off the street post it was attached to, the force of the d-lock against the front wheel and the frame caused the front wheel to become bent like a pringle (crisp, not sweater). The chap in the bike shop alternatively suggested that it may have been kicked in frustration. Anyway, one locked bike, one crappy attempted theft and a £50+ bill.
In order to make an insurance claim, you need a 'crime number'. I don't like ringing the police. On the one hand they are probably busy enough with other, important stuff. On the other hand, I'm quite nervous of them, although they have always been polite and friendly enough to me.
So I decided to look on the web to see which police station I should call. And I found this:
The Non Emergency Minor Crime Notication web page at www.online.police.uk
In its functionality, its nothing special, a simple form to capture the relevent information. What is special is that the police have had the sense and foresight to set it up. It is one of those examples of a truly useful webpage. It saves the police time, lets me fill in the data and avoids me clogging up police phone lines. The form was straight forward (mostly) and off I submitted it. After going out to play squash for an hour, I came back to a message on my voicemail. New Scotland Yard were calling to clarify one point on the form - only 1.5 hours after submitting it.
The next day, a very polite and efficient copper calls me up to inform me of procedure and, more importantly, to give me a crime number. Him, me and the rest of the world all know that they ain't going to catch someone, or even try. Him, me and the rest of the world know that all I need is a crime number to claim on. This system is a supremely efficient and effective way of getting that crime number.
May 24, 2004
Landslipped Tower
We were walking up in the Peak District with Janet and Richard near Sheffield. We were heading to this strange tower somewhere between Manchester and Sheffield. It sits very oddly on its own right next to a cliff face. The picture here doesn't quite capture its strangeness. We thought it may have been a quarry previously - note the strewn boulders. It is known as 'the tower' at Alport Castles.
The Tower at Alport Castles, Peak District. (camera phone picture)
There is a better pictures from above.
Apparantly it is a landslip - possibly the largest in the UK. You can read more about the geology at the Derbyshire Peak District written by MJ Lewis, and how the make up of the rock in the area is unstable and worn by water to create landslides.
Alport Castles lie to the north-west of Ladybower Reservoir, in grid square 1491 of Landranger 110.
May 20, 2004
Free Cargo
I went to Cargo's Demo City up and coming bands night the other Tuesday. I'm been saying for a while that surely there is room for a free entry venue where bands play and people spend money at the bar. Well, Cargo have just this every Tuesday night.
Its a great venue, big and cavernous, and if the band is not to your liking you can sit in another section of the venue and chat. You can even sit outside in the summer. I saw three bands, none of which were bad (or that good), but it was entertaining and, best of all, free! No risk paying £5 to see three dull bands.
If you're going to the pub on Tuesday night, you might as well go to Cargo!
May 17, 2004
Road Block
I have two main ways to work - the 'back' way and the 'front' way. There are also combinations of the two, as going to the same place for 2.5 years can get a little wearing.
On my way to work I go past an increasing number of blocked off roads. Increasing because, as London slowly wakes up to the murder and hell that is the selfish domain of the evil car, it is beginning to curb and channel where cars can go in an attempt to make the city an less polluted and more people friendly city.
The blocked off road in this picture is sufficiently low to allow emergency vehicles to traverse it when neccessary. I doesn't fail to amaze me each time I see a regular, low slung car decide that this short cut will save them so much time and effort that a scraped bottom of the car doesn't matter. They lumber ever so slowly over the obstacle in what appears to be the most blatant breaking of road laws to me.
Now, as a cyclist I'm not immune from breaking many road laws for good or for bad. But somehow driving over a slab of concrete designed to segregate a road seems to show an amazing disregard for road law and an arrogance that only a motor vehicle driver could display.
In all my amazment and disgust however, I am rather unsure as to how a car driver feels when I ride through a red traffic light in front of them. Is this a similar level of disregard and arrogance? What do you think? Comment below.
May 16, 2004
To the Dogs
We went to the dog racing at Walthamstow for Michaels birthday. It was seriously good fun, more than I expected. I'm waiting with anticipation to go again!
I teamed up with intuitive Helen and we totally broke even, which included a couple of decent wins and a bunch of losses. Beaton came along and enjoyed it.
The entrance to the Walthamstow Dog Stadium
The architecture is quite impressive. There is something almost nostalgic about it. It certainly doesn't feel like anything to do with London. Inside it feels pseudo posh - like going to posh horse races but not being quite up to par. Beaton said it reminded him of the Hong Kong race track. I liked it. I'm told Wimbledon is very different. Who is up for going to Wimbledon??
View of the dog track from inside the stand.
May 14, 2004
Noisy Dustbin Trucks
As I cycle around London I've noticed that Dustbin Trucks are really really noisy vehicles. While big, huge, London Buses are actually very quiet. Especially when you consider that buses are probably carrying more weight when full up with fat commuters (sorry), than a dustbin truck when full up with a whole load of crap.
So I thought I'd ask an assorted range of wise friends:
(quite a number of them thought it was a joke - 'I dunno - why are dustbins trucks so loud?')
Susanne suggested that the actually seem louder because they always come at 5 in the morning.
Caroline wondered the same thing to herself this morning. Perhaps because they truck came around at 5am?
Beaton reckons that it could be the 'crushing engine' making the noise. There is always one person who resorts to technical language, just to show that they 'know' about things...
Actually there are two people with jargon. Kate thinks that it is to do with compressors and pneumatic technology needed to compact huge volumes of waste. Impressive answer.
Kev weirdly says that maybe it is because dustbin trucks are made from old dustbin carts and tin cans.
However, the dustbin truck I saw was neither early in the morning, it wasn't full of waste and it wasn't doing any crushing that I could see. It was merely turning round in the road to head off in the other direction. And it was very very loud. Why, oh why, are dustbin trucks so loud?
May 13, 2004
Find a Pub
I haven't used this website fully or exhaustively yet, and fear that is could turn up dodgy and dingy pubs. But the idea, at least, is fantastic.
It'll randomly choose a pub for you and you can limit it to local areas within London. On the 'coming up features' list are a random pub crawl generator - I'd like to able to give it limits of a theme, perhaps searching on keywords within the description.
People are encouraged to give reviews and I may well join in. I also encourage you to review your local or favourite pubs to help lift this site into a trully useful compendium of London Public Houses.
May 09, 2004
We Formed a Book
We are writing a book! Loads of people do it, and the process should be interesting. Our inspiration was a review of a book about some guys who cycled through South America. The extract from their book was less than interesting, the writing style dull and unamusing. We've ordered the book to find out more, but my friend Paul, whom I cycled with, has an amusing and discursive style which you may sample on his blog.
That he is actually doing the writing I guess makes me a co-author? Our plan is to sit and discuss each of the 15 countries we went through on our bikes, one by one, to dredge up memories. We're doing this with the aid of maps, diaries and video (although the video makes it a little too selective and can limit ones memory).
How could a publisher pass on the opportunity to sell an amusing book with an hour long DVD film of the ride (not yet complete)? Too easily, I fear!!!
This site may help us
www.soyouwanna.com/site/syws/publishbook/publishbook2.html
or this one perhaps
www.absolutewrite.com/
May 07, 2004
Preston Played
Preston School Of Industry played a great gig in London the other day, at the Spitz. It was a very different gig from the one I saw them play with Wilco a couple years ago at the London Astoria. I think they changed their drummer, as the previous guy had this strange habit of raising his legs above the snare drum all the time.
PSOI played perfectly, straight off the cd. They came across a lot more boisterous and less lackadaisical than previous performances, which was both good and bad. I guess small venues perhaps suit them more.