St. Albans Blogs Aggregation

Fifi cooks with Fruity Favourite Muffins with a bit of Yeo Valley help...

zooarchaeologist — Mon, 28 May 2012 21:01:00 +0000

Our latest challenge as Yeo Valley brand ambassadors was to hand the ingredients for the Fruity Muffin recipe over to the children and let them make them themselves from scratch. This was not without some trepidation on my part because there is nothing Fifi likes more than doing a bit of cooking in my kitchen and inevitably it means that I have to remove flour from the kettle and sticky finger prints from the fridge. Oh, and we don't have any more eggs as she practices breaking them until she gets the perfectly released yolk effect as opposed to an egg with loads of bits of shell in it. However, the Yeo Valley One Pot Fruity Muffin recipe is a thing of genus. Although I do like encouraging Fifi to look at the scales and measure out the weights as it helps with her number identification, this recipe means that she can truly cook independently with fairly minimal supervision.

All that you need to do is to provide all the ingredients and supervise/ guide. Then before you know it you will be presented with the yummiest muffins I've tasted in a long while. But how did we really get on? Well, Fifi found it really easy to understand as all she had to do was to measure the various ingredients using a yogurt tub. She squealed with delight doing this and mummy was 'not allowed' to interfere with the cook of the house! Fifi chose to make Strawberry muffins which were so scrumptious they were all eaten for our lunchtime dessert (for 4 of us!). In fact, the Boy was so impressed he wanted some of the action and decided to make some Raspberry Muffins for his uncle. I was delighted because it's really hard to get him interested in cookery.

I can definitively say that this was an all round success, the kids loved making them because they could do the entire thing themselves and we loved them because they were scrumptious. I've not done a great deal of baking with yogurt but this has set me off on a mission to do more.

Half term is coming up, why not print out the recipe and give the kids to make you some fruity favourite muffins, not only will this keep them amused you'll be amazed at the results. You can find the recipe on the Yeo Valley website here: https://www.yeovalley.co.uk/recipes/fruity-favourites-muffins

What working in a garden office sounds like

noreply@blogger.com (alex johnson) — Mon, 28 May 2012 12:28:00 +0000

listen to ‘I am enjoying working out of the office shed today. Lots of nice sounds.’ on Audioboo

Courtesy of Nigel Oseland -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

Video tour of shepherd's hut workshop

noreply@blogger.com (alex johnson) — Mon, 28 May 2012 08:57:00 +0000

Many of you have commented how much you enjoyed Plankbridge's shepherd's hut garden at Chelsea Flower Show last week so we're very pleased to bring you Richard's guided tour around the workshop to show you how the magic is created. -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

Afternoon Tea at Luton Hoo

Sat, 26 May 2012 20:25:33 +0000

Yesterday to celebrate a friend's birthday eight of us went for afternoon tea at Luton Hoo. The whole afternoon was just lovely, stunning house, picturesque gardens and the weather perfect. The afternoon tea was delicious served by friendly staff and when we were replete we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the gardens it couldn't have been better. I would highly recommended the experience. www.lutonhoo.co.uk/afternoon-tea-0

It's chips for Harry Ramsden's fish shed

noreply@blogger.com (alex johnson) — Sat, 26 May 2012 14:11:00 +0000

Extremely bad news as the historic shed in which Harry Ramsden started selling fish and chips 90 years ago has been demolished because it had rather too much asbestos in its makeup. The Yorkshire Post reports that the owners of the now slightly timeworn hut - through which a tree was growing - were keen to preserve it but the discovery of asbestos meant it required immediate professional disposal. ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Saturday posts are sponsored by Warwick Buildings, manufacturers of outstanding quality timber buildings. Click here for more information.

The highs and lows of cycling in the Himalayas

rona471 — Tue, 22 May 2012 10:37:00 +0000

The speaker at STACC's forthcoming summer public meeting is Nick Siddall, intrepid international touring cyclist from St Albans. The meeting is at the Council Offices, next to the Alban Arena, on Wednesday 30 May, at 7.30pm.
As well as an entertaining talk that will put Holywell Hill in persepective, the evening will provide an update on local cycling issues and there will be a brief AGM.
See you there!

My First Foods

zooarchaeologist — Tue, 22 May 2012 07:58:00 +0000

Sunday night saw a momentous occasion in our house, baby Neds first dinner. I was surprised how much he enjoyed his baby rice and stewed apple, rather than one spoonful he ate the entire bowl. He seems very pleased with his Stokke Tripp Trapp which was kindly given to us for review purposes and I must say, it's brilliant. Just one look at his little face as he now joins us at the dinner table for some baby led weaning speaks volumes...

A Tour of Frogmore Mill, the World's Oldest Mechanised Paper Mill

Mon, 21 May 2012 14:15:16 +0000

Situated in Apsley, a suburb of Hemel Hempstead, Frogmore Mill became the birthplace of paper's Industrial Revolution in 1803 when the first of what later became known as a Fourdrinier Paper machine was installed and operated here.
Now operated by the Apsley Paper Trail charitable trust, paper is still made here on a 110 year-old machine.

read more

Our Volvo #V60getaway Weekend

zooarchaeologist — Wed, 16 May 2012 19:17:00 +0000

This weekend I felt like I had won the lottery. A lovely red Volvo V60 D3 was delivered to our front door. We then used it to travel in luxury to North Norfolk for a fabulous much needed weekend away. This was all courtesy of Volvo who are promoting the V60 which is a new family car in the Volvo range. Next month Volvo are going to be running numerous activities with the Telegraph surrounding the idea of families using the V60 as a weekend get-away car for UK breaks and excursions.We were lucky enough to be the first family to experience the V60 as a weekend get-away car!

I have totally fallen in love with the V60 and was genuinely sad to give it back. I really enjoyed driving it and I can say with certainty its the nicest car I have ever driven, certainly the first automatic car which took a little bit of getting used to. For example, there is this ecodrive function which turns the engine off when you stop the car which is also a little disconcerting but felt worthy. The model we had was very luxurious inside with a leather interior and those special seats you get in Volvos which are very comfortable. North Norfolk is a two and a half hour drive from our house and to be honest we had such a lovely trip it seemed much closer than usual.

One of the reasons that I thought this car was really ideal for us was the fact that we could sit all three children alongside each other in the back. It has become a bit of a motoring ambition of mine to achieve this from a practicality point of view but also it frankly prevents arguments over seating arrangements amongst the kids. Of course, the fact that they could all sit next to each other also meant that we had the whole boot free meaning we could fit our large pushchair alongside, the clothes, nappies, moses basket, wellies and all the other things which you take when you have kids. The fact that it all fitted in with the shelf cover over the top illustrates just how large this space is, this would have been impossible in our Zafira.

So, not only was the drive comfortable with enough space for all of us and our stuff it was also brilliant fun. Volvos are well known for their safety features but I was surprised how much acceleration the car had, which made it great fun to drive. I really cant fault it. I especially like it because it doesn't look like a flashy car, it has a bit of class. Just great, if I had one I'd be tempted to spend every other weekend exploring the UK.

We were exceptionally lucky in that the weekend we picked to go away proved to have the best weather of the past few months. We escaped the rain and saw a bit of sunshine which lifted the spirits nicely. If you haven't visited North Norfolk you have missed out, its fast becoming a gastronomic capital and has some wonderful places to eat. We stayed at the Red Lion in Stiffkey and sampled the delights of their menu which was really good. We also had to eat at Boys favourite pub The Jolly Sailor in Burnham which serves up white bait, his all time favourite meal.

One of the nicest things you can do is take a trip to see the Grey and Common Seal colony at Blakeney Point, we try to do this at various different times of the year as its wonderful to see them at all their different life stages. The children always really enjoy this trip, as do I and this weekend was no exception. If you are thinking of a weekend away, the seals pup in June so if you go along then there is a chance you'll see some really cute baby seals.

We also spent quite a long time on the beach at Brancaster and visiting Titchwell Bird Reserve. Luckily for us it was the Wings over Titchwell event there this weekend which meant there were loads of birdwatchers eagerly waiting to identify all the birds for us. I bought the kids some little bug magnifiers and we had loads of fun.

All in all a fantastic getaway weekend in a brilliant car.

In the park

rona471 — Tue, 15 May 2012 18:09:00 +0000

Cycling is now permitted in Verulamium Park. The two routes where cycling is permitted are the main cross routes:
- from Westminster Lodge to the 'cross road' and along past the basketball and the playground to the car park
-from Abbey Mill Lane (The Fighting Cocks) to King Harry Lane
If going from Wetsminster Lodge to Abbey Mill Lane, or vice versa, you can take the nearer fork.

Cyclists must give priority to pedestrians.

Simple? But controversial, many people are not happy about cycling in the park, and with good reason. As always, a few selfish morons give the majority a bad name.
So it behoves all of us to behave with exceptional courtesy and consideration to restore the balance. Go to it, stick to the permitted routes, ting your bell, get off and walk if it's busy, smile! and happy cycling.

And if the worst happens...

rona471 — Fri, 04 May 2012 14:47:00 +0000

http://lcc.org.uk/articles/what-to-do-in-case-of-a-collision

The link takes you to London Cycling Campaign guidance on what to do if you are involved in a collision. You may like to print it out and stuff it in your saddlebag.
Belonging to a national cycling organisation such as the Cyclists Touring Club (CTC) or British Cycling (BC) gives you access to expert advice and assistance in following up an incident. The London Cycling Campaign is also a big enough organisation to have experts available to help members.

Needle Felting (Dry Felting) Brooches

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 14:47:22 +0000

A couple of weeks a go I spent a very enjoyable afternoon crafting, with my friend Sue. Sue invited me round to her house for a wet felting session! Sue was wet felting but asked if I'd tried dry felting, I haven't but love to try any new craft technique.
Sue produced the tools for the dry felting: a needle felting tool, which has sharp barbed needles inside a plastic sleeve; a needle felting brush, this allows the needles to go through the fibers, without damaging the table; a piece of white felt and I brought my own stash of wool tops (roving).

How many mums can you fit in a car?

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 22:38:47 +0000

If you look closely in the following video, you'll see me and my camera, along with eleven mums and my pal Alex trying to see how many people you can fit in a Nissan Leaf. If you've got a moment to spare, please do vote for Alex to win a car by clicking here.

My Great Uncle Bernard

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 21:51:00 +0000

Going through the huge box of family photos I came across this one of my Uncle Bernard Bailey - he was in the Sherwood Foresters in WW1 and died on the Somme in 1916 - his name is on the Thiepval memorial. I have been researching this branch of the family recently, along with my dad and also Gary, the webmaster of the Huthwaite website (where our family is from) . He came up with a cutting from the local paper about him, published when his death was announced. It makes very moving reading - Bernard seems like a chap I would have loved to have known :(

http://huthwaite-online.net/gallery/memorial/ww1/bailey_b.php

What I'd like to hear in Barcelona next week

Digital Evangelist — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:12:00 +0000

Have been thinking about the upcoming MWC2012 and rather than looking at what shinny new handsets will be shown and how the GSMA will be "helping" the industry move forwards through strategic alliances I have written a wish list of what would help the mobile industry move forward.

As we make major strides toward the fourth generation of mobile networks I would like to see the head of Ericsson lead the industry forwards with an honest assessment of the current state of deployment of 2G, 3G and 4G networks what they are capable of doing and how they need to be melded together to deliver quality of service and best speed possible. The need for better chip design and roadmap to LTE terminals capable of using the high-speed network. What networks need to do to match services with capability.

I want the CTO of a Major Mobile Network to stand up and talk about Security, Security, Security as the cornerstone for the business if we are to move towards cloud based services and leave behind the world of Apps. I am looking for a CTO who can tell me how his Network is secure, my Device is secure and finally my Data is secure. Once he can tell that all three are secure then we can start to talk about the quality of the network in terms of bandwidth and coverage to enable me to do stuff via the Cloud rather than solid state.

I would like a Politician to start talking about how the consumer needs to pay for the use of the resources they consume, how spectrum is a key resource and in an effort to stop people wasting it people need to understand the present model of billing is no longer fit for purpose. In an effort to aid the consumer his Government has stopped selling spectrum but rather is now licensing blocks to Networks and the effectively regulating them for poor services, once the network is built and running effectively they intend to tax the Networks on profits made. The Regulation of New Mobile Networks will be done of the basis of coverage and speed in relation to the population and to assist in the quick and effect build out of networks planning permission has been revised to allow replacement of old equipment with the latest without needing a new permit.

Can we have an evangelist from the Silicon designers who is capable of explaining why System on a Chip designs are a compromise whilst we await better batteries, how the new Wifi and Fixed Wireless Broadband standards will impact on the development of GSM standards and how at this moment there are no chips capable of covering all the available spectrum and thus Software Defined Radio is once again stalled. Will the industry representative also take a stick to the current trend towards smaller smartphones and point out that what is needed are designs that will get teens, blue collar and emerging markets doing more with mobiles?

Finally can Martin Sorrell talk about how marketing is killing mobile as only an idiot would expect advertising to generate the revenues needed to give someone a free phone. As we become more aware of the way data on our habits is sold what kind of fool would allow themselves to be ripped off? What Brand would coupon customers to such a level that they make no money, once to get someone in the shop fine but if you have to keep doing it then they are parasites not customers because they will never afford what you are selling. Effective marketing is about getting people with money to pay as much as possible for stuff, when they stops the business starts to die and finally goes bankrupt. Consumers use of mobile is different from fixed and so don't just think that it is a new media on which to send junk mail.

The above are my hopes, my expectation is that we will be talking about a few new handsets that will keep Android out in front of the iPhone, RIM still has not got what it takes to compete with Apple and Google and Nokia can still make great hardware. The GSMA will talk about m-Health being the next big market for mobile and Machine-2-Machine is going to be massive (it's not as big as they think because lots of smart-meters will use powerline technology rather than 3G) and look at the success of M-Banking.

What I'd like to hear in Barcelona next week

Digital Evangelist — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:12:00 +0000

Pancake Race 2012

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:49:17 +0000

Pancake Race 2012, a set on Flickr.

England (all covered in snow)

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:24:00 +0000

Early morning, there is a certain stillness and perfection in crisp English snow.

Sledging in St. Albans

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:49:04 +0000

The snow that blanketed St. Albans at the weekend offered plenty of opportunities for sledging. But where are the best places to go sledging in St. Albans? Our top picks have to be the park, just next to the Abbey, and Batchwood Golf Course (seen here). We’ve also gone to the Brickie, off Lower Dagnall Street, in the past but the snow there tends to go a bit bare quickly. There must be some other good spots I’m missing – feel free to add your favourite spot to go sledging in St. Albans in the comments.

Ben's first snow - and more

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:08:41 +0000

Ben's first snow - and more, a set on Flickr.

Dress a girl around the world

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:19:00 +0000

dress a girl around the world, originally uploaded by Sajona.

Spent the last 2 afternoons using up fabric stash by making 6 dresses for the charity 'Dress a girl around the world'. They are really simple pillowcase style dresses using cotton fabric. I handmade binding for the spotty dress, but used packet binding for the rest. The 2 on the right are from a recycled dress I bought from a charity shop - they were actually the most expensive as the dress cost £9.99 and was unworn. Must resist those charity shops - especially in Harpenden, which is always way overpriced :( (but often has Boden and designer labels..). The dress on the left is actually Boden fabric, courtesy of Fabrics Galore in London - a really designer fabric treasure trove.
The blog for the UK organiser for DAGATW is:
http://sewscrumptious.blogspot.com/

defining social business

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:27:59 +0000

We’re spending a lot of time these days discussing our Social Business offering with clients. In some instances, they’ve come to us asking what we can offer, whilst in other instances we’ve observed things in our work with them that...

social business event with david armano, euan semple and vincent boon

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:21:10 +0000

Edelman Digital is hosting, and I'm going to be moderating, a great panel on Social Business as part of Social Media Week. The event will be in our offices at 105 Victoria Street, London SW1, on the morning of 14...

Why Apple is bad for the Mobile Industry

Digital Evangelist — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 09:31:00 +0000

If you read this blog or follow me on Twitter then you will know that I am no fan of Apple.

I do not buy into the myth that they are interested in what the consumer wants but rather feel that they are very good at marketing compared to their peers.

The current focus on lets make everything a slim as possible is not a benefit but rather an obsession in controlling component manufacturers and in doing so setting prices. Why is Apple's management of the supply chain OK and Tesco's controlling of farmers wrong when they are both the same thing?

Recently I have been using my old Ericsson T68i and the ergonomics of the phone makes it a joy to hold and use. More importantly put the handset down on a surface and the rubber back means that it does not slide around. OK I am use the T68i as a PHONE and so was interested in calling and SMS rather than web based apps but then I was working rather than looking to fill dead time.

Because of Apple's lead as the trend setter other makers of Smartphones are all attempting to make handsets that look and function in the same way as an iPhone. I had hoped that design at Nokia had not been sacrificed on the "burning deck" of re-engineering the Firm undertaken by Steve Elop but unfortunately they seemed to have lost all their corporate intelligence. Nokia Engineering had grown too big but at one time they had people who were concerned by the response a user got when pushing a button and attempted to make the experience better.

What concern does Apple have for the user? I fear that it is more akin to IKEA than Georg Jensen. After a while as consumers learn more about how to use products that they own they understand the failings of low cost mass design and production and are willing to pay more for a better experience. Yet what improvement do we see with the iPhone in terms of industrial design?

If Jonathan Ive is a Design Hero then he needs to demonstrate such by following the actions of Dieter Rams rather than just mouthing kind words about his ability. Rams with Vitsoe and Braun was capable of designing products that function on a higher level than Apple has ever done. If you want to learn more then get yourself a copy of As Little Design As Possible.

Others are starting to realise that Apple's business practices are bad for the sector as a whole they do not seem to be in the UK or US but rather Germany and France where the company has a smaller impact as a whole. I have long been a advocate of the fact that most people do not seek to converge to a single device but rather are happy to carry a number of them. Sit on public transport and you can watch people switching between phone, MP3, e-reader, tablet rather than using a single device. Apple has benefitted from this divergence getting people to buy iPhone, iPod, iPad yet when it comes to the phone they offer one single device in terms of form factor.

If I want to create something then a touch screen device does not make it easy. Yes I know David Hockney makes art on his iPad but he also uses a Hasselblad and very large canvases and paint for his large public works. A keyboard with good design allows faster typing than I can do on an iPad even if that is a simple one such as on my T68i let alone a QWERTY design.

Then how about Apple giving a screen that is better in bright light that is also capable of falling three feet without breaking? My observation of others on Public Transport usually allows me to spot two or three broken iPhone screens. I do not see any broken Sony Ericsson, Samsung, HTC, Blackberry or Nokia screens.

If an iPhone is about wonderful User Interface design the can't I expect more of a physical interface than a single button?

Why Apple is bad for the Mobile Industry

Digital Evangelist — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 09:31:00 +0000

If you read this blog or follow me on Twitter then you will know that I am no fan of Apple.

I do not buy into the myth that they are interested in what the consumer wants but rather feel that they are very good at marketing compared to their peers.

my 2011 in review

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 10:47:10 +0000

Usually, on the last day of the working year, I write a post that reviews the past 12 months. Well, I spent my last day of work last year flying from London Heathrow to Frankfurt, back to Heathrow, across to...

Thinking about Mobile Handsets

Digital Evangelist — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:27:00 +0000

Over the last few weeks I have been looking at upgrading the handsets of my three daughters and so have reviewed what is on the market and what they wish to do with there phones.

This will be the fourth handset that my Twins have owned. At the moment they are happy users of a Blackberry Bold which are starting to show signs of age. They are not heavy users of either text or voice but they use BBM and Facebook with a little email. They are thus happy with the QWERTY form factor and when asked if they wanted a Blackberry Touch they declined as the find the lack of keyboard slows them down. They are looking for something that is robust enough to live with the knocks of life in a teenage girl’s pocket and bag that means it has to bounce before it breaks.

The youngest wants her second mobile phone to have a few more features that the basic candy bar she currently has. She does not want an iPhone as “the girls who have one at school are bullies and they all seem to be broken within a few weeks.” I have been looking at a number of Android handsets but she seems to like the Nokia Lumina 800 I have been playing with because it does not look girlie, has a good camera and the battery lasts.

When you look at the shelves in a phone retailer at the moment if you take the Blackberries away what you see is a Smartphone format that is almost uniform. It reminds me of the mid 1990s just as the industry was about to under go massive expansion and all you could have was a black brick, then Nokia launched the 5110i with snap on covers and Motorola and Samsung decided that we might like silver clamshells.

Perhaps we can pause for breath on the development of Operating systems and start to look at form factors? For a number of years I have thought that mobile users are unlikely to carry just one mobile phone when they are able to purchase devices and looking at fellow travellers on the train it does now seem that time has come. Not everyone wishes to carry a device with a 3½ to 4½ inch screen as a phone, so why not have some devices that don’t have a touch screen but rather a simple keyboard?

The interesting thing is that none of the three seem to be demanding a wide range of Apps with which to “personalize” their handset. The number of people they “chat” with on Facebook is a subset of their “Friends” with whom they are social both in the real and virtual world. They do want a device that gives access to YouTube. A VPN which would give access to catch up TV from both the UK and US would be very welcomed. But if that was not available no problem as they can do so via Laptop or Tablet.

When it comes to an upgrade of my handset, something that I can quickly synchronise with my car, laptop and headset would make life easy. As I tend to use my phone whilst driving something with very good voice command would be welcomed. I would love to get rid of the touch screen as too often I put my current phone in my pocket after use and the discover that because it was still active I have played audio books, surfed the web and changed the keyboard, theme etc. . Over the last 14 months my favorite handset has been my Vertu Ascent because it does what I want it to do and when I need something I just use the Concierge service.

Thinking about Mobile Handsets

Digital Evangelist — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:27:00 +0000

Over the last few weeks I have been looking at upgrading the handsets of my three daughters and so have reviewed what is on the market and what they wish to do with there phones.

I must be getting old…

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 12:40:05 +0000

Over Christmas my 4 (and 3/4) year old niece started playing with my parents’ ten year old sound system (it’s not as bad as the picture… ). “I want it to play Moves Like Jagger”, she declared, and started pushing buttons, assuming that all the songs she would want to hear were stored on the machine.

She hit the CD eject button – “Why does it have a DVD player?”

She then hit the tape eject button – “What is that?!?”

Unfortunately my parents don’t have Moves Like Jagger, so she went back to unwrapping presents…

THE SOLID GOLD MUSIC SHOW SATURDAY OCTOBER 22nd 2011 - 09-00 - 13-00hrs.

Dereck Staines — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 23:01:00 +0000

This week’s gold packed programme starts with the biggest hits and stories making the news from 45 years ago, yes it's October 1966! Chances are you might hear The Hollies, The Who and Wilson Pickett and of course the news headlines.

Between 10-00 and 11-00 we value a Beatles “sound-alike” 45rpm single, Stephen starts to ramble nostalgically between 10 and 12 and this weeks brief biog at 10-15 is all about the legendary Glen Campbell who is currently on tour in the UK . Between 10-30 and 11-00 Stephen continues with his nostalgia and we update the news on the stars of yesteryear.

A vintage kiddies’ song follows the 11-00 news and this week it’s part two of Sparky’s Magic Piano, can you wait? Kid’s Corner is followed by our game of Connections, three songs that have something in common- can you work it out?

Just before the 11-30 travel news, it's The Be Bop Bonanza, followed by Music In The News and another moan from SJH as we let him loose with another gripe just before midday.

In the last hour we pull a pound, have a One Hit Wonder, and to wrap up, our 45rpm (45 minutes of real pop music) takes us back to the music and news from October 1973, Slade, Ringo Starr and The Sweet all appear. With a competition or two, another Solid Gold Music Show goes to air at 9-00am this Saturday.

Oh and just a reminder, Kenny Everett and Roger continue to count down the Hot 100 in our Radio Times tonight at 10-30 (Saturday Late Date is between 10 and midnight) and we have that exclusive interview with John Leyton on next weeks Solid Gold Music Show just after 10am.

THE SOLID GOLD MUSIC SHOW IS SPONSORED BY DOCKGUARD OF LUTON .

skip hire in st. albans

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 07:23:19 +0000

Due to damage caused by a leaky pipe in our upstairs bathroom, we’ve had to remove a plaster and lathe ceiling. Apart from being the most physically challenging, dirty and at some points dangerous (as when the brick fell out of the ceiling and knocked me off my ladder) thing I’ve done in a very long time, it also left me with a problem – what to do with 1.5 tonnes of rubbish?

Thankfully, someone told us about Hippo Bags. Basically, you walk into Wickes or B&Q, buy a big bag, fill it with waste, then call for a hippo truck to collect it. All in, ours cost £124 but they do have cheaper, as well as more expensive, options. This was a bit cheaper and a lot less hassle (no parking permit needed in our instance) than a medium sized steel skip.

Sure, at one stage the hippo bag was being dangled high above our car, nearly causing a heart attack, but all and all a really good service.

Ok, so they’re a nationwide business but it was such a perfect solution for us that I thought I’d share it here.

Sund 2011ay 16th October

Jonny Seabrook — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 22:23:00 +0000

On this week's show Jonny chats to skiing guru Thomski about where to catch some piste action in West Herts, YES! here in West Herts. Plus there's a very very hard Who Am I? and some great Sunday music.

THE SOLID GOLD MUSIC SHOW - SATURDAY 15th OCTOBER 2011- 09-00 - 13-00hrs.

Dereck Staines — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 22:48:00 +0000

Dereck and Stephen get your weekend up and running with the news and best selling singles from October 1988 chances are you will hear Prefab Sprout, Womack and Womack and Whitney Houston. At 09-45 Ian Rogers from The Saints City Trust will bring us up to date with all the latest updates and match reports from Clarence Park (St Albans City FC).

In to the second hour we value a disc, SJH will continue to jolt our memories with bags of nostalgia, and this week’s brief biog is all about the 1960’s foot stomping outfit The Dave Clark Five. Between 10-30 and 11-00 SJH continues to reminisce and we have the latest news on the musical stars we have loved through the years.

Just after the news at 11-00, Kid's Corner plays a vintage kiddies song requested by one of our valued listeners. Connections this week will get that grey matter ticking over and just before 11-30 there's yet another Be Bop Bonanza. Song's that have a link to some of this weeks news stories feature in our Music In The News between 11-30 and noon, and just before midday SJH has one of his now famous gripes.

For the last hour, we pull a pound, have a one hit wonder, and to wrap it all up at 12-15 it’s another 45rpm, the hits and news from October 1996, Boyzone, The Spice Girls and Celine Dion all make an appearance. Make a note in your diaries to tune in on the 29^thOctober as Dereck will be having a chat with John Leyton (Johnny Remember Me was one of his massive hits), if you have any questions you would like Dereck to put forward to John, send them to: solidgoldmusicshow@hotmail.com or call us at the studio whilst we are on air. We have competitions to give away family tickets to a circus, or maybe you fancy all day tickets which will enable the winner non stop rides at a fun fair. Make sure you keep listening to the definitive oldies programme on your radio every Saturday morning at 09-00am.

THE SOLID GOLD MUSIC SHOW IS SPONSORED BY DOCKGUARD OF LUTON .

White Hart Tap Sausage Festival

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 11:57:03 +0000

The White Hart Tap is running their annual (?) sausage festival this week until Saturday 08 October. Choose from a selection of twelve locally sourced sausages – try three different varieties at a time. Last years winner was A&C Meats on Catherine Street. The winning variety becomes the sausage of the house until next time…

maiden app launch

Carl Knibbs — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 11:26:22 +0000

Very excited and relieved to say that my first iPhone project has gone live. Feel like I worked mighty hard on this one, collaborating on the design and managing the process from inception to delivery.

Must say, this was a fairly steep learning curve in terms of planning, learning new design conventions and dealing with Apple (our app review took 6 weeks!) But, overall, it has been really satisfying.

The app itself is all the best content and social elements of lovemoney.com, in one. The main bonus for users is the offline mode which means that lovemoney.com content can be enjoyed while folk are on their commute, even when connectivity is poor.

Beyond that, we really hope the app extends our reach and creates another successful path to discovery for the lovemoney.com brand. Certainly, the UI efficiencies make the app infinitely easy to use (in my opinion) and shows the lovemoney.com product in a new and exciting light.

The lovemoney.com Knowledge app is available on subscription for £2.99 and available now through the app store.

no neon anywhere

Carl Knibbs — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 06:00:00 +0000

My first impression of poker websites was bad. Lots on lots of poor design, confusing bonus jargon and casino clichés. I was a bit perplexed and lost in a world of crap stock images and neon.

So, when I was asked to think about a poker website my initial reaction, naturally, was that I wasn't sure.

Every website I have ever worked on I've advocated brand values, decent usability and genuine service. It's a policy I would argue has worked well. 12 years on and I can't think of one site I've worked on that doesn't still exist in some form (CompuServe doesn't count, it was technically an ISP!)

Tantalisingly, the challenge lay in working out how to apply this 'career policy' to poker.

I needn't have worried though. I spoke to numerous poker players and industry insiders who more or less unilaterally agreed with my initial synopsis that poker websites are generally pretty clichéd affairs.

When I suggested we move away from neon, weak stock imagery, spammy seo copy, black backgrounds e.t.c... I met very little resistance at all.

And so is born the new www.onlinepoker.com - a website that provides:

- relevant content and tailored landing pages for both newbie and intermediate players.
- a Q&A forum where newbie players can find information from other newbies and more experienced players.
- poker room reviews that will give a responsible and helpful account of where to go and play online poker safely.

And it all comes with no neon anywhere! Smashing.

UK Connections User Group Keynote – what should I say?

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:08:22 +0000

I was honoured to be asked to present at the first UK Connections User Group. I know first hand that there is a fantastic and passionate community around IBM Connections and am very happy to be supporting this event. I would encourage any Connections customers, or people thinking about Connections to attend. The Salvation Army have been generous enough to allow us to use their fantastic location in central London, and many thanks to Stuart McIntyre, Sharon Bellamy and Simon Vaughan who have been the driving force behind putting this together.

However, what would a Connections user group want from a keynote? I’d like to do something different from a usual social software presentation. You already see the value of social tools, you know the product, so what would you like me to cover in my 45 minutes?

5 Myths of Social Software – Myth #5 Timewasting

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 08:26:52 +0000

It’s curious that I come across concerns about adoption and timewasting in equal measure. People seem equally worried that people won’t use social tools at all, or, they will use them too much. What if people spend all their time on social tools and not working?

One of the questions I ask people who say they don’t want or need a social collaboration system is to ask how their anti-social collaboration tools are working out for them. This idea that using social tools is ‘special’ or some kind of ‘treat’ misses the point. I don’t stop work, be social for a while, then come back and work again, more engaged since I had some fun during my break with social tools. I do my work using social tools. If my access to Connections at work is disrupted for whatever reason I cannot do my job. I live and work in Connections to get things done. I organise visits from our senior executives. I work on closing plans for our large deals with our sales reps. I collaborate on proposals. I find people who can help me with a problem (I’m lazy and selfish, any time I can get someone else to help me I go for it). I steal good slides from my colleagues’ presentations.

Rather than seeing social as somehow separate, we need to embed social working into our existing processes. What does it mean for HR’s talent identification processes? Or customer services? How can social tools help us speed up the innovation process? Can it transform that process by taking creative ideas from all employees, or even customers? Organisations like Threadless have completely reengineered their product development process, outsourcing the creative element to their customers. As my old Dachis Colleague Lars said the other day

“Show me a process and I’ll show you the social business ROI”

As well as using Connections as a destination point to work, we also push Connections functionality into our email clients, our intranet, and other applications. Many people end up using Connections at IBM without realising they are doing so – especially as Connections drives more and more of our intranet search results.

Seeing the use of social tools as timewasting only happens when they are not targeted at business problems. Remember, it’s Get Social, Do Business

Flickr Credit http://www.flickr.com/photos/dpstyles/3091707912/

a foray in to football infographics

Carl Knibbs — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 09:56:32 +0000

I've not blogged for a bit. I have been busy starting-up Runpath Digita l (a digital agency run by the founders and owners lovemoney.com.) Check us out! (You can also now hire me if you like!)

We recently launched our client drive campaign 'Making Time To Think' and since then I've spent a bit of my time talking with potential new clients. All good.

One of the most interesting projects I've been working on from a personal perspective has been that for a client who asked us to think about some data visualisations for football.

The brief was to take certain data sets from a football scenarios (a penalty, a substitution etc..) and present them in a way that would be digestible and informative for a TV audience.

A quick overview of the work we did can be seen here. But, simply from the point of view of indulgence, revelry, enjoyment and posterity here are some things I picked up from the work.

(Unfortunately, I can only really say that the following points apply specifically to infographics on TV but hopefully there may also be nuggets that can be applied more broadly to creating infographics in general...)

At the project kick-off we spent a while considering if we were using the correct data sets. This point was pretty contentious in the user group. Immediately, this surfaced a couple of things about infographics:

1.) Actually, you perhaps don't 'necessarily' have to be 'too' prescriptive with the data you show in the graphic. Something I realised quickly was that different people are interested in different types of data and different levels of data. For example, some can handle a lot of data, some are overloaded easily. Some like percentages and ratios, some like raw numbers. So, sometimes being prescriptive about what people will want to see is hard. In fact, you could argue it's better just to concentrate on putting it out there.

2.) Kind of related to the above point is that it is probably a higher priority for the info graphic to present data sets clearly than extract absolute meaning from data sets themselves.

The actual job of finding meaning in the data is arguably better left open to the individual looking at the information in a new and visual way.

Beyond these broader points there were a few key things I picked up regarding actual infographic 'design treatments' :

1) Apply consistency. Where multiple screens are required it goes without saying that there should be consistency between them. Pretty quickly you want your viewer/user to get accustomed to the style with which you present the information on screen.

2) Understand and establish 'camps' within the data sets you have. We identified there were a few 'camps' within the football data we had. For example, vital player stats (player name, shirt number etc...) and player performance stats (goals, fouls committed, assists etc...)

3) Following on from above, we worked on individual treatments for the individual 'camps' within the data. For example, we had a specific treatment for player vital stats that we shared between the screens we produced. We then created a distinct set of conventions for displaying the player performance stats. This seemed to work well as a way of scaling designs from one screen and scenario to another.

4) It is not necessary to re-invent the wheel with the infographic presentation. Stable treatments like simple bar charts can work well to present data clearly and boldly on screen. It's tempting to try more adventurous treaments, which is fine, but we didn't find it necessary in our case.

5) Transitions are really important. (Both for moving between graphics to indicate a change like a substitution and to help higlight and focus on individual elements of data on screen.)

6) Consider screen real-estate. While it is often ok to have lots of information on screen during analysis etc.. you do want to minimise screen intrusion whilst there is live action happening in the foreground.

Phew, that was a brain chuck! Feel better now!

All that's left to say is that if you work with infographics and agree/disagree with my piffle I'd love to hear your feedback below...

Weeds

Mike1727 — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 01:07:00 +0000

We didn't make it to the allotment last weekend, and as a result the plot was covered in weeds again, so I spent half an hour weeding while the kids played with water.

Having emptied the trug'o'weeds into the compost heap and dug out some more couch grass I got on with planting out the broad beans which were too small last time. The beans that are in seems to have been nibbled by insects, nothing too drastic and looking around neighbouring plots have the same problem.

A few fairly leggy Broccoli plants went in too, in the area where I'd planted parsnips which didn't germinate. These will probably be replaced by some of the better ones growing in the greenhouse, I'm not sure what made me plant them other than not wanting to waste seedlings...

Leeks are up now, really tiny compared to the seedlings I have growing in the greenhouse. Planting seeds too early was not such a good idea. I should just get away with the Borlotti beams and sweetcorn in the greenhouse, but next year I need to set up a planting calendar.

No showing from the spuds yet. Hopefully I didn't under-chit them.

Just before leaving I weedkilled pretty much all the non-cultivated parts of the plot to keep weeds down and prepare for digging in a week or so when I'm on holiday.

At home, sowing loads of seeds-mainly flowers. I'm using up old packs that are past their plant-by date, putting several seeds into each pot to see if I get any results.

And as the final curtain falls..........

moonmamma — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 09:56:00 +0000

I think it is time to bring this blog to a cose. It was about my life as Mr.B's sidekick, Mrs.B. that is no longer the story.

If you still find yourself compelled to follow the roadcrash that is the story of my life you can read more here be nice to see you!

Seeds

Mike1727 — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 20:08:00 +0000

Planted courgettes and pumpkins in the greenhouse.

First spuds are in

Mike1727 — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 22:27:00 +0000

The early spuds went in on Saturday, along with some broad beans. The bed they went into was double dug and manured about a month ago, then covered in plastic while the spuds chitted. I was expecting it to be pretty dry, but the earth was very damp so I forked over the row before planting and didn't bother raking. Three kilos of Rocket earlies did two and a half rows spuds about a foot apart, just dropped into a troweled hole about six inches deep.

Broad beans carried on at the end of the half row. I don't know if beans should share a bed with potatoes but planting is driven by availability of space so this year it'll all go where there is space avaiable when seedlings are ready to come out of the greenhouse. There are another dozen or so plants almost ready.

There were a few bits of couch grass growing from inch-long bits of root which I hadn't picked out while digging/forking. The allotment won't be seeing a rotovator until it's been hand dug to get the couch grass out!

The weedkiller has effective, leaving a swathe of death which marks the next bed to be dug. I'll nip down one evening and windmill some more; once the weeds are red the newly weedkilled bit can go under plastic till it gets dug.

Seeded the onion bed-need to hoe it next time. Dug some very deep rooted weeds out of the seedbed where my early sowings are not doing much.

Plenty of seedlings in the greenhouse: Borlotti beans and sweetcorn will need beds digging next month.

Next job:dig!

mmmmmmmmmmmm

moonmamma — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 13:33:00 +0000

running on empt; physically and metaphorically speaking!

physicaly I am exhausted; this course, my family situation, winter, birthdays are all wearing me down.
my mind is empty of any thoughts other than - whats the next thing to be completed for this course and whencan I next get some sleep.

not an inspiring blog entry but thats me folks!

Sometimes

moonmamma — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 21:01:00 +0000

Sometimes it strikes me how lonely I am

I could be in the house with the family

I can be in supermarket in the middle of the day

I can be on campus surrounded by chattering students

But I am alone, so lonely

I always have been

I mourn for what I have lost

When I should be celebrating what I have

New WWA website

Sam Carr — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:41:00 +0000

The WWA have a brand new all-singing and dancing website which incorporates a blog, so from now on that will take over from this sightings blog

The new site is at http://www.watercresslnr.org.uk/ so update your bookmarks. It incorporates all of the posts from this sightings blog and all new posts will be made on that new site.

Saturday 6th November.
…

steve — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 19:20:00 +0000

Saturday 6th November.

The usual peace and tranquillity broken by the frenzied squawk of a small group of parakeet!

Eventually seen off by equally vociferous magpie

interlopers!

keith — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 18:37:00 +0000

present on site today, some welcome, some not . . .

the pair of little grebes are back, I assume it's the same two.
Here's one of them, they are staying close together compared to previous seasons.

there were about 10 collared doves on the feeder today, nothing else got near while they mobbed the perches.

one of the four ring-necked parakeets seen today, if this lot get a hold in the area, things may never be the same!

Is there any wonder that the US Army keeps blowing themselves up!

Trunk Guy — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:19:00 +0000

St Albans 'Emerging Core Strategy' Says No To London Road Tesco

STOP TESCO — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 13:29:00 +0000

A few months ago, local people were asked for their thoughts on the future of development in St Albans. Well, the results are in and there is a lot of good news for us.

The report, 'Emerging Core Strategy 2009' (formerly known as St Albans City Vision in earlier posts...), recommends that London Road would not be a good site for a supermarket, suggesting instead that it should be used for residential housing or a primary school. The report also states that 'considerable opposition was generated over the possible new food store locations and some respondents questioned the need for another store' - thanks for your comments.

The full report can be found here. Thanks again to Ian for finding this for us! Please leave your comments as well in support of these changes!

UPDATE: Thanks to the St Albans Review for this great article on the topic!

The ideas you have when you're young...

Trunk Guy — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 08:18:00 +0000

A quiet Saturday

Trunk Guy — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 15:18:00 +0000

Positive News on Competition Commission Ruling

STOP TESCO — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 18:07:00 +0000

Vanessa emails us (thanks) to let us know of the latest developments in Tesco's battle with the Competition Commission. Following Tesco's successful appeal against the Commission's findings that too many Tesco supermarkets in the same town might not be a good thing for shoppers, it looks likely that the Competition Commission will be able to impose its rules. Good news for cities with lots of Tesco stores (although it won't affect St Albans!).

The details are below...

The competition test for grocery retailers would bring lasting benefits for consumers, the Competition Commission (CC) has provisionally concluded in a report today.

The commission has been carrying out further analysis on the benefits and costs of the test as ordered by the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) after Tesco successfully appealed over the proposal in March this year.

The test would block supermarket developments by retailers already powerful in a local area to make room for competing stores from rival retailers.

Peter Freeman, Chairman of the CC and Chairman of the Groceries Inquiry Group, said: "What we were asked to do by the tribunal was to prove the case for the competition test and show that it would have the intended effect — to help bring in competition where it is lacking and to stop individual retailers consolidating their position in local areas to the detriment of consumers.

"Our detailed analysis has shown that the test is likely to have a positive effect over time for consumers by ensuring that they benefit from greater competition and choice between retailers in their local areas," he said.

The commission's report into the UK groceries market, published in April 2008, concluded that action was needed to improve competition in a number of local markets, and so included a recommendation for the inclusion of a competition test in planning decisions on larger grocery stores.

But Tesco appealed to the CAT, which ruled that the commission had not properly assessed the economic costs of the test, and that it had failed sufficiently to address its proportionality and effectiveness.

The tribunal did not dispute the justification for the test itself and remitted the matter back to the commission for further consideration.

The commission's latest analysis estimated the benefits to consumers that would result from increased competition, with retailers already powerful in a local area no longer being able to shut out rivals from those areas and with the test also stopping areas from being dominated by individual retailers in the first place.

The analysis compared these benefits against the costs from any delay between a dominant retailer’s development being blocked and a rival’s alternative taking its place. It concluded that over the longer term, the benefits to consumers would outweigh any such initial costs.

The CC is now inviting responses to the provisional decision by 29 July, and will assess these before publishing its final decision by 5 October.

For further details on the Groceries report, see: http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/press_rel/2008/apr/pdf/14-08.pdf.

All our videos, now in one place.

Matthew — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:47:44 +0000

Whilst we were on the trip we generated over 2 hours of video via the mobile that we uploaded automatically to the website – in fact you may have watched :-)

Well it was rather difficult to watch them back on Qik, so we’ve uploaded them all to YouTube and here is the magic player that lets you navigate from the very first video, to the very last. Enjoy 2 hours of three men chatting to a crappy video camera!

BBC Radio Five Live Interviews – Audio & Video

Matthew — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:58:10 +0000

Before we hit the road, whilst we were on it, and on our return we did a series of interviews with BBC Radio Five Live. I know some of you caught them, but just in case you missed them, here they are:

First Interview (Patrick, Stace and Matthew in the London Studio)

Second Interview (Matthew, in Germany about to cross in Poland)

Third Interview (Matthew, at Riga, the brake downs!)

Fourth Interview (Matthew, returning from Russia, in Poland)

Final Interview (Matthew and Stace at the Five Live Studio in London)

There’s also a short video we shot whilst we were chatting waiting to go into the studio, which is fascinating I’m sure you’ll agree:

and here’s the video from our last interview where we got the host to try a heater meal!

All the photos now live…

Matthew — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 23:34:31 +0000

…. in case by any chance you’re still subscribed to the RSS feed for JTR here are the links for the photos on flckr. I’m sorry it took so long to get them all live.

You can see them all here

Or you can see Matthew’s Photos, Stace’s Photos, or Patrick’s Photos in separate streams.

St. Albans Blogs Aggregation

Fifi cooks with Fruity Favourite Muffins with a bit of Yeo Valley help...

What working in a garden office sounds like

Video tour of shepherd's hut workshop

Afternoon Tea at Luton Hoo

It's chips for Harry Ramsden's fish shed

The highs and lows of cycling in the Himalayas

My First Foods

A Tour of Frogmore Mill, the World's Oldest Mechanised Paper Mill

Our Volvo #V60getaway Weekend

In the park

And if the worst happens...

Needle Felting (Dry Felting) Brooches

How many mums can you fit in a car?

My Great Uncle Bernard

What I'd like to hear in Barcelona next week

What I'd like to hear in Barcelona next week

Pancake Race 2012

England (all covered in snow)

Sledging in St. Albans

Ben's first snow - and more

Dress a girl around the world

defining social business

social business event with david armano, euan semple and vincent boon

Why Apple is bad for the Mobile Industry

Why Apple is bad for the Mobile Industry

my 2011 in review

Thinking about Mobile Handsets

Thinking about Mobile Handsets

I must be getting old…

THE SOLID GOLD MUSIC SHOW SATURDAY OCTOBER 22nd 2011 - 09-00 - 13-00hrs.

skip hire in st. albans

Sund 2011ay 16th October

THE SOLID GOLD MUSIC SHOW - SATURDAY 15th OCTOBER 2011- 09-00 - 13-00hrs.

White Hart Tap Sausage Festival

maiden app launch

no neon anywhere

UK Connections User Group Keynote – what should I say?

5 Myths of Social Software – Myth #5 Timewasting

a foray in to football infographics

Weeds

And as the final curtain falls..........

Seeds

First spuds are in

mmmmmmmmmmmm

Sometimes

New WWA website

Saturday 6th November.…

interlopers!

Is there any wonder that the US Army keeps blowing themselves up!

St Albans 'Emerging Core Strategy' Says No To London Road Tesco

The ideas you have when you're young...

A quiet Saturday

Positive News on Competition Commission Ruling

More Articles on the Squatters

All our videos, now in one place.

BBC Radio Five Live Interviews – Audio & Video

All the photos now live…

Saturday 6th November.
…