St. Albans Blogs Aggregation

Valuing Vodafone

Ian Wood — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 10:44:00 +0000

Yesterday Vodafone reported that it was no longer talking to Liberty Global about an asset swap and many analysts called it a mistake. I have always seen it as a foregone conclusion, Liberty Global wants to exit Europe it has very little of interest to Vodafone and the pricing was always out of sync.

Earlier Malone had said that no deal was likely to happen with Vodafone as despite an investor roadshow pitching the "benefits" of such a deal to stockholders he had been unable to convince Executive inside Vodafone that a deal made sense and the price was right.

What has been a surprise to me is the rent a quote brigade who are all happy to say that it was an error on Vodafone's behalf. Telecoms in Europe is a marginal one when it comes to profitability and more customers does not necessarily mean that the odds are better for success. Investments are high and prices are falling, this could explain why Liberty wishes to exit before it can no longer pay debts, and competition is intense. Vodafone under Colao has not been about market share at any price rather it is about effective management of assets and seeking to maintain margins. Thus taking on Liberty's properties in Holland and Germany was not going to survive an introductory discussion.

Valuing Vodafone

Ian Wood — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 10:44:00 +0000

The Huts – Eastbourne

noreply@blogger.com (alex johnson) — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 08:46:00 +0000

The Huts – Eastbourne is a competition run by Eastbourne Borough Council who are inviting people to submit designs (from both architects and non-architects) for beach huts to be sited along the front to the east of the pier and as part of the bicycle route of the Coastal Culture Trail which links the Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne, the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill and the Jerwood Gallery in Hastings. According to the organisers, "The beach huts will be key landmarks along the seafront, harnessing the resurgence of interest in coastal communities, providing an innovative visitor offer and becoming symbols of Eastbourne; matching high quality design, visual flair and function."

More details of how to enter here but closing date to register an interest is October 9. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday posts are sponsored by Garden Spaces, suppliers of contemporary garden buildings, offices, gyms and studios, many of which do not require planning

Powder Mountain architectural design competition

noreply@blogger.com (alex johnson) — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 12:08:00 +0000

Shedworkers with an architectural interest will be interested in the Summit Powder Mountain Design Competition, linked to the innovative community in Utah centred on entrepreneurship, creative achievement, and global change. Entrants must design a cabin prototype (see above for a recent submission) to "push forward the conversation around what it means to build responsibly at 8,400 feet in the Wasatch Range". Here's some details:

Summit is inviting architects, students, engineers, and builders to develop designs of residences on a mountain that embodies the ideals of Summit’s growing community – sustainability, the use of natural materials, and humble expression. The winning design will guide the direction of Powder Mountain’s architecture and influence the development of 500+ single family homes. The winner will also be invited to attend Summit at Sea, the next big Summit gathering on a voyage to the Caribbean, to present his/her design and vision.

The registration deadline is October 9 and the last day to submit a design is October 16. The jury panel is led by the award winning Todd Saunders ofSaunders Architecture whose designs we have featured several times on Shedworking. Click here for additional rules and info on submitting a design. The winner is announced October 20. --------------------------------------------------------------------
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Garden office security

noreply@blogger.com (alex johnson) — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 10:57:00 +0000

Shedworkers will be interested to hear about the new Panasonic Smart Home system which is a convenient way to keep an eye on your shed office and all the equipment in it at the tap of an app. Features include:

* An outdoor camera (with built-in night-vision) which can be synched to a door sensor to automatically capture footage of anyone attempting to enter your garden office

* Smart plugs to allow you to turn lights and equipment on and off remotely, and even based on motion and sound triggers to deter thieves

* The outdoor camera can be placed on your front door to allow you to ‘answer’ it even when you are in your garden office - it allows for two-way communication so you can instruct delivery people to leave packages, or wait for you to reach the front door

The system runs over DECT ULE technology (not wifi) and claims to work with distances of up to 300m so is ideal for shedworkers. ----------------------------------------------------

Wednesday posts are sponsored by The Stable Company®, the UK's premier supplier of garden offices and garden rooms. Click here

3UK Launches free VoLTE

Ian Wood — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 10:53:00 +0000

Read this today and thought that once again Networks don't understand that Voice is the key product and whilst innovation is welcome, this is not it! To be fair to 3UK they are not the only ones to play games with the Customer EE have a similar VoLTE service that is only available to those taking a new HTC or have an iPhone 5/6.

The first thing that gets my back up is that what is basically a software product has been launched on a single handset. It is not a marketing product to be used to force a different purchasing decision it's a service that should be capable of launching to ALL existing customers with a Smartphone not because you have bought a Galaxy S5.

Then we have the issue that the Executive put up to promote the launch is the CTO of 3UK rather than a dedicated executive for Voice. If a mobile network cannot appoint a Board Member to oversea and promote a CORE product then just why should the customer respect it?

Since using a 4G handset I have experienced very poor quality phone calls. The ability to drop calls reminds me of the early days of Orange and One-2-One when in an effort to overcome such a poor experience Orange offered "free calls" if you had to redial as a result of dropped calls.

For a long time I have spoken in private about the fact that voice revenues have declined in Mobile Networks because very little time is spent reviewing Voice as a product at Board Level. I have not met a senior executive in Europe who sits on a board and has sole responsibility for Voice for the past ten years. As a result we have Customers not bothering to make phone calls on a mobile because the experience disappoints.

I had hoped that by now Mobile users could have an active directory service which highlighted if a number in you contacts list was engaged before you called or inactive for a number of hours prior to your call. Such a service could mean that rather than dialling the user could chose to send a text message. I also hoped that the audio quality would have been upgraded to a level that allowed noise cancelation enhancing the ability to hear what has been said without asking the other person to speak up.

3UK Launches free VoLTE

Ian Wood — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 10:53:00 +0000

BT has got NO friends!

Ian Wood — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 12:46:00 +0000

Over the last few weeks it seems that the current Ofcom review of BT is unlikely to follow the pattern of "business as usual" when it comes to outcomes. These could mean that the chickens finally come home to roost at BT.

Over the course of a week BBC Radio4 featured the failures of Broadband Britain to live up to promises on the Today programme. It was not until 4 negative features that BT CEO Gavin Patterson finally agreed to an interview and that was not face to face rather it was prerecorded and broadcast on a Saturday morning. You have to ask just what the PR team were doing, was it a failure or arrogance?

This weekend Chris Bryant wrote to The Telegraph calling for the break-up of BT because it had failed to provide the Broadband needed of UK PLC despite £1.8bn of grants to do so. This is a shadow minister prepared to outline Labour Party policy in the middle of a Leadership election!

These events on there own might lead you to think that BT will be alright, it might find itself facing tighter regulation but it's unlikely that a break-up will be forced on it. However take a look at the fact that industry rivals that are also calling for a split are also donors to the Conservative Party and you might start to thing that BT could be facing years of legal challenges and disruption. Given that Ian Livingston's time in Government was shorter than a contract for one of BT's services you have to ask what friends they have?

BT has got NO friends!

Ian Wood — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 12:46:00 +0000

Bike Week 2015

rona471 — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 16:39:00 +0000

A list compiled by the St Albans Cycle Campaign of events we know about! For a full list of Bike Week rides and events visit www.bikeweek.org.ukSt Albans City and District – Bike Week 2015

Saturday 13 June – STACC information stall at St Albans market. In spite of rain, plenty of interested visitors. Thanks to STACC volunteers for their time and expertise and enthusiasm.

Saturday 13 June 0930h – Five Miles to Fabulous
Seven ladies went on a women-only easy pace morning ride with coffee stop using traffic free routes and quieter roads. It rained, they got as far as Old Hatfield and they mended a puncture. South Herts CTC.

Sunday 14th June 1000h – SKY Ride Local - Wildlife and wilderness - 7 miler
Starting Point: L'olivo Restaurant, 135 Marford Road Wheatampstead AL4 8HN. Two hour ride, Ayots and Ayot Greenway at Steady pace. SKY ride

Tuesday 16 June 1000h - Lunch ride with the Forty Plus
Meet for coffee at the Inn on The Park, Verulamium Park, St Albans. The ‘A’ ride leaves at 10.30 and rides to The Red Lion, Great Offley. The ‘B’ ride departs at 10.45 and rides to the Green Dragon, Flaunden. Forty Plus.

Wednesday 17 June 1930h – CTC ride to the pub
A fast ride starting from St Albans War Memorial, 20 miles or so to the Waggon and Horses in Elstree, eta 2100h. It is essential that you have front and rear lights (preferably 2 sets), puncture outfit, tyre levers, pump and spare tube. South Herts CTC.

Thursday 18 June 0930h – Breeze to Welwyn Garden City for coffee

Women only steady pace longer morning ride taking in the Ayot Greenway, the Great North Way and the Alban Way. Starts from Westminster Lodge Leisure Centre – gather by the cycle stands. Breeze.

Thursday 18 June 1100h – Coffee and lunch with the Forty Plus

Meet from 11.00am at The Green Man in Sandridge and after coffee cycle no more than 10 miles to a local hostelry for lunch. FortyPlus.

Saturday 20 June 1000h - Saturday Saunter to Cyclists’ Cafe in Redbourn
Meet from 09:30 in Morrisons Cafe for this easy ride leaving from outside Morrisons Supermarket (Hatfield Road, St Albans, AL1 4SU) at 10:00. We lead you along quiet lanes to a break at a cyclists’ cafe in Redbourn then return to St Albans in time for lunch. Total distance will be up to 20 miles at an easy pace to suit everyone. South Herts CTC.

Sunday 21 June 0900h - CTC Sunday ride
An all day ride starting from the War Memorial, St Albans. Elevenses at Poppins, Chesham; lunch at Red Lion, Whiteleaf; afternoonses at St Michael's Church, Chenies. Brisk pace of 12 – 15mph, expect to cover around 60 miles. South Herts CTC.

Sunday 21 June, 1000h - SKY Ride Local - Eat, drink, ride - 29 miler
Meet in Sports Centre Car Park Rothamsted Park, Amenbury Lane Harpenden,AL2 5HU. A challenging 4 hour ride on a hilly route – but with two café stops to keep you going. SKY Ride

More information:

South Herts CTC http://www.southhertsctc.org.uk
SKY rides www.goskyride.com
Forty Plus http://www.fortypluscc.co.uk/
Breeze rides www.goskyride.com/breeze/indexor, from main skyride page, tick the guided ride and women only boxes.

Tour of Hertfordshire in St Albans City and District (just)

rona471 — Sun, 31 May 2015 17:47:00 +0000

On Sunday 7 June the first of the Tour of Hertfordshire series of cycle circuit racing festivals takes place in the grounds of BRE Garston aka Bricket Wood. This is a late change of venue. More information at http://www.hertsdirect.org/services/transtreets/hertscounttravsurv/travelwise/webcycle/tourhertfordshire2015

There will be a Breeze ride going there in the afternoon, this is a women only bike ride. Sign up at http://www.goskyride.com/Search/Details?eventid=60939

If you want to get there in your own time, the Cycle Streets suggested route (from Westminster Lodge) is http://www.cyclestreets.net/journey/44651348/

Sandridgebury Lane drainage works - completed

rona471 — Tue, 19 May 2015 13:02:00 +0000

All done. There seems to be quite a bit of road closures of local lanes for drainage works at present, Coleman Green Lane has also been having ditches cleaned out.

St. Albans based retailer Just Sheep launches Autumn collection

Mon, 06 Oct 2014 16:35:29 +0000

Stylish & Modern: Just Sheep's Moose Design

Just Sheep Ltd, a St. Albans based online retailer specialising in Scandinavian style wool blankets, has revealed it’s Autumn and Winter collection.

The specialist retailer now sells a range of eight hand selected designs, ranging from the undeniably wintery Snowy Reindeer blanket to their best selling Moose Design blanket, popular with those looking for a bit of urban cool.

All of Just Sheep’s products are made from 100% New Zealand lambs wool and are produced in the EU. You can find view their entire range at: http://www.justsheep.co.uk

20 years in basketball, and I’m angry…

Mon, 29 Sep 2014 18:08:13 +0000

If I’ve got my sums right, I’m about to play in the first game of my 20th season of competitive basketball. It’s a cliché, but the game has given me so much. Consistently told that I was bad at sports by teachers at school (because I couldn’t play football or cricket), basketball gave me self confidence, a group of friends from university who are solid to this day, and I even met my wife through the game. I honestly can’t imagine my life without it. If it can do this for me, coming from a fairly privileged, white, middle-class, Surrey background, imagine what it could do for disadvantaged inner city kids.

Sport England has withdrawn funding from a sport played and loved by disadvantaged teenagers throughout the country (over 200,000 people total), whilst funding our 45,000 canoeists to the tune of £20m. Modern Pentathalon gets £7m and has so few participants they don’t bother to keep a record.

How many potential Modern Pentathletes and Canoeists are kept out of gangs / life on benefits / prison through the sport? They should hang their head in shame.

Wimbledon – Cloud

Wed, 02 Jul 2014 14:54:40 +0000

Cloud… Mobile… Social… Analytics… they’re all converging. Wimbledon is a great example. We run wimbledon.com by provisioning IBM Customer Experience Suite on our cloud infrastructure and secured by our QRadar platform. Of course, we want to keep the site provisioned to meet capacity, but we don’t want to provision too much. We face the same cost pressures as any other cloud provider. We run a 90 minute rolling forecast window, including structured (order of play, weather forecast, historic traffic trends) and unstructured data, including Social. If, for example, we see a surge in Twitter from people talking about the site, interesting analytics from SlamTracker, or anything that could impact our site performance we are able to take this into account. We combine this with Watson technologies this to predict required capacity over the next 90 minutes. Here you can see our actual capacity, actual traffic and predicted capacity including data gleaned from Twitter.

This is a great example of social being applied to a business outcome. Social itself does not have an ROI, what’s more important is the ROI of the projects you apply it to. In this case, Social allows us to reduce the cost of our web infrastructure, whilst always meeting demand, by predicting required capacity through social media analysis. What KPIs could your business improve by applying Social?

Wimbledon in a Box

Tue, 01 Jul 2014 21:32:06 +0000

Our marketing team have put together “Wimbledon in a box” – a fantastic portable display of all the great things IBM is doing at Wimbledon and we’ve set up for a few hours at various offices across the UK. I was lucky enough to visit BAT and Unilever, and will be at Aviva during men’s semi-final day on Friday. Here are some pictures.

Just Sheep for Stylish Wool Blankets, Throws and Bedding

Sun, 10 Nov 2013 13:50:04 +0000

Stack of Wool Blankets from Just Sheep

Just Sheep, a new online based retailer based in St. Albans, offers a variety of stylish wool blankets, throws and bedding.

Just Sheep’s products are all made from 100% New Zealand lambswool and are produced in the EU.

The grey and white blankets come in a number of different designs, including several types of sheep, snowflakes and English moose.

In addition to offering online ordering with free delivery (for a limited period only), Just Sheep can personally deliver to your St. Albans home. And if you can’t make up your mind, you’re in luck – Just Sheep will be happy bring several varieties for you to see and choose from.

[Transparency Statement: Just Sheep is owned and operated by the wife of this website's author]

Wovember

noreply@blogger.com (Caroline) — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 20:30:00 +0000

It is about time I updated on here! I've had a great 'knitty' summer and autumn so far - will gradually add posts about all of this this month...because it will be Wovember, a whole month of talking about the wonders of wool! Not just me, it is a whole bunch of folks over at www.wovember.com .I look forward to seeing the blog posts over there and will do my best to join in.

Just to whet your appetite I've changed my background to a wonderful array of hand dyed yarn from Countess Ablaze, and a photo of me with my selection from them (in sock yarn) for a Color Affection shawl, which will hopefully be cast on this month. Photo courtesy of Amy Singer of Knitty.com

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

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.

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 .

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 .

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!

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!

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.

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