Category: just-plain-life
Westminster Council, what a bunch of greedy f…
Matthew lead me on to the scheme where Westminster Council will charge motorcyclist a price for parking. It seems to have moved from a joke into something real with legs. I think this so crap and we need to do something about this before it happens and worst still Camden and others start following suite. How dare they claim the cost of securing bikes parking will cost up to 1 pound a day. This is simply wrong and smacks in the face of the congestion charge which is meant to stop congestion in London. Bikes are a good way to get across london and cause very little congestion. Charging for bike parking sends a message that were not welcome. Anyway From London Bikers
Thanks to the efforts of our LB Reporter Mr Toby Stokes – we secured an interview with Westminster Council about the parking scheme. We also asked you what you thought – and here's the video.
Sign the petition here http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/FreeBikeParking/ and visit the campain website here http://www.free4bikers.org.uk/
BBC Backstage Tag Cloud T-Shirts
At long last, the new BBC Backstage Tag Cloud T-shirts are here. Don't forget to get one for yourself at the BBC Backstage London Christmas Bash on Saturday. They were created by myself using Inkscape and the concept came from Nic James Ferrier.
Allergy Cards are a good idea…
Via Kid666's blogI found a link to Allergy Card.com. Which is a site where you can create little cards to give to new resturants. Yes its sounds a little over the top, but you know what it would have saved me quite a few nights of terriable projectale vomiting. Like the time when I was in Amsterdam and decided to eat in a Thai Resturant with Kevin Hinde and Joel Chippendale the day before my talk at Xtech 2005. Trust me, if you think its all in mind then you really needed to see the state of the wetroom that night. It was so bad, I dare not call anyone for help till Sarah on the phone in England convinced me otherwise. And that was just Coconut sauce in the meat and prawns in the rice (which I got replaced). No trust me the ride to the hotel was hellish and I thought I wasn't going to make it.
I would have liked to have used the HTML which Allergycard.com creates, but it was so messy I couldn't do it without breaking a load of XHTML rules.
Yes I did go to an Arsenal Football Match this weekend
My good friend and Best man Ross won some tickets to Arsenal vs Newcastle United recently, so the plan was for him and his wife to go to the match. And we would Babysit our god daughter. But it didn't quite work out that way and so I ended up going with him.
After we found a nice parking space just 5mins walk from one of the entrances we on the march along one of the stadium bridges, found our gate in the Orange Quadrant and before long we were in our seats. The Emirates Stadium is new and Arsenal are unbeaten at home this year. The stadium is very comfitable and actually very clean and tidy. Not what I was expecting for a football ground. The match wasn't so great, Newcastle Utd scored against the run of play and after half time Arsenal scored with a great freekick by Thierry Henry to make it a draw at 1-1. 60,058 people attended the match and actually I'll admit it was a good day but I would only ever do it for a big World Cup game. I've got tons of pictures of the stadium and game on my flickr stream.
Finally I can ride my new Honda Silverwing Scooter
So yep at long last, I'm riding around on my Silverwing. Its been restricted from 600cc to about 400cc to fit with my 33bhp licence restriction. But even at two-thirds of its full power, its a true rocket on the road. Riding along windy dual carriageways like the A40 are a joy now and I can finally get out in front of the cars and superbikes like you've never seen before due to its automatic gears. Sarah also loves the bike and claims she will go down to Bristol on it if needed. I have not played with the power adapter yet (yes so I can charge my phone while riding) but I'm thinking about adding a USB adapter once I get the box on the back.
I bought another scooter…
Yamaha Majesty YP250 for sale
So its basiclly on its last legs now. Its time to give it up. Yep my lovely Yamaha Majesty is going to be replaced with something a lot larger and quicker. Its been great going here there and everywhere on it in the last few years. I remember driving down to Bristol in the summers. But I also remember the one crazy ride in the freezing cold and snow, when we drove back up to London on the M4 after a freak snow storm overnight.
Anyway back to the sale. Its actually in not too bad a condition. So here's the things which need fixing.
- The coolent pipe has a leak, so the water cooling system lasts for 5mins.
- The Battery is pretty much dead, so it needs replacing
- The body work needs attention, its ok, but looks a little ugly
- The Exhaust has a small hole, can be patched or best replaced as its old and gets very hot
- The engine also needs to be looked at, but it does go well once running
I'm not expecting a lot for it but I'm still currently using it to drive to North Greenwich everyday. I'm going to stick the scooter on Ebay for about 400 pounds soon because it does have a good seat, box and it does still go with less that 30,000 miles on the clock. If you fix most of the issues outlined above, you could ride it for quite some time before another check up. With me and Sarah on it everyday, in and out of traffic for 36 miles a day, its a little too much for a older 250cc scooter. Someone riding less distance, with some training in motorcycle mechanics and not riding 2up everyday. Would love this scooter, and its a steal at 400 pounds. Tax and MOT doesn't run out till June 2007.
I was looking around Flickr for a decent picture of my model of Maxi-scooter but then I got hooked into modified Majestys. This one in Pink is simply nuts. While this one looks more like a TMax black edition which is certainly high on my list. This one is cetainly attractive and thankfully not as customised as the other ones. Anyway, do drop me a email if your interested, you could snatch it before it hits ebay, craigslist or the local loot.
Greece beat USA in the World basketball semi-finals
This is just great stuff and of the blogs.
Final Score 101-95. It's a shock, but not too big of a shock. The world really has caught up with the USA basketball wise.
The portrait of a south london racist
Miles paints a picture of a South London racist which it too good to miss.
A hazard of living in South London is racists in the neighbourhood. The recent press hysteria about new EU entrants and “Islamic fanatics” has given the racists license to start expressing their hateful prejudices in public once again. After years of public disapproval of racism, these scum have clearly been waiting for the opportunity to spout their worthless opinions – and our wonderful politicians and business leaders have just given them the green light…