The Start of the Wedding Weekend

After a long, boring flight (note to Air Canada – finish fitting your trans-atlantic planes with in flight!) I’m now in Oakville for the start of Mathew and Micah’s wedding weekend. Lots to do and not enough cars to do it with, so there’s a complicated schedule of car juggling going on (big thanks to the Johnson clan on that one).

And on an unrelated note I’ve finally gotten around to putting a photo up for vote in JpgMag in their ‘Democracy‘ theme. Please feel free to head over there, check out my ace photo and then vote for me. See, I understand democracy – it’s all about getting the masses to do stuff your way {;)

Is this how the Republicans plan to win the Electrion?

In the US, Republican contender John McCain has suggested that the US lift the moratorium on off-shore oil production to ease the current fuel ‘crisis’ and current President and lover of oil companies George W has jumped on the bandwagon. Both of them contend that opening local oil production is the only feasible solution, one that the Democrats constantly block in Congress. Hmm… sounds like the start of a new, engineered crisis for the Republicans to use to make the Democrats look bad and win the election to me. Last time it was the ‘War on Terror’ (TM), this time it will be ‘The Worsening Fuel Crisis’ (TM).

Of course the Democrats will always face an uphill struggle in oil addicted America, in their efforts to convine normal folk that cutting back on gas consumption is a good thing. Do we really think that someone who buys a Hummer would believe converting it to run on fuel cells or vegetable oil is a good idea? Unlikely. Maybe the real question is in whether or not the current administration has been using their connections in the oil industry to slow down oil production and engineer this crisis themselves, while lining their pockets with additional dollars in the process. A nice little bonus on your way out of the White House, certainly more lucrative than writing an autobiography.

Milk in Bags: A Canadian Import

It appears me and M are not the only things to come over from Canada recently. The BBC has a report on milk in plastic bags coming to our supermarkets soon. The technology correspondent makes a bit of a pigs ear out of putting the milk bag into its dispenser and pouring it, but I can totally understand. The first time I came across milk in a bag at the M’s family house near Toronto I was flummoxed too, however the way they use it is to have a small plastic jug with the top of the milk bag sticking out the top – then to use the milk you snip a small triangle off the corner of the bag and voila! Pourable milk.

It will be interesting to see if it catches on here, as the environmental benefits of less packaging are high. The downside is that the plastic bags are more susceptible to breaking when you take them home – plus I can just see some gangs of kids finding it hilarious to throw the bags at people to watch them explode! More news as it happens…

The Weird and Wonderful World of London Parking

For some reason Westminster Council is trying out a new way to charge people for parking that boggles the mind. The scheme, ostensibly aimed at people on a budget, charges people more or less depending on how full the car park is – a scheme inspired by easyJet’s cheap fares for the first purchasers. So arrive first, and you get charged 20p an hour, arrive when the car park is full and be charged £2 an hour.

Will it save people money? Or is it just the most ridiculous thing ever? I mean, if I knew a car park only charged 20p an hour I’d try and park there, but so would everyone else – so most likely it will be full, and hence at the two quid an hour level. Still not bad by London standards of course, but not a bargain. With easyJet this system makes sense, as it encourages people to book early and lets easyJet keep the money and get interest – a bird in the hand and all that. With car parking when people turn up and pay it sounds crazy to me. People looking for a bargain will turn up, find it’s not that cheap, then drive somewhere else leading to an increase in fuel consumption and pollution, not to mention frustration. Crazy.

Atop O’ Primrose Hill

Yesterday we headed up to Primrose Hill for a picnic with Olwen, Sarah and friends, on a grey but thankfully un-rainy Sunday. It was, unsurprisingly, Miette’s first trip to the hill to see the dramatic views of the London skyline. More surprisingly it was also my first trip, which having sat there for a while I found pretty outrageous as it is a most splendid view. We were lucky in that the grey weather seemed to be keeping the place relatively un-crazy from fellow picnicing Londoners, just the odd hip hop possee having their photos taken.

Thanks to Olwen for giving us the excuse to head up there, and to bringing along plenty of good company to hang out with. Some photos will appear once I have a chance to upload them, as right now we’re un-interneted at home (I’m in a local pub) due to our O2 broadband not yet being installed, and our 3 broadband currently on the fritz since yesterday… come on 3, sort it out!

The Land of the Cover Version

What is it about England right now that leads us to be constantly fascinated by leftfield cover versions of well known songs? Every day I hear something that’s a cross-genre cover/mash up/something that brings me up short as I try to work out a) the original song and b) the artist singing it.

Right now there’s a country version of ‘Walk this Way’ coming over the air which is cute but probably forgettable (except in nightmare). Yesterday on the train we had four young Suffolk lads blasting a Chris Cornell cover of Seven Nation Army from their mobile phone as they debated whether or not to mix the rum with their soft drink, or to drink it neat and follow up with the soft drink* – they all agreed though that Chris’s version was better than the original, which just goes to show that there’s no accounting for taste, or lack thereof.

*The answer was rum first, soft drink later as “We’ll get more drunk that way” “You’re roight!”. And lads, for reference, having the money to get drunk in Ipswich does not stop you from being ‘skanks’ too like your penniless friends – sorry.

When Public Transport Goes Right

One of the things that’s struck me now that I’ve returned to the UK is the huge focus on being green. For example books on how to be ecological at home, reducing your carbon footprint and generally feeling better about yourself by helping the environment fill the shelves at the local bookstores. We can only hope they used recycled paper. Combined with the rapidly increasing extortion happening at British petrol pumps it’s now even more sensible to use public transport, in theory at least. In practice the now privately owned railways seem to enjoy creating ever more complex and confusing ways to charge us more, especially at rush hour. Government subsidies anyone?

At least this was what I thought until we wanted to make a trip up to Norfolk to see the family this weekend. Hiring a car for a long weekend would have cost us at least £100 before we even got to insurance and the petrol – so much for easycar then. Not sure what to expect I headed over to the National Rail site, central search facility of all the local rail services. A bit of searching later, and I’d managed to find a few six quid advanced singles between London and Norwich – giving a round trip price of £24 for the two of us*. Amazing and totally unexpected, especially as we were leaving two days later.

Our green pound well spent, we enjoyed a wonderful long weekend with the Norfolk and Suffolk parts of the family. Full of the wonders of highly changeable British weather, inquisitive ducks, potty training nephews and the chance to expand Miette’s experience of English culture with a classic spotted dick. More wine, vicar?

*For comparison, my sister is coming down to London during rush hour from the same station and is paying £40 for a return – almost four times the cost. Plus we had the bonus of seeing Piers from The New Statesman seeing someone off from the platform. Splendid.