Over the past month, I’ve needed to visit the friendly folks at Lock 7 bike shop nearly once every week. It’s little surprise given the non-existent maintenance that I carry out on my bike. It’s an absolute pleasure every time I visit.
Jamie, the repair guy, is immensely helpful. Most simple jobs (punctures, reattaching my seat or fixing my Gucci bike pump) are turned around in the time it takes to drink an espresso. What’s more, the food is pretty damn fine too.
How frustrating. Everything I need right now is on Google Docs and now there’s a 502 Server Error message. It’s been there for the last half hour despite assurances from Google that the situation will resolve itself in the next 30 seconds.
I’d like to think that there’s a very professional Google operations team in a data centre somewhere, calmly deploying the necessary fixes to restore service. Hopefully nothing like the chaos of thewebsiteisdown.com!
London’s only Air Ambulance helicopter has been granted permission to be able to land in Weavers Fields. This is a backup landing site as they have a helipad at Royal London Hospital.
The helicopter made it’s first landing today which was quite exciting. Apparently the lift to the helipad was broken.
The helicopter itself is a MD902 Explorer and a gorgeous piece of machinery. When it took off it barely blew the wind into my hair – and probably quite important if they need to land at accidents and emergency sites.
The helicopter itself isn’t government funded and is therefore a charity! You can read all about their flights and even their flight log at their website .
Yesterday, I saw a sign advertising a new Barratts residential development on one of the old textile stores in Cheshire street. Only five levels high, so not a big deal. Cheshire street is certainly going through the changing rooms treatment.
It’s really sad that the proposed 25 storey housing development at the top of Brick Lane has now received all the permission needed to be built. The new tower block will house 360 units and 3,400 sqm of commercial floor space.
I actually don’t object to development in that area – in fact I think the space could be better used. However I do object to development on such a massive scale. We had a similar proposal for a massive scale development near to us. Thankfully a campaign was successful in preventing this from going ahead.
Councillor Helal Abbas (Vice-Chair, in the Chair) Labour for Spitalfields and Banglatown
Councillor M. Shahid Ali Labour for Limehouse
Councillor Joshua Peck Labour for Bow West
Councillor Ohid Ahmed Labour for East India and Lansbury
Councillor Motin Uz-Zaman Labour for Mile End East
AGAINST
Councillor Shahed Ali Respect for Whitechapel
Councillor Lutfa Begum Respect – The Unity Coalition for Limehouse
Councillor Tim Archer Conservative for Blackwall and Cubitt Town
Councillor Stephanie Eaton Liberal Democrat for Bethnal Green North
The minutes also note that Cllr Ohid Ahmed actually didn’t bother to stay for the rest of the hearing after he’d voted on this development. So obviously this development was important for him.
I also find it hard to believe Cllr Helal Abbas represents the ward where the development is to be built. I mean, it’s one hell of a fugly building! Would you really want to look out and see that thing blocking your view of the sun?
The minutes also point out a few objections from other councillors (who for reasons I can not fathom, did not have the right to vote).
Councillor Oliur Rahman (Respect – The Unity Coalition for St. Dunstan’s and Stepney Green) spoke on behalf of the residents. He disagreed with the figures stated in the report relating to affordable housing and argued that the residents needed more family sized accommodation. He did not feel that the proposal was in accordance with policy.
Councillor Tim O’Flaherty (Liberal Democrat for Weavers) spoke on behalf of the residents. He did not feel that sufficient consultation had taken place, either with residents or with the Local Area Partnership.
President Bush has been quoted as saying that he gave up golf in honour of the fallen soldiers in Iraq, claiming that he quit after the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad in August 2003.
I don’t want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf… I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.
Despite the fact that this is a lie, it demonstrates how out of touch some leaders can become.
I would not be surprised if this quote appears in a future edition of the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations and haunts Bush from beyond the grave.
I’ve just spent the morning struggling to understand why PowerPoint 2007 is pixelating the background image in my presentation when I go to print (it looks really blocky and nasty). I’ve had a special master template designed which includes a special background graphic.
The presentation prints fine when I add my background directly to the slide (bypassing the master template). However, despite my best efforts, PowerPoint 2007 has problems when the background is in the master template.
I’ve searched the web for answers but I think this problem is too niche to be documented anywhere … yet!
The bad news is that I don’t have a solution.
The good news is that I’ve found a workaround. The problem doesn’t affect earlier versions of PowerPoint. So I just found a copy of PowerPoint 2003 and printed my presentation using that. This is quite a nasty regression – I hope Microsoft fix it.
Unfortunately the pressurestat has gone on my Elektra micro casa a leva espresso machine. The last time this happened I took it to the infamous Fairfax espresso repair shop in Swiss Cottage. This decision resulted in an absolute disaster.
This time I called the guys at AE Stanton. I spoke to an engineer on the phone for about 15 mins about the problem. He was really helpful. He even offered to pick up the machine from my flat! They charge labour at 18-20 quid vs. the 45 pounds an hour at Fairfax.
AE STANTON & COMPANY
67, Rotschild Rd
London
W45NT
Tel. 0044/208/9945105
Fax 0044/208/9958826
E-mail aestantonco at aol.com
The Observer had a great article on how to drive a hard bargain when buying a house. I wish we had this when we were looking to buy. It’s surprising that these tips come from a UK real estate agent.
‘Don’t feel you have to be polite,’ advises Stacks’s Gideon Sumption, who searches for buyers looking in the west country. ‘Open cupboards, look in the loft, the cellar and outbuildings, open and close windows and doors, look underneath and behind furniture, check water pressure, examine workmanship, turn off lights to see how much natural light there is. Ask anything you want to ask,’ he says.
There is no doubt that buyers now hold more power, however the checklist in the article would be useful in any climate.
My rosemary plant has been savaged by a brilliantly shiny green and purple beetle. I thought that this would be a tricky bug to identify but apparently it’s known as the Rosemary Beetle.
my Elektra micro casa a leva espresso machine. The last time this happened I took it to the infamous Fairfax espresso repair shop in Swiss Cottage. This decision resulted in an 
