Less is more: good design is less design

I was reading an interview from Terence Conran (which I can't find today :-( where he spoke of car designers being too conservative and over-complicated.

Surely, there are few tings more complicated than designing a car -there are so many engineering and safety constraints- but I feel that the main restriction in car design has become corporate marketing. It's peculiar for instance that they should copy each other: the Audi single-frame (which could look much nicer would it not have the licence plate in the middle) came from the same designer who invented it for Alfa Romeo before moving to Seat (part of the VAG as Audi and Lamborghini). Now even the new Golf GTI has a single frame...

Anyhow, in terms of design as with many other things, less is more. It's easier said than remembered, this video should be a useful nudge to all marketeers:

Microsoft Designs the iPod (Office-humour.co.uk)


Tags: humour car automotive design marketing

Kew Spring Festival 2006

Kew Gardens have nicely put online a page with the current state of all spring flower beds:
Kew Gardens Spring Festival 2006

Thanks to Tony for the link!


Tags: richmondtransits.blog Kew Gardens thingstodo

Parking tickets on ITV tomorrow

Received this email today:

Parking Tickets will be the subject of Tonight with Trevor McDonald on ITV Friday 14th April @ 8.00 pm.

As parking fines hit new records, Jonathan Maitland goes out and about to meet the growing band of `road rebels' who are using legal loopholes to escape paying

Regards,

www.parking-ripoff.co.uk

the Campaign Against The Parking Rip-Off

Tags: parking richmondtransits.blog London

Sustainable transportation in Richmond?

With Richmond park and the Thames towpaths, one could think Richmond is an ideal spot for cycling. It is probably better than many places, but there are still many improvements to be made:

• Theft, is quoted as one of the key deterrent to cycling (17% of cyclists got their bike stolen in the past 3 years, of which 24% no longer cycle at all and 66% cycle less often). Secure parking is an obvious answer, but there are few places to attach your bike in Richmond and few primary schools have bike sheds.
• Cycling routes are designed to an appalling standards, with high-friction sufaces (more effort is needed to pedal on the green paths!), potholes and manholes covers protrude often (the Upper Richmond Road is a bad example) and in the park or towpath, the shared pedestrian/cyling path is a recipe for disaster (which cyclist has never experienced hesitating pedestrians jumping left and right to make way or bullying runners packs?). The standards are seldom respected -have you seen many lanes 1.5m wide?
• Passive road infrastructure safety is a topic where we have much to learn from the Dutch experience. There's little concept of segregating the traffic (establishing a physical separation between cars and bicycles): "advisory cycle lanes" are an example of this thinking. Take again the A205 (Upper Richmond road): there's no provision for segregating traffic at major junctions (there could be separate traffic light for cyclists) and minor intersection (there should be a "hard" traffic island before the junction so that cars turning right have a visual obstacle reminding them of observing the cycle lane priority. Large roundabouts like those on the A316 are also dangerous for cyclists.

Cyclists' rants? Maybe, but increasing the cycling sahre in commuting (now less than 3% of journeys to work) is the easiest way towards sustainable transportation. Sustainability in transportation is not a buzzword for tree-hugging ecoxtremists but has direct and major benefits for all:

• reduced pollution
• reduced noise
• reduced congestion
• positive impact on public health
• decrease in working hours lost in public transport delays and traffic jams
• increased turnover for city centre retail
• ... and it's cheaper than any other alternative but walking!

What needs to be done by Richmond borough?

• Upgrade the cycle lanes, to ensure they are un-interrupted and segregated from cars
• Allow two way use for bikes of one way street
• Transfor "advisory" cycle lanes into "hardened" cycle lanes
• Increase numbers of bike attachment posts (aka Sheffield stands) close to shops
• Build 24-hour secure parking for cycles at the borough stations to promote combined rail-bike use (see Munster example on page 41: 25% rail customer now cycles to or from the station)

Links:

• Wikipedia article on utility cycling
• TfL cycling reports
• Richmond Cycling Campaign

Tags: cycling Richmond richmondtransits.blog

What shall we do?

One of the bedtime stories I prefer reading to kids is called "What Shall We Do Blue Kangaroo?"

The only problem lies with my weird "thought process": every single time I hear the phrase "What Shall We Do?", the image of a malicious lilac kangaroo springs to my mind. Which can be funny or disturbing, depending of the situation, as it's hard to refrain smirking.

PS: the other books by Emma Chichester-Clark are equally good...


Tags: children books richmondtransits.blog

A wonderful adventure

Brian, one of the South-African mates I have the chance to share some moments running and cycling on week-ends is going to race the Cape Epic, a 921 km ride during which he'll climb more than 16000 vertical metres while enjoying some of the best scenery the Western Cape and South Africa have to offer.

I don't know if he's nuts but I wish him luck!

Link: The CAPE EPIC - The Magical and Untamed African Mountain Bike Race


Tags: cycling richmondtransits.org cape epic

Bank holidays across Europe (and more)

After consumer protection, human rights, more useful stuff coming from the European Union:

EUROPA - The EU at a glance - Travelling in Europe - Choosing a time to travel

Lamb (curry) with apricots

I've bought this book the other day, and I must say it's one of the best Indian cookbooks I've seen.

The auhor is Camellia Panjabi, the founder of several restaurants: Chutney Mary, Veeraswamy and two Masala Zone. She wrote a very personal and extremely interesting long introduction, which you can browse here. I food is a good way to start understanding a culture...

So, as with other dishes Camellia gives the dish origin (Parsi here) and a few words of explanation (eat with saffron rice, use Hunza apricots).

For 4:

• 100g dried apricots
• 50 ml oil
• 2 oignons, finely chopped
• 1 cm (!) ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 7.5 cm cinnamon (that's a lot)
• 6 cardamons
  
• 1,5 ts red chilli powder
• 1/2 ts cumin powder
• 2 chopped tomatoes
• 700g stewing lamb (don't look at Tesco's, they only have 3 cuts!)
• 3/4 ts garam masala
• 1/4 ts ground black pepper
• salt
• 1 ts vinegar
• 1 ts sugar (forgot this, but the dish was sweet enough)

Time: about 20 mn prep and 1 about hour cooking.

1. Soak the apricots with 1/2 ts vinegar (I used cider vinegar) and 200ml water for 3 hours (I microwaved 20s at 900W to shorten this)
2. Fry the oignons in the oil, add ginger and garlic, then cinnamon and cardamons.
   
3. Add chili, cumin, tomatoes, the apricots and the meat, bring to slow boil, add the garam masala and pepper, salt and 200ml water (I used cold).
   
4. Cook slowly until evaporation, add 100ml of water (I used hot).
5. Add a little vinegar, sugar, let rest for 10mn (on the warm hob) and serve.
   

Tags: foodings.blog.uk curry lamb apricot indian maincourse

Level crossing tragedy in Barnes

In a bizarre twist, only a few weeks after I posted this, Tony sent me the following link about a famous photographer killed on March 25th by a train at the White Hart Lane level crossing:
Carlos Clarke inquest 'opened and adjourned' (Amateur Photographer, 29/03/06)

Often compared to Helmut Newton, Bob Carlos Clarke attracted acclaim and controversy. See his obituaries here and there.

It is not only that the art world just lost an icon which saddens me, but also that this should not happen. Level crossings have no place in a dense urban environment and should be removed.

Here's the text of an email I have received only two days after this tragic death from Susan Kramer's office (our local MP) in response to my campaign for a footbridge at North Sheen:

The current situation is that Network Rail is now in the process of designing options for a footbridge. Whilst this is far from a guarantee that the work will go ahead, it is nevertheless a crucial start. However, in an effort to keep up the pressure on Network Rail to carry it out, we are currently gathering signatures as part of the petition which I mentioned in my earlier email, and once we have a sufficient large number then we will formally present it to Network Rail.

Of course, a footbridge is only a stop gap measure and it goes without saying that level crossings have no place whatsoever in a city.


Tags: North Sheen footbridge Susan Kramer richmondtransits.blog

What have I done this WE?

Actually, none of the things I planned (see What to do this WE?).

We went to a very nice Brasilian restaurant in Bayswater for some meat. If you have been to Brasil, you will know those churrascaria where you pay a set price, help yourself as much as you like with salades and other side dishes like fejoada. The waiters come along with long skewers on which different meats are cooked (several cuts of beef, pork, sausages, chicked, chicken hearts, etc...) in rodizio style. So ask for picanha, a brahma and enjoy.

The meat all-you-can-eat option is at £18, but only if you pay cash (don't you hate when charge more if you want to pay with plastic?)

Rodizio Rico
111 Westbourne Grove
Bayswater
London
W2 4UW
(020) 7792 4035

Read also the Toptable review.

After this nice meal, we planned to see the boat race at the Ship (the link is to a Google Earth placemark) but upon leaving the restaurant it appeared that my car had been towed away. I had made the costly mistake to not read carefully enough the signs and check the lines and parked on a resident's bay (we were late to meet with our friends at the restaurant). Those bastards took it away less than 15mn after we arrived!

This turned out to be an expensive day: £50 fine, £150 removal fee, £8 for the cab... an expensive Sunday lunch :-( This is simply called highway robbery! How can £200 be a proportionate fine for parking 15mn in the wrong bay?

After retrieving the car, we tried to make it to Mortlake but since SWT had decided to repair the track the same day as the race the roads were jammed packed all along the Thames... I went running to calm down!

So here are a few links -don't let them get away with it:
http://www.parking-ripoff.co.uk/
http://www.parkingandtrafficappeals.gov.uk
http://www.appealnow.com/


Tags: restaurant review parking london richmondtransits.blog

Universal Time is not US time!

It's sometimes challenging to work internationally, especially given we all use different paper sizes: letter, A4, etc...

We haven't yet found a solution for paper size, but since European countries and most of the commonwealth use the DIN (A4, A3, etc...) we're suggesting that the de facto standard is the one use by over 490m people vs. 290m in the USA...

On the times, here's a useful reference for people working with international colleagues: the International standard date and time notation. This page suggests to use the ISO 8601 (International Standards Organisaion) formats:

• for the dates YYYY-MM-DD
• and for time hh:mm

The ISO 24h time format is commonly accepted. See this interesting note from the above referenced page (below).

A remark for readers from the U.S.: The 24h time notation specified here has already been the de-facto standard all over the world in written language for decades. The only exception are a few English speaking countries, where still notations with hours between 1 and 12 and additions like “a.m.” and “p.m.” are in wide use. The common 24h international standard notation is widely used now even in England (e.g. at airports, cinemas, bus/train timetables, etc.). Most other languages do not even have abbreviations like “a.m.” and “p.m.” and the 12h notation is certainly hardly ever used on Continental Europe to write or display a time. Even in the U.S., the military and computer programmers have been using the 24h notation for a long time.

The old English 12h notation has many disadvantages like:

• It is longer than the normal 24h notation.
• It takes somewhat more time for humans to compare two times in 12h notation.
• It is not clear, how 00:00, 12:00 and 24:00 are represented. Even encyclopedias and style manuals contain contradicting descriptions and a common quick fix seems to be to avoid “12:00 a.m./p.m.” altogether and write “noon”, “midnight”, or “12:01 a.m./p.m.” instead, although the word “midnight” still does not distinguish between 00:00 and 24:00 (midnight at the start or end of a given day).
• It makes people often believe that the next day starts at the overflow from “12:59 a.m.” to “1:00 a.m.”, which is a common problem not only when people try to program the timer of VCRs shortly after midnight.
• It is not easily comparable with a string compare operation.
• It is not immediately clear for the unaware, whether the time between “12:00 a.m./p.m.” and “1:00 a.m./p.m.” starts at 00:00 or at 12:00, i.e. the English 12h notation is more difficult to understand.

Please consider the 12h time to be a relic from the dark ages when Roman numerals were used, the number zero had not yet been invented and analog clocks were the only known form of displaying a time. Please avoid using it today, especially in technical applications! Even in the U.S., the widely respected Chicago Manual of Style now recommends using the international standard time notation in publications.

Most of the world still use now an adapted version of the old German date format, as follows:
DD/MM/YY or DD/MM/YYYY

(In any case, the US format is both ambiguous and illogical...)

PS: see this post on Boing-Boing on resulting confusion.


Tags: time USA richmondtransits.blog transcultural

What to do this WE?

RUN the Asics Kingston Breakfast Run (if you have registered, you can always go to see the start and finish)

WATCH the boat race (thanks to Tony for the tip)

PLUG IN musical benches (thanks again Tony)


Tags: sightseeing thingstodo Richmond

Londonist Flickr RSS feed

The guys behind the Londonist blog have also got a Flickr group.

Here's the RSS feed.

Very nice pictures....

White wines selection at Waitrose

I've compiled this list for James, who seems to enjoy parting seven to pay for marketing expense rather than producers.

Try a Saumur instead:
http://www.ocado.com/webshop/getProductDetails.do?sku=12411011&parentContainer=7703

Or you said you liked Muscadet:
http://www.ocado.com/webshop/getProductDetails.do?sku=18629011&parentContainer=7703

Otherwise, Robin is absolutely right -Prissé is a very nice cave, nice people too:
http://www.ocado.com/webshop/getProductDetails.do?sku=18621011&parentContainer=FAVOURITES

Finally, Macon Lugny is better and still under your £7 screw-top thing:
http://www.ocado.com/webshop/getProductDetails.do?sku=18620011&parentContainer=FAVOURITES

Frankly, don't you think there is a case for not polluting our earth by shipping wines all the way from Kiwiland?

NOT something to be remembered!

This article on the beeb reports a ceremony to honour the guy who invented winter time:
BBC NEWS: Daylight savings pioneer honoured (23/03/06)

But is this to be remembered? I mean, this is a tragically stupid idea, that to be 2 hours ahead of the sun in winter. And -as anyone having kids or animals- to change twice a year is a royal pain.

Link: Wiki on daylight saving time, which is BTW not proven to save anything -I've NEVER read any study proving those energy savings.

Londonist blog

This is a great blog about London, here are two posts I found interesting:
Londonist: TfL Are No Fun Any More, or where Transport for London is threatening to sue Geoff, a blogger who produced alternative versions of the underground map. See pictures displayed here by solidarity.

Geoff's silly tube map with accurate distances:

Map showing where it's quicker to walk:A mirror copy can be found here.


Another thread is about a mysterious red line that someone drew, apparently to outline WC1. I positively love this about Brits: their weird excentric original hidden side.


Tags: silly, tube, maps, London, underground

Another train tragedy in waiting at North Sheen?

I've read with despair accounts of the Edmonton rail tragedy in which two boys, both 16, died at an un-protected rail crossing.

No later than last week, I've seen four Christ Church schoolboys jumping the automatic (unmanned) barriers at North Sheen train station -when they are down, there is no footbridge to cross the railway and the wait is often over 10mn. In a separate instance, another young man did the same thing.

I've raised the subject many times with our local MP, Susan Kramer, as adding a footbridge was one of her electoral promises. Apparently she had meetings on the subject:

Thank you for your recent email to Susan Kramer MP, regarding the above issue. During the last few months, Susan has been trying to arrange a meeting with senior representatives from Network Rail in order to discuss this issue.

I am happy to report that Susan has now had two separate such meetings with representatives from Network Rail, who have advised her that they have now launched a consultation as part of their South West London Route Utilisation Strategy - during which this issue will be given due consideration.However, in an effort to make sure that this issue is given the level of consideration that it deserves, Susan has now written to the Chief Executive of Network Rail, Mr. John Armitt, to raise this matter directly with him.

Additionally, we soon hope to launch a petition to Network Rail, calling upon the company to provide proper footbridge access to North Sheen Station as part of the changes implemented in their South West London Utilisation Strategy mentioned above.


Very kind answer indeed, still no footbridge.


del.icio.us tag for my other posts on the same subject: footbridge+richmondtransits.blog

Tags: North, Sheen, footbridge, Susan, Kramer, richmondtransits.blog,

Restaurant review: St John's bread and wine

I had the pleasure to go for lunch in nice company at St John's Bread and Wine, in Spitafields. For those who don't know this institution, they also have a sister restaurant in Smithfields.

This is a restaurant located minutes away from the square mile, yet informal: there is no table cloth and tables are sqeezed close to each other. The hearty food is how I like it: simple and quality ingredients. The wine list should keep everyone talking, it's well researched (by this I mean they DID work on it, avoiding merchands and looking for great picks). There are excellent value wines from small producers (like a st chinian at £15) but I guess because the ABN Amro HQ are just besides there's also a romanée conti at half-a-grand.

One of us was a champaign addict, so we had a Ruinart (£38). Now, I'm not usually a bubbly fan as I view reds as a better quality/price ratio (there's so much average bubblies). The Ruinart web site says it's made mainly with chardonnay, which is quite a prowess as the result has lots of body and tanins.

The idea of eating at St Johns is about collaborative sourcing: pick and share. So, what's the food like?
Well, we had some salad (with beetroot I think, £3.50), pickled herrings (£5.60) which were melting so nicely that we had some more a second serving. I had some veal kidneys with bacon and dandelion (£7) and because I am an offal fan I had all. And the ruinart kept the pace with it, which really surprised me. Langoustine mayonnaise (£10) paraded next, followed by some brill and parsley (also a tenner) -which I did not taste but looked firm, fresh and delicious. There was some beetroot, sorrel and egg (£5.80) making rounds as well and I could not resist the english cheese-board. Which wasn't bad, even good I must say: there was some goat, stilton, leicester. And since they bake bread on the premises, I did not have to do with the damn crackers (I love stilton and port, but crackers for cheese? Come on...)

St Johns is dangerous: it is evident that they make a lot of efforts in sourcing best ingredients and wines. They know how to combine this for a true and great bistro food experience. Once lured inside, you will re-invent the world. For a quite a while probably. You have been warned.


St JOHN Bread & Wine Spitalfields
94-96 Commercial Street London E1 6LZ
+44 20 7247 872



Tags: foodings.blog.uk, restaurant, review

What's wrong with supermarket yeast?

As usual, I went last Saturday to buy some fresh yeast for baking bread (see on Foodings if you can read French), this time at the New Malden Tesco's.

The bakery staff answered me that it was company policy not to give it anymore, because "if it's a bad batch, some customers have sued Tesco's".
But what happens if they bake bread with a bad batch then?

Last week-end, the bakery staff at the Clapham Asda looked like they could not be asked, told me that it was their policy not to give any and started to argue between themselves. I went to the customer information desk and complained, they told me it was an "old policy" but that they did not have any at the time.

As far as Sainsbury's are concerned, they sell it and it's usually fresh.

Otherwise, Richmond bakers can find fresh yeast at Olivers' (great health/organic shop in Kew station approach, ins't it Joanna?

Unfortunately, the frest yeast I find in the UK still does not smells as good as the one I find find in Franch bakeries and does not rise as much. Sainsbury's is the best, the one I find at Oliver's is not bad but it a bit brown and squidgy, not silky and soft.



Tags: foodings.blog.uk, yeast

Wall Mart gets it, Sainsbury's doesn't

Read today that WalMart (site down today!) is enlisting bloggers to help try restore their ailing public image:
Wal-Mart enlists bloggers in P.R. campaign (The New York Times, 6/03/06)

Compare and contrast this with the surreal conversation I had on Friday with Sainsbury's PR lady when I called to try enquire about their labeling policy:

Are you a journalist?
No, I am a blogger

A what?
A blogger, someone who posts on blogs.

Sorry, we only deal with *proper* journalists
Ah, so you don't recognise blogs as an influential outlet then?

No.
So I suspect I can't send you my question? Because your form doesn't work.

No. Our form works.
No, your form doesn't work. And I'm sure the blogging community will appreciate this... Bye....

(note that ASDA's form does not take URL's either :-(


Tags: WalMart, Tesco, Sainsbury, supermarkets, richmondtransits.blog, ASDA

Heathrow worst airport polluter

Heathrow fails pollution guidelines:
BBC NEWS | England | Airports fail air pollution test

So why were they given the go ahead for building Terminal 5 then?



Tags: richmondtransits.blog, heathrow, environment

Tesco ducks question on labeling...

Further to my post on "Supermarkets 2: labeling (12/12/05)", I've contacted Tesco's PR department (Sainsbury's got an idiotic and non-working form -a good way for their PR not to get any more work!).

Their response is below, as well as my response to their response. In a nutshell, they did not get the point and just cut&pasted a standard answer....

Stay tuned!


From: Ludovic Windsor
To: Tesco Customer Service
Date: 10 March 2006 11:56
Subject: Re: TES1895025X Re: food labeling

Dear Helen,

Thanks for your email, but you did not answer my point.

I specifically have an issue with precisely this point:

"Food labels are controlled by Government legislation and should allow customers to compare the quality and quantity of different products, as well as the nutritional value."

I believe that Tesco -and other major retailers- do not comply with this when selling in particular -but not only- fruits and vegetables EITHER by unit OR by £/kg. This indeed does not allow to compare the price. I went shopping the other week at your Twickenham store and you were selling cooking apples by piece, other kind of apples by kg and yet other kinds by pre-packed bags (of 10 I think).

How can consumers know which is the cheapest by kilogram?

I believe this practice is misleading and would like your comments.

Regards,

LW>

From: Tesco Customer Service To: Ludovic Windsor Date: 2006/3/10

Thank you for your email.

Thank you for contacting us with your concerns regarding our food labelling.

Food labels are controlled by Government legislation and should allow customers to compare the quality and quantity of different products, as well as the nutritional value.

We try to give as much information as possible on our product labels, but design legislation, which prevents products being packed in oversized packs, restricts the amount of space and wording that can be used. Being very aware of the environmental impact of packaging waste, we therefore try not to use excessive packaging on our products.

At the moment, the law states that we are not required to list certain ingredients. For example, if water makes up less than 5% of the product, it does not have to be included on the label. Also, it is not necessary to fully list compound ingredients. For example, pastry in a quiche may not have its ingredients listed, if it accounts for less than 25% of the product.

However, we do know that some of our customers require extra information when choosing products due to allergies, etc. Therefore, we have a selection of free-from lists available that we send out to our customers. If you would like one of our lists, please call our Helpline on 0800 505555.

Thank you for letting us know your views.

If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us at xxx.

Kind Regards


Helen xxx
Tesco Customer Service

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ludovic Windsor" Date: 03 March 2006
Subject: food labeling

Dear Sirs,

Could you pls pass this request to your PR department?

I am a blogger/consumer and wrote the following post: richmondtransits.blogspot.com/2005/12/supermarkets-2-labeling.html

I would be most interested in your reaction, in particular to know if you abide by the EU legislation cited in this blog post.

Best,

Ludovic Windsor

Why is the governement pushing to increase number of night flights?

However, those assumptions are biased, to say the least:

A direct relation between economic growth and the need for air travel is far from being proven, as remote working and telecommunication change our daily lives

Why should air travel continue to be subsidised at a rate of £557 per tax payer and per annum while alternatives such as fast trains are not being promoted and funded? Why also should flying to the South of Spain be cheaper than taking the train to Penzance?

There are major international 5 airports around London, against only 2 in Paris and one in other major economic capitals. The fact that BA and BAA would be more competitive with 3 runways at Heathrow may be true, but that’s another statement. Why anyway would Londoners need to pay the price of BAA and BA’s profits? Unless they are suggesting giving free share options to people living under the flight paths, I see no reasons.

The agenda of those lobbies go directly against the welfare of 1m people living under the flight path and does not consider the indirect costs at any point:

why should they tolerate more aircraft pollution?

why should they tolerate more aircraft noise, especially at night?

Why should they tolerate more congestion, taxes, etc?

Heathrow itself was built on farmland using war-time regulation to avoid a public enquiry and is badly located: it's to my knowledge one of the only European airports to be built on the West side and at short distance of a capital or major city. Given the winds in Europe are dominantly Westerly or Easterly this is quite a poor planning decision. It explains the huge environmental impact of Heathrow and why over 1m Londoners live directly under the flight path. In this respect, Gatwick, Stansted or Luton are much more sensibly located and are closer to main communications link.

Read this for more on how the South East Regional Air Study neglected indirect costs. In tax only, the negative balance is £8.5 billions in favour of the air travel lobbies… Little has been done to quantify the direct and indirect impact of aircraft noise and pollution.

In conclusion, the massive subsidy enjoyed by air travel and on the other side the equally large but little researched induced costs is based on flimsy economic assumption. If only a small part of those direct and indirect costs and if tax subsidies were removed, Heathrow could DOWNSIZE!



Links: HACAN ClearSkies

It's about time...

Britain, UK news from The Times and The Sunday Times - Times Online: "Schools to ban fizzy drinks and chocolate"

Fahrenheit and Celcius

Margaret made me wondering today what does zero degrees Farenheit meant. I knew that 100 was body temperature, but why was 0°F−17.8 °C? It just did not make any sense...

The Wikipedia has a good explanation: Farenheit took 100 as body temperature (or the closest he could measure back in 1708) and zero for the coldest he could find. After much subsequent tweaking, they finally came up with the Farenheit scale still used today (but only in the USofA and Jamaica).

So, boiling is 212°F, body temperature (before reading this post) 98.2°F, paper fire point (when books self ignite) 451°F and -40°F is -40°C.

Here's an alternative explanation:
The Straight Dope: On the Fahrenheit scale, why is 32 freezing and 212 boiling? What do 0 and 100 mean?

"In short, 100 means nothing at all on the Fahrenheit scale, 96 used to mean something but doesn't anymore, and 0 is colder than it ever gets in Denmark. Brilliant."

Quite why the Americans still use Farenheit is like asking why they still use older versions of the imperial measurement system
even long after this meeting in Philly...

Wine of the month at Waitrose

Waitrose is my favourite wine shop. The offer better value wines than most high street shops, you don't have to buy a whole case as it is the case with Majestic.

More importantly, they tend to select wines directly from growers and not merchants -so more individual better value wines.

This month's special was the Da Luca Primitivo Merlot. (on the right)

Which was okay, but I still much rather prefer my usual Saumur (£4.99, on the left) which makes a great casual light red.


Tags: wine, foodings.blog.uk

Borough upgrades playgrounds

The borough's children's playgrounds are in the process of being updated, read more in the Richmond and Twickenham Times.

The one in Mortlake has been updated recently and is really nice....

If you live around North Sheen, this one is really nice in summer as there's a paddling pool.

BLDGBLOG: London Topological

Fantastic collection of stories and images on subterranean / secret London:

• BLDGBLOG: London Topological

If you're into that kind of stuff that is....

Heathrow is dangerous and should not be expanded, here's why

I've seen this piece of coverage today in the Richmond and Twickenham Times: Plane’s engines failed over borough.

Apparently, a Boeing 747 cargo "lost" one engine and had to make an emergency landing in LHR.

In a separate accident, of which I can't find any press clippings, a stowaway passenger from Africa fell on the Sainsbury's petrol station in North Sheen.

About 1 million live under the flight path in London, and Heathrow airport is to my knowledge the only airport in Europe whose approach is directly above amajor city.

Geography alone says that a 5th terminal in Heathrow is dangerous, let alone a 3rd runway.

Why indeed expanding Heathrow when there 3 other major airports in less populated areas? The answer is of course because concentrating operations in LHR is beneficial to BA and BAA. At the expense of London residents.

The governement is arguing that they are merely planning for the unstoppable expansion in air passenger numbers. This is simply because more sustainable alternatives are not being developped.

Rod Eddington, BA's former CEO, said it himself: “Everyone should be taking the train", "People wouldn’t need to fly between London and Manchester if the service was faster.” (Eddington’s Rocket: the jet train to shrink Britain, The Times, 15/1/06) (but the idea of a kerosene-powered train is ludicrous: why reinventing high-speed train when the technology is there and has been in use for 20 years in France, and at times where petrol supplies are uncertain?)

The proof is there: Eurostar's rail/air market is now 59%, saving that much in airplaine emissions, noise, etc... (Eurostar press release, 14/09/04).

Finally, airline kerosene fuel is exempt of tax duty... Yet another way to favour air travel...

Links: Hacan Clearskies

Londoners to pay £33.80 EXTRA tax to fund the Olympics

Richmond tax payers already pay one of the highest council tax rates in London, and how have to pay to re-develop East London.

Why?

BBC NEWS | England | London | Londoners face Olympics tax hike

Some hope for London cyclists?

Thanks to the Olympics, there maybe finally some improvement in view for the appalling London cycle network:

BBC NEWS | England | London | Public to hear cycle system plans

Film review: The Island

Good futuristic movie with Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson as eye candy. The plot is not so original (clones who want to escape their destiny) and has some déja-vu flavours (Borne Identity, etc) but Ewan and Scarlett save the movie with a great performance. The action sequences borrow from the Matrix or Minority Report but are well shot and entertaining enough. Just a shame that they used 2005 cars when the action is meant to be in 2019....

In summary, a good and honest film -even my wife enjoyed it despite not particularly found of sci-fi flicks.

Anti-valentine

Why do we have to put-up with Halloween, Valentines, and the rest?

I don't mean one should not be tender towards his/her lover, but why does it have to be a commercial happening? Maybe cultural differences are an explanation?

The sheep-like behaviour sending masses rushing tomorrow into over-crowded restaurants for over-priced VD menus and assaulting flower stalls makes me wonder what is left for the rest of the year?

This is quite sad. Why do we need an excuse to bring flowers home or to set a romantic date?

In the meantime, let's be anti-VD:

• meish dot org :: be my anti-valentine

(thanks to Petite Anglaise for the hint)

Blow!

Watched again this movie about a guy who starts a huge drug ring, meet Pablo Escobar, gets rich and finishes in prison -alone with his regrets.

Stellar performance from Johnny Depp (one of my favourite actors with Nicolas Cage), the film moves from the early 70ies till the late 80ies and the clothes, locations and play render superbely the time passing -one thing many movies get wrong so often.

My rating: 3/5

Orchids

The yearly orchids exhibition has started in Kew Gardens, check it out!

Foodings: All you need to know on Camembert!

How to choose a Camembert?
The only good Camembert...

• proudly displays a round certificate AOC Camembert de Normandie,
• is made with unpasteurised milk,
• is between 10,5 and 11 cm in diameter,
• weights 250g,
• is manually crafted,
• and is boxed in wood round casing
  

There are 10 makers: my favourite is Lepetit (which I used to find in Tesco but not anymore :-(, ou du Lanquetôt (both are owned by Lactalis/Besnier), Jort (my mum's favourite), Gillot, Isigny Sainte Mère (makes Sainsbury's Taste the difference and Tesco's Finest) , Laiteries de Bernières, Fromagerie du Val de Sienne, Réo, Moulin de Carel (Besnier).

But make sure you take the "Camembert de Normandie", Tesco's French Traditional Normandy Camembert, Coeur de Lion, Le Rustique and the entry-level supermarket own brand are all rubbish! A tip: go for the yellow warning UNPASTEURISED label.

Beware of imitations!
French say it better: pasteurised camembert is de la m****... !
If you live in the USofA, don't read any further: it may be a wonderful and free country, but only for dead-cheeses. Camembert is unpasteurised and helps you building a healthy stomach!

It is one of the best known and most widely appreciated cheeses around the world and this success has given ideas to many. They may make nice cheddar in Sommerset, but they should leave Camembert alone, for the same reason that Danes should leave Feta in Greece and French should not copy Italian Mozarella.

For not having been protected in time, the actual word camembert came into the public domain in 1926.

But then, who would have thought of bloody Sommerset Camembert? There are many copies, alll (to my knowledge) pasteurised and can thus be mass produced, stored and shipped anywhere.
Surely all the germs are killed, as the flavour.

So that diet-conscious ones can continue to buy, we have even seen some light versions, individual packagings and more!


Some are specifically designed to fool consumers, like the quite like the Tesco pseudo-traditional version or the Rustique (from Sodiaal) which is sold in a "traditional" packaging when it's pasteurised... (Thierry would say "thermisé").

But in 1983, justice has finally been fair with the 200-year old invention from Marie Harel (1791) with the creation of the aforementionned Protected Geographical Denomination AOC Camembert de Normandie.

How to eat a Camembert?
Whatever you do, never stick your camembert in the fridge! If you reside in Murcia or Creta, I may forgive you but unless exceptional circumstances, the camembert will die in your fridge. it will prefer a fresh and dark room.
You may however try Auntie Martine's trick: wrap your precious Camembert de (remember?) Normandie AOC in a paper (ParisNormandie gives usually good results) and let ripe in the veggies drawer for about 2 weeks. Useful after coming back from your Calais booze trip....

Otherwise, you should let it ripe for a good week and a half (five days will do in summer) on top of the fridge to avoid temptation: do not tuck in before it's soft (all creamy inside, with no trace of "plaster" -that's for Parisians) and has slight orange-ish moulds on its rind.

Enjoy with a good sour dough bread (in Richmond, try Maison Blanc) or make it yourself and with a Bordeaux (

graves does it for me) or a côtes du Rhône.

Finally, the French call this white, fluffy, textured rind "croûte fleurie"...

Links:

• camembert-aoc.org, the official trade body
• the same post but in French

Tags: foodings.blog.uk, cheese

Rail racket

First the congestion charge at £5 then £8, then the tube ticket is pushed to £3 (making LU the most expensive tube in the world) and now we learn this:
Rail fares will treble as cheap tickets go (Times, 20/01/06)

Is it the best way to encourage commuters to use environment friendly alternatives? While aviation fuel is not taxed?

This is nothing more than racketting people whose only crime is to go to work every day!

Masochistic commuters?

This arrived in my Feedreader today:
Half of passengers unhappy with cost of rail travel (The Guardian)

Correct me if I'm wrong but Britain has the most expensive trains in Europe (or the World?) and all that for a poor service. And the situation is not improving, as "regulated fares, which cover season tickets and saver tickets, have risen in price by an average of 3.9%, while unregulated fares, which include cheap day returns, have increased by 4.5%."

Yet, "45% [of passengers] said they were satisfied they were getting good value, while 33% said they thought ticket prices offered poor value."

Have we found the masochistic half of the population?

Link: Rail Passenger Council

Richmond and Twickenham Times: Commuters see red over level crossing

The North Sheen station footbrige issue is catching media's eye in vew residents outrage: read this this article from the Richmond and Twickenham Times by Sara Woods, Commuters see red over level crossing.

Every week we see commuters and school children the jumping level crossing barriers. Will the crossing be improved before a fatality occurs?

Read on Richmond Transits' campaign for a footbridge at North Sheen:

• Campaing for suppressing level crossings
• Susan Kramer's progress on North Sheen Station footbridge
• Time to remind Susan Kramer about the North Sheen Station footbridge

And also :-)

• Preliminary plans for North Sheen footbridge rebuffed

The prejudice map

Great Google Prejudice Map from Google Blogoscoped, showing clichés associated to countries thanks to an automated Google search.

The rest of the blog by Philipp Lenssen covers, well Google, and is one of the most complete I've seen around...

How to search on Google?

Most people are overwhelmed when getting results from a google search and think they simply can't find anything on the internet.

Here's a quick guide on how to search with google (also applies to Yahoo! and other search engines):

1. Using simple boolean operators helps, like with the following example:

• searching for [ludovic windsor] (without the square brackets) returns fourty-thousand and one hundred results
• the same query but for the exact phrase ["ludovic windsor"] (with the quotes but not the square brackets) only returns 98 results, so this filters
• using the boolean operator AND plus another search term, we finally find this blog out of only 3 results: ["ludovic windsor" AND Richmond]

2. A search is like a funnelling process: you need to refine your query to reduce the search results more and more, by iterations. So keep adding relevant keywords, synonyms to get a more specific answers.

3. You can use more advanced functions by simply clicking on "advanced search", exclude terms, etc...

4. Finally, check this great resource: Google Help : Cheat Sheet

You are what you eat: RTFL and go slow

Where should I start? Almost every week we learn of new ways food is tinkered with and trick to deceive the consumer.

Here’s the last one: Fresh apples, only stored for one year... (The Sunday Times, 11/12/05)
The apples are stored in warehouses (I’ve read a few years back that they are in complete darkness and that the air is deprived from oxygen to slow down the ripening) and sprayed with a chemical called 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) and sold by AgroFresh under the SmartFresh brand. It blocks the ripening process by being “a kind of placeholder in the space where ethylene sits”. Versions for bananas and avocados exist. The article doesn’t say what it does to the vitamin contents but I would bet it’s quite low after a year!
So if you ever wondered why when you bought supermarket fruits (Sainsbury has confirmed using SmartFresh) they went from hard to rotten straight-away, here you go… (Check AgroFresh’s FAQ on cold storage apples)

Another article I’ve read recently in the same publication and referenced here explains how the sugar content has doubled in apples in the last 60 years while levels of minerals have decreased between ¼ and ¾.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away? Think twice! This is very deceiving for consumers who want and think they’re buying healthy and natural products.

This freaks me out.

But more insidious is what goes in processed food (Processed foods are to blame for the sharp rise in obesity levels and chronic disease around the globe, according to the World Health Organization, read more here and there). So check the label, the sugar and fat contents.
It’s also better to eat healthy natural products (fruits, vegetables) than “diet products” which are full of chemicals (for instance soft drinks with aspartame still provokes an insulin surge and that may in turn cause a food craving (read here, there and there). So if you’re dieting, try wean yourself from your appetite for sweet.

At a higher level, there’s a link between obesity (especially for the poorest part of the populations) and the fact that in the last three decades fat, processed foods and sugars have steadily declined in price while fruits and vegetables are becoming relatively more expensive (read here, there and there). Just go to your Sainsbury’s and try to shop with two baskets: you’ll load one with vegetables, natural yogurt and fish while the other will be processed foods. Check which one is cheaper and it’s likely it will be the “calorie-dense” one.
For more, read The Economics of Obesity (09/05) on the Center for the Advancement of Health site:

“In the United States, energy-dense foods tend to taste good, are more convenient to buy, store and cook, and are much cheaper than energy-poor foods, Drewnowski says. “There are data from the USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] to the effect that prices for fruits and vegetables jumped by 130 percent or so in the past 20 years, whereas prices for sugar, fat and sweetened beverages increased by no more than 30 percent,” he notes.”

What to do then? Shop locally at farmer’s markets (what is the impact on the environment and local farming to eat New Zealand lamb and South-African apples?), read the label and make sure you keep salt, saturated fat and sugars low, sit down with your kids to eat a meal together.

You are what you eat. Go local, read the freaking label and eat slowly.


Other links:

• The baker who beat McDonald's (The Times, 06/01/06)
• Going Local on a Global Scale: Rethinking Food Trade in the Era of Climate Change, Dumping, and Rural Poverty (Foodfirst, Spring/Summer 2005)
• Italian Law Calls for All Organic Foods in Nation's Schools (Local Food Work, June 2004)

PS: pls drop me a comment if you find other interesting links, especially on the relationship between fat/sugar and vegetables/fruits prices.

Tags: Sainsbury SmartFresh SlowFood Consumerism foodings.blog.uk

Wiki: List of British English words not used in American English

Great resource for fellow UK bloggers or if you work in a multinational company:

• List of British English words not used in American English (in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Preliminary plans for North Sheen footbridge rebuffed

I just received an update from Susan Kramer on why (re-)building the footbridge for North Sheen station is taking so long: apparently the first project plan was not conclusive and Network Rail designers have been sent back to the drawing board (see VR illustration below).



Previous posts on this (serious) subject:

• Campaing for suppressing level crossings
• Susan Kramer's progress on North Sheen Station footbridge
• Time to remind Susan Kramer about the North Sheen Station footbridge

Restaurant review: the Cinnamon Club

I went yesterday night to this exquisite restaurant located in the Old Westminster Library: The Cinnamon Club.

I started with some char grilled king prawns with dill and carom seeds, followed with some roast pheasant with green spices, mint and onion sauce, aubergine crush and finished with a saffron poached pear with cinnamon ice cream. Everything was exquisite, including the side stuffed naans and the curry Rajasthani sangri beans. Words are not enough to describe this fireworks for the senses, very fine cuisine.

The wines matched superbly the food, we had a saint joseph (white côte du Rhône) and although I usually avoid Chapoutier as they're a wine house and not a grower this was a very nice example of the viogner grape. The red was a Seghesio Sonoma Zinfandel, very plummy and nice but as usual with Californian wines I have a (light) headache this morning -I can't prevent myself from thiking that they tinker too with what should be a natural product in the US. We finished nicely with a Baumes de Venise.

A top address!

The Cinnamon Club
The Old Westminster Library
Great Smith Street
London SW1P 3BU
Map
Email: info@cinnamonclub.com
Telephone: 020 7222 2555


Tags: foodings.blog.uk, restaurant, review

Links and more

Worked a bit on the blog after recovering from the festive season and added links to local pubs and restaurants.

Comments welcome!