Pancake day http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2012/02/22/pancake-day-andyroberts-storify
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
Pancake day http distributedresearch net blog 2012 02…
http://distributedresearch.net/status/pancake-day-http-distributedresearch-net-blog-2012-02/
February 23 2012, 10:53am | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
Amazing Alex Calder Logo on Google
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/07/22/amazing-alex-calder-logo-on-google
Today is apparently Alexander Calder’s 113th Birthday and to celebrate, Google have replaced the usual search logo with one of their frequent commemorative logos (doodles), in this case an interactive 2d representation of one of Alex Calder’s famous mobiles.Also, note the shadow below the search box and buttons, and on some laptops, if you rock the laptop from side to side, the mobile moves and swings, making use of the inbuilt accelerometer (Not on iPad though)Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogAmazing Alex Calder Logo on GoogleRelated posts:SearchWiki from Google is LIVEAt last google reader has a search boxGoogle vs Yahoo
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July 22 2011, 2:04am | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
A misplaced May Day dream for the masses
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/04/29/a-misplaced-may-day-dream-for-the-masses
May Day by John Sommerfield describes a society on the edge. The parallels with today are obvious – but it’s the differences that make it worth reading.
This article titled “A misplaced May Day dream for the masses” was written by Sam Jordison, for guardian.co.uk on Friday 29th April 2011 14.15 UTC It might have associations with people in funny clothes performing arcane rites and with Oxford students getting smashed off their gourds, but most us don’t think about Tories when we think about May Day. As several union leaders have already pointed out, the party’s current desire to replace May Day with Trafalgar Day (supposedly to “lengthen the holiday season”) is not practical so much as ideological. May Day might feel like a natural part of the calendar – but it has only been marked by a bank holiday since 1978, introduced by a Labour government to mark international workers’ day. And that, of course, is why the rightwingers don’t like it. They’d like it even less if they picked up the book that I’ve just been reading: May Day by John Sommerfield. This was written in 1936, but has just been reissued, with excellent timing, by London Books. It describes a society on the edge. The rich are getting richer and the poor are paying for it. The authorities clamp down on protest with the cynical use of force. Someone on a march is killed in an “accident”. The success of a march leads someone to comment: “I don’t think there’ll be so much damned squeamish argument against arming the police.” The parallels with our current troubles are obvious – but it’s the differences that make May Day worth reading. Sommerfield describes a few days in the lives of dozens of different characters across London, showing them at work, at play, down the pub, in bed, making love, feeling regret the day after, giving birth, dying, plotting to overthrow the bosses, plotting to undermine the workers. It’s a broad, ambitious sweep, but it’s all heading in the same direction: the inevitability of a general strike and the exultant victory of the Communist point of view. By the time Sommerfield was writing, Stalin had embarked on one of the biggest murder sprees in human history, but Sommerfield pants for Soviet Britain. So much so that he frequently loses all restraint:
“Then into this sudden pool of quiet splintered an alien voice, a hoarse shout of ‘Workers, all out on May Day. Demonstrate for a free Soviet Britain!’ … This rang in a million ears. Eyes remembered the chalked slogans on walls and pavements. The slogans, the rain of leaflets, the shouts and songs of demonstrators echoed in a million minds.” He also gushes:
“The printing presses were spinning themselves dizzy. There had never been so many leaflets before. They fell like rain, they were scattered like machine gun bullets.” Sommerfield loved his leaflets. He was also absolute in his convictions. For him there are two races in the world – rich and poor and that is where all conflict will lie. “Soon a lot more people will be having to take sides,” he wrote. They did indeed – but not in the way he thought. They would be fighting against fascism, not for “Soviet Britain”. There are plenty of things to be said in the book’s favour, particularly in the ambitious way he looks into so many lives around London, explores their living conditions, and lays bare their pleasures and pains. There’s also plenty more to be said against his writing which veers from the ridiculous to the not-too-bad and never really gets close to the sublime. Yet it’s as an attempt at social realism that it is most fascinating – and most flawed. In 1984 Sommerfield wrote a new forward for the book acknowledging how few favours time had done for his “1930s Communist romanticism”, but also said he hoped the book could be read as “an historical novel – worth reading, now, I hope, in relation to our own times.” To an extent it can. But I read it more as a reflection on a lost past and an exercise in folly. Possibly, it is harsh to judge Sommerfield’s May Day, for getting things so spectacularly wrong. It’s a novel, after all. It deals in fiction, not fact. But then again, while I was reading May Day, I couldn’t help thinking of F Scott Fitzgerald’s novella with the same title. It’s just one mark of Fitzgerald’s genius that his reflections on the day – although written in 1920 – still apply. The protests he describes seem hopeless, futile, distorted by absurd mobs on both sides: “all crowds have to howl”. The rich are oblivious at best, unforgiving and condescending the rest of the time. The tragedies he depicts are universal – but also painfully personal. His lead, Gordon Sterett, is a penniless, struggling artist who has never found his feet since returning from the First World War, but who has found booze and bad company. He is drowning in the tide of history, but his problems are more individual than any Sommerfield manages to describe. He is more real. So too is the world around him. The clothes are smarter, the dancing is more formal and the drinks sound more exotic. No one has a smart phone and radicals print their views on paper. Otherwise, Fitzgerald could be writing about today – or forever. His despair and defeat for the small man rings far more true than Sommerfield’s misplaced dream for the masses. May Day is a crushed dream. It makes the Tory vendetta against the holiday seem even more than usually petty.
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April 29 2011, 9:47am | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
Consider pancakes
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/08/consider-pancakes
Pancakes or galettes for Shrove Tuesday. Have you shriven yet? Thought not. March 8th this year 20110 is Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday, pancake day or jif lemon day.
This article titled “Consider pancakes” was written by Oliver Thring, for guardian.co.uk on Monday 7th March 2011 15.00 UTC To shrive is to gain absolution for your sins through grovelling penance and the tittle-tattle of confession. When a priest shrives you he listens open-mouthed to what you’ve done, and when you shrive you tell him the lurid details. Guilt and reward, the shifts and cycles of sin and forgiveness, of lean times and fat, are central to the Christian way of thinking. And Shrove Tuesday marks the end of shrovetide, the last fat hurrah before the gloom of Lent with its warnings of the evils of milk. Before then, though, we feast. The pancake is prehistoric. Grinding boring but nutritious grains into flour, blending them with protein-rich liquids such as milk or eggs and cooking the mixture made for an extremely palatable food, and it seems likely that pancakes were among the first things humans learned to cook. Once you’ve got fire in your caveman arsenal it’s easy to heat a piece of flint or slate to make a basic griddle. The Roman food writer Apicius describes a batter of eggs, milk, water and flour which was fried and served with honey and pepper. It sounds rather good. Shrove Tuesday is only around 1,000 years old, so people brought pancakes to it rather than the other way round. For once the old wives’ tale is true: the cakes were a useful way to use quick-spoiling foods such as milk and eggs that were forbidden in Lent. The earliest surviving English pancake recipe dates to 1430, but recipes don’t begin in earnest until the 1600s. This may be because the food had only then spread to the educated classes, or perhaps pancakes had only recently returned to general popularity. Either way, by the 18th century milk and occasionally cream had become the main liquids for the batter: before then, brandy and wine had been just as common. In Brittany people often still add beer to crêpe batter, and the drink remains a useful alternative for lactose intolerant pancake-eaters today. This being a country wedded to quaint eccentricities, a number of traditions have developed around pancake day. In Olney, Bucks, villagers have organised a now famous pancake race almost every year since 1445. Only women compete, wearing “the traditional costume of the housewife, including a skirt, apron and head covering”, and running 415 yards (380m) while flipping their pancakes to the peal of the shriving bells. The winner used to receive a prayer book but in these pinched and godless days the prize is a kiss from the verger. The largest pancake ever flipped was made in Rochdale in 1995. It measured 15m across and weighed three tons. Aldo Zilli is also a prize tosser, having flipped a pancake 117 times in a single minute in 2009 in a successful assault on the world record. The crêpe is probably the archetypal pancake; thin, wheat-based versions are by far the most common around the world. Eastern Europeans and Scandinavians have developed an extraordinary fondness for jam- and cream-filled crêpes, and many Swedes eat them every Thursday after the traditional pea soup. In Galicia, crêpes are called filloas and are made with pig’s blood instead of milk, which turns them the colour of black pudding. I love Ethiopian injera for its doughty determination to stretch the gastronomic limits of the crêpe: the food becomes an enormous and soggily impractical plate. The world is awash with pancakes, from the bao bing, those limp dry discs used for Peking duck, to bulging tortillas, pooris, boxties, latkes and blintzes. A breakfast of American pancakes, maple syrup, blueberries, bacon and fierce black coffee is about as fine a start to the day as I can think of, and it would be a fine thing if British high streets could welcome the American pancake chains as wholeheartedly as they’ve embraced their burger joints. I also have a special fondness for drop scones, those Scottish pancakes so delicious at teatime with butter and syrup. What kind of pancakes will you be enjoying, and what’s your favourite topping?
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March 8 2011, 7:36am | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
May Day matters both for solidarity and our souls
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/05/may-day-matters-both-for-solidarity-and-our-souls
By all means celebrate St George’s Day as well but keep May Day as a bank holiday
Bluebells on May Day
This article titled “May Day matters both for solidarity and our souls” was written by Cole Moreton, for The Guardian on Saturday 5th March 2011 06.00 UTC Workers of Britain, unite! Rise and dance at dawn, or charm a worm out of the ground – or do anything, really, as long as it’s daft. May Day madness is under threat, and it is our patriotic duty to save it. The government wants to move the holiday, to celebrate St George in April or the battle of Trafalgar in October. Business leaders want to extend the tourist season, which is fair enough – but some also say that it would be more patriotic. That’s nonsense. English people don’t feel much affinity for their patron saint, who’s from Palestine anyway. And even the finest tourist officer would struggle to sell Parisians on the idea of coming over in the gloom of autumn for a day that marks the crushing of the French. In contrast, there is no day in the calendar more wonderfully British than May Day. This is the moment when May madness hits and our unique passion for doing eccentric things is seen once more in all its glory. Worms will be charmed, maypoles plaited and the sinister Obby Oss will stalk Padstow. Men and women will dance at daybreak in Dorset, re-enacting imagined fertility rites in or near the dominant part – so to speak – of the hugely well-endowed chalk figure at Cerne Abbas. The May Ball revellers of Oxford will risk their privileged necks jumping from the Magdalen Bridge in evening dress, even as a choir sings. And those are just the headline-making events. Right across the country, May Day is when the British people exercise their right to get outside and do something really silly. “We are eccentric,” I was told by Lesley Prince, a social psychologist and lifelong participant in civil war re-enactments. “It is part of the British national identity.” Of course, most of these “traditional” events are not nearly as long-standing as people claim. The crab apple fair at Egremont in Cumbria goes back to 1267, but the world gurning championships held there – apparently inspired by the sourness of the fruit – is a relatively modern invention. Worm charming in Blackawton, south Devon, appears beguilingly ancient and rustic but actually only started in 1984, when a bored local at the Normandy Arms wondered what happened to grass when you peed on it. He rose from his pint to find out, saw the ground come alive with worms, and a tradition was born. But whether these events are old or new, people love them. The numbers of participants and spectators have soared over the last decade or so. They generate income – people have got to eat hog roast and drink real ale while they do this stuff, obviously – but that’s not really what it’s all about. The point is to celebrate just being alive. Just being us. People on the left tend to be as embarrassed by morris dancing and maypoles as they are by the flag of St George. They would prefer to keep May Day for the workers, and for international solidarity. Which is fair enough, we need as much of that as we can get. But such squeamishness misses the similarity between the two strands of May Day. Both share the same spirit – a desire to resist being ordered about and told what to do. The British people can be a rowdy, bawdy, rebellious, fun-loving, mischief-making lot – when we’re at our best. That spirit has got stronger again in recent years, so that even our old Etonian prime minister must appear to be a man of the people. But moving the May Day bank holiday would be a big blow to that independent spirit, not least because many of the things we like to do just can’t be done in bad weather, which is more likely earlier or later in the year. Those rituals need to stay where they are, and we need to learn to love them, because there is a serious point here. Britishness is changing before our eyes, as ideas and cultures from all over the world remake us. Rather than lament the loss of our old certainties, we can – and must – choose to celebrate the possibilities of new Britishness. That means being open to the new – but it also means being proud of who we really are, which is a daft bunch of eejits. Let the tourism chiefs go charm a few worms, open their eyes and see May Day for what it is: a fabulous – and highly marketable – festival of Great British Eccentricity. We need it, for our souls. And anyway, who’d want to go cheese-rolling in the snow?
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March 5 2011, 4:30am | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
The ultimate Cornish pasty recipe
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/03/the-ultimate-cornish-pasty-recipe
Cornish pasty recipes have always been controversial, and now there’s an EU Protected Geographical Indication status to content with as well. Better get it right for St Piran’s Day on March 5th. I support the top crimped pasty myself, currently outlawed, but not the Cornish Vegetarian Pasty which is a contradiction in terms.
This article titled “The ultimate Cornish pasty recipe” was written by Felicity Cloake, for The Guardian on Wednesday 23rd February 2011 19.59 UTC Now the Cornish pasty finally has its legal protection from the pretenders across the water (that’s Devon), you’d think there wasn’t much debate as to how to make the things; even the position of the crimping is firmly enshrined in EU law (down the side, never at the top, if you’re wondering). But much is still up for debate. For a start, the ruling is puzzlingly vague on the subject of pastry: it must be golden, savoury, and robust, but as long as it fulfils those criteria, it could be anything from filo to flaky. In practice, a pasty is always made with shortcrust, the simplest sort, and, romantics allege, the only one hardy enough to survive being dropped down a mine shaft – although who’d want to eat it afterwards is questionable, given the high levels of arsenic in many of the county’s tin mines. This shortcrust can be made with butter, but lard will give a crisper, more authentically plain result, and using bread flour, as suggested by the Chough Bakery in Padstow, helps to make it even stronger. Then there’s the filling: forget lamb or cheese or even (St Petroc forbid) tandoori chicken. From now on, a Cornish pasty must be made from beef, and hearty chunks of it too, not the minced stuff favoured upcountry. The Cornish Pasty Association, which submitted the PGI bid, suggests skirt, a flavourful cut that stands up well to relatively slow cooking – Mark Hix recommends rump or rib, but I think they’re too fancy for this historically thrifty dish. Because skirt has very little fat on it, it makes the pasty pleasantly juicy, rather than greasy. Carrots are a definite no-no: instead a hearty mixture of potato, swede and onion forms the backbone of the filling – although a Cornish pasty must be no less than 12.5% beef, it’s important not to overdo the meat at the expense of the more traditional root veg. A waxy variety of potato, such as maris peer, is vital if the chunks are to maintain their shape during cooking, Both meat and vegetables should be raw – any attempt at a fancy gravy is heresy, although seasoning is permitted. You may however, on high days and holidays, add a dollop of clotted cream or knob of butter before crimping together the pastry in the time-honoured fashion. Oh, and of course you must be baking west of the Tamar. Otherwise you may as well not bother.
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March 3 2011, 4:05pm | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
Nain’s bara brith recipe
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/03/01/bara-brith-recipe-stdavidsday
As it’s St David’s Day today, here’s a bara brith recipe. It’s odd though, because I would have sworn the recipe would contain some tea in itself, as well as being the perfect accompaniment.
This article titled “Nain’s bara brith recipe” was written by Bryn Williams, for guardian.co.uk on Tuesday 1st March 2011 09.00 UTC We could never go to Nain’s house without having a cup of tea and a slice of bara brith. I love to eat it warm, spread generously with salted butter or with a wedge of cheese. Makes 1 loaf 15g fresh yeast 225ml lukewarm water 450g plain flour, plus extra for dusting 60g lard 60g soft light brown sugar 175g currants 30g candied peel, finely sliced You will need a 900g loaf tin lined with greaseproof paper. Dissolve the yeast thoroughly in the lukewarm water. Mix the flour and the lard together in a large bowl, rubbing the lard into the flour with your fingertips until the texture resembles breadcrumbs. Then stir in the sugar, the currants and the candied peel. Now pour in the yeast-infused water and mix well until you have a cohesive dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it for a good 5 minutes. Work the bara brith into a long sausage shape to fit the loaf tin. Place it in the lined tin, cover with a tea-towel and leave in a warm place until doubled in size, about an hour or so. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4. Bake the loaf for 40 minutes, or until golden all over. Turn out onto a wire rack and set aside to cool. • This recipe is taken from Bryn’s Kitchen by Bryn Williams (Kyle Cathie Ltd, £25). Buy a copy from the Guardian bookshop for £20
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March 1 2011, 3:49am | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
When is a leap year not a leap year?
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/02/28/when-is-a-leap-year-not-a-leap-year
The leap year algorithm explained. Divide by 4 then check to see if there’s a remainder. If remainder = 0 do the other checks. It’s a simple nested if then else statement. The new divide by 128 calculation is an unnecessary change which will create work for programmers on legacy systems.
This article titled “When is a leap year not a leap year?” was written by Alex Bellos, for The Guardian on Monday 28th February 2011 06.00 UTC Today is the last day of February. We know this because 2011 is not a leap year – because 2011 is not divisible by four. Only on years divisible by four – such as 2012 – does February have 29 days. Well, kind of. The leap year rule that has been in place since 1582 is a bit more complicated. Years that are divisible by four are leap years, with the exception of years that are divisible by 100, which are not leap years, and with the final exception of years divisible by 400, which are. This is confusing, so a British mathematician has suggested switching to a better rule, but before I get to that, this is why leap years are needed in the first place. The number of days it takes the sun to return to the same position as seen from Earth is 365.2421897. The extra day in February is used to adjust the calendar for the cumulative effect of the excess 0.2421897 of a day. If the rule is that leap years only fall on years divisible by four, as was the case for the millennium and a half before 1582, then the calendar shifts on average by about 11 minutes a year. It then only takes about a century and a half for it to be a whole day out. Under our current rule, the calendar shifts by an average of about 26 seconds a year, which means it will be one day out by about the year 4000. Better, but not perfect. (And ignoring variance in the solar year.) The following rule, devised recently by British maths brainiac Adam P Goucher, is much cleverer: years divisible by 128 are not a leap year, otherwise years divisible by four are a leap year. The 128 rule only shifts the calendar by about 0.2 seconds a year, which means it will take almost half a million years for the calendar to be a day out. That’s called forward planning.
• Alex Bellos is the author of Alex’s Adventures in Numberland
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February 28 2011, 4:01am | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
Iran jams BBC’s Persian TV service and Web Searches
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/02/12/iran-jams-bbc-persian-tv-internet-web-search
Iranian authorities have blocked the word “Bahman” – the 11th month of the Persian calendar which corresponds with “Aquarius” – from Internet searches within the country, according to an opposition website, Saham News. The measure appears to be an effort by Iranian authorities to obstruct access to several websites that are promoting a rally on Monday — the 25th day of Bahman — proposed by Iranian opposition leaders in support of the uprising in Egypt, Saham News reported on Saturday 12th February 2011. Two Tehran residents also confirmed the block. This article titled “Iran jams BBC’s Persian TV service” was written by Roy Greenslade, for guardian.co.uk on Friday 11th February 2011 08.31 UTC The BBC’s Persian TV service is being jammed from within Iran due to its coverage of the unrest in Egypt. It appears that the trigger point was a joint broadcast on Wednesday by the corporation’s Persian and Arabic services in which Iranian and Egyptian callers exchanged views. Many Iranian viewers said during the interactive programme that they were watching events unfold in Cairo extremely closely. Peter Horrocks, head of BBC Global News, called for an end to the jamming, saying: “It is wrong that our significant Iranian audience is being denied impartial news and information… “The BBC will not stop covering Egypt and it will continue to broadcast to the Iranian people.” BBC Persian TV launched in 2009 and has suffered similar attempts to interfere with its signal intermittently ever since. But it continues to stream live online. Coincidentally, today marks the 31st anniversary of the uprising by the Iranian people against the Shah. Source: BBC Global News press release
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February 12 2011, 12:18pm | Comments »
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I posted to distributedresearch.net
St Andrew’s Day
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2010/11/30/st-andrews-day-2
Today, 30th November is St Andrew’s day. So in some countries, this would be my namesake saint’s day, which is like a kind of second birthday. Happy Birthday me. St Andrew’s Day in Edinburgh, however, has been cancelled due to snow! Tomorrow’s St Andrew’s Day celebrations have been cancelled. Organisers said the snow damaged two of the marquees, creating a potential public safety issue, and with the extreme weather set to continue, all events, including Tuesday evening’s Ceilidh Finale, have been cancelled. – Edinburgh Snowed Under at St Andrew’s Day
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November 29 2010, 6:16pm | Comments »
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Ten More Things to do in London on Bank Holidays
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2010/08/19/ten-more-things-to-do-in-london-on-bank-holidays
Things to do in London August Bank Holiday Weekend With another Bank Holiday coming up and the weather looking typical for August, I thought I’d compile another inspiring ten things to do in London. Some are obvious but worthwhile, while others are more unusual things to do in London that you might not know about and some are relatively topic so check the dates before you make detailed plans. Here’s the jump list: Ten Things to do in London
Visit the Maps Exhibition at the British Library Take the ferry from Richmond to Twickenham Visit the biggest Apple Store in the World at London Covent Garden. Eat Vietnamese food in Kingsland Road, Dalston See the ship in a bottle at Trafalgar Square See a hundred objects at the British Museum Go on a Skyscraper hunt Hire a blue bike Eat authentic Mexican food at Wacaca Travel on the new London Overground to Croydon
Visit the Maps Exhibition at the British Library There’s a free exhibition at the British Library which is next to London St Pancras Station. Called “Magnificent Maps – Power, Propaganda and Art” the exhibition features plenty of old historical maps which are fine works of art as much as political history. Magnificent Maps Of interest in particular to Londoners is a modern work called “The Island” which is a giant sketch map of London depicted as an island with all sorts of strange comments and illustrations written on top of your favourite neighbourhoods. Where I live for example is written most curiously “Wikipedia, yeah right!” I’ve no idea why. Zoom in and scroll around at the site below: http://www.bl.uk/magnificentmaps/map4.html Take the Ferry from Richmond to Twickenham One of my favourite destinations for sunny days out in London is Richmond on Thames, because the tide never goes right out thanks to a weir across the river. It’s also possible to take a pleasure boat circle trip up around teddington locks, past all the islands which is nice, but my recommendation this time is to go a bit further on foot then cross the river by passenger ferry. This is just a little boat with an outboard motor that crosses the river Thames from one bank to the other. Cost £1 single. You may have to wait around for the boatman if the crossing is not busy. The reason why I would recommend this is because it’s a lovely way to approach the old part of Twickenham, which has many delights. The walk along the river upstream from Richmond to where the little passenger ferry docks is about one mile, and once on the other side you are only a few hundred yards from the beginnings of Twickenham with York House gardens a must see. There are several nice places for lunch or refreshments too. Returning to the Richmond side, you might visit Ham House as well if you like these sort of grand places.
Visit the biggest Apple Store in the World at London Covent Garden. Opening hours Mon – Sat: 9:00 am – 9:00 pm, Noon – 6:00 pm on Sundays I might just forgive the Apple Store in London’s Regent Street for being a bit chaotic, overcrowded and understocked recently if the new Apple Store at Covent Garden is the culprit. Said to be the biggest in the world, the Covent Garden shop is Apple’s 300th retail outlet worldwide and 28th in the UK. The Apple store in Covent Garden has 300 staff, and certainly looks the business, with a glass roof, two imposing glass staircases, and huge York stone arches. And of course loads of demo Macs, iPhones, iPads and iPods to play with, along with dedicated rooms where training and workshops on Apple products take place. Eat Vietnamese food in Kingsland Road, Dalston Best place to eat Vietnamese food in London, with a choice of nearly a dozen authentic Vietnamese restaurants and cafes in close proximity, near to the Geoffrye museum and not so far from Columbia Road flower market which is open on Sundays. The food in these places is wonderfully fragrant with special herbs, fresh chilli and lime juice. Go for the green papaya salads, lotus root salad or Beef noodle soup. Yum. beef noodle soup See the ship in a bottle at Trafalgar Square Trafalgar square is worth a visit anytime, and there’s often something different taking place within the landmark. For example quire recently, the amazing walk-in life size maze of green hedges. The different events at the heart of the maze included a showcase from some of the cast of the West End show Priscilla Queen of the Desert, a giant paper dragon show from Chinatown and a Carnaby Street-inspired 60s party. While you’re at Trafalgar Square, check out the giant ship in a bottle on the fourth plinth. If there’s a rainshower, nip in to the National Gallery and have a posh afternoon tea snack in the rooftop restaurant with views across London.
See a hundred objects at the British Museum The BBC Radio 4 programme “A history of the world in 100 objects” has brought a whole new interest into any visit to the British museum, and if you’ve been listening, then you’ll want to track down some of the 100 objects on display, which are all well signposted. On the outside of the building there is the South African garden planted by Kew but on my last visit I though it was already just past its best, so once the bank holiday is over this may not be the best attraction. Go on a Skyscraper hunt There are several new skyscrapers in London in the process of being built and it may be of interest to catch the changing skyline by spotting as many as you can during one visit. Eventually the public viewing gallery in the Shard at London Bridghe will become one of the most spectacular things to do in London. Hire a blue bike The much talked about London blue bicycle hire scheme is now live in London and you will see people getting around on these contraptions and wonder what it’s like to pick up a bike in one place and then just leave it somewhere else instead of having to worry about it. Well you can’t try it out as a guest yet, unless you have to foresight to register for a card beforehand, so why not visit the TFL site and get signed up now. Eat authentic Mexican food at Wahaca Wahaca is a mexican food chain started up by the same people who originally ran Wagamama, the Californian/Japanese noodle bars that were all the rage in the 1990s. This isn’t your average tex/mex greasy fast food mince and beans though, it’s more like a genuine Mexican market cuisine with interesting flavours and contrasting textures including plenty of fresh citrus and salad. The service is also very congenial without being intrusive, which I like. Wahaca Covent Garden 66 Chandos Place Covent Garden London WC2N 4HG Travel on the new Overground to Croydon The old East London Line Tube has been revamped and extended as part of the London Overground network with a new station at Shoreditch High Street from where you can travel to either Dalston Kingsland to the North, or way across to West Croydon, south of the river. More Things to do in London on Bank Holidays The ideas listed above may not be original but they’re mine. For loads more ideas of things to do in London, you might read the blog “Tired of London, Tired of Life“
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August 19 2010, 6:36am | Comments »
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St George’s Day
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2010/04/20/st-georges-day
St Georges’s Day falls on April 23rd each year and has been quietly celebrated, or perhaps largely ignored in England since the 18th century. Before that it was a major feast day and national holiday dating back to 15thC. It is however, England’s national day since St George holds the position of the patron saint of England. English people tend to have mixed feeling about St George’s day and the St George cross, which is the flag of England, due in some part to the confusion which persists over the difference between identities of England and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. A sizeable proportion of English people and probably a majority of non UK citizens consider English and British to be synonymous, which causes problems particularly for the Scots and Welsh who are most definitely not English, whichever way you look at it. The 23rd April is also William Shakespeare’s birthday and his death day. In recent years there has been a resurgence of the use of the St George cross, the English flag, for events such as International football matches with the England team, and that should be welcomed as a correction of the previous use of the Union flag when it’s not a UK-wide team. Some people feel uncomfortable at the sight of the red and white though, sensing a connection with right wing nationalist politics which has not been historically aligned particularly. St George's Cross - The English flag The most effective advocates of celebrating St George’s day are the breweries, who noticed that people drink a lot more alcohol around St Patrick’s day and would like to see the same happen on as many other occasions as possible, that they can promote. The George, Wansted
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April 20 2010, 4:24am | Comments »
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Chinese New Year February 14th 2010
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2010/02/10/chinese-new-year-february-14th-2010
Chinese New Year February 14th 2010 Originally uploaded by AndyRob
The Chinese New Year festival falls on February 14th this year, 2010 but celebrations in London’s Chinatown take place for a week or more around that time. It’s a moveable feast, also referred to as Chinese spring festival, and just as much belonging to south east Asia as China.
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February 10 2010, 12:12pm | Comments »
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New Year’s Eve Traditions
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2009/12/31/new-years-eve-traditions
There are some old New Year’s Eve traditions, like staying at home, drinking and watching Jools Holland’s Hootenanny, and then there are some new ones like posting a list of significant blog posts from the passing year, and failing to make any significant predictions. So this year it’s Tom Jones, Kasabian, Paolo Nutini, Dizzee Rascal, Lily Allen, Roger Daltrey, Florence and the machine, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Paloma Faith, Dave Edmunds, Shingai Shoniwa, Rico Rodriguez, Ruby Turner and Boy George. Dave Edmunds? And here are the hand selected posts from 2009:
Rowan Tree Folk Song A new song written in Scotland How to Photograph a Ghost Part of a series of screencasts about Mac Image editing Blog Action Day – When The Waters Rise Theatre Breaks Magazine On the launch of a new magazine style theatre blog Now I’ve Got Swine Flu – Really Live blogging the symptoms Location independent working – First excursions into the world of location independent working H1N1 Swine Flu Symptoms News blogging epidemiology at the outset Grace Hopper on Ada Lovelace Day Business as usual in the US
Have a happy 2010 everyone, there are going to be some more changes around the corner. Jools Holland's Hootenanny
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December 31 2009, 2:54pm | Comments »
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Winter Solstice The Shortest Day
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2009/12/21/winter-solstice-the-shortest-day
I’m not exactly sure if the Winter Solstice should be celebrated on the 21st December each year in the Northern Hemisphere, or on the shortest day which culd be the 21st or the 22nd. The actual solstice itself, is just a moment which occurs when the earth’s tilt is furthest from the Sun, so the Sun’s path across the daytime sky, when it reaches the maximum height, is the lowest of the year. In the Southern Hemishere the seasons are reversed so the winter solstice is around June 21st and they will be having a Summer solstice or longest day while we are urging the Sun to start coming back again, here in the North. Probably the best thing to do on the eve of the longest night is to create some light and warmth by lighting a fire, and making merry, so it’s lucky that I still have one portion of barbecue charcoal left, and some wood offcuts from the log pile. There’s still some snow on the ground too, so that’s very appropriate.
logs for the Winter Solstice fireThanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogWinter Solstice The Shortest Day
Related posts:Rowan Tree Folk Song
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December 21 2009, 4:14am | Comments »
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St Andrews Day
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2009/11/30/st-andrews-day
Today is St Andrews Day, Scotland’s national day and according to French tradition, a sort of birthday for anybody called Andrew. So here’s a picture of the city of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland, showing a bit of a cliff where the fulmars glide and the St Andrews harbour wall. St Andrews St Andrew himself, if he existed as such, never went to Scotland, he lived in Greece.
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November 30 2009, 5:11am | Comments »
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What Easter Is All About
http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2009/04/12/what-easter-is-all-about
A quick video capture of a pair of mute swans mating rather gracefully on Easter Sunday in Wanstead Park. Click here to view the embedded video. Easter is all about eggs, (Easter, Ester, Eastre, Eostre, Estrus, Oestrus) fertility and celebrating springtime in the traditional manner so this seems quite appropriate today.
The location for this video is the Alexandra Lake, Wanstead Flats but we call it the duck pond.
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April 12 2009, 11:26am | Comments »
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