2757 days ago
I did not want to hex my beloved West Ham so not only did I not seek out somewhere to watch the game but I switched off my PC so I could see nothing on twitter. In fact I made sure that I did not know the result until this morning. Here in a Greek Hotel as the bubbles tucked into their breakfast a loud YEEEES went up.
3452 days ago
Today comes the news that planning permission has been granted to a £1 billion wildlife destroying green energy project in Swansea bay. This will cost the British consumer vast amounts of money but the political, media and business elite are right behind it. The Swansea bay tidal energy scheme shows the folly and corruption of an elite that has never been more out of touch with the plebs, the punters, you and me. We who pay the bills.
It will cost £1 billion to build the scheme, a massive seawall containing 16 turbines that generate power as the tide goes in and out. Migrating fish, like the ones that the uncles of my daughter catch in the river Tawe will be minced like the birds that are chopped by wind turbines. But it is all in the name of the environment so who cares?
The cost of this scheme and the fact that tidal power is not that er...powerful means that the £1 billion scheme will generate only enough electricity to power 155,000 homes - that is to say 90% of the households in the post industrial welfare slums of Swansea.
But the capital cost and the ongoing cost of maintaining underwater turbines means that for the consortium behind this which includes AIM listed Good Energy (GOOD)
3704 days ago
As ever, I arrived at Paddington at 10.31 PM. It does not matter what time I leave Real Man in Clerkenwell my taxi always arrives just as the penultimate train of the day pulls out for Bristol Temple Meads. Then there is the dilemma.
I can hang around until 11.30 and catch the last train to Temple Meads. It will be full of English drunks and will stink of fast food. Gradually drunks get off the train but – especially on a Friday – drunks also pile on at Swindon and Bath heading to the bright lights of Bristol to get even more drunk. Does everyone born in Swindon have the intelligence of a 12 year old Orang Utan? The taxi fare from Temple Meads home is less than a tenner. But Paddington is a ghastly place to spend 45 minutes and the Mrs is not that impressed if I pitch up at 1.45 AM.
And so there is the 10.45 to Bristol Parkway. I get home just before 1 AM, the taxi fare at the other end is c£20 but there is less time to kill at Paddington. The real downside risk is that I fall asleep and this train carries on all the way to Swansea. I have more than once woken up to find myself heading into Newport, a truly dreadful place, and facing a £45 cab ride home. On this train there is also the stench of fast food but most of the drunks are Welsh. As such, while buying a coffee at the bar, I have just listened to three sheep shaggers discussing in a most animated fashion how to say “The toilet is broken” in Welsh.
I guess you learn something new every day.
