I haven't been blogging about the hassles and travails of our ongoing move back to Canada. I figure nobody wants to see a grown man cry. However, there was one quite spooky incident on our last day in the old house....
Once all our furniture was out of the way, we gave the place a good cleaning. It was a tip when we bought it, and we were determined not to leave it the same way. Our venerable Miele vacuum cleaner was clearly struggling to cope with all the dustbunnies and cobwebs. Literally as I finished the very last stair, an ominous red light came on and the machine gently expired!
So it's gone to vacuum cleaner heaven, or at least to the municipal dump at Garston, where I have been such a frequent visitor over the last two months that they are naming one of the skips after me.
Next posting on the blog will almost certainly be from our new base in Canada, as we fly out later this week. Budget deficits, separatist government just elected in Quebec, hockey season cancelled because of a strike -- doesn't seem like much has changed in the fourteen years we've been away. Still, plenty to blog about!
Sunday, 16 September 2012
Monday, 10 September 2012
NIMBY to the max!!
The small city where I've lived for the past dozen years, St Albans, has a lot to offer residents and visitors alike. Extensive Roman ruins, a stupendous Cathedral, lovely parks, a 100-year-old street market, and more besides. Well worth a trip! But don't worry if you can't get here any time soon. The locals are determined to preserve the place like a bug in a lump of amber.
Want proof? Just take a look at last week's issue of the local freesheet, the St Albans Review. On the front page was a story about how residents of one of the outlying villages, Colney Heath, are up in arms about plans to build a plant to dispose of food waste using anaerobic digestion. The objections appear to be largely based on fears of bad smells, which suggests they don't know what "anaerobic" means.
On the next three pages of the paper we learn that:
* locals are objecting to plans to expand nearby Luton airport, citing fears of noise and increased traffic;
* city council has rejected plans for development of housing on a former industrial site in the city centre, on the grounds that it contains an inadequate amount of low-cost housing. The site has been a vacant eyesore for well over a decade -- earlier plans for a supermarket were rejected after a long battle;
* there are fears that the government will approve a planned rail freight depot just south of the city. This has been the subject of a long-running battle, and the activists are girding up for another round;
* plans for a new hotel on the south side of the city are attracting strong opposition, because it would encroach on "precious" greenbelt land, even though the land in question is both (a) inaccessible and (b) blighted by the nearby M25 motorway.
Five anti-development campaigns in four pages -- surely some kind of record! I'm not passing judgment on any of the individual proposals, but as Messrs Cameron and Osborne flounder around trying to get the economy moving, this kind of local obstructionism is just about the last thing they need.
Oh well, we're only here for one more week anyway. Wonder if things will be any different in our new home town in Ontario? I'm betting they won't.
Want proof? Just take a look at last week's issue of the local freesheet, the St Albans Review. On the front page was a story about how residents of one of the outlying villages, Colney Heath, are up in arms about plans to build a plant to dispose of food waste using anaerobic digestion. The objections appear to be largely based on fears of bad smells, which suggests they don't know what "anaerobic" means.
On the next three pages of the paper we learn that:
* locals are objecting to plans to expand nearby Luton airport, citing fears of noise and increased traffic;
* city council has rejected plans for development of housing on a former industrial site in the city centre, on the grounds that it contains an inadequate amount of low-cost housing. The site has been a vacant eyesore for well over a decade -- earlier plans for a supermarket were rejected after a long battle;
* there are fears that the government will approve a planned rail freight depot just south of the city. This has been the subject of a long-running battle, and the activists are girding up for another round;
* plans for a new hotel on the south side of the city are attracting strong opposition, because it would encroach on "precious" greenbelt land, even though the land in question is both (a) inaccessible and (b) blighted by the nearby M25 motorway.
Five anti-development campaigns in four pages -- surely some kind of record! I'm not passing judgment on any of the individual proposals, but as Messrs Cameron and Osborne flounder around trying to get the economy moving, this kind of local obstructionism is just about the last thing they need.
Oh well, we're only here for one more week anyway. Wonder if things will be any different in our new home town in Ontario? I'm betting they won't.
Monday, 3 September 2012
Oscar the Grouch
Back in the 1980s, the BBC's satirical puppet show Spitting Image ruffled a few yarpie feathers with a little ditty titled " I've never met a nice South African". Sadly, the great Paralympian runner Oscar Pistorius has just lived down to that slur, with his complaints about his defeat in Sunday night's 200 metres final. According to Pistorius, his conqueror, Alan Oliveira of Brazil, only won because he was using "blades" -- artificial legs -- that were longer than the regulations allowed.
The International Paralympic Committee has quickly denied the charge, and Pistorius himself has issued a grudging sort-of-apology, regretting the timing of his outburst but standing by the accusation itself. Here's a suggestion, Oscar: watch a video replay of the event. Over the last 50 metres or more, Oliveira's legs were pumping dramatically faster than yours were. That's why he won.
It's such a shame. Pistorius has been a superb athlete who has done much to bring Paralympic sport into the mainstream. Now he risks going into the history books as a sore loser.
The International Paralympic Committee has quickly denied the charge, and Pistorius himself has issued a grudging sort-of-apology, regretting the timing of his outburst but standing by the accusation itself. Here's a suggestion, Oscar: watch a video replay of the event. Over the last 50 metres or more, Oliveira's legs were pumping dramatically faster than yours were. That's why he won.
It's such a shame. Pistorius has been a superb athlete who has done much to bring Paralympic sport into the mainstream. Now he risks going into the history books as a sore loser.
Saturday, 1 September 2012
Not dead yet
The UK economy keeps refusing to roll over and die, but the media stubbornly refuse to credit any good news that comes along. I've written before about the continuing strength in the labour market, which is surely incompatible with the declines in GDP that ONS has reported for the last three quarters. Then again, ONS has now revised its estimate of the fall in GDP in Q2 from the original figure of 0.7% to "only" 0.5%.
That's still not a good number, but ONS itself had estimated even before the data were released that the extra holiday for the Queen's Jubilee would cut GDP by 0.5%. So it seems as if the economy may at worst be stagnating rather than shrinking -- not that you'd be able to deduce that from the press coverage.
Yesterday Nationwide reported that its widely-followed house price index posted a 1.3% increase in August, the strongest monthly figure in two years. The firm made the mistake of describing its own result as "surprising", and analysts were quick to follow, attributing the result to thin sales volumes, counselling against reading too much into one month's data (never a consideration when the data are bad!) and warning that the positive trend was unlikely to last.
The prize for the gloomiest take goes, as it so often seems to, to the business section of The Times. (Paywa££-protected). The headline on its report: "Jump in house prices fails to dispel gloom". Well, if that's how you report it, what do you expect?
That's still not a good number, but ONS itself had estimated even before the data were released that the extra holiday for the Queen's Jubilee would cut GDP by 0.5%. So it seems as if the economy may at worst be stagnating rather than shrinking -- not that you'd be able to deduce that from the press coverage.
Yesterday Nationwide reported that its widely-followed house price index posted a 1.3% increase in August, the strongest monthly figure in two years. The firm made the mistake of describing its own result as "surprising", and analysts were quick to follow, attributing the result to thin sales volumes, counselling against reading too much into one month's data (never a consideration when the data are bad!) and warning that the positive trend was unlikely to last.
The prize for the gloomiest take goes, as it so often seems to, to the business section of The Times. (Paywa££-protected). The headline on its report: "Jump in house prices fails to dispel gloom". Well, if that's how you report it, what do you expect?
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