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Silent crossing

June 15th, 2017 · Posted by Skuds in Life

I learned a new thing today, while I was crossing London Road.

The crossing by the junction with Martyrs Avenue has pelican crossings, or maybe they are puffin crossings, anyway they have the little buttons for pedestrians to push, and the bumpy pavement bits so that blind people know there is a crossing there, but it occurred to me the other day that there is no beeping when the man goes green.

Today there was an engineer working on the signals so I asked him if the crossing was supposed to beep and he told me that it does not, because the two halves of the road are not green for pedestrians at the same time. So I asked him how blind people, having determined that there is a crossing because of the bumpy paving, know that it is safe to cross.

He showed me that there is a little button underneath the control panel, and when the little man turns green the button rotates. How clever. Mind you, the way car and lorries stop across the crossing in heavy traffic or run the red lights in light traffic it can be pretty dangerous crossing there even when you can see, but I am still chuffed about learning this tiny little new thing today.

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One-wheel drive

June 15th, 2017 · Posted by Skuds in Life

I think I have done my bit for increasing the general level of happiness in Crawley this week, because when is a fat bloke on a bicycle not funny? And if he is puffing away, even though not going very fast it is just funnier.

The thing is I have had early meetings in the town centre for three nights running. It is less than two miles and the weather is dry so why not blow the cobwebs off the bike and use that instead of driving? Well maybe the shock to the system of actually exerting myself could be a reason. By the time I get there I feel like a heart attack waiting to happen, but I’m sure it will be OK when I get used to it again.

Apart from anything, if I am going to be part of the decision-making process on cycle route provision I might as well get more familiar with just how it all works.

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Only an idiot

June 13th, 2017 · Posted by Skuds in Politics

At the council today I gave the go-ahead to a change that only an idiot could object to. I have been down to Corals to place a bet on how many councillors will complain and who they will be. Just wondering what to spend my winnings on.

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Mexico to Jamaica

June 13th, 2017 · Posted by Skuds in Music

Somehow this managed to escape my attention when it came out last month, but Ozomatli have a new album out (Spotify) called Non-Stop: Mexico to Jamaica.

About ten years ago, Ozomatli started getting a bit of a reputation as one of the best live acts in the world, with a lively mixture of Mexican-flavoured Latin and hip-hop. As if that wasn’t catchy enough they have now taken the latin/hip hop mix,  added reggae to it, got Sly & Robbie to produce it, and roped in more guest artists than on a Santana album.

On top of all that, one of the tracks is a cover of Land of 1000 Dances, already one of the catchiest songs ever. Completely recommended for steaming through headphones at work.

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Letting the side down

June 13th, 2017 · Posted by Skuds in Life

I do feel like I have betrayed my basic priciples today. I worked from home, but still wore my work suit.

To make up for it, when I clocked off I changed into cargo shorts and a t-shirt to go to a council event.

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Glad all over

June 12th, 2017 · Posted by Skuds in Politics

Now the election is finally done and I am not feeling so much “Glad all over” like the Dave Clark Five sang but “glad its all over”, and I’m sure I am not alone in that. There does seem to be a bit of election fatigue round here. Because we elect our borough council by thirds and have a county council election in the odd year, there is an election every year in Crawley already. After a recent general election and then a very divisive referendum, we really didn’t need a totally unnecessary hubris-driven snap general election this year. [Read more →]

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The Irregular

May 22nd, 2017 · Posted by Skuds in Life

I have a book to recommend. The Irregular by H.B.Lyle.

Last month I had proof copies of two different new novels that trade on a connection with Sherlock Holmes. The first was Arrowood by Mick Finlay, which was interesting enough, but I have to admit that I found The Irregular to be much more exciting. Let’s put it this way; both seem destined to tbe the first in a series but it is the sequel to The Irregular that I will look forward to more. [Read more →]

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Twin Peaks

May 22nd, 2017 · Posted by Skuds in Life

There is a lot of hype about a new series of Twin Peaks, which is exciting a lot of people and I kind of wish I was one of them. The thing is, I never watched Twin Peaks when it first came out. It sounds like something I would have enjoyed, so I wonder why I didn’t watch it. [Read more →]

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Outskirts

April 13th, 2017 · Posted by Skuds in Life, Politics

A short review of Outskirts: Living Life on the Edge of the Green Belt by John Grindrod which I mentioned in a previous post. It is due to be out in hardback on June 1st. Although I got hold of an advanced proof copy, I did buy his previous book and would have bought this too if I had not been lucky enough to get an advance copy. [Read more →]

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Green Belt

April 13th, 2017 · Posted by Skuds in Politics

I have just finished reading a book about the green belt, which was more fun than it sounds. One passage in particular really stopped me in my tracks while I was reading:

‘One of the things that impressed me most about my dad’s take on it, because he was surprisingly left wing as well, was that he was the one who pointed out to me about planning permission, and the Town and Country Planning Acts being an attempt to nationalise the land. You couldn’t nationalise the banks and you couldn’t nationalise the land, because that’s what they really wanted to do, but you could nationalise the right to develop it, so no one had a right, even though they owned it, without the consent of the community. I’d grown up among architects – bloody planning permission, you know, making you do this, making you do that – but it is the consent of the community.’ He smiled. ‘It’s a beautiful idea.’

I have spent a few years on council planning committees, been on summer schools and training courses, but I have never heard anybody describe the planning system in those terms before.

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