Alice and Kev…
It’s not often that I will link to another website in a post.
Well, that’s a little odd to say given that I haven’t really done that many posts here (I started with good intentions, but meh).
It is quite often that I find myself in a situation where I really feel for a fictional person. A few years ago, author Tim Bowler came to my secondary school and before that I read his book Shadows. I found myself very affected by this book for some reason. There have been other instances where this has happened but I won’t go into them now.
I was recently shown this blog about Alice and Kev (http://aliceandkev.wordpress.com) , where these two characters, child Alice and her father Kev, have been made in The Sims 3, been made homeless, moneyless, and with certain personality traits. It could be considered a social documentary on the homeless, an amusing yet toughtful story, or somebody with nothing better to do playing The Sims and writing about it on his website.
I’ve often thought about the homeless, especially homeless children. As I write this, I am lying on my bed, fairly comfortable (aside from the fact that I’ve done my back in) and the fridge downstairs has food in it, I’ve got clothes in my wardrobe, and am typing this on a computer bought within the past couple of weeks. I’m lucky, I also live in an area where there isn’t homelessness. But even twenty miles up the road in Barnstaple there are people living homeless, some by default some by choice. I don’t know what the case is with children being homeless, but I know there are some.
Reading through Alilce and Kev, I got this overwhelming urge to find Alice and just give her a hug. A few times I’ve wanted to be able to do something with homeless children but don’t know what.
There is something else that I won’t go into now though about something that happened a while back that I haven’t forgotton about.
Anyway, I’d go and read Alice and Kev if I were you. It’s being updated daily (or so it seems), and if you don’t start feeling for Alice then I think there’s something wrong with you.
The Accident Rating and Punctuality of Sodor Rail
I’m not entirely sure what brought this to my mind today, I think it could have been when I was in the library earlier and a number of Thomas the Tank Engine books were returned.
Sodor Rail - the Fat Controller’s new privatised railway company serving the Island of Sodor - must have the worst safety and timekeeping record for any railway. I shall prove this now by going through the Thomas the Tank Engine Collection - a book I received for Christmas a few years back.
Thomas and Gordon: Thomas, on coach shunting duties, comes into the station later than intended, meaning that Gordon’s express leaves only just on time. Thomas is not uncoupled from the train. OK, so it’s not an accident or anything, but a potential late running express train. However, Thomas did end up at a station that wasn’t his own, required posession of a siding and also a path to return to his own station and yard.
Thomas’s Train: Due to an engine (Henry) failure, Thomas is entrusted with pulling the passenger train that Henry cannot. He leaves the station without being coupled to his train, and has to return to get them. This would have left the train to leave the station late, due to an engine failure, and as Thomas wasn’t correctly coupled to the train it would have left much later than scheduled. Again, a path would have been required for this late running train as well as Thomas having to return to the station. I will disregard the incorrect punctuation in the title for now.
Thomas and the Trucks: Thomas and Edward swap duties, so Thomas is heading a goods train. He fails to stop at the correct station and just about stops in time to avoid the buffers at the end of the line. To quote the book, ‘luckily the line was clear as they swerved into the goods yard’. Of course, there is also the unplanned swapping of engines between duties, which resulted in an engine not cleared for goods use to be used. There is also the issue that Thomas, who is ‘tired of pushing coaches [and] wants to see the world’ doesn’t have the correct route knowledge for this line.
Thomas and the Breakdown Train: A new engine, James, has an accident caused by his brakes catching fireand Thomas helps retrieve him. A derailment is never good news really. The front trucks are all damaged in the crash and so is James’ tender. Goods in those carraiges is also damaged then, as well as the rails and the lineside fencing. James however is fine but is sent for repairs.
Thomas and the Guard: Henry’s train is late to Thomas’ branch line junction. He leaves quickly to get back to timetable, leaving his guard behind in the process, but is stopped at a signal. Now, the presence of a signal on a single-track branch line served by one train is a bit of a mystery in itself. I must congratulate Sodor Rail in letting the branch line train wait for the late running main line train, caused by an engine problem; ‘my system is out of order’ (Henry - that’s two failures for Henry so far). I believe that Thomas did make up for the lost time on the route so that’s a plus.
Thomas goes Fishing: A water tower at a station is out of order, so Thomas is filled up with water from a nearby river with a bucket dropped from a bridge. Shortly after, Thomas experieces boiler problems and is sent to a siding where he is inspected to find that there is fish in him. First, an out of order water tower at a station is a problem, but not an uncommon one even on the mainland. Thomas then stops on a bridge - what do the passengers think of this? - and is filled up with water from the river. This would have taken quite some time. At the next station, Thomas is uncoupled and sent to a siding, meaning that another engine would have to continue with Thomas’ train. Fish is found in the boiler. Why didn’t the driver and fireman notice the fish when they were pouring the water from the bucket into the engine? And why was Thomas blamed for it at the end - it wasn’t his fault…
Thomas, Terence and the Snow: Thomas, out in snow without his snowplough, gets caught in a drift and has to be pulled out with a tractor wile a bus comes for the passengers. The wrong kind of snow? Maybe. Of course, we know from the beginning of this year what effect snow has on trains in this country, so we can’t really blame Sodor Rail for this one, and they did try and continue to operate a service despite the conditions. I think that, despite the delays and cancellations to service, this one is a plus for Sodor Rail.
Thomas and Bertie: Thomas and a bus race between two stations. Thomas wins the race. Such a common problem with the public transport infrastructure in this country. A bus and a train have been given the same route between two stations. I do think it’s a plus for Sodor Rail as they managed to get there first, and after this incidence, Bertie travels around the towns taking passengers to the station where Thomas then takes them onwards.
The Fat Controller’s Engines: All the engines on the Island of Sodor are going to the mainland. While showing the shadowing replacement engines what they’re doing, Thomas has an accident and has to be repaired. Again, an accident which has left an engine damaged. On the plus side, the workmen do manage to fix Thomas so he does manage to travel. Cause of accident, brakes I think.
Thomas comes to Breakfast: Thomas rolls out of his shed and, unable to stop, comes off the end of the (unbuffered) rails and into the stationmaster’s house (or the Fat Controller’s house on the TV series). A cleaner has messed with the controls inside of Thomas, which is what causes him to roll out of the shed without a driver. Temporary rails have to be laid on the road at the end of the siding in order to pull Thomas back, so the road would have to have been closed. There is also sustainable damage to the stationmaster’s house and his garden (which included trees) while the stationmaster’s wife has to recook their breakfast. ‘You miserable engine’… A replacement engine - a diesel railcar of all things - has to be put onto Thomas’ branch line while Thomas is repaired. Again, Thomas gets the blame for this, rather than the cleaner who messed with Thomas’ controls…
I’ve just realised how long a process this is going to be. This book is separated by character in the series and not in the order the stories were released in, so I shall continue next time with Percy, the Small Engine.
Tags: random, thomas the tank engine, trains
Pay your PIN by PIN
Don’t worry, this isn’t going to be a rant about using PINs to pay for your items with credit cards (though while I’m at it, all the leaflets and stuff that were going round at the time that Morrisons changed said that using PINs were more secure - surely it is much easier to remember a four-digit number than it is to copy somebody’s signature… on the upside it means that I am able to use my mum’s card to do the shopping which, given that she’s pretty much housebound now, is a good thing!)
I was in a shop the other day and they were using a card terminal that wasn’t part of the till itself so they had to type in the amount I had bought.
And that lead me to think…
Has anybody ever bought something that is the value of their PIN?
For instance, if my PIN was 4253, and I bought something that was £42.53 then that would be a yes (remembering of course that when values are entered into tills and card units, it is always done by pence so that they would enter in 4253 and so would I).
(And, no, that isn’t my PIN, I’m not that stupid. I did consider double-bluffing you too as that is the sort of thing I would do, but even I have a line that I daren’t cross on the Internet, and publising my PIN is about 250 yards away from that line! As an aside, I used to, when I was with friends and getting money out of a cash machine, say four random digits as I entered my PIN just to confuse them. Of course, me being me ended up confusing myself on a number of occasions resulting in me not putting the number in correctly. But I digress.)
Of course, there are some problems with this theory. Depending if you’re rich or poor, or your PIN is a number in the low thousands or the high thousands. One of my PINs is quite a high number, and I think I’m quite unlikely to come across this situation myself with that card, while the other was what started me thinking as the amount I bought was rather close to my PIN. If you’re rich, with a high number, say 9835 then £98.35 is nothing to you and you’re quite likely to spend that, yet with a low number PIN (say, 1378) then £13.78 is such a low amount that you would probably just hand over a twenty pound note. On the other side, if you’re poor with a low number then £13.78 is, not a lot of money, but something you’d use a card for. £98.35 would probably be a weekly shop or something so something that would happen infrequently if at all.
I can honestly say that this has never happened to me. I just think these things up, honestly. I don’t know why or where but they do show up in my mind.
I shall let you know if it ever does happen to me, and I’d be quite interested to hear if it has happened to you - though I’d advise against publishing the actual amounts and therefore also your PIN!
Tags: money, pin, question, random
Revenue Protection?
This weekend I have been in London. As usual, I took the train between Tiverton Parkway station and Paddington.
Today, I returned, and I found myself contemplating about several things actually, but one of which I am about to mention to you.
Although I had a completely valid ticket for the train on which I was travelling, not at one single point during my journey did I have to prove that I had it. This was a trip which cost me £12 because I bought the ticket in advance, but a walk-on fare from Paddington to Tiverton costs around £60. There are ticket barriers at Paddington Station, but if your train departs from platforms 1 - 10, then you can bypass them simply by walking around them (you can go to the footbridge at the end of the platforms and cross the lines that way). Not at one point on my journey did anybody ask to see my ticket, and Tiverton station itself has no ticket barriers. (The larger stations on the FGW network do have barriers though and I know that Exeter St Davids has been effectively blocked so that the only exit is through said barriers.)
Now, I don’t actually mind this, nor do I mind the fact that I spent money getting what I could have got for free. What does strike me though is that most TOCs (Train Operating Companies) are securing their stations with ticket barriers in order to make sure people buy tickets, London Waterloo has recently opened the longest single ticket barrier line in a station in the UK and, I think (though may be corrected) Europe, and I remember reading that First ScotRail has seen an increase in revenue due to the installation of ticket barriers. Of course, ticket barriers do have their issues, mainly that many rail geeks like myself, and those who have moved further up the geekery ladder to become trainspotters, can no longer get access to the ends of platforms without a ticket. I spent 90p a while back on what was possibly the randomest train ticket ever - a return journey between Exeter St Davids and Exeter Central - just to be able to get onto the platform to take some photographs.
So, I don’t really know what the point in this little rant was actually. I think it’s the hypocricy really that gets me.
Anyway - what’s wrong with sending somebody down a train with a holepunch or a stamp to actually check tickets, and why do we not see them anymore?
Knightshayes & Grand Western Canal
Another Thursday, another day out taking photographs with the AS Photography Students…
This time we went to the nearby National Trust property, Knightshayes Court, followed by a quick jaunt to the Grand Western Canal. As with the students, I took more photos at Knightshayes than the canal, but more importantly, today was the first day of using my brand new Nikon D60 DSLR camera, which is actually MINE!!! I no longer have to borrow cameras from work (having said that, I’m in London on Saturday and will probably borrow one of the J10 cameras!). I’ve only been taking photos as a ‘photographer’ (of sorts) for about seven years now…
Anyway - photos. Here you go. Enjoy!
Knightshayes & Grand Western Canal 19-03-09
 Knightshayes
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 Looking towards Tiverton with Heathcoats factory visible in the distance
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 The National Trust tree? (compare it with the NT logo!)
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 Pink Flower
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 Pink Girl
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 Seagull - GW Canal
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 Jesus takes the photo? (on the water you see...)
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Tags: 'p-o-p', photographs, Work
Eggesford and Honiton
At the end of the day on Friday, I was given one of the Nikon D40 DSLR cameras by one of the students who had experienced some problems focussing it. This was the excuse I needed to borrow one of said cameras over the weekend so that I could take some random photographs.
So yesterday, after work at the Library, I was going to go to Barnstaple, but decided to head down towards Exeter, heading down the A377. I stopped off at Eggesford railway station on the way, took some photographs round there, but as I couldn’t really be bothered to wait for a train to come (I’d have to wait there about forty minutes for that) I continued down to Exeter.
Last time I was at Exeter St Davids station, I had problems accessing the platforms to take photos (bloody ticket barriers) so decided to continue on. It was while having my lunch at the Burger King at the M5 J30 services that I decided that I had never been to Honiton railway station so that is where I headed to next. When I got there, bizzarely I did see an ‘HST Stop’ sign on the tracks as I pulled into the station in my car, but even odder couldn’t actually find the sign when I got out to photograph it. Again, I had a bit of time to wait until a train appeared, but it did and it was number 001 of the class City of Exeter. That information won’t be appreciated by any except any proper train afficondios out there (of which I’m not quite one yet!).
Anyway… Photos… here you go.
Railway 14-03-09 - Eggesford and Honiton
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And as it happens, I didn’t have any problems with the auto focus on this camera, so I’m not sure what the student was doing wrong…
Tags: bridges, photographs, trains
The Return of the 307 Bus
People who have known me for quite some time (those who knew me back at Secondary School) will know that for a short while I appeared to have a bit of a fixation with the 307 bus, the route which back then was between Barnstaple and South Molton, occasionally down here to North Molton, occasionally Taunton. Run by First Red Bus (whose busses were painted yellow), this small and strange fixation continued before fizzling out at some point for reasons that I cannot quite recall but for which I’m glad.
Anyway, back a little while ago, can’t recall exactly when, First Red Bus, now First Devon & Cornwall, had a change of their routes, renumbering the 307 bus the number 7, truncating it at South Molton, again occasionally out here to North Molton but not to Taunton. (The 346 service that did the same route but continued onto Tiverton became the 155 and was taken over by Stagecoach Devon.) The 7 recently became the X7 and now zips down the North Devon Link Road direct between Barnstaple and South Molton, occasionally extending to North Molton, and leaving Filleigh without a bus service as Swimbridge and Landkey are now served by either the 5 or 6 (can’t remember which) new service.
The 307, it would seem, is no more.
Except…
Recently, I have noticed a couple of Stagecoach Devon buses with 307 showing on their matrix display (’blinds’ sounds better but buses don’t have those anymore…) and heading to Bampton. So Taunton still doesn’t have a direct bus service from Barnstaple anymore, but the 307 Bus is once more. The bus doesn’t go directly to South Molton either like the X7 and the 155 do, but trundels its way along the old 307 route through Landkey, Swimbridge and Filleigh, then continues on what I assume to be the old route (along the B3227) to Bampton.
ADDITIONAL: Yesterday (21/03) I was in London doing a Random 15 Tube Challenge and at one stage was on the Picadilly Line for a fair stretch. The train number of this particular service? Yep, that’s right: 307
Eden Project Trip
Today, work was a little different. Instead of spending the day in Tiverton, a minibus was taken down to the Eden Project in Cornwall so that some of the photography students could take some photos. Of course, I wasn’t one to miss out on an opportunity like this, so under the guise of ‘Technical Support’ I went along with Sharon to help out. Of course, everybody went their separate ways so actually my ‘technical support’ wasn’t necessarily required, but at least I was there.
The minibus was a bit dodgy though, especially as Sharon had problems finding fourth gear on occasions, and any form of gradient steeper than 3% would tend to conk it out. In fact, on the way back I was messing around with my phone as I was bored and set my Facebook status so it read ‘Richard isn’t sure that the college minibus will make it to the top of this hill’ and sent a couple of people text messages to that effect as well.
Anyway, of the 290-odd photos I took, I’ve managed to whittle it down to about fifty which will appear below for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy. Photos include stuff which will (eventually) go into the larger ‘Bridges Project’ that was started while I was a student at college and also ‘Photos of People taking Photos’.
Eden Project 12-03-09
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Tags: 'p-o-p', bridges, photographs, Work
More Snow
Yes, OK - my life is this dull that two snow days on the trot I’ve made a post of photographs. Still, it’s not every day that it does snow and apparantly it’s going to all disappear by the weekend. Quite a bit of it has disappeared here today to be honest which actually is a bit of a shame as despite the inconvenience of not being able to get to work and suchlike, I like snow. I like the feeling that it makes under your feet when you’re the first person to walk over it. I like the way it makes everything look bright and clean.
(There is a paragraph about this in Rob Grant’s book Incompetence but I can’t find it at the moment - if you have the book it’s in the Prologue which you will find after Chapter 2.)
I also found out this morning that it’s surprisingly fun to drive over. For reasons that still aren’t quite clear to me, I decided that I should continue with my normal ploy of turning off the Link Road and nip the rest of the journey to Tiverton on the back roads to avoid the traffic that usually builds up around the Bolham Road roundabout.
Anyway - here are some photographs. Again, taken on my phone and while some are from the inside of the car I was not driving at the time, again caught on the roadworks just south of Knowstone. I will probably at some point touch some of these photos up in Photoshop but these’ll do for the time being.
More Snow March 2009
 A361 near Knowstone
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 A361 near Knowstone
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 A361 near Knowstone
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 A near Knowstone
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 On the Back Roads
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 back roads
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 Back Roads
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 Near the ground on the back roads
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Tags: photographs, random, snow
Snow day… maybe
So when I got out of bed this morning, I was greeted with the horrible sound of my mum attempting to sing ‘Winter Wonderland’. Because it had snowed overnight.
It was still relatively OK though, but quite white outside. That was, until I got into work…
Snow March 09
 View from my front door, 7.50am
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 A361 near Knowstone, around 8.15
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 Obliterated Roadwork Signs on A361 near Knowstone, around 8.15am
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 Still on the A361 near Knowstone, probably around 8.20am by now!
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 ... yet this was the view out of my office when I got in to work, around 9.10am.
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(all photos taken on my phone, and honestly I was not driving while some of these were taken - there were traffic lights on the A361 which caught me up! Images hosted on Picasa)
Admittedly mainly this afternoon the weather down here has turned a bit so it’s a bit more snowy, but it’s not settling. I don’t think I could cope with another snow-day to be honest as I just get really bored. I’m just amazed at how different a few miles can make in the weather - although it was a little cold it still looked rather summery down here when I got here this morning!
Tags: phone, photographs, snow, Work