Once upon a time,

the day after seeing Sleeping Beauty, (oh yes I did) I went to the Da Vinci exhibition in Trafalgar Square. It was quite easy to read the mirror writing, and with practice, I would be fluent. I was surprised that his mirror writing was alleged to be private. I fundamentally disagree. It was efficient and …

Some mystery shopping by rail

The following are my notes of a day I spent mystery shopping on the railways I might not have been sold the cheapest available ticket. This is a can opener point that raises audit questions about staff training and practices and their computer systems. The platform is very cold. Helpful staff, a TU member, ordered assistance …

What is beyond the bicycle?

Once upon a time rumour had it I was pretty good at mathematics and could integrate and differentiate in n dimensions. I suppose I still do this, but maybe we all do this all the time, and only pretend to ourselves that we cannot do this because we continually look at everything through some form …

The Tour

The Tour I recently had the very great pleasure and privilege of going on "the tour" of Waltham Forest and wrote the following ramblings as a result! Thank you for a very enjoyable morning. I would like to make some personal comments about my thoughts and experiences this morning, I hope they enable us to …

Declaration of Alma Ata

International Conference on Primary Health Care, Alma-Ata, USSR, 6-12 September 1978 “The Conference strongly reaffirms that health, which is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, is a fundamental human right and that the attainment of the highest possible level of health is a …

Pavement Parking

I must ask for your patience in reading this, as I am using the philosophy of an ancient joke. When asked how to get somewhere, the response was, aah, I wouldn’t start from here if I were you. What is parking? The meaning of the word parking has changed dramatically.Richmond1⁠ writes: park (circa 1845) verb …

Sir Richard Burton (not that one) on how to learn a language

Get a simple grammar and vocab. Mark absolutely essential forms and words Learn by heart - never more than 15 minutes at a time. Learn 300 words - easily done - in a week. Stumble through some easy book work. Underline every word you wish to recollect. "Having finished my volume" carefully work up the …

School Travel Plans

Sustrans Scotland1⁠ writes: “School travel plans are simply a list of actions that a school agrees and commits to run as part of a whole school approach. Writing one should not be an onerous task and working together to put the plan into action can be fun and a great learning experience.” “Many schools see …

On Commonplacing

A few useful links 🙂 I don't understand why the big stationers and bookstores seem to be unaware of this subject!  http://theshakespeareblog.com/2014/08/taking-notes-shakespeare-and-table-books/ https://www.nytimes.com/1970/05/03/archives/speaking-of-commonplace-books-commonplace-books.html http://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?entryid=4165https://www.chrisnighman.com/research-projectshttp://motivatedmastery.com/keep-commonplace-book-evernote/https://commonplacecorner.wordpress.comhttps://cybertrackerblog.org/category/the-origin-of-science/And why similar systems don't cross reference or be aware of their history!https://bulletjournal.comAnd why "enthusiasts" are doing this :-)https://ahumbleplace.com/commonplacing-curiosity-and-the-desire-for-knowledge-ourselves/      

Bollards and kerbs

The Dutch Bicycle Design Guide 2016 (CROW) states that bollards kill. A high proportion of elderly and disabled people cycle in the Netherlands and a common often serious incident is crashing into bollards, in twilight dark or wet, both in paths and at the side of paths. It seems these incidents were not bing recorded properly …