Glow-worms

Glow-worms are one of those memories of childhood for me. I’d never actually seen one before, in spite of growing up in the English countryside, but they appear in children’s books so I grew up believing in them. They are so romantic -little insects that produce a light at night. The glow-worm in James and the Giant Peach provides light for the entire crew of the peach. But I didn’t know what they really looked like. When my mother told me that they lived near her, in a cemetery in Stroud, I was keen to go and take a look. At about 22:00 on a fine evening at the end of July we went up to the cemetery to see if we could find any. And we did! Two things surprised me about them; their colour and their intensity. Never having seen one, I had only ever imagined what they would be like. I had imagined a dull yellow glow that you would miss if you weren’t looking closely enough. But that’s not how they looked at all. The intensity was on a par with a green LED, such as you might have on the front of a T.V. And the colour was bright green – not the kind of colour I had imagined at all. We saw several of these lights in the long grass, but as we didn’t take a torch, I have no idea what the insect that made them looks like. I did try a photo, but there was not enough light for the autofocus, and without a flash all I got was a blur. But here is the blur so that you can appreciate the colour of the things.

O2 Broadband

Today I went live with O2 Broadband. They are about the only broadband provider that people actually recommend and don't complain about - them and Sky, and I can't get Sky unless I subscribe to their telly services at a minimum of £16 per month. O2 only put my exchange live last week, and it's taken them 8 days to migrate my line from Twang.net. Today at 08:50 I plugged in the modem, went through the O2 set-up procedure, and without any kind of drama I was live with a download speed of over 12 mbps and an upload speed of 1.1. The cost for this service is £15 per month and you get unlimited downloads as long as you don't abuse it. It helps that I'm only just over 1000 m from the exchange - not everyone will be so lucky, but if you can't get more than 8 mbps then they'll only charge you £12.50 a month. Better still, if you have a mobile contract with O2 they'll knock £5 per month off your bill, and if you don't, then you just get a free pay as you go SIM and use at least £10 per quarter you get the same discount. After 2 hours experience I'm happy to recommend O2 as a broadband provider. Let's hope the don't get bought by Carphone Warehouse!

Vectrix scooter revisited

Canary Wharf Motor Expo was on again this week, and I bumped into the people from Vectrix once again. This company makes an electric scooter called the Maxi Scooter which I rode a couple of years ago and was very impressed with (see my first blog on the subject).
A year on, the scooter hasn’t changed significantly, but the price tag certainly has. Last year they were retailing at over £7,000; now the price is £5,600 OTR. With petrol 15% higher in price and rising I needed to know if it would cope with my commute; so I asked to borrow it for the evening and ride home. They agreed; so on Thursday 2008-06-12 I was to pick up a fully charged scooter.
The economics, surprisingly, still don’t entirely add up, it has to be said. There is no doubt that now the Vectrix would save me money on my commute. If I was to sell my Pan European and go electric only then it would save a significant amount of money. However, that’s not practical – for example I’m riding the National Road Rally in a couple of weeks and that requires 870 km without stopping long enough for a recharge. Limiting the range to 110 km (at best) would not work. So the comparison has to compare the full cost of the Vectrix with the additional cost of riding the Honda to work.
First shock is the lifespan of the Vectrix battery. They are predicting it to go 10 years, or 80,000 km, or 1700 charging cycles. Given that I ride 25,000 km per year, that battery would last little more than 3 years. So the economics have to work on the bike being scrapped after 3 years (at least I don’t have to factor re-sale value into the equation). That means £146 per month in depreciation. Then the cost of borrow that extra money over three years works out at another £25 per month (that’s an optimistic number too). However, that depreciation might be overstated as the battery is supposed to be replaceable at a fraction of the cost of a new bike, so it might be possible to reduce that figure. Again, the cost of tyres is a deciding factor here – it’s by far the highest item on the running costs. I’m assuming maintenance can be mostly done by me, and allowed £50 per year, but these small wheels are going to go through around 3 rear tyres and probably one or more fronts per year. Apparently it’s quite heavy on rear brake pads too. That comes to another £40 per month, fitted. With another assumption on additional insurance costs, that brings the total monthly running to around £60. Adding up the running and financing costs, I reckon the scooter would cost £232 per month if it was used purely for commuting.
Comparing this to the cost of the Pan European, as I said, I have to remove costs that would be incurred if it sat in the garage all year. This includes tax, insurance most of the depreciation and one service per year. Pans keep their value quite well, but they also cover very high distances before they are fit for scrap. So I’ve allowed £40 per month for depreciation, and nothing for the cost of finance. The main costs are servicing, tyres and petrol, which come to around £200 per month. Two thirds of this is petrol, so it’s quite sensitive to rising petrol costs. If I assume a petrol cost of £2/litre then the number rises by £100 per month.

So the bottom line is:

• Vectrix cost per month £232
• Pan Euro cost per month £240
• Total saving per month - £8.

Hardly a convincing case, but I suppose if I could reduce that depreciation number it might make sense.

So I turned up at the Vectrix display on Thursday with my lid and leathers expecting to be given a key. A different salesman was on duty this time, and she was a little less optimistic than the chap I saw on Wednesday. She said they’d looked up my address and thought I’d struggle with the range. In fact they were pretty sure that I wouldn’t make the 55 km home if I went on the motorway. That range 110 km is only available if you use urban roads and keep the speed down to 50 km/h or below for most of your journey. Unfortunately that would leave me with at least a 90 minute commute – something I could have lived with for one evening, but not as a daily grind. They spoke about the new generation of battery that would be out in a year or two that might extend the range; and about the concept sportsbike they’ve got in pre-production already – that does 200 km/h with the same range as the scooter. But currently they have nothing to offer that would do my 55 km commute on the motorways and fast A-roads to Canary Wharf. Luckily the Pan European is still in fine fettle and should last at least another 100,000 km (4 years commuting) before I have to replace it. Perhaps the electric will have become practical by then. Who knows where the price of petrol, or indeed electricity will be by then.

National Road Rally 2008

See my other blog for full details.

Psalm 23 - The Lord is my Shepherd

I was recently discussing musical settings of Psalm 23 (The Lord is my Shepherd) with my eldest daughter. She went to a Church of England primary school, and therefore learnt a version of the song at school. But we use a different version at church, so we started trying to remember all the versions we had heard. There are so many, we eventually resorted to YouTube to remind us of the different tunes. There are even more versions there, so here’s my pick of the best and most interesting:

Anyone who was at school in the 1970s, even if they didn’t attend a church school, probably learnt the “Crimond” version:


My own favourite is the version by Howard Goodall. Those who know the BBC series The Vicar of Dibley will know the first and last verses, but may not know the middle bit. Here the Choir Boys sing it:


Here’s a Greek Orthodox version ... in greek:



The version we use at church is composed by Stuart Townend. I couldn't find it sung on YouTube, but here's the tune:


[Update - I did find a version with the words:]


Even a hip hop version (well, kind of):



One by John Rutter




Here’s an odd version composed by Joel Navarro, and performed by Sole Voce of Los Angeles



...and a version composed by an Australian opera singer Jason Barry-Smith and performed by an Australian youth choir:



Here’s Bob Chilcott's setting:



... and Keith Green's song:



Psalm 23 must be the best known psalm in entire psalter, and is probably one of the best know passages of the entire bible. Here are the words from the King James Authorized translation:

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he
leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I
walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou
art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table
before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my
cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of
my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

[Update: thank you to my contributor for pointing out the version known as Brother James' Air, which is in fact, the one we use at church. I didn't know it was called that, which is why I missed it. Here's a youtube example

Grohe Dump Valve

A few years ago I installed a new bathroom, and replaced the WC cistern with a concealed one. Not long after it was installed it started leaking water into the pan. It definitely wasn’t the overflow, and it was not too bad, so I left it to leak. It kept getting worse.

Now I remember some years ago hearing a debate about cisterns in this country and new EU regulations to free up the market. It used to be the case that a cistern had to have a siphonic valve to be legal in the UK. These are leak-proof by design. As soon as the cistern is empty, the siphon is lost and the water is trapped until the flush is operated again. The EU wanted the UK to drop the requirement for a siphonic flush because we were the only country in the world that manufactured them. Our rules were preventing import of cisterns from other EU countries, forming a trade barrier. Our bathroom manufacturers at the time claimed that other types of valve were not leak-proof, and therefore relaxing the regulation would cause a flood of wasted water to leak down our toilet pans. The EU won – and at the time I thought they were right – this was just protectionism masquerading as environmental concern. However, I have now been proved wrong. Non-siphonic cistern valves can and will leak, and when they do they are a pain to put right.

Eventually my cistern was leaking so badly that I had to do something about it. First of all I descaled it – we have extremely hard water and there was lots of lime scale in the cistern. That helped a bit, but after a few months it was leaking more than ever, and keeping us awake with its trickling noise. I took out the guts of the valve and took it to the local plumbers’ merchant to see if he could advise. “That’s a Grohe dump valve” he said; “if I could get hold of them I’d make a fortune.” Apparently these things are notorious, particularly in hard water areas. So over to Google to find out something about the Grohe dump valve and how you service them. I came across an interesting piece at How to mend it .com where someone had noticed a water bubble forming under the skin of the silicon washer. They said if you prick it with a pin you can remove the bubble, and allow the valve to seat properly. On inspection I found exactly such a bubble in both the washers in my valve. I pricked them with a pin, a tiny amount of water squirted out, and I was back in business. The thing now seals like new. Considering I had been contemplating replacing the cistern at a cost of at least £50, I think I’ve got off lightly. I wonder how long its’ going to last.

Update - see the epilogue

Christian Aid 2008

Next week is Christian Aid Week – the week when Christians from all the churches in the country will be knocking on doors and asking people to donate to this very worthy charity. I was recently speaking to some people from my church who have been collecting for this cause for many years. I was surprised to find that few of them enjoy the job of walking round the parish, knocking on doors and begging for donations to help the poorest people in the world. Most of them, it seems, do the job because it’s a job worth doing, and not because they enjoy it. One person commented that door-to-door collecting is a very old fashioned way of raising money. Christian Aid is one of very few charities who still fund themselves in this way.

So this year they've decided to use some new technology to support this very worthy cause. If you would like to make a donation to Christian Aid without someone having to come out to knock on your door and ask you to fill an envelope with cash, then use our fund raising page to make a donation with your credit- or debit card. It’s a simple transaction – just click the “Donate” button on the widget above to visit the virtual door-to-door collection page. They don't guarantee that you won’t also get a call from a collector; but if you tell them you’ve already donated on-line I'm sure they’ll be delighted to leave without the traditional envelope full of cash.