posted by admin on Apr 27

A report in BBC Wildlife Magazine has highlighted (again) the horrible effects of litter in the worlds oceans, with a close eye on Britain’s Coast.

There is a large picture of a young gannet ready to leave the nest for the first time, but he can’t. He is in perfect health and is old enough but he can’t leave the nest. His nest is made of litter, plastic and old fishing rope and his leg has grown into a knot in the rope and he is basically ‘tied to the ground’. He will starve to death where he sits, before ever having really started his life.

He’s not the only one – a group of volunteers went out to these breeding colonies and were able to free over 100 trapped youngsters and several adults. They also had to humanely destroy many more due to loss of both feet (as a gannet cannot take off from the water without both feet).

In April 2002 an adult minke whale was found dead with no obvious signs of injury. During the autopsy it was found to have 800g of plastic bags in it’s stomach - and we all know that plastic bags don’t actually weigh anything individually – so I dread to think how many that was. The bags had filled up the whales stomach however, so there was no room for actual food and the whale had starved to death.

The same happens to albatrosses – the parents pick up litter and plastic items which float on the sea thinking they are food and regurgitate them straight into the stomach of their offspring. Obviously these items cannot be digested so remain (uncomfortably) in the stomach. Eventually there is just no more room in their tiny tummies for real food so they also starve to death in the nests.

Greenpeace report that around 60-80% of all marine rubbish is plastic, so what’s being done to reduce the impact?

Well, government plans are all large scale and you don’t have any effect on them, (apart from the new attempt currently trying to have balloons classed as litter and to stop mass-releases) but – honestly – have you ever dropped litter? Not just on the beach or in a river, anywhere?

Litter doesn’t just stay where you drop it, it moves in the wind or rain, or with animals as in this case. And even if it’s biodegradable – it still counts as litter as it might take only a week or two to completely break down, but it could have been ingested or got caught on an animal way before then, causing harm or even death.

Don’t litter: The only way to stop carrier bags, lighters, bottle tops, pens and the like getting into the sea is to never drop them in the first place – and if you do drop them, pick them up.

Dispose of Carefully or Recycle: Dispose of your rubbish in council approved amenity tips, or with approved collections. Recycle plastic where you can, and stop using things you don’t need.

Stop Using Things You Don’t Need: I mean do you really need those 2 apples from the supermarket in a clear plastic bag before you can buy them? No. Do you really need that DVD in a little carrier bag when you have other shopping already? No, you don’t. Anyway – shops providing named carrier bags for their products are charging you to make them in the first place. You are paying to advertise for them.

What Are You Doing?

I already use jute carriers and reuse existing bags where ever possible, but I’ve not been trying as hard as I could to reduce other plastic waste – until now.

Care to join me?

posted by admin on Apr 22

Hello again, and thanks for sticking with me here on this new blog.

So far we have covered 6 different categories with posts ranging from International Competitions to the fastest train on Earth!

Hopefully, now the site will start to expand, taking on many more exciting topics that are all new to us all – like latest inventions, as well as posts about what I have found out myself on my travels, one to include Pet Insurance.  Although it has been around for well over a decade – it’s amazing how many people still don’t know about it!  All will be revealed soon……

Thanks again for listening.

Cat 

posted by admin on Apr 15

London have now introduced a second charge to visiting the city by road.  First of all it was the Congestion Charge which charges drivers of most vehicles when they enter certain areas of the city centre, trying to deter high traffic volumes.  But now they are charging for vehicle types.

So if you have recently been driving around the M25 and wondered what the green Low Emission Zone (LEZ) sign was going on about, here is a quick guide>

What is it – The LEZ was formed with the idea of improving the air quality of the city by deterring the most polluting vehicles from entering.  This includes older diesel lorries, buses, coaches, etc at the moment, but will include more vehicles over the next 2 years, and will include motorcaravans and horseboxes over 3.5 tonnes.  The LEZ does not affect cars and motoercycles.

Where is it - It includes most of Greater London inside the M25 and some areas outside of this – although the M25 itself is exempt from this charge.  So it extends from Heathrow to Brentwood, and Enfiled to near Gatwick Airport.  You can use the government website to check certain areas by inserting the postcode into their ‘Location Check’ tool.

When it is chargeable – The LEZ is always in operation, 24 hours a day every day – including bank holidays, and runs from midnight to midnight of every day.  Basically if you are staying somewhere in the LEZ overnight, you will have to pay for 2 days entry.

How do you pay – You can pay online, by phone or by post, although by post needs to be applied for at least 10 days before you wish to enter the zone.  By phone or online can be paid as late as the day after your travel into the LEZ.

Who pays – So far, it is only the registered owners of lorries over 12 tonnes who have to pay the charge, but from the 7th July 2008 it will also include buses and coaches over 5 tonnes and horseboxes, lorries and motoercaravans between 3.5 and 12 tonnes.

How much – At the moment the daily charge for lorries is set at 200UK pounds, but will be lower with the smaller vehicles added later.  However, the penalties are 1000 if not paid on time, and 1500 if paid late!  The way these are calculated is by remote cameras registering numberplates of vehicles entering the LEZ, then the fines are sent direct to the owner of the vehicle to pay – they are responsible for the charges, so they will pay the fine.

Find out more – go online to the government website for the London Emission Zone where it has all the details in many languages for your assistance in making sure you do not travel without having paid correctly.  There is also a ‘Common Questions’ tool for more advice. 

posted by admin on Apr 10

This is a piece of software that allows you to combine OS mapping with a personal location tool and with a notepad thrown in!

This software is available to use only on certain mobile phones – which must have a camera; and one such phone that can handle this, is the Nokia N95. The software then uses GPS to allow you to determine your exact position anywhere in the UK (at the moment), with other European countries being made available soon on the same system.

Extra Features:
In addition, this software allows you to take co-ordinates or photos of locations you are standing in and save them onto your maps – with your added notes if there was something of interest worth recording. It can also offer a panaramic image of a chosen area showing all the places you can see in the distance, so you can identify which hill, valley or town is which from some distance.

It is also very easy to record details of all of your walks, with advice and identifiable points being easy to insert in the field. Any saved data will then be displayed on screen for your reference when you recall that particular area.

You can also save the details of everywhere you have been on any one walk and it will then allow you to send this information to a website to either record for yourself, or show your friends where you have been! In theory this would then allow another person to follow the exact same route with your notes as their guide – if they wanted to, of course….

Plants and Wildlife:
It is a great tool to map out locations of plants and wildlife if that is your interest. You can use the camera function to record the image, the GPS to identify the location and the notepad function to write down what you saw and any behaviour notations. You can then use this information back on your pc to record sightings over a period of time or look at ranges of certain individuals or species.

Camera’s on mobile phones though are notoriously poor quality compared to professional cameras, so it depends on whether you want quality or quantity here. Don’t expect great shots with your mobile, but never-the-less it is a handy feature for recording visual details.

Good points:
It is a handy little tool that fits in your pocket wherever you go – no more wet camera, soggy foldaway map or pens that don’t write through rain drops! The whole thing is simple to use and can record personal journeys that can be saved for eternity!

Bad points:
For the GPS to work, it needs a good satellite connection and this is not always available everywhere. Also, if the battery on your mobile runs out while you are in the field – you have no map!

An additional problem not strictly linked to the software, but none the less annoying, is that if your internet access is limited by the phone model or network coverage for example, you cannot download your details to your site, rendering this one of it’s ‘selling points’ useless.

Costs:
Basically, you can download any maps you want onto the program, and at the moment this isn’t that cheap. You choose the areas of the UK you wish to be made available based on the OS paper map system and from £20 per region this is made available to you. Alternatively – if you plan to use this tool widely (more than 6 regions) – you may as well pay the one-off fee of £149.99 and have the whole OS of Great Britain installed on your phone.

Whatever you do – don’t drop your phone in a bog while you’re out there hiking!!!!

posted by admin on Apr 5

This months T3 magazine has details of the top 100 gadgets we love to love – everything from chainsaws to swiss army knives and from hovercrafts to inflatable jackets (?)

Needless to say – as with the title here – I’m only going to list the Top 10 – as voted by you:

Number 1 – Apple iPod Touch 32GB
From mapping to music, from weather reports to widgets, this new and 32GB capacity little toy just had to be the best! This beautiful video playing PDA is a must, with it’s sleek features and touch-screen technology to make your life sooo much easier!

Number 2 – Nintendo Wii Console
If you can actually manage to get hold of one – you are one of the blessed. With unrivalled gaming action and wireless control, it is simple to use – even for girls! Not only does it improve some existing games, it comes with a few exclusives……

Number 3 – Sony PS3 Console
Another console – some more amazing features. Although it costs more than the Wii, it have propelled Blu-ray technology further than anything else…..

Number 4 – Asus Eee PC Laptop
Wow – this miniature ‘smooth’ white laptop – loses none of it’s pzazz with it’s smaller size – only a 7″ screen. With 4GB of storeage, Wi-Fi and a webcam it is the perfect travel companion so you can stay in touch.

Number 5 – Phillips 32PFL9632D LCD TV
What a name! This 32″ LCD television will have you believing you are inside of your game – whether it’s fast driving action or more mellow movies – you won’t believe your eyes!

Number 6 – B & W Zeppelin iPod Dock
No fancy attachments to this one – just high quality sound from a visually pleasing but un-intrusive iPod dock. No frills – just great sound.

Number 7 – Apple iPhone 16GB
Phone, Internet and iPod – what more could you want? Well for around the same price – why not try it’s big brother – you’ll find him at the number 1 slot!!!!!

Number 8 – Tonium Pacemaker
This 120GB MP3 player is the perfect mixing tool – not only can you listen to great music, you can slice, dice and mix tunes as you will – and all in a package no bigger than a Nintendo DS.

Number 9 – Marantz SA-7S1
This one is for the glamour boys amongst you. A gold plated audio cd player that heaven has blessed mere mortals with – and the hefty £5K price tag shows that you won’t find these at the local youth club! You want exclusive – you want great sound – then you want this!

Number 10 – Sanyo Xacti HD1000 camcorder
With 60 frames per second recording, this little gift far exceeds what you’ll get from it’s nearest HD rivals and at a lower cost (for those who want to save your money for the number 9 slot). Incredibly easy to use and records to an SD card for yet more quality.

PS – The R2D2 home cinema system was at number 17, and the motorised skateboard was all the way back at 94!