Skippy’s Random Ramblings

A tail of two Fram’s

Skippy — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 08:42:51 +0000

A while ago I did an oil change on nbStephen’s BMC (Leyland) 1.8 litre Diesel engine.

Taking the code off the side of the filter I went to the lovely people at Direct Filter Supply’s (0161 330 5538) to get a new Fram PH2857A.

Unfortunately not all FRAM PH2857As are born equal. And they only had the wrong type,

Spot the difference.

The one on the left is the right one, the one on right won’t screw on

I acquired the correct filters from Macclesfield canal Center / Freedom Boats Ltd.

However if you find yourself near Dukinfield Junction, and need a filter try Direct Filter Supply.

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Do I look like GoSkippy?

Skippy — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 08:59:47 +0000

I am not sure why I get people filling in my contact form like this:

From: Evangeline Gonzales
Subject: cost for additional driver

Message Body:
Hi, Rick or Chris,i wonder if i can add my husband to my excisting policy with you,how much it will cost me?you have my mobile number or you can send your answer to my email address.

–
This mail is sent via contact form on Skippy’s Blog

However Evangeline’s email to me is not the first;

So how does this confusion happen? well it seems that people google “Go Skippy” and then get my site…

Skippy’s Personal Site

Go Skippy’s Insurance Site

As you can see it is easy to arrive at my personal website, thinking it is the website of an insurance company, navigate far enough into it to get my contact form, and then to contact me thinking I am an insurance company.

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Leaving WordPress

Skippy — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 11:16:43 +0000

I have been thinking about moving Skippy.org.uk and my 365 away from WordPress, as WordPress is a bit overpowered for myself as a lone user, and causes my server to run hard when hit with a lot of users.

I am poking my 365 at the moment with a view to making it more automatic. I am looking to move more sites, but will test out things with sites with less content.

Many years ago, while I was at Uni, and I was a more active member of TermiSoc, Skippy was run on a custom built CMS (custom built with bma‘s help).

365.skippy.org.uk

My 365 is an interesting challenge, at the moment I take the photo on my iPhone, and send it over to the server using the WordPress app, however since I use my iPhone for all of the poking of the photos (or occasionally a real camera) I am planning on trying to use PhotoStream as an intermediatry.

I am testing out the PhotoStream Sync WordPress Plugin by Shaun Andrews and Apokalyptik as a test, however I can’t seem to get it to work for me

The Settings I am using for my PhotoStream at https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A1GWZuqDGncOTn are:

However like Ronald Huve I am having the same problem

Great plugin with simple setup.

The shared pictures don’t show up in the post or pages. The discription of the pictures display corectly. The iCloud shared pages shows all the pictures and discription.

What can I do possibly wrong?

Some tips will be welcome.

However once I have a working method of grabbing photos from Photo Stream I will be happy. I will have to ask Binary Kitten about a cunning method, (you will see on the next post).

PhilipMcGaw.com

PhilipMcGaw.com is where I am moving all my random projects, I asked on the TermiSoc IRC channel about recommendations for Markdown Blogging platforms,

The recommendations came back as Jekyll, Jekyll is a blog-aware, static site generator in Ruby, however I don’t have Ruby installed on Vor, and don’t intend to, however I do like MarkDown, and can access the server via FTP.

Having a look round the internet Jekyll is highly regarded, and the while there are a few things like Jekyll written in PHP; Second Crack, Phrozn, Kirby, Stacey, Symphony and PieCrust.

Unlike Jekyll some of the above don’t need to be baked, however some interesting options:

Second Crack is about alpha,
Kirby despite being hosted on GitHub requires a licence to be bought… and doesn’t support full markdown
Phrozn requires being baked
PieCrust can be run baked, or use On-demand cooking, giving it both the option to be a classic PHP CMS that will render requested pages on the fly, so if my site gets heavily trafficked, i can render the entire thing out to static.
Stacy looks to be not undergoing much in the way of development at the moment.
Symphony looks to be overkill for my requirements (kind of why I was trying to get away from WordPress).

I am testing PieCrust locally, with a view to moving my professional site, and my 365 to it.

my 365 is going to be an interesting challenge, as I need to grab the photos from my photo stream, along with the description and poke them into a blog like format.

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On Continues Cruising and JSA

Skippy — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 19:22:18 +0000

my contract with FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) has not been renewed, so for fun I am now without a job, one of the things however I am allowed to do in the UK while applying for work is apply for JSA (Job Seekers Allowance).

I am trying to do this without ending up claiming in Swindon (my Postal Address), I was sent a link to This forum,

After phoning 08000 556688, I was asked for my post code, twice I repeated the phrase “of no fixed abode” before the computer gave up and let me get past, and to talk to an operator.

After talking to a human, I was advised that I should complete the form Online, as this would be quicker… Despite being sat in Manchester HackSpace for an hour, the website was still not working, so Back to the phone it was.

Dialling 08000 556688 again gave me a very smug man who proceeded to tell me that companies would only want to employ people with digital skills, and that it would be much faster to do this all online (several times), and implied that my knowledge of computers must suck…

After filling in the form, he decided that my local job centre plus to where the boat was, was Didsbury, a place that puts it miles away from anywhere near Ashton Under Lyme.

Getting off the Phone I had some stuff to drop back with Ben and Non, so after a nice cup of tea, wondered down to the Job Centre Plus at Stockport.

I have an interview on Monday 15th to convince them I am really looking for work, so they will give me job seekers allowance of about £71.

£71

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Dealing with TrackBack Spam

Skippy — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 10:58:02 +0000

Skippy.org.uk is quite an old blog, and while my 365 Blog is not as old; one of the things that is getting old is TrackBack Spam, Both Blogs are hosted on the same WordPress MultiUser / WordPress Networks install at JustVigilantes.co.uk.

WordPress makes it easy to turn off TrackBacks on all new articles in the Discussions settings page:

however its not as easy to turn it off on all historic articles; and spam can get more than a little annoying:

Yes I emptied it about half an hour ago. (may delete the URL from the Water Boat Man’s comment).

The only way I can think of turning the TrackBacks off is to change the settings in the database, this will be easer and quicker than going through all posts and changing the settings on them one by one,

Find the username and password for your database:
The username and password are stored in plain text in the ‘wp-config.php’ file in your WordPress install (This is mine (Yes I have NO idea why its a DOS formatted file)).
with these settings hope that you have PHPMyAdmin installed on your server, if you don’t you have two options:
- Type the commands at the MySQL terminal prompt
- Install PHPMyAdmin on your server (copy and paste the files up via FTP / wget and unzip)
Luckily I have PHPMyAdmin installed at skippy.org.uk/phpmyadmin
The commands that I want to use are:
UPDATE wp_posts SET ping_status='closed' WHERE post_status = 'publish' AND post_type = 'post'; UPDATE wp_posts SET ping_status='closed' WHERE post_status = 'publish' AND post_type = 'page';
Opening phpmyadmin, I click on the

And now hope that I have a lot less Comment Spam

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Dispute with Northern Rail over GLaDOS PPN

Skippy — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 18:23:20 +0000

Last week GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System (or more commonly known as the bike I sometimes ride)) was parked at Marple Station, She was located in the hatched area to the left of the Staff Only Space, in the corner, the hatched area is in place because the space is too small for a Motor Car.

This had been attached to her:

Northern Rail’s Parking Notice Enclosed Envelope

In the envelope was this “Penalty Parking Notice” or usually known as a Speculative Invoice.

Penalty Parking Notice Front

Penalty Parking Notice Back

Soon after the envelope was stuck on GLaDOS, I spoke to the member of staff at Marple station, who said that the man from Carlisle group said that motor bike parking is where the red circle is:

Note that the only way to get to this when the station is manned is through the booking office… and when it is un-manned via the gate at car-park side of the booking office (station layout has changed slightly):

View towards Station Building / Booking Office

Location of Bike and Motorcycle Parking according to Station Staff (and Carlisle Staff)
Note Lack of Signage stating Motorcycles to be located here

Trying to talk to Northern Rail’s customer service line on 0845 000 0125 (or for those of you who don’t like paying them to talk to you 0113 881 4750), They told me that I needed to talk to the Prosecutions Unit (I assume that is the 0844 848 2571 number on the Penalty Parking Note) on 01904 568 181

Looking at the signs in the station car park, they all say:

The Railway Byelaws they all quote is:

14. Traffic signs, causing obstructions and parking
14.1 No person in charge of any motor vehicle, bicycle or other conveyance shall use it on any part of the railway in contravention of any traffic sign.
14.2 No person in charge of any motor vehicle, bicycle or other conveyance shall leave or place it on any part of the railway:
14.2.i in any manner or place where it may cause an obstruction or hindrance to an Operator or any person using the railway; or
14.2.ii otherwise than in accordance with any instructions issued by or on behalf of an Operator or an authorised person.
14.3 No person in charge of any motor vehicle, bicycle or other conveyance shall park it on any part of the railway where charges are made for parking by an Operator or an authorised person without paying the appropriate charge at the appropriate time in accordance with instructions given by an Operator or an authorised person at that place.
14.4 In England and Wales
14.4.i The owner of any motor vehicle, bicycle or other conveyance used, left or placed in breach of Byelaw 14(1) to 14(3) may be liable to pay a penalty as displayed in that area.
14.4.ii Without prejudice to Byelaw 14(4)(i), any motor vehicle, bicycle or other conveyance used, left or placed in breach of Byelaw 14(1) to 14(3) may be clamped, removed, and stored, by or under the direction of an Operator or authorised person.
14.4.iii The owner of the motor vehicle, bicycle or other conveyance shall be liable to an Operator or an authorised person for the costs incurred in clamping, removing and storing it provided that there is in that area a notice advising that any vehicle parked contrary to these Byelaws may be clamped, removed and stored by an Operator or an authorised person and that the costs incurred by an Operator or an authorised person for this may be recovered from the vehicleÕs owner.
14.4.iv The power of clamping and removal provided in Byelaw 14(4)(ii) above shall not be exercisable in any area where passenger parking is permitted unless there is on display in
that area a notice advising that any vehicle parked contrary to these Byelaws may be clamped and/or removed by an Operator or an authorised person.
14.5 In Scotland
Any motor vehicle, bicycle or other conveyance used, left or placed in breach of this Byelaw in Scotland may be removed by or under the direction of a constable.

So with this all in mind, I sent the following letter to Northern Rail’s Disputes team:

Debt Recovery & Prosecutions Unit Northern Rail Limited
Freepost NEA 3188
Bradford
BD1 1BR

01904 585 181

ppn.disputes@northernrail.org

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to dispute the Penalty Parking Notice Reference 02011, Issued by HD7464 on the motorcycle registration V937GLH at Marple Station on 7th March 2013 at 09:50.

I enclose a copy of your PPN for reference:

The reasons that HD7464 Listed for issuing the Penalty Parking Notice are

3. Was not Parked in a Marked Bay
4. Was not Parked in a Designated area

The First Point was that V937GLH Was not Parked in a Marked Bay;

The Motorcycle was not parked in a Marked Bay, as there is no motorcycle parking provided by Northern Rail in the Marple Station Car Park, as such V937GLH was parked on an area of the car park next to the (unoccupied at the time) Staff car parking space.

The area makes up part of the access to the Network Rail gate, however V937GLH was parked in such a way that she was not an obstruction.

I note that HD7464 did not mark V937GLH was causing an obstruction.

The Second Point was that V937GLH was not Parked in a Designated area

The closest area that can be described as a Motorcycle designated area on Marple station, is through the booking office, and to park in the cycle parking area, using one of the Sheffield stands on the platform, this is an un-marked, and there is no signage in the Car Park to suggest that this is an permitted solution.

The other place to park would be to use a Car Parking space, while parking a motorcycle in these may seem like a logical solution, it also can be greeted with animosity from car drivers, who see your “under occupancy” as an affront to their right to use the space. A number of motorcycles have been pushed over, or driven into by upset car drivers.

Marple Car Park is full to capacity most weekdays. I look forward to your positive response.

Kind Regards

And because the “Debt Recovery & Prosecutions Unit Northern Rail Limited” only let me have one dispute ever, so to increase my chance of success I emailed the same email to Andrew Stunell MP (Marple Station area) and Ian Bevan , who is the Managing Director for Northern Rail. First I got a response from Pete Myers who is listed as Head of Service Quality for Northern Rail:

Dear Mr McGaw

Your email to Ian Bevan our Managing Director has been passed to me as the person within our business best placed to answer the points that you raise.

Firstly, on behalf of Northern Rail I would like to apologise to you and to anyone who has received a parking notice, because I understand that this can be an unpleasant experience, more so as they often come as a surprise.

Whilst we have strict rules to obey with regard to the management of parking, which include the appeals process, I feel that in this case I can say that we will withdraw the notice.

My reasoning is the fact that your vehicle was a motorcycle, and so clearly did not offer the same obstruction as would a conventional motor car.

This said, I would request that you cease parking your vehicle in this hatched area; because clearly, it is required for access and parked there your vehicle is open for another notice being issued.

Incidentally, speaking to the Debt Recovery and Prosecutions Unit (DRPU), they maintained that they were reviewing your case and came to the same conclusion as I.

I hope this is a satisfactory termination to your case, and you should receive a letter shortly from our DRPU confirming the above.

Yours sincerely

Pete Myers
Head of Service Quality

Followed by this email from Caroline England from the PPN Disputes team:

Dear Mr McGaw,

Thank you for your e-mail concerning the issue of Penalty Parking Notice 02011.

Following a review of the photographic evidence for your vehicle, it has been decided on this occasion to withdraw the Penalty Parking Notice issued on the 07 March 2013. I can confirm that payment will not be necessary on this occasion.

I would however recommend that you do not park on the yellow hatched area in future but seek advice from station staff regarding a suitable place to park your vehicle.

Therefore without prejudice please find this matter now closed.

Yours Sincerely

For Unit Manager

So it looks it is all sorted without needing Andrew Stunell MP’s help.

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Harry Beck Style Canal Map

Skippy — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 16:17:06 +0000

The first diagrammatic map of London’s rapid transit network was designed by Harry Beck in 1931.[3] Beck was a London Underground employee who realised that because the railway ran mostly underground, the physical locations of the stations were irrelevant to the traveller wanting to know how to get to one station from another — only the topology of the railway mattered. This approach is similar to that of electrical circuit diagrams; while these were not the inspiration for Beck’s maps

Mark of Wandering Duck showed me this map that he found on Water Ways Songs:

Water Way Song’s Canal Map

It is available on there site as a PDF, I have copied V1 and V2 here.

Its an good simple looking map, nbHacker will have to put one up in nbSteve.

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I am not Go Skippy!

Skippy — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 12:00:30 +0000

I just got the following via my contact me form:

From: S***e L**l
Subject: Cancel insurace

Message Body:
hi this is S***e L**l i want to cancell my car insurance because i am going on holiday thnakyou. 07777 777 777

–
This mail is sent via contact form on Skippy’s Blog

Now I know lots of people find me because I rant about things, including but not limited to a car insurance company called Go Skippy, (and eCar) but because I don’t work for them I have no magic system for getting to talk to them.

I would love to be able to have Go Skippy as my insurance company, however… well they won’t cover me, so I can’t have them, or review them

I phoned S***e L**l back out, to let him know I have no way of dealing with his insurance.

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The Tail of one CITY^H^H^H^H Town

Skippy — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 11:31:28 +0000

I am reading the Swindon Masterplan Report (Draft Rev C), while the document is not all about canals; in fact very little of it is about canals, the Swindon Evening Advertiser would have you believe it was a well supported plan to make the City Town of Swindon into some kind of Venice.

The Swindon Town Centre Masterplan has been prepared in close collaboration with key business and community stakeholders in Swindon. It is a long term plan for the regeneration of the Swindon Town Centre and it will guide development over the next 10-15 years. The masterplan reflects the aspirations of local stakeholders for Swindon Town Centre to become:

A place which is a cultural destination for Wiltshire and the South West;

An enjoyable place to shop and enjoy leisure time;

A town which celebrates its unique industrial and railway heritage;

A sustainable place to live;

A thriving, diverse and family-friendly evening economy;

A town centre characterised by beautiful streets, public spaces and parks; and

A town which continues to be a location of choice for major, high quality employers.

The masterplan sets out a clear vision for Swindon Town Centre and articulates a programme of projects through which the vision will be realised. The projects include:

A series of prestigious cultural venues, including a new art gallery to house the Council’s prestigious collection, which will help to transform Swindon’s image and identity and draw visitors back to the town centre as well as act as a catalyst for further investment;

A series of key infrastructure projects to connect the northern and southern halves of Swindon Town Centre, which are currently severed by the railway;

A framework for Swindon’s streets, public spaces and parks to deliver the ‘green spine’ identified in Council policy for Swindon and to make the town centre more inviting for pedestrians and cyclists and more legible for motorists;

A strategy for Swindon’s built heritage, including the Mechanics’ Institute, the Paragon Laundry, The Locarno and the former Swindon College building, which is designed to ensure a sustainable long term future for these buildings;

A portfolio of key development sites, some of which are already in the pipeline and will be delivered soon, and some of which are longer term proposals. The identification of development sites will help to ensure that new development in Swindon comes forward in a co-ordinated way, and that it can be delivered to the highest possible design quality; and

An action plan for delivery, which sets out clearly the next steps, key partners and timescales for the completion of major projects.

I am sure this is not the Re-Development plan for swindon, and I doubt that this one will be the last, or even if it is implemented; the implementation will be nothing short of a poor interpretation of this brief.

Reading the document I have found a few references to the idea of re-introducing the canal:

§2 Planning Swindon Together, Community & Business Consultation: There is an aspiration to re-establish the Wiltshire and Berks Canal through the town centre [Pg 5]
Establish the canal in the town centre [Pg 6]
Need to consider the canal connection through the town centre – great regeneration catalyst[Pg 18]
§3.1 Swindon Now: Place: Swindon’s transport network, railway and canal heritage make a very significant contribution to Swindon’s character and identity. [Pg21]
§3.3 Plans: Proposals to reinstate a canal running through Swindon Town Centre would provide a significantly improved pedestrian environment, and create a key attraction. However, they are likely to prove prohibitively expensive to deliver, due to the presence of key infrastructure, including roads and sewers along the preferred route. The masterplan sets out a suggested route for a canal and canal basin, along a former canal route, which may be more deliverable, and allows for the safeguarding of the cross-town route for the long term. [Pg 15]
Fleet Street area – the CAAP envisages new retail and safeguards land for a potential canal route and basin along Fleet Street. The proposed canal route is unlikely to be delivered due to its prohibitive cost. [Pg 16]
§4.1 Sustainable Swindon: Improve Connectivity between north And south across tHe railway;
- To support the safeguarding of the canal and an additional pedestrian footbridge across the railway.
Opportunities to secure new or improved links across the railway, including a new pedestrian bridge and reinstated canal should be sought through securing S106 funding from new developments within the masterplan area. A new pedestrian footbridge over the railway at the station will help unlock the site to the south of the railway line for development, as parking can be provided on the northern side. The new bridge provides an opportunity to secure a new landmark for Swindon of the highest architectural quality.

The reinstatement of a canal route through the centre of Swindon is a key objective of the Wilts and Berks Canal Partnership, the overall aim of which is to restore the canal to a navigable waterway which connects Wiltshire, Swindon and Oxfordshire. Halcrow carried out a feasibility study (2007) for the Kingshill to Station Road, Swindon section which estimated a cost of £52 million. However the partnership also highlight significant economic and regenerative benefits from the restoration of this section of canal, and the section between Mouldon Hill and Swindon town centre to the north.

A restored canal would also provide a safe and attractive corridor for cyclists to link to the Western Flyer Route/ National Cycle network route 45. The Western Flyer route will be a formal branded route and is expected to significantly improve cycle links between the western residential communities and the town centre.

Pg 47
§6.4 Study area 2 – railway southside: former carriage worksThese two simple and elegant buildings form a significant part of the listed building portfolio and in their current form could be adapted for a numberof new uses. They are linked by a continuous facade along London Street which is currently redundant and unused at street level.This site also contains two surface car parks: one used by the Train Operating Company and the other owned by Swindon Borough Council but leased to a local commercial business.Between these two sites is a listed wall which also forms a bridge head over the former canal.
Key priorities and principles for the area are:

reuse of former carriageworks:
The opportunity exists to bring these buildings back into use to enliven the street and rejuvenate this part of the town centre. There is potential to use the buildings for cultural uses, such as a Museum of Swindon, or as artists’ studios and workshops. Alternatively, the buildings could be suited to mixed retail or commercial schemes. Whatever uses are found, active frontage should be created facing onto London Road.

new homes:
There is the potential to relocate the surface level car parking into a new multistorey car park on the north and south sides of the railway to allow this site to be developed for new homes. Space should be provided in front of the homes for street trees.

improved north/south links and new canal basin:
The reintroduction of the canal along this route would help to encourage north/south movement under the railway and create an attractive public environment. Complementary improvements to the existing railway underpass, including improved lighting, landscaping and public realm would help to encourage additional pedestrian and cycle users. There is also potential to create a possible turning basin forming the southern end of the reinstated section of the canal to create an attractive civic space. Regardless of whether the canal is reinstated, it is imperative that the Green Spine be delivered through this area in order to strengthen the north/south connection between the town centre and the North Star area.
§6.5 study area 3 – north star: Oasis; A new strategic Green spine: There is an exciting opportunity to create a major new linear park through the site. The park will act as a spine for the North Start area, complement the new leisure uses, provide a buffer to the Hawksworth Industrial Estate, create a new leisure attraction for residents and increase environmental sustainability. The proposal is for the canal to be reinstated along the length of the park.[Pg 153]

So?

In Reading this copy of the Swindon master plan, I fail to see why there is so much made of the canal; most of it seems to be passive provision for adding more in at a latter date; and adding it in as a water fetcher in a park?

Most of the document related to changing the use of some of the land within the town centre, and removing car parking spaces, and building housing, parks and multi story carparks. the implementation of a hopper bus to allow people to get around Swindon easer, and to link Old Town to the Town Center.

In general the parts of the document I read make good sense; I am now going to read the consultation document responses.

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Canals of Swindon

Skippy — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 19:37:35 +0000

Swindon Borough Council, have been writing consultations again, The Swindon Advertiser reported “Residents want canal back in town centre masterplan” [link].

THE GRAND plan for an overhaul of Swindon town centre could be set to get its own makeover – after consulted residents said they wanted the idea of a canal reinstated.

The majority of about 100 respondents to Forward Swindon’s Masterplan consultation claimed they wanted to see the canal running through the pedestrianised town centre area, while much of the rest of the plan remains unchanged.

The firm have been charged by Swindon Council with regenerating the town, and unveiled its view of the shape of things to come in around 10 to 15 years time, back in September at the Central Library, for public scrutiny.

It enlisted the help of town planners Allies and Morrison Urban Practitioners, the architects behind the much-lauded Olympic Park, in Stratford, London, and the proposals include a new performing arts centre, art gallery and a two-way Commercial Road.

The masterplan includes bringing the canal back into the town through North Star as far as a basin adjacent to Station Road but the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust said, crucially, it omits linking this section to the restored canal at Westleaze.

Forward Swindon’s chief executive Ian Piper said all responses from the public had now been analysed and a revised draft was going to be put before the cross-party group of councillors before it goes to full council, potentially in April.

He said: “What is happening at the moment is we have reviewed the consultation responses, which took a little bit longer that we anticipated, and are putting them together to show councillors.

“There was quite a lot of detail in some of the responses, including one that went through the proposal almost line by line, and so we wanted to make sure we considered all of them.

“The level of responses for a consultation of this type was good and the majority of it was positive.

“We had about 80 respondents to the questionnaire and another 15 to 20 letters from organisations.

“We have pencilled in for full council in April and will show councillors the changed draft plan.

“We will also put it to them about what they would like to do about the canal.

“We had a lot of comments on the canal, many supporting it being reinstated on the plans. We will need to talk to members about that as it was not shown on the draft plan.”

The Wilts and Berks canal trust are currently trying to have the following route reinstated:

Linking the Kennet and Avon canal near Semington, to the River Thames at Abingdon, with a spur off to the Thames and Severn Canal via the North Wilts Canal (The Thames and Severn Canal is not an active canal).

At the moment the Wilts and Berks have restored a short section between Kingshill Road, and the Motoway (none of the map to the left is built). This section is on the far left of the map, off the end of the blue line at Kingshill Road.

Looking at the proposed route (and from local knowledge) the proposed route from left to right:

Shire Court, This is part of the existing alignment, however this makes up only a very short section, and doesn’t answer how they are to cross one of only two arterial routes between Old Town and the main body of Swindon (this road empties towards west swindon and J16 of the M4).
Robert le Kyng Primary School and Westcott Place, there is no real alternative to this road, its the main route between the bottom of Kingshill Road and the non West Swindon route into North Swindon.
The Park / Faringdon Road, main link between the west side of Swindon, North Swindon (non hight restricted west side of town) and Town Center, no alternatives other than Whitehouse Bridge, and Transfer Bridges a mile, and two miles respectively to the east.
At the Railway Village East you may be able to put more traffic onto Bristol Street / London Street / Station Road to the north, this is mostly one way at the moment. (Farringdon Road / Holbrook Way making the return path).
Fleet Street, this was pedestrianised a few years back, and makes up the main pub strip in ‘New Town’, its ok during the day, but really would not want to live near it at night…
Beales Close / Holbrook Way / Flemming Way; this is the bottom of Swindon’s main bus terminus… with this road being the main interchange for traffic going east to west close to the station.
This part is currently a cycle path; and is the ONLY off road link between town and north Swindon

Please note that these images are from Local knowledge, and from information from other sources.

I have a full copy of the feed back and will be writing another blog post when I have read it properly, but this post is based on Wilts and Berks Plans.

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The Saga of Artisteer 4 for Mac

Skippy — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 16:43:19 +0000

After my Previous post about Artesteer 4 for mac, there has been two sets of movement, that of the people on the support forum, and the glacial lack of movement of the Official Artisteer team.

Artisteer are still listing as Mac Version 4 as in active development:

Do you offer Artisteer for the Mac OS or Linux?

We are currently offering a Beta version of Artisteer for Mac OS 10.5. An official release date of the Mac version will be planned after receiving detailed issue reports from our beta testers and determining how much work is needed to resolve those issues. A Linux version is also being researched though we cannot promise such version at this time.

This is after there estimation of requiring two additional months for preparing version 4.0 for Mac:

Then the mac version being end of November 2012:

Then in December we get this update (quietly pushed out on the news page):

In my support emails they never gave me a date, however on second January 2013 I got this email from Paul Hudson of Aristeer when asking about continued support:

Unfortunately we have no control whether the license is used on Windows or Mac.

The Mac version will be offered when possible, though we do not recommend purchasing Beta products.
The Beta version is offered only to users who requested that we offer them the Beta version and wanted to try the Mac version with the Windows license.

We also offer the product trial version to assure that everyone has an opportunity to try the product before purchasing.

Thank you for your understanding.

The Trial version has some limitations:

When in trial mode Artisteer does not support saving your web design projects, but you can still create and export your web design as HTML, theme, template or skin.

Which means if it crashes out (which V3 does with annoying regularity) it will loose everything.

All previous Corispondance from Support (TanyaG, Tina B, Gary C) told me that there was just a delay to the deployment of Mac V4, which suggests the December update to the news page was sent after the email from Paul.

There is only the suggestion that I should run V4 on Windows, in Parallels (Windows ⅞ Licence, and Parallels 8 Licence at my expense).

There is talk (backed up by the December update) that there will never be a Mac 4 Version:

Artisteer 3.x was built using a lower version of C# with Artisteer 4.x being built using – most likely C#5, and Mono doesn’t fully support C#5 and may not for the foreseeable future. The Artisteer team has resolved themselves to the fact that this may be a Windows only product from here out, and we are too.

The best thing that could happen here is if another company purchased Artisteer and poured the $$ necessary to build a cross platform environment but, I don’t see that happening for a niche tool like Artisteer.

Don’t get me wrong, none of us here consider Artisteer niche! We consider it an indispensable tool but, the development community expands beyond templates for CMS’s.

And that there continued offering 3 RC on the site should stop immediately.

If any one knows of a good MAC application like Artisteer is, even if its only for WordPress Please let me and others know.

I hope that The Escapers can do something well documented and nice (perhaps wordpress themes support).

0b5072e4c66e59f4835106bf748f29ea

Dear TOCs Airports are not something you want to be like…

Skippy — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 17:32:38 +0000

Seth wrote this post on his blog: “Eleven things organisations can learn from airports” its a list of 11 things that Airports do wrong, and I feel that it all too often applies to the UK rail network

1. No one is in charge. The airport doesn’t appear to have a CEO, and if it does, you never see her, hear about her or interact with her in any way. When the person at the top doesn’t care, it filters down.

While the TOCs have their own management, and Network Rail has its own management, while if a train is delayed a small army of “Delay Attribution Officers” [ref] are mobilised to pass the buck:

Around 300 “Delay Attribution Officers” have been hired by the rail firms and Network Rail, which manages the network’s infrastructure. When delays take place, they find someone other than their employer to blame, and thereby avoid paying compensation. It is estimated this method – aided by lawyers working alongside them – deprives commuters of millions of pounds in delay repayments. According to the latest figures, train firms received a total of £450.3million in subsidies from the taxpayer last year. The number of DAOs was unearthed by reporters working for a television documentary.

However when a train is delayed as a customer you have to fight for your rights to a refund as set out under The National Rail Conditions of Carriage Part 1 §H.42 Compensation for delays

(a) Where delays, cancellations or poor service arise for reasons within the control of a Train Company or Rail Service Company, you are entitled to compensation in accordance with the arrangements set out in that Train Company’s Passenger’s Charter. This can be obtained from the relevant Train Company’s ticket offices, customer relations office and internet sales site.

(b) The amount of compensation offered by each Train Company in its Passenger’s Charter varies from Train Company to Train Company. However, if you arrive more than 60 minutes late at your destination station you will, as a minimum, be entitled to compensation in the form of travel vouchers in accordance with the table below:

And if they don’t want to give you a refund, well they get to play about with timings and blaming:

The firms also get around the issue by averaging the punctuality figures for their entire operation.

This means that lines which are performing well can hide regular under-performance on other routes.

Another factor in the firms’ favour is the largely secret “working timetable”, which allows trains a “window” of arrival, in which they are actually late but can be considered to be technically on time.

In this way, long distance trains can arrive 10 minutes after their timetabled schedule and yet still be on time for the purposes of compensation. Shorter distance trains have a five-minute window.

A further tactic is the method for tallying late trains: a train is only counted as late if it arrives at its final destination beyond this window – late arrivals at intervening stops do not count. [Ref Telegraph Article]

Also of note is this that I received as part of an email in relation to delays incurred due to #TrainOnFire / #SalfordCresent [details] from First TransPennine Express “we do not offer compensation for consequential losses as the result of a delay or cancellation of rail services.” where a train that I was planing to use was canceled; consequently meaning that I was late for my connecting journey with a different TOC (as such they didn’t delay me by more than 60 minutes, but my journey was).

2. Problems persist because organizations defend their turf instead of embrace the problem. The TSA blames the facilities people, who blame someone else, and around and around. Only when the user’s problem is the driver of behavior (as opposed to maintaining power or the status quo) things change.

All the TOCs are happy to blame each other, Network Rail, or the Department of Transport, or indeed Passengers, however they never listen to Passengers, this was recently shown again when First Great Western advertised a “Tweet a Manager” on Twitter, however suffered amnesia about any problems previously raised with them:

The full back and forth can be found here, however I have inserted some of it here:

First Great Western
Come & join our Tweet the Manager session on 12 Feb @FGWTweetManager from 1430-1630. We’ll be chatting about our S.Wales to London service.

Worst Late Western
.@FGW Why @fgwtweetmanager if managers read all tweets and “logged” comments and complaints anyway? Congrats on your duplicitous doublespeak

@worstlatewstrn It’s being done as sometimes people may want to speak to a manager directly. -Ollie

.@FGW Indeed! It’s important customers are ignored personally, rather than by (tweeted) proxy!

@worstlatewstrn I’m sorry you feel that way. Having tweet the manager sessions certainly isn’t ignoring customers? -Ollie

.@FGW Let’s see the extent to which anything improves. Or even changes. Then judge the extent to which customers are listened to. Or not…

@worstlatewstrn That’s fair. Enjoy the rest of your evening. -Ollie

.@FGW Indeed! Let’s start from now, and ignore all the comments “logged” from your previous 56,150 tweets. All seen by management of course.

@worstlatewstrn Certainly don’t ignore. As an industry we continue to work hard to improve the service we provide. -Ollie

.@FGW Naturally! And your twitter feed provides a daily update of the improvements noticed by customers across every aspect of your service

@worstlatewstrn What sort of things would you want us to tweet about? -Ollie

.@FGW Pick any of the trends from the last 56k tweets (punctuality, overcrowding, pricing) – they’ve all been ignored to date!

@worstlatewstrn We are working with Network Rail regarding performance. Last year we sourced extra carriages with help of DfT. -Ollie

.@FGW 15 converted buffet cars in as many years of franchise operation, and the customers are still underwhelmed. How ungrateful are they?!?

@worstlatewstrn More than 15 carriages. Details here: http://bit.ly/10NZ97r -Ollie

.@FGW Reintroducing previously withdrawn stock (Adelantes) doesn’t count, unless your aim is to fiddle the figures, which isn’t like FGW…

@worstlatewstrn Also been the announcement last year about new trains and electrification. So improvements coming but can take time. -Ollie

.@FGW There’s always jam tomorrow young Oliver. Metaphorically, and literally; in the vestibules of FGW’s overcrowded & overpriced trains…

Swiss
@FGW @worstlatewstrn sorry to jump in since forced to use FGW for last 2 years the service has gotten noticeably worse for higher cost to us

So Despite years of people complaining about the conditions the best they can do is ask people to repeat what they have been saying, and they can hope that it is listened to this time?

3. The food is aimed squarely at the (disappearing) middle of the market. People who like steamed meat and bags of chips never have a problem finding something to eat at an airport. Apparently, profit-maximizing vendors haven’t realized that we’re all a lot weirder than we used to be.

Not only are we a lot weirder than we used to be; we don’t like being ripped off at £2.60 for a cup of hot chocolate (Costa Manchester Piccadilly platform 13/14).

4. Like colleges, airports see customers as powerless transients. Hey, you’re going to be gone tomorrow, but they’ll still be here.

The number of people on the train with me who don’t have season tickets (even at commuter times) suggests that season ticket holders are not as common as people who either buy tickets at walk up, or in advanced; as such it looks like they assume that people wait until they forget how bad trains are before they come back.

5. By removing slack, airlines create failure. In order to increase profit, airlines work hard to get the maximum number of flights out of each plane, each day. As a result, there are no spares, no downtime and no resilience. By assuming that their customer base prefers to save money, not anxiety, they create an anxiety-filled system.

By removing slack TOCs often have delays that are directly attributable to their failure,

Train Delayed due to late running incoming service
Lack of staff
and Stock that has not been cleaned, or prepared departure.

6. The TSA is ruled by superstition, not fact. They act without data and put on a quite serious but ultimately useless bit of theater. Ten years later, the theater is now becoming an entrenched status quo, one that gets ever worse.

Occasionally you see people with guns wondering around, quite frequently you have police walking around, and often you will see PCSOs walking around, This mainly happens at High Profile stations, Out side of these stations what is hard to find is any help if you have problems, the most railway staff on stations are there to check that you are not trying to travel without a ticket, or the dispatch staff for the trains.

Most Mainline stations have had bins and postboxes removed as a response to the IRA’s (Irish Republican Army) mid 80′s mainland Briton bombing campaign, and have failed to put them back, continuing to cite “Security” the same Safety and Security that means that there is 24 hour CCTV in operation at the station, (and if you see anything suspicious you will need to report it to staff or security services). however the result is that COSTA, Starbucks, McDonalds, and Burger king have free advertising all over the place, as cleaning staff are few and far between.

7. The ad hoc is forbidden. Imagine an airplane employee bringing in an extension cord and a power strip to deal with the daily occurrence of travelers hunched in the corner around a single outlet. Impossible. There is a bias toward permanent and improved, not quick and effective.

I know First Great Western sometimes have a band playing on the lawn at London Paddington, but that is still not ad-hoc, ad-hoc would be staff helping customers, even the bible of doom has this to say on Staff being helpful:

PART IV
GENERAL CONDITIONS
58. Limitation of authority of a Train Company’s staff or agents
A Train Company’s staff or agents have no authority to waive or change these Conditions

So unless the NRCOC expressly allow it (oh and the things they do allow is limited) then the staff member has no authority to try to help you. (and while your wondering about other T&Cs that apply the other Document is the Railway Bylaws (Made under Section 219 of the Transport Act 2000 by the Strategic Rail Authority and confirmed under Schedule 20 of the Transport Act 2000 by the Secretary of State for Transport on 22 June 2005 for regulating the use and working of, and travel on or by means of, railway assets, the maintenance of order on railway assets and the conduct of all persons while on railway assets). Given that can you guess how friendly they are to passengers?

There is one document that is put in place to give you some rights and standard level of service, and that is the TOCs Passengers Charter, however my daily commute can be made using a combination of 5 different TOCs; Cross Country, East Midlands Trains, First Transpennine Express, Northan Rail, and or Virgin Trains. Each TOC has a different Passengers charter, and again see §1 and §2 of this post for how fast they pass the buck, rather than take ownership of any problems that occur.

8. Everyone is treated the same. Effective organisations treat different people differently. While there’s some window dressing at the edges (I’m thinking of slightly faster first class lines and slightly more convenient motorized cars for seniors), in general, airports insist that the one size they’ve chosen to offer fit all.

As does the entire rail network; ok so there are some “Priority Seats” but in general the seats are too small for everyone above the age of 15 to sit on comfortably.

9. There are plenty of potential bad surprises, but no good ones. You can have a flight be cancelled, be strip searched or even go to the wrong airport. But all possibility for delight has been removed. It wouldn’t take much to completely transform the experience from a chore to a delight.

It wouldn’t take much, perhaps some better leadership from the top, and complaints being listened to, however looking at the history of improvements; very little seems to be aimed at making the experience more “delightful”, they seem to be more interested in shaving a couple of minuts of a journey, rather than improving the comfort of that journey (perhaps so stock can make more journey per day?).

10. They are sterile. Everyone who passes through leaves no trace, every morning starts anew. There are no connections between people, either fellow passengers or the staff. No one says, “welcome back,” and that’s honest, because no one feels particularly welcome.

All the surfaces at a station are wipe clean, and easy to reset.

11. No one is having any fun. Most people who work at airports have precisely the same demeanor as people who work at a cemetery. The system has become so industrialized that personal expression is apparently forbidden.

And the staff look like they don’t care about your problems, all the announcements have been automated, and a robotic voice is sorry for the delay, and that travailing on the wrong train is a finable offence.

As we see at many organizations that end up like this, the airport mistakes its market domination for a you-have-no-choice monopoly (we do have a choice, we stay home). And in pursuit of reliable, predictable outcomes, these organizations dehumanize everything, pretending it will increase profits, when it actually does exactly the opposite.

0b5072e4c66e59f4835106bf748f29ea

Hacky Birtday

Skippy — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 06:36:59 +0000

On Saturday 23rd FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology [*NOT* Federation Against Copyright Theft]) are having their buildings 10th Birthday party;

Join FACT in celebrating 10 years since the FACT building opened on Wood Street in Liverpool with a family fun day full of party games, birthday cake and arty activities throughout the building.

It is a free day out, starting at 11am with things going on all day until about 18:00

Manchester’s MadLab will be holding a workshop:

Who’s robot is the best artist? Who’s robot has the best dance moves? Who has the fastest robot in all of FACT and will win the robot 100cm land speed record? There’s only one way to find out – at the Hacky Birthday! Learn how to build your own DIY battery-powered robot – then customise it! Is it a sprinter? Can you make it learn some moves? Can it paint?

Manchester’s MadLab will be running a family-friendly, fun and educational workshop around simple robot-building with a number of competitions and prizes. Everything you need is provided. Throughout the day, a number of competitions will let your robot compete against other robot builders – ‘fastest bot’, ‘best dancer’, ‘best looker’ and ‘last one standing’ games will be in operation throughout the day.

Not to mention the R-Pi powered Tweeting Typewriter (a Project I am working on)

A 1950′s Remington typewriter has been hacked to turned it into the worlds first Tweeting Typewriter. Share your favourite memories and moments from our ten year history one this one of a kind invention.

Oh and if that is not enough cool (how can you ever have too much?) there are Tesla Coils

0b5072e4c66e59f4835106bf748f29ea

Boat for Sale

Skippy — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 19:29:41 +0000

Amy and James’ of nbLuckyDuck, are putting nbLuckyDuck up for sale;

nbLuckyDuck is an awesome boat, and would make a great first boat

Summary
Lucky Duck is a 48ft traditional stern narrowboat first registered in 1986, with a reliable BMC 1.8 engine. It sleeps 2 + 2 on a sofa bed, makes a great live-aboard boat and is well adapted to coping with being away from shore power. Easy to handle and well laid out inside with a traditional ‘saloon forward’ layout, it would be a good starter boat for anyone looking to begin a life afloat, or enjoy some holiday cruising. All systems are in good working order.

Last out of the water July 2011, BSC until Dec 2013. Hull surveyed 2008.

Guide Price: £27,500 ono

Full details can be found on their blog, or on Apollo Duck.

0b5072e4c66e59f4835106bf748f29ea

Taking the Piss

Skippy — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 22:50:11 +0000

At Manchester Piccadilly Station they have Toilets for the travailing public to use while they are on the station, This is not unushal; however since Manchester Piccadilly is a “Principle Station”, it is operated by Network Rail; and Network Rail have a policy for charging for the use of toilets…

Magic Gate Line

However they have hidden them behind turnstiles, now looking at them there are two signs next to them (one each side) that look like this:

Look no Prices

Well Last week I was stoped by the Station manager for doing just as the sign states I should: Passing Through the Barrier, apparently he was upset that I was refusing to submit to the stupidity of paying even more to the Rail industry just to go to the loo.

I have covered Station Ticket Gate Lines before, however there are some important differences:

These toilets are located in the ‘public’ area of the station, there is no requirement to have a ticket to travel.
Because I don’t have a ticket to travel they are not subject to the obligations laid out in the contract I have signed against, yes The National Rail Conditions of Carriage.
They are designed to take money

The only legal obligation to use ticket barriers is in §9.2 and §9.3 of the Railway Byelaws:

(2) Where the entrance to or exit from any platform or station is via a manned or
an automatic ticket barrier no person shall enter or leave the station, except
with permission from an authorised person, without passing through the
barrier in the correct manner.
(3) No person shall open a barrier or any other gate on the railway except where
there is a notice indicating that it may be used by him or with permission from
an authorised person.

As we can see from this §9.2 doesn’t count, and as for §9.3; I must have implyed permission to use the loo, and there is usually no authorised person to enforce this.

Network Rail says the following about toilets:

The small charge we make for using the public toilet facilities in our stations helps to maintain them, ensures they are fully staffed and prevents misuse such as vandalism. Network Rail is a not for dividend company, which means any profit from the use of station toilets is reinvested into the railway and passenger facilities. [from here]

To which the only thing to point out is that the TOCs already take £375.10 pcm off me to travel; Of which about 50% goes to Network Rail, and there is then the debate about Taxpayer Subsidy.

As such I can’t see how NR have a leg to stand on given that the trains I travel on seem to have no obligation to have clean toilets:

So is it “Wrong” to jump the barrier for the toilet? Well There is no Moral or Legal Obligation to pay for them.

0b5072e4c66e59f4835106bf748f29ea

The moving of Projects

Philip McGaw — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 18:39:34 +0000

I have recently rethought about how I want to lay out my on-line presence. Since getting a job where I can do awesome things, and get paid for them, I am going to start putting more time and effort into keeping PhilipMcGaw.com updated.

I have already uploaded and plan to keep up-to-date the write up of FACTs “Art of Pop Video, Video Player.

I also Plan to move the write up of projects I have currently on here:

I also plan to add all new projects to there.

0b5072e4c66e59f4835106bf748f29ea

What’s inside – A kindle keyboard 3G

Skippy — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 15:57:20 +0000

My parents had a kindle keyboard that they managed to break. As it was no longer working Tas and I got let loose on dismantling it.

0b5072e4c66e59f4835106bf748f29ea

Go Skippy Insurance

Skippy — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 11:05:25 +0000

I have been at skippy.org.uk for a while now, after posting about my eCar insurance problems, I started seeing more traffic for search terms such as:

Go Skippy Insurance
Skippy Insurance
Skippy car insurance
and even just: Go Skippy

It seems that for Go Skippy Insurance I come up second in google to GoSkippy, who are according to their site:

GoSkippy.com is a trading style of Southern Rock Insurance Company Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Commission in Gibraltar. This insurance is administered in the UK on behalf of Southern Rock Insurance Company Ltd, by Eldon Insurance Services Ltd. Eldon Insurance Services Ltd are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Firm reference number 477112

Now because I see them quite often on my analytics, I thought I would have a look at them, as when it comes up to renewing Puff’s insurance (or Puff’s replacement) it could be cool to have my name, and my birth name on the insurance documents.

What’s that Skippy? You fail to meet their requirements!?

Wondering what was on their FAQ I had a quick gander, unfortunately they have three questions on the FAQ:

I live in a Mobile Home. Will you cover me?
I live in a Caravan. Will you cover me?
I live on a houseboat. Will you cover me?

To which the answer is the same

We will not insure people living on Houseboats, in Caravans & in Mobile Homes unless permanently living there for at least 3 years with the same postcode.

I don’t know if they know that what I live on/in is not a Mobile Home, Caravan, or a houseboat… but I suspect they won’t cover me as i live in a narrowboat.

Also nbHacker pointed out that if we were to rent our post code would change as well…

Oh well. Go Skippy, feck off!

0b5072e4c66e59f4835106bf748f29ea

Artisteer for Mac Review, and Why no Version 4?

Skippy — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 18:13:36 +0000

A fair while ago I picked up Artisteer for Mac, it looked like a useful tool:

Artisteer is the first and only Web design automation product that instantly creates fantastic looking, unique website templates and blog themes.

Design awesome blogs and cool web templates in minutes
Export to Blogger, Joomla, WordPress and other CMS products
No need to learn Photoshop, CSS, HTML or other technologies
Fun and easy to use!
Create complete websites and blogs, edit pages, write content, and publish online!
Preview, download and edit online website and template samples!

With Artisteer YOU immediately become a Web design expert, editing and slicing graphics, coding XHTML and CSS, and creating Web Design Templates, Joomla templates, Drupal themes, WordPress themes, DotNetNuke skins, and Blogger templates all in minutes, without Photoshop or Dreamweaver, and no technical skills.

Yes it was Version 3 at an RC level, 3.1.0.46558 intact, and now it is at 3.1.0.56360, however the tool looked like it would be good for a few projects, so I picked up a copy, so in all the time I have been a customer, I have yet to receive an update from a Realise Candidate to a full copy.

(yes the copyright date on the screenshot is as of today!)

Back in September we were told

Artisteer 4.0 for Windows is finally here! We’d like to thank everyone who helped us test and prepare this version for today’s release.

and

We expect Beta version of Artisteer 4.0 for Mac by end of November 2012.

Well here we are in December still waiting for an update to Artisteer for Mac (we were told the 15th December, but we could be looking 2013 and still be waiting for these new fetchers:

Content Editing
HTML5 and CSS3 Support
Support for Mobile Devices
Google Web Fonts
Online Access to Flickr Images
New Header Designer with Visual Editing
New Image Options
Footer Layout and Editing
New Styling Options
GUI Changes

Oh and the hope that it crashes much less, and runs at a decent speed.

When I get my grubby little hands on Artisteer Version 4 for Mac I will be redesigning the theme for Skippy.org.uk, however I have been told not to hold out too much hope on the support forums.

All in all at the current point, its ok, its what I used to make FaerydaePhotography.co.uk and iWalshCleaning.co.uk, however its buggy, un-responsive, and prone to crashing. and some of the workarounds are less than fun.

0b5072e4c66e59f4835106bf748f29ea

Penny’s for Charity

Skippy — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 23:36:55 +0000

While sat in HacMan this evening, Kat, nbHacker, and a few others, we went off to see if you could buy free stuff on eBay. It turns out that there is not a lot of free stuff on eBay, or even any single paper clips.

However, people are selling One Pence Coins,

Now since I had 40p I could afford to give to charity (the listing price) I listed 10 one pence coins (buyer collects)

One Penny Auction, there is no reserve

Buy a penny and received feedback

Just leave me feedback and I will give you feedback.

Have you not been able to bid on items because you have poor feedback?

Have you had poor sales due to poor feedback?

Don’t let this worry you any more!

If you want the penny its collection only.

and put 100% of the price going to charity

The Laura Crane Youth Cancer Trust

(Small deduction may apply. Learn more about eBay Giving Works)

About this nonprofit:

The award winning charity, The Laura Crane Youth Cancer Trust funds research specifically into cancers affecting 13-24 year olds and also funds measures in hospitals to improve the lives of young cancer patients both during and in the aftermath of their treatment.
The Laura Crane Youth Cancer Trust, PO Box 437, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, HD1 9QH Tel. 01484 510013 www.lauracranetrust.org
Email. admin@lauracranetrust.org Registered Charity No. 1138003

This is an eBay Giving Works charitable listing (Administered by MissionFish)

I will be writing up a follow up post, letting you know how this went, but until then you can check out the eBay listing.

Updates

Two have been sold so far!

0b5072e4c66e59f4835106bf748f29ea

First Great Western	Come & join our Tweet the Manager session on 12 Feb @FGWTweetManager from 1430-1630. We’ll be chatting about our S.Wales to London service.
Worst Late Western	.@FGW Why @fgwtweetmanager if managers read all tweets and “logged” comments and complaints anyway? Congrats on your duplicitous doublespeak
	@worstlatewstrn It’s being done as sometimes people may want to speak to a manager directly. -Ollie
	.@FGW Indeed! It’s important customers are ignored personally, rather than by (tweeted) proxy!
	@worstlatewstrn I’m sorry you feel that way. Having tweet the manager sessions certainly isn’t ignoring customers? -Ollie
	.@FGW Let’s see the extent to which anything improves. Or even changes. Then judge the extent to which customers are listened to. Or not…
	@worstlatewstrn That’s fair. Enjoy the rest of your evening. -Ollie
	.@FGW Indeed! Let’s start from now, and ignore all the comments “logged” from your previous 56,150 tweets. All seen by management of course.
	@worstlatewstrn Certainly don’t ignore. As an industry we continue to work hard to improve the service we provide. -Ollie
	.@FGW Naturally! And your twitter feed provides a daily update of the improvements noticed by customers across every aspect of your service
	@worstlatewstrn What sort of things would you want us to tweet about? -Ollie
	.@FGW Pick any of the trends from the last 56k tweets (punctuality, overcrowding, pricing) – they’ve all been ignored to date!
	@worstlatewstrn We are working with Network Rail regarding performance. Last year we sourced extra carriages with help of DfT. -Ollie
	.@FGW 15 converted buffet cars in as many years of franchise operation, and the customers are still underwhelmed. How ungrateful are they?!?
	@worstlatewstrn More than 15 carriages. Details here: http://bit.ly/10NZ97r -Ollie
	.@FGW Reintroducing previously withdrawn stock (Adelantes) doesn’t count, unless your aim is to fiddle the figures, which isn’t like FGW…
	@worstlatewstrn Also been the announcement last year about new trains and electrification. So improvements coming but can take time. -Ollie
	.@FGW There’s always jam tomorrow young Oliver. Metaphorically, and literally; in the vestibules of FGW’s overcrowded & overpriced trains…
Swiss	@FGW @worstlatewstrn sorry to jump in since forced to use FGW for last 2 years the service has gotten noticeably worse for higher cost to us

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