Poignantly green February 20, 2007
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Environment , 1 comment so farGo and watch this little film. Its not long, and gets the message across powerfully.
Technorati Tags: greenfilm.net
What’s In a Wardrobe February 19, 2007
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : London , add a commentThere’s a small alcove in my bedroom and for the last 2 and a half years it has been filled by a rail which gives dust and cat fur an easy way to find my clothes. Its time I had a proper wardrobe.
First step, try an email to this lot, who sound rather good, and had an excellent write-up in Time Out a while ago. That writeup must have given them far more work than they needed, because they certainly weren’t interested enough to even reply to the email.
It all seemed a bit daunting, so maybe Ikea is the answer. But there’s only one design I fancy, and its not in stock. Anyway, with space being so precious in here, it needs to be a floor to ceiling creation.
Hammonds recently opened a shop in Tottenham Court Rd, so I ventured in. It all looked good and although they couldn’t give me any idea of price they did give me some nice biscuits for booking an appointment with the ‘designer’. The bloke came on Saturday to measure up and quote, but it all seemed very inflexible and they want 84% of the cost upfront. The price of just under £2000 is a lot for a small wardrobe. His unwillingness to draw me a view of the interior of the wardrobe, and taking over two hours before I had to kick him out didn’t help much either.
The chap who came this evening, from Spacemakers, seems a better bet. He was quick and efficient, and a lot easier to talk to. His price is better, and he actually had design ideas. He even did a more thorough job of measuring up the room.
In the meantime someone has suggested I try this site, which has local tradesmen and allows you to specify your job and get quotes. Customers rate suppliers and if its got enough tradespeople on it, it might just be what I’m looking for. So far, I’ve had one response, from someone just up the road who will do a bespoke job. He’s coming round to quote next week, so my fingers are crossed. Watch this space, a wardrobe may appear any time soon.
Technorati Tags: hammonds, custom furniture, spacemakers
Tagine and sheesha pipes February 18, 2007
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Cafes & Restaurants , add a commentA friend down from Birmingham gave the excuse for a group to meet at Mogador, a Moroccan restaurant on Queensway, in the heart of London’s Arab district. The wine came from the Lebanon, a slightly over priced but very drinkable heavy red. From memory, it was a Ksara, but I forgot to look too closely at the label and someone else ordered. Surprisingly, there was no arak. The aniseed spirit is not something I’d miss, but disappointing to our Iraqi friend.
We started with a selection of meze, excellent tabouleh but fairly standard. About half the party moved on to the kebabs, and I decided on the Moroccan special, a lamb tagine. It came in its own scalding hot tagine dish, and was as sweet and succulent as this stew of lamb with prunes and apricots is meant to be. The meat fell apart and melted in the mouth, while the liquor around it was a delicate, aromatic soup.
I’m not sure who ordered the triple tray of baklava and other sweets, but I moved on to a melon flavoured sheesha pipe and persuaded a few of the others to partake. As a convinced non-smoker, its not something I do often, butI’m rather fond and they’ll soon be a thing of the past when smoking in public places becomes illegal in England in the summer. I’m eagerly awaiting smoke free pubs, while sad that water pipes must also disappear.
And so the evening went on with mint tea, more drinking and the floor show. We were fairly sure, on the authority of one of our party who is Polish, that one of the two belly dancers was also from that part of the world. She managed to persuade the woman at the next table to join her, though I’m afraid I’d need something rather more potent in my pipe than melon tobacco to give that a try.
There are many similar restaurants in the area, and I’ve no idea if this is one of the better ones. It was certainly good last night.
Technorati Tags: mogador, queensway
Which Fuel Cell companies? February 12, 2007
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Investing, Little Green Portfolio , 2 commentsRight. My pension contribution is sitting in the stockbroker account, and I really need to decide what to do. Looking through the list I found a couple of weeks ago, I quickly realise that there are not many to choose from.
Voller Energy considers the military as one of its major markets, so they are hardly going to fit in with the ethical criteria I use.
Proton Power Systems may or may not be interesting, but without even having an investor relations section on their website, its impossible to tell.
Polyfuel also see the military as a major market.
Oxford Catalysts has just been shortlisted for the ministry of Defense’s Portable Power Systems research project. This is getting difficult.
This leaves three, all of which are worth a little more effort. Ceramic Fuel Cells, Ceres Power and CMR Fuel Cells are targeting rather different areas of the fuel cell market, and all are at least a year from having any sales revenue, so will be fairly speculative. It may be that buying smaller holdings in these three (and perhaps Acta, which is no more speculative than the others) is a better bet. A little more research is needed, so more blog entries to come.
Technorati Tags: fuel cell
No, eating chlorophyll won’t oxygenate your blood
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Miscellany , 1 comment so farIf you have ever listened in despair to some quack extol the virtues of their expensive but unproven ‘health remedies’ read this. Ben Goldacre, a genuine doctor, debunks bad science in the Guardian every Saturday and today did a prime hatchet job on a deserving example.
Technorati Tags: goldacre, bad science
