Sunday, 9 August 2009
An Exceptional Service
Five nights at The Haven, run by Michael and Lorna Marsh, revealed why they had been accorded the only AA Four Star rating for a B&B in Truro. It was the fantastic personal service that made one feel home from home, instead of just as paying customers in lodgings.
Friendly and accommodating when needed, they were unobtrusive and left you to your own devices when you you were OK on your own.
The single long breakfast table was a case in point. Over our stay, guests naturally introduced each other and, more often than not, had inclusive conversations. Mohammed Afasi a General Manager from Egypt on training, Maureen the concert goer, Dorothea and Guenther touring the Southwest and Dave on Bang & Olafson business were some of the lives that touched one another.
Having run other businesses in the region for many years, Michael and Lorna's exceptional skills have been honed to a very high level.
We were lucky to visit them early in their first year of business and achieve a booking at short notice. As their well earned reputation spreads, you are advised to book well in advance in future.
Perranporth beach and the coralling of swimmers.
At low tide, when we arrived, Perranporth had a fantastic sandy beach with picturesque cliffs.
The hordes arrived with their windbreaks and deck chairs, towels and kites and filled the space immediately below the town. They rapidly gave way to the large empty sandy beach. There was one exception – a ribbon of swimmers and surfers that stretched from won to shore until they were bunched together at the water's edge in a 50m wide stretch between flags.
A watchful Lifeguard Landrover/jeep would occasionally dash out to one side with a loud wailing siren that echoed across the whole beach and blast out a warning about the danger of riptides on either side of the safe zones.The noise pollution grated on the ear, even though the riptides were apparent when viewing the sea from the cliffs.
We walked along the white mineral sand until the next lifeguarded section with its flags and occasional sirens at Perran Sands, viewing the eroded cliffs with barnacles and mussels clinging to their bases.
We returned along the cliff path with the occasional para glider hovering above us. Arriving back in Truro at 4:30h, we splashed out on our last luxurious Cornish Cream Tea in the Victorian Tearooms, situated in the old Coinage Hall, with friendly staff and serene surroundings.
Saturday, 8 August 2009
A negative bus journey and the kindness of strangers.(Cornwall by public transport V).
A sorry journey
Our last day was a trip to the lovely beach at Perranporth and the journey there was an example of the worst service that we had experienced in our whole holiday.
It began with attempting to buy our ticket on the No 403 Summercourt Travel bus from Truro, Victoria Square, at 10:45h on Friday 7th August. The return fare was £5.60 for 2. When I tried to pay with a £10 note I received the curt reply “no Change, only exact fare.” No further explanation, no apologies for inconvenience.
So we scrimped our remaining change together – and fortunately made the fare and boarded.
One stop on, another passenger with no change received the same curt, unsympathetic treatment. Since he had no change – he had to miss the bus, to his vented frustration and the driver's rude verbal riposte. A later passenger also nearly had to get off – were it not for the kindness of a stranger (see below).
At another stop a lady and her daughter boarded and asked about the service – The drivers comment - which had also been given to other alighting passengers - was “we don't travel very often” . So the lady and her daughter got off again to wait for the next bus. Note that “not very often” was actually an hourly service until early evening around 5pm.
Three potential customers were lost on that journey and others alienated.
Now, to be fair, we all have off days and this might have been an exceptionally bad one for the driver. However, the whole travel experience left such a bad taste in our mouths, that we resolved to make the return journey with the Greyhound 587 in the afternoon, despite needing to buy another ticket.
So what have been done differently? An apology and an explanation – plus an indication of alternatives; a more accurate explanation of the journey times, these small things would have made a big difference in the customers perception. The traveller might need the bus, but the bus also needs the passengers.
The kindness of strangers
Two youths, strangers to each other, boarded the bus. The first, a young woman, again did not have the right change when getting on and was in danger of having to get off. The following youth seeing her predicament, generously and unselfconsciously bought her a ticket - unconditionally (i.e. without trying a follow on chat up!). This was followed by her initially reluctant but then gracious acceptance.
Our last day was a trip to the lovely beach at Perranporth and the journey there was an example of the worst service that we had experienced in our whole holiday.
It began with attempting to buy our ticket on the No 403 Summercourt Travel bus from Truro, Victoria Square, at 10:45h on Friday 7th August. The return fare was £5.60 for 2. When I tried to pay with a £10 note I received the curt reply “no Change, only exact fare.” No further explanation, no apologies for inconvenience.
So we scrimped our remaining change together – and fortunately made the fare and boarded.
One stop on, another passenger with no change received the same curt, unsympathetic treatment. Since he had no change – he had to miss the bus, to his vented frustration and the driver's rude verbal riposte. A later passenger also nearly had to get off – were it not for the kindness of a stranger (see below).
At another stop a lady and her daughter boarded and asked about the service – The drivers comment - which had also been given to other alighting passengers - was “we don't travel very often” . So the lady and her daughter got off again to wait for the next bus. Note that “not very often” was actually an hourly service until early evening around 5pm.
Three potential customers were lost on that journey and others alienated.
Now, to be fair, we all have off days and this might have been an exceptionally bad one for the driver. However, the whole travel experience left such a bad taste in our mouths, that we resolved to make the return journey with the Greyhound 587 in the afternoon, despite needing to buy another ticket.
So what have been done differently? An apology and an explanation – plus an indication of alternatives; a more accurate explanation of the journey times, these small things would have made a big difference in the customers perception. The traveller might need the bus, but the bus also needs the passengers.
The kindness of strangers
Two youths, strangers to each other, boarded the bus. The first, a young woman, again did not have the right change when getting on and was in danger of having to get off. The following youth seeing her predicament, generously and unselfconsciously bought her a ticket - unconditionally (i.e. without trying a follow on chat up!). This was followed by her initially reluctant but then gracious acceptance.
Friday, 7 August 2009
Truro to St Mawes by boat - giant ships to Victorian stained glass (Cornwall by Public Transport IV)
Thursday, we tried out the Enterprise Ferry to St Mawes as a mode of public transport. The river at Truro is tidal. As it was low tide and there was not enough water to board a ferry, we were bussed (unusually by Taxi) to Malpas and boarded there.
The trip to St Mawes was particularly interesting as the river was sufficiently deep further downstream with a depth of at least 70 feet (20meters), to allow sea going ships to moor there, either whilst mothballed or awaiting new cargo. Examples were container ships and two major car transporters – enormous vessels!
Britain's first Mussel farm was also on the river and at Trelissig, there was the chain driven car ferry providing a convenient river crossing.
St Mawes is an idyllic, pittoresque town, with a small castle, that survives on tourism. The small church of St Mawes was built in its present form in 1882 and has beautiful stained glass windows that are shown in detail in the slideshow see link above).
We did travel across to Falmouth afterwards, using another ferry company but included in our return ticket. We were not impressed and pitied the cruise ship passengers disembarking there from the Aida.
However, we did find a haven for a cup of tea and an excellent courgette and lime cake. The Vegetarian Cafe “Pea Souk” is owned, managed, cooked and baked for by “Cordon Vert Trained and Qualified” Nicola Willis. Once lured out of her shell, it transpired that she came from Cambridge originally!
The return trip to Truro by Enterprise ferry took us right to the town on the high tide, arriving in a gentle evening light.
During the day, our B&B hosts at the Haven had laid the foundation for their future greenhouse in cement – a full day's work! Lorna, often seen gardening in the evenings, turns out to be a champion cement mixer & preparer, based on the years of past experience in professional home improvement.
Thursday, 6 August 2009
Visit to the Eden Project (Cornwall using public transport III)
Todays cooked breakfast on request was scrambled egg with mushroom. It tasted good but created culinary dissatisfaction in The Haven's Proprietor/Chef, Michael, due to the slight discolouring of the scrambled eggs! His mind was feverishly hatching alternative strategies for tomorrow.
A brisk walk to the Railway station and we were able to by a return ticket to the Eden Project, including bus from station in St Austell to the Eden Project and entry. The train left Truro at 10:19h and the connections were seamless on the way out.
The Eden Project is situated in a former quarry and is sufficiently large to accommodate thousands of visitors. Most people are familiar with the images of the geodesic domes of the Mediterranean and the tropical habitats. We discovered that a far greater area is taken up by the external “Biome” with diverse, interesting, informative and above all colourful plants as you will see from the slideshow.
We also enjoyed the sculptures and artwork that was scattered amongst the plants, from the giant bee and the WEEE Man to the totem pole collection in the tropical Biome. In the latter, the almost unbearable heat was alleviated by a stop in a “cooling room” and by standing at the exit where a substantial breeze gave welcome relief.
The return journey included a half hour wait for the train – and that slightly self righteous feeling that, because we had traveled by public transport, we had followed some of the environmental principles that are fundamental to the Eden Project.
A last tip if you need to eat in Truro – try “The French Bistro” on Bridge Street. I had a fantastic Walnut, apple and Roquefort salad and enjoyed a substantial proportion of Jane's Toulouse sausage and pepper casserole. The Chef prepares the food to a very high standard! Look out for their forthcoming blog at www.thefrenchbistro.blogspot.com.
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
Truro Cathedral and Victoria Gardens (Cornwall by public transport II)
The one temptation when not having to make your own breakfast is – to have a full cooked English Breakfast. And I succumbed – Michael Walsh at the Haven providing the excellent meal.
Suitably fortified, it was out into the drizzle and into the safety of Truro Cathedral. This cathedral was the first new one to be built in the UK since Salisbury in the 13th century. Truro's construction began at the end of the 19th Century when Cornwall finally enthroned its first own bishop.
The challenge of low light photography in the building kept us entertained till lunchtime – the italianate tiling is worth looking out for, the multilevel aisles unusual and the windows form the largest collection of Victorian stained glass in Britain!
The drizzle still came in waves as we lunched in the aptly named "Lunch". Food was accompanied by a stimulating discussion with a young Yorkshire couple she was an English teacher, he a Physics one. Our topics ranged from hi-tech swimwear, via old English battle sagas and fell running, to the Philip K Dick's novel "Do androids dream of electric sheep".
The centre sights soon exhausted, we meandered up to the outskirts of town where we found well kept allotments and the other highlight of the day, Victoria Gardens - as you can see from the slideshow.
Dinner was at Il Gatto Nero - tasty pizza's, once the service managed to get around to us.
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
Cornwall by Public Transport I
Last minute e-mails and post done, we set off on foot to the bus stop in Milton, for a holiday in Cornwall. We would try to use public transport.
First, onto the Citi 2 for remarkably fast run into Cambridge at 12:15 and a thank you to the cheery driver. The Citi 1 arrived for the next leg, but when the massive queue rushed to board, an experienced Jane spotted the empty Citi 3 behind it which sped us to the station.
With time on hand before the 13:15 to London Kings Cross, M&S was raided for sandwiches and drinks. The non-stop London run was familiar and passed pleasantly in the sunshine till Ally Pally and the Emirates Stadium heralded an imminent arrival in London.
The Underground at King's Cross seems to perpetually shift whenever I visit! We jumped onto a recently arrived Circle line train to head for Paddington, only to get off at Edgeware road where it terminated, one tantalising stop before Paddington itself.
The 15:06 sleek Intercity 225 of eight coaches was packed – we had not been able to get an earlier train because they had all been booked by last Saturday. Fortunately we not only had reserved seats, we were able to find and claim them, others were not so lucky. it's departure was delayed by 10 minutes as the driver was himself delayed from a previous train.
And so we rode into the increasingly gray skies. Despite passengers gushing off at stations on the way, their numbers were constantly replenished. Because of the train being overfull the carriage ends were blocked with the unfortunate third class placings - standing room with loads of luggage for the price of a full ticket. A side effect was to activate the pressure pads controlling the doors, which banged open and shut in repetitive and irritating beat.
The sea! Great excitement as we left Exeter and the sea lapped right up to the embankment, with the occasional spray from the choppy waters crashing against the curved walls of the sea defences. A flock of older ladies settled temporarily in neighbouring seats, twittering amongst themselves and to anyone who would listen, before departing at Newton Abbot.
The clouds descended further and by Liskeard, our delay had increased to 25 minutes as we were held up my slower trains ahead of us. We were relieved to finally arrive at Truro at 20:25 and walked to our B&B, The Haven.
And a welcome haven it was! with Michael & Lorna Marsh giving us a warm reception, rustling up some scrambled eggs and beans on toast and tea to replenish our energy. The Haven is situated in Truro Vean Terrace and the towers of the Cathedral could be seen nearby from the room's window.
We had landed at last.
First, onto the Citi 2 for remarkably fast run into Cambridge at 12:15 and a thank you to the cheery driver. The Citi 1 arrived for the next leg, but when the massive queue rushed to board, an experienced Jane spotted the empty Citi 3 behind it which sped us to the station.
With time on hand before the 13:15 to London Kings Cross, M&S was raided for sandwiches and drinks. The non-stop London run was familiar and passed pleasantly in the sunshine till Ally Pally and the Emirates Stadium heralded an imminent arrival in London.
The Underground at King's Cross seems to perpetually shift whenever I visit! We jumped onto a recently arrived Circle line train to head for Paddington, only to get off at Edgeware road where it terminated, one tantalising stop before Paddington itself.
The 15:06 sleek Intercity 225 of eight coaches was packed – we had not been able to get an earlier train because they had all been booked by last Saturday. Fortunately we not only had reserved seats, we were able to find and claim them, others were not so lucky. it's departure was delayed by 10 minutes as the driver was himself delayed from a previous train.
And so we rode into the increasingly gray skies. Despite passengers gushing off at stations on the way, their numbers were constantly replenished. Because of the train being overfull the carriage ends were blocked with the unfortunate third class placings - standing room with loads of luggage for the price of a full ticket. A side effect was to activate the pressure pads controlling the doors, which banged open and shut in repetitive and irritating beat.
The sea! Great excitement as we left Exeter and the sea lapped right up to the embankment, with the occasional spray from the choppy waters crashing against the curved walls of the sea defences. A flock of older ladies settled temporarily in neighbouring seats, twittering amongst themselves and to anyone who would listen, before departing at Newton Abbot.
The clouds descended further and by Liskeard, our delay had increased to 25 minutes as we were held up my slower trains ahead of us. We were relieved to finally arrive at Truro at 20:25 and walked to our B&B, The Haven.
And a welcome haven it was! with Michael & Lorna Marsh giving us a warm reception, rustling up some scrambled eggs and beans on toast and tea to replenish our energy. The Haven is situated in Truro Vean Terrace and the towers of the Cathedral could be seen nearby from the room's window.
We had landed at last.
Thursday, 23 July 2009
A miscellany of facts from Hereford
Worried about relatives getting more forgetful about when to take the burgeoning stack of pills they have to take? Local Gps liaise with client's pharmacies to provide prescriptions that can then be packed into clearly labeled “Dose-it” packs. These can even be subdivided into morning, midday, afternoon an night doses.
Jothi means “light” or “Lamp” - a lovely name for a cheerful lady shop assistant.
Bagless vacuum cleaners may not need bags, however, the do often contain filters that need to be washed and left to dry for 24h when the dust drum is emptied.
The direct translation of the German word for vacuum cleaner “Staubsauger” is - “Dust Sucker!”.
Wargrave House Surgery in Hereford is in a beautiful grade II listed building and garden. According to the receptionist, originally the house was bought by Charles II for his long time mistress, Nell Gwyn, a 17th century actress who was also renowned for her wit and described as “Pretty, Witty Nell”. The Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nell_Gwyn gives an informative and entertaining account of her known history,
Jothi means “light” or “Lamp” - a lovely name for a cheerful lady shop assistant.
Bagless vacuum cleaners may not need bags, however, the do often contain filters that need to be washed and left to dry for 24h when the dust drum is emptied.
The direct translation of the German word for vacuum cleaner “Staubsauger” is - “Dust Sucker!”.
Wargrave House Surgery in Hereford is in a beautiful grade II listed building and garden. According to the receptionist, originally the house was bought by Charles II for his long time mistress, Nell Gwyn, a 17th century actress who was also renowned for her wit and described as “Pretty, Witty Nell”. The Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nell_Gwyn gives an informative and entertaining account of her known history,
Monday, 6 July 2009
Great first weekend of my Cambridge Open Studio
Doors open, signs up, coordinated with Alison Hullyer just down road with her own studio at 11am on Saturday 4th July.
My first visitor (and buyer!) was Ann Hales-Tooke, for whom I'm publishing her newest book, The Lost Priory. She arrived in the morning sunshine in a lovely dress and summery hat. An artist herself, Ann gave exhibiting a miss this year.
Other visiting artists included Hiroshi Shimura, who had done most of the photos for the 800th year celebrations for Cambridge University, whos work gives a unique insight as a Japanese photographer in Cambridge; Stained glass artist Sarah Hunt who loved the luminous colours of the human hair in polarised light; Kathryn Shaw and photographer Soo Martin, with whom I exchanged photo and printing tips!
The added delight were the families with children who came, excitedly looked at butterflies and seeds under the microscope or earnestly worked on the quiz.
My quiz was a surprise hit. I'd numbered the pictures on the walls and provided descriptions or names of the pictures on the quiz sheet; the idea was to try and match the two. Daniel (aged 9 going on to 576 as he reliably informed me as his alter ego second ghost Captain Blighte) held the record at 28 out of 29 correct answers till beaten by Daisy late on Sunday afternoon.
People spent a lot of time looking and thinking about the pictures if they did the quiz, which was great as it gave rise to questions and conversation. I'm not sure if it might have detracted people from buying. The best sellers were the Postcards printed through moo.com.
I was particularly delighted when Mervyn Foster, a friend through HBN, Complementary Therapist and Raconteur, made the effort to drop by and also tweet on his visit!
Talking of tweeting, I kept a steady stream of tweets going linked to #ChrisCOS on both days.
The only quiet section really was a couple of hours during the mens Wimbledon Final - Jane did regularly bring out and update a board with the scores for visitors during the game.
Today, I'm still emotionally exhausted from a great couple of days and will gather my strength for the next weekend.
You are thoroughly welcome to drop by next weekend, I'd love to see you! the exhibition is at 3 Hall End, Milton, Cambridgeshire, CB24 6AQ and well signposted from the north end of the village. Remember there are also 200 other artists exhibiting in July as part of Cambridge Open Studios.
Saturday, 4 July 2009
Cambridge Open Studios diary - Friday 03rd July
Had got pretty stressed out yesterday with picture hanging and also continuing saga of BT line awaiting repairs (now a fortnight without landline!). So took the middle of day off to go to Mervyn's seminar on Stress, cancer and Complementary therapies. Certainly relaxed me.
Continued completing the little things - like a quiz and lables. Finished at 4 in the moring after a dash to Tesco for printing paper as I'd run out.
Continued completing the little things - like a quiz and lables. Finished at 4 in the moring after a dash to Tesco for printing paper as I'd run out.
Cambridge Open Studios diary - Thu 2nd July
Today was a day of measuring and hanging pictures! I'd planned the layout in PowerPoint, with measurements in proportion. Transferring the idea to the actual walls worked well, though it was time consuming, with the las pictures going up at 7 in the evening.
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Cambridge Open Studios Countdown Diary Wed 1st July
Absolutely exhausted after a productive day getting the garage sorted out as a studio with the excellent help of Alex and Louise. We first had to mount 10 boards to the walls to act as hanging surfaces, the routine developed as follows.
Alex "The Rock" would hold the 1.9m x 0.6m board in position. I would first drill through the board and into the masonry with a small 4mm drill. Then the holes in the wall were enlarged to fit rawplugs. The Board would be positioned and Louise "Muahahahahahahahahaha!" would use the power screwdriver to fix the board. Then the routine would start over again. We finished mid afternoon.
Then came the painting of the the boards which took till about 5:30, with Louise and I sharing the work.
The finished area looks really professional and we are all physically exhausted.
Picture hanging planned for tomorrow!
Alex "The Rock" would hold the 1.9m x 0.6m board in position. I would first drill through the board and into the masonry with a small 4mm drill. Then the holes in the wall were enlarged to fit rawplugs. The Board would be positioned and Louise "Muahahahahahahahahaha!" would use the power screwdriver to fix the board. Then the routine would start over again. We finished mid afternoon.
Then came the painting of the the boards which took till about 5:30, with Louise and I sharing the work.
The finished area looks really professional and we are all physically exhausted.
Picture hanging planned for tomorrow!
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Cambridge Open Studios Countdown Diary Mon 29th June
I will be using Garage as studio this year as this avoids both potential health & safety issues and ensures accessibility. However, need to get suitable surfaces to mount pictures on. Layout of pictures planned in Powerpoint.
Therefore went to B&Q to buy chipboard panels with the idea of painting them white and screwing them to garage walls.
Painted the backs of 4 of the 10 boards today to seal before fixing to wall - will tackle rest tomorrow.
Therefore went to B&Q to buy chipboard panels with the idea of painting them white and screwing them to garage walls.
Painted the backs of 4 of the 10 boards today to seal before fixing to wall - will tackle rest tomorrow.
Saturday, 27 June 2009
Cambridge Open Studio Countdown - Fri 26th June
Went to the HBN meeting today (huntingdonshire business network) and received my pictures mounted by Lesley Sharp of FairFrames.
Lesley has done a fantastic job and at a reasonable price, bringing the best out of the 15 pictures done for the exhibition!
Heavens suddenly opened during the meeting with torrential rain, and I had parked on the other side of the river, a good 10 minutes walk away, and had no real protection for pictures.
Took refuge in Costa's for lunch and a drink with Sidney Skinner, who also publishes books - under UP Publications. He later kindly gave me a lift in his car to mine, so the pictures were OK.
Lesley has done a fantastic job and at a reasonable price, bringing the best out of the 15 pictures done for the exhibition!
Heavens suddenly opened during the meeting with torrential rain, and I had parked on the other side of the river, a good 10 minutes walk away, and had no real protection for pictures.
Took refuge in Costa's for lunch and a drink with Sidney Skinner, who also publishes books - under UP Publications. He later kindly gave me a lift in his car to mine, so the pictures were OK.
Countdown diary of a Cambridge Open Studios Artist - Thu 25th June
Visited the Hills Road Sixth Form College Art Exhibition this eveing as daughters work also displayed there (and looking good!).
A good opportunity to see the wealth of artistic talent and ideas of the next generation of artists!
There were some excellent examples of technical competence in oils with a variety of portraits in styles from Classical to Lucien Freud. I particularly liked two sections, the fashion designs using a variety of materials other than fabrics and the photographers. Particularly struck by some of the monochrome portraits and enjoyed browsing one essay on the use of photoshopping of images and impact on beauty perception.
One series of photos dealing with death and crime suggested potential latent psychopathic tendencies.
Very thought provoking - and reassuring in a way too.
A good opportunity to see the wealth of artistic talent and ideas of the next generation of artists!
There were some excellent examples of technical competence in oils with a variety of portraits in styles from Classical to Lucien Freud. I particularly liked two sections, the fashion designs using a variety of materials other than fabrics and the photographers. Particularly struck by some of the monochrome portraits and enjoyed browsing one essay on the use of photoshopping of images and impact on beauty perception.
One series of photos dealing with death and crime suggested potential latent psychopathic tendencies.
Very thought provoking - and reassuring in a way too.
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Countdown Diary Cambridge Open Studios - Wednesday - 10 days to go.
An exhibition also needs some low cost items, such as postcards. This is always a balancing act for an artist - do you go for low numbers (up to a few hundred) at a high price that could sell out or thousands cheaply, but you end up having lots left over after exhibition?
Either way, you don't necessarily get your money back in sales!
I took a gamble and ordered 120 from moo.com. I was able to have 30 designs (4 cards each) done and they've just arrived today looking great! One worry less.
Phone line still down and internet at snails pace - Aaarrgh!
Either way, you don't necessarily get your money back in sales!
I took a gamble and ordered 120 from moo.com. I was able to have 30 designs (4 cards each) done and they've just arrived today looking great! One worry less.
Phone line still down and internet at snails pace - Aaarrgh!
Countdown Diary Cambridge Open Studios - Tuesday - 11 days to go
Picked up my box of Open Studios Booklets from area distributor David Chow in Cottenham who's exhibiting his Photos of flowers this year (studio 131) . Gave some to Alison Hullyer (studio 133) in my Close as she's run out. We've agreed to open on the same weekends as it gets more difficult to attract visitors outside of the City. Went to Post Office, Surgery and Community Centre to stock up their booklets.
Telephone line down and broadband at a trickle at this critical time - BT engineers, Where are you?!?
Telephone line down and broadband at a trickle at this critical time - BT engineers, Where are you?!?
Countdown Diary of an Open Studios Artist - Monday -12 days to go!
After 2 year gap, taking part again in Cambridge Open Studios as photographer - 149 studios open to public in July!
Picked up my printed pictures from Heather Maunders (artist 82) last Friday and passed on to be mounted and framed by Lesley of FairFrames. Always a balancing act in terms of costs - how many to have as just mounts and how many to frame fully as latter much more expensive. Have gone for 5 large pictures framed and 22 as mounts.
Picked up my printed pictures from Heather Maunders (artist 82) last Friday and passed on to be mounted and framed by Lesley of FairFrames. Always a balancing act in terms of costs - how many to have as just mounts and how many to frame fully as latter much more expensive. Have gone for 5 large pictures framed and 22 as mounts.
Friday, 19 June 2009
The green green grass of artificial surfaces
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| From Wordle-images |
The grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, especially if its an artificial surface, as I found out when visiting Technical Surfaces with Jon Beal of Netflare to provide web marketing training. This gave me a glimpse into the world of artificial surfaces.
With an estimated cost of £300 000 to get a new pitch constructed and surfaced, why should a club or council countenance having an artificial site instead of a natural turf one, especially when the maintenance costs of an artificial surface are slightly more expensive to maintain, at £8000pa (instead of £7500pa for turf). Answer, a ten fold increase in available playing time per week, The average turf play time per week is 4h, in contrast, artificial surfaces permit 40h per week.
Artificial surfaces come in a variety of depths, depending on the sport they are to be used for – very short pile for Tennis and longer pile for football pitches. The surfaces are also seeded with an inert medium such as sand or granulated rubber. Evenly spread this gound supports the blades and provides a hard wearing surface.
To get the most of the artificial surface over its 10 – 15 year life and keep the manufacturer's warranty, it does need regular maintenance. Sweeping is a frequent need, to even out the spread of the sand or rubber ground and straighten the blades again.
Many clubs are unaware that more frequent sweeping and maintenance can have a beneficial effect. For this reason, Technical Surfaces have made it their aim to provide impartial information on artificial surface maintenance on their new (and still growing) website. Jon and I were there to assist them with both website structure and advice on writing relevant articles that can satisfy the myriad of questions by users and owners of artificial surfaces.
Whether its artificial playing surfaces or your website, they need constant care and attention, otherwise they deteriorate rapidly, with concurrent extra costs to put right!
To find out more about artificial surfaces and their care – make a point of visiting www.technicalsurfaces.co.uk over the coming months as their portfolio of articles and case studies expands. For more information on structuring your website and writing productive articles, give me a call or contact Jon Beal at Netflare.
Sunday, 14 June 2009
Swine flu update on progress world wide, nationally in UK and within UK regions up to 12th June 09
The news has been returning to swine flu over the past week with the WHO declaration that it is now a swine flu epidemic and that Scotland was experiencing many cases. I've been monitoring the available data from the WHO and the UK Health Protection Reports and feel that sufficient time has passed to provide some visusal data giving a possible insight on whether conrol measures are working, in the form of graphs.
The results suggest the following conclusions:
- The rate of new infections apparently slowing down in Mexico
- Control measures are having an effect in the USA and world generally in that the rate of new infections is only increasing linearly, as opposed to exponentially.
- Surprisingly, the UK is showing an exponential increase in the rate of new infections. Looking at the nations and regions, it appears that England's rate of increase is almost linear, with Scotland having shown an exponential increase over the last three weeks, which could explain the UK figures.
Looking at the wealth of information for winter flu and other flu epidemics, the curves created by data on numbers of confirmed infection show an approximation to an S curve. That is, infections increase exponentially (in a rising curve when plotting total infections against time) until levelling off to a tailing peak. This is how I show the data in my graphs. In a winter epidemic, this takes over circa 24 weeks.
If you plot the number of new cases against time over an epidemic, you get an epidemic curve which has a typical bell shape.
So assessing whether control measures are effective can be seen in two ways; 1. a slower rate of exponential increase during the first half of the S shaped infection curve 2. a lower peak of total infections.
We are only 6 to 8 weeks into the pandemic. It was therefore very gratifying to see that the USA and World graphs did not show the strong exponential increase in infection cases expected in an unregulated epidemic. Instead, the increases show a steady linear increase. In Mexico, there is even an indication that the epidemic is tailing off.
The exponential increase in the UK was therefore a surprise, even though this is predominantly due to the increases in Scotland over the 2 weeks before 12th June. However, we should bear in mind that the numbers of cases could still be a much lower figure than if no control measures had been introduced and also that we see significant changes for the better over coming weeks.
I'm not panicking! But I'm keeping my eye on the situation.
Thursday, 11 June 2009
Getting our teeth into Glasgow
Despite a 4am start from Cambridge, Duesseldorf or Malvern, Mark, Marie,Ulrich and I found ourselves relatively bright on the Banks of the Clyde in the early afternoon. We entered the Scottish Exhibition Centre, the day before the British Dental Association Annual Exhibition to find organised chaos reigning as we came into the hall to find and set up the NRW – Dental Technician Mission Stand. Afterwards, I inevitably got distracted with the camera photographing the Squinty bridge and the Exhibition Centre in glorious sunshine.
The remaining delegates arrived later in the afternoon as we had our introduction to Scotland, with James from the Hotel Marriott reception reading out some of Burn's “Ode to a Toothache” to drive home the point of Scotland as an independent nation. Delegates also learnt how to find USPs or examples of their work unique to them by using their answers to client's specific questions and problems. Dinner in a Glasgow Tapas bar broke the ice that evening.
The next day, the German dental technicians put their new found skills to good use at the exhibition. With free internet access, I enjoyed returning the favour of the friendly and helpful reception at various stands with collecting their Tweets for my twitter blogs.
The afternoon included a visit to the exceptional Visage lifestyle Clinic where Dr Attiq Rahman, Director, introduced us to a top of the market, Harley Street clinic, combining Dentistry with Cosmetic treatments. We were all fascinated by the apparently Glass bowl like treatment room, with the treatment chair visible from reception. With smile, Attiq flicked a switch and the intelligent glass became opaque. Waiting patients could therefore gauge when the treatment room was in use or not.
We dined that night at the Piccolo Mondo where I enjoyed my Salmon and discovered an unexpected fellow Chocoholic when the after dinner mints arrived! Fortunately our preferences differed sufficiently; I enjoyed the square mints, my unnamed choclateur (or should that be chocolateuse?) preferred the round orange ones which all our colleagues generously donated to us!
Friday Morning brought us to the equally impressive Scottish Centre for Excellence in Dentistry. Arshad Ali BDS, FDSRCS (Eng & Edin), FDSRCPS (Glasg), DRD, MRD RCS (Edin) Welcomed us to his Top of the Market clinic, into which they had recently moved before dashing off to the BDA exhibition in his Bentley. Rodger & Kevin McLaughlin, father and son in house dental technicians and German speakers gave us a considerable amount of their time. Again, we were impressed by how a dental business vision could be taken to a high level.
Then it was back to the exhibition to support our Scotland based speaker Dr Tobias Rinke at the Seminar on German double crown telescope techniques to a packed room. He was introduced by Consul General Moessinger, who had lent his support to our mission and chatted amiably with us at the reception with invited guests immediately afterwards. The Consul General also gave me an impromptu tweet which, with a twinkle iin his eye, he wished Alex Salmond could see!
A good introductory talk on the BDA by Clare Crishop and colleague, a meeting with Henry of Raconteur, who provide the insert pages for The Times, and many others that we met at the exhibition made this a memorable but exhausting day. But now it was time to Party! Bernd had obtained invites for all of us to the BDA Party at the Corinthian. I was flagging by 11 and returned to a welcome bed – the hardcore party goers stayed on till well after 1pm!
Whilst the party goers recovered the next morning, I made an early dash into Glasgow for a second photo tour of the Merchant City and attractive city centre. After supporting Tobias' second seminar, we went on to Dental Technology Services. I can only describe it as the Shock and Awe visit as we were shown the future of dental technical services and support by Alex Littlejohn and his sons. The forward looking family team have built up an impressive business that has acquired sufficient clout to be approached by those companies seeking places to test cutting edge equipment.
The end of the NRW Mission left us better informed and willing to look towards uniting for further action in order to support the efforts of German dental technicians interested in the UK market.
You can read our tweets collated at
http://miltoncontact.blogspot.com/2009/06/tweets-from-nrw-mission-trip-to-british.html
Relevant German articles
on interesting business introduction and setting your company apart from others at:
- Wie erzeugt meineFirma einen besseren Eindruck (bei der ersten Begruessing)
- Wie kann ich mich als eine Firma unter Vielen hervorheben?
Participating companies were:
Dentaform GmbH, Schroeter Dentallabor GmbH, Schueler Dental-Technik, Ivorydent, Zahntechnik Horchmer & Joyeaux Meisterlabor, Zahntechnik Peters GmbH, Ulrich Schultheis Zahntechnik, Zahntechnik Roland Volkhardt, Form+Funktion
Dentaltechnik GmbH, Dental-Labor Froesch GmbH, Teeth 'R' Us, Cooperation for Dental Comfort.
DE Organisers – Bety Chu of NRW International, Marie-Theres Luetje of Handwerkskammer Duesseldorf and Bernd Krey of the Handwerkskammer Koeln
UK organisation & support – Mark Dodsworth Europartnerships Ltd, Chris Thomas Milton Contact Ltd, Audra Green & Helen Murfin of Virtual Advantage
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Tweets from the NRW Mission trip to the British Dental Association Annual conference
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| From Wordle-images |
Below is a collection of the tweets I made as a result of meeting people at the British Dental Association's Annual Exhibition in Glasgow and comments from the fantastic Dental Technicians in the fact finding delegation from North Rhine-Westphalia I was supporting.
The number of hits on links within the Tweets ranged from 9 to 32, with most averaging at about 19 - 20 hits. The statistics revealed that the responses peaked within 24 hours and that half of the visitors were from the US, followed by the UK. I use www.bit.ly to shorten links and they provide the simple statistics as part of the service.
Tweeting from glasgow flyer bus on way from airport to station - assisting German delegation for rest of week in Glasgow
At German NRW stand with Ulrich of Teeth R Us and Reinhard of Helbig Dental GmbH, awaiting the masses at stand D35
Ulrich is the affable owner of a dental laboratory wih a sense of humour and a real interest in working with dentists http://bit.ly/tm23c
Ulrich thoroughly recommends the dentists version of Bohemian Rhapsody at http://bit.ly/Q14Fi !!
Roger Fangemann has already learnt the the UK dental market is not so different from the German one! Theyre like local partners
Reinhards speaking to two young dentists about to set up a practice who liked the cost effectivity of telescope prosth. http://bit.ly/4qWWYJ
Dental crowns do not need to be implanted deeper than 6mm, so why do dentist use longer pins? http://bit.ly/VwyT6
is small beautiful with dental stands at the BDA or does it actually limit what visitors can learn comments Gerd http://bit.ly/SkZrZ
Jaw alignment with Herbst appliances is a real attractant at the BDA when chatting at different stands, see http://bit.ly/vHR7S
DPAS provide dental plans for patients who want affordable dental treatment with their dentists http://bit.ly/12pZQA
BOS represents every orthodontist and their technicians and nurses in UK, lobbying and eduction http://bit.ly/JXwCM
BDPMA help busy stressed dental practice managers run their dental businesses more successfully and profitably http://bit.ly/GfpNi
Excellence in total personal improvement by combining dentistry and cosmetic surgery in one practice http://bit.ly/lUbNG
It is important to know your personality type so that you can communicate effectively with others http://bit.ly/9iRh8
Gathering of great dental minds following a long Scottish dental tradition, says Henry of Raconteurmedia http://bit.ly/HNNuu
A dentist in every doctors practice? That's our business! Toothcare - http://bit.ly/DC19S
The young dentists are so enthusiastic when visiting Genix, says Sian http://bit.ly/Jvu1G
I'ts heartening to see so many seminars focussing on the patients experience at the BDA conference http://bit.ly/3lafpX
looking forward to review of NHS dental Health services undertaken by Jimmy Steel http://bit.ly/YWaS
The Scots are a courageous people who always try to make the best of it! German General Consul Moessinger http://bit.ly/2mhfM
The 50th anniversary of a German diplomatic presence in Edinburgh (General Consul Moessinger) http://bit.ly/2mhfM
"I loved meeting and interacting with the dental professionals at the BDA" says Acasha http://bit.ly/19qWgw
Dentistry with another dimension - Join the Airforce! http://bit.ly/LQf12 http://digg.com/u14uoh
“I enjoyed the visit to the Scottish Centre for Excellence in Dentistry in Glasgow” Okyay Oeztugran, http://bit.ly/aPOQU
“I've seen many interesting business ideas during th BDA conference for my clinic in Germany” Okyay Oeztugran, http://bit.ly/aPOQU
“It was a perfectly organised trip! Good insight into the British dental market. Friendly and open people” Roger Fangemann
“A top organised trip to scotland with a very interesting Exhibition visit” Gerd Joyeux http://bit.ly/SkZrZ
“Finally a big dental market that needs to be developed for telescope technology” Gerd Joyeux http://bit.ly/SkZrZ
“A very interesting trip to Scotland that was well organised and informative” http://bit.ly/vHR7S
“I was able to get a good insight into the Scottish dental market” Roland Volkhardt http://bit.ly/vHR7S
“Useful visit at the Scottish dental exhibition in Glasgow” Christian Froesch http://bit.ly/2KiS5
“You don't have to be a tooth fairy to shrink your dental bill!” Hildegart Hass-Stoetzel http://bit.ly/158IK4
Green Technologies meeting in Stratford Upon Avon
The rolling green countryside and the picturesque town of Stratford upon Avon were an appropriate place to meet Mark Dodsworth of Europartnerships for a visit to Mike Woollacott and his team at Greenwatt.
Greenwatt specialise in sustainable solutions and have particular expertise in the construction and renewable energy side of sustainable development, a growing area of interest for UK industry. Their involvement includes projects from Zero waste, via low carbon transport to sustainable engineering. Probably the best place to get an idea of their scope is to look at their projects page.
Our interest was in a potential synergy with the German market as part of the market assistance Mark and I provide for overseas companies. The enjoyable aspect of being small companies is that we can work together quite successfully for individual collaborative projects to provide a service greater than the sum of our parts. (Also see the Potsdam Green Ventures Album and the separate phototour of Potsdam itself.
It was a glorious day and sinceI had lived near Stratford upon Avon when working a post doc at the Institute of horticultural research, I took the camera into the town to take a few photos, as you can see from the slide show.
Monday, 8 June 2009
Exhibition at the Lothbury Centre, Weston Colville
One of the delights of being with the Cambridge Open Studios as a participating artist is that you also help out at some of the pre launch events. This is how I found myself in the Lothbury centre in Weston Colville at the invitation of Clarissa Cochran, not only to exhibit but also to steward the exhibition on the very first Saturday.
This could have been a quiet day in the beautiful countryside between Cambridge and Newmarket were it not for the welcoming and inclusive people of Weston Colville! For on this Saturday, they also held their Fun and family event. Jane Pryor, herself an abstract artist, was besieged by families with junior school children in the hall we shared. Paint brushes, bright colours and enthusiasm abounded as the visitors made leaf prints for a future Church event. A parallel session composed stories about what life was like in a flower.
Alan Ogden, helping organise the events, returned at lunchtime and friendly yet forceful manner ensured that I was not confined to the hall but got out into the sun and enjoyed some of the food on offer. I had the best chocolate brownies I've eaten for a long time!
But what has this to do with Open Studios?!? The village event had a beneficial effect on the exhibition. The parents took a spare moment to view the exhibition; when the BBQ finished, there was a steady trickle of curious visitors. There were at least 22 adults and at least the same number of children who came to look at the pictures, ask questions, peer down my microscope at the delightfully gruesome headlouse and take away the Open Studios leaflets.
The overall moral of the story is that if you want to make your exhibition even more successful in the future, consider joining forces with or timing it to match a nearby event.
The Lothbury exhibition continues till the end of June. Cambridge Open Studios Weekends start the first weekend in July. I'm exhibiting the first two weekends, so do come along to artists 134 (Chris Thomas) and 133 (Alison Hullyer) in Milton!
Saturday, 23 May 2009
Wildlife on Ely to Waterbeach walk
Michelle took up my twitter invite to join a walk from Ely to Waterbeach on a glorious sunny Saturday. Dry weather causing increasing cracks in the banks and cattle churning the path in places meant that we were often looking to our feet and noticing some of the smaller wildlife.
Starting with Muscovy ducks in the city of Ely, we passed herons, diving greater crested grebe, Greylag and Canada geese. Dragonflies (common darters) and damselflies flew tantalisingly in and out of cameral range. Butterflies were out too, from eyed peacocks and handed red admirals to lemon coloured Brimstones. Banded snails and others were abundant on parts of the walk. The yellow lichen Xanthoria parietina grew well on tree trunks and exposed gates.
In contrast to last weekend, there were more walkers out too, from ramblers young and old to the Romanian farm workers off to Ely.
It was great to have company on the walk, especially as Michelle's interest in Philosophy meant we touched on Machiavelli, Locke, Hobbs and Rousseau in relation to freedom and responsibility.
New concept for me to consider "freedom is defined in terms of the limitations others impose upon you".
Friday, 22 May 2009
A little something to make you scratch your head!
Ten years ago our family had been victim to some persistent visitors. My wife arrived at work with the children in tow, with suspiciously wet hair.
"I have some good news and some bad news!" she greeted me.
"The bad news is that the children had caught headlice and have just been treated!"
"And the good news?" I asked.
"I kept a few for your microscope!"
I was truly grateful and made some permanent microscope slides.
Because the insects are a few millimeters long, they were difficult to photograph in focus throughout at the time using a film camera.
At last, in 2008, armed with a digital camera and modern software, I was able to revisit the slides for an new project, in preparation for Open Studios 2009.
My ambition was to photograph the head lice under polarised light, where the muscles glow in fantastic colours. Using Helicon software, I could also photograph at different focal depths and combine the images to obtain a final picture in focus throughout.
21 pictures were taken at different polarisation angles and foci to give the centre-piece picture of my Open Studios exhibition.
You can either shudder at or admire the images above taken of 2009 live (active and therefore blurred!) insects and the ones as specimens for eternity that I prepared over a decade ago with the final exhibition piece.
In 1976, Michael Andrews commented in his book "The Life that lives on Man" that at that time, there were 1.5 million "lousy" people estimated in the UK and that a survey in one industrial area in 1970 found 26% of secondary school children infected. He predicted, that despite eradication campaigns, the head louse would be with us in the future! He was right. My children's generation had them and they are thriving in the 21st Century!
You can see the print of the magically coloured Head Louse at my place as part of Open Studios this year over the first two weekends in July.
Thursday, 21 May 2009
A walk along the Fen River Way
When Terry Downing asked for volunteers to join him on the 46 mile Pathfinder March in June, I fell for it! Since then, I've been trying to build up my stamina. Last Sunday I had an enjoyable walk from Milton to Ely (see slideshow), a treck of over 15 miles, which took 5 hours with all the diversions & photographs
This Saturday, 23rd May 2009, I'll be walking the other way, from Ely to Milton and welcome the company of anyone wishing to come along! The itinerary and rescue points below:
- 11 am Start: Ely - River by Maltings
- Past road entrance to Ely Railway Station
- Across bridge to Eastern river bank path (Fen River Way walk)
- 1st possible collection point at 5 miles (crossing of Stretham-Wicken Road)
- 2nd possible collection point at 6.6 miles (Upware - Five Miles From Anywhere Pub)
- 3rd possible collection point at 11.6 miles (Clayhithe/Waterbeach)
- 4pm-5pm Finish Milton (15 miles)
Friday, 1 May 2009
A Grand Day out at InternetWorld 2009, Earls Court
Mark Dodsworth of Europartnerships and I decided to get up and meet some real people behind the headings in the InternetWorld catalogue of Exhibitors. The intention was to see how relevant and how interesting any might be for our Autumn IT delegation from Germany. To aid my memory and as a benefit to those we accosted, I took the occasional photo and asked for their tweet texts.
The first thing to note was that most companies sounded far more interesting and were very enthusiastic when spoken to as opposed to their exhibition guide entries. A few stood out particularly.
In a competitive word of web designers and service providers, Jilly Welch of Fortune Cookies stood out in the way she communicated with visitors to her stand. Warm, engaging and informative, her knowledgeable approach was more that of a conversation between business friends instead of the heavy and often technical sales pitch so often encountered. I am sure others will remember her all the more for it and approach her more readily in the future.
Walking by the Chillifish stand, with its framed pictures and no other explanatory text, I was intrigued enough to talk to Louise. A company specifically targeting the marketing of high value brands! Brilliant concept which fitted in with the brand image approach of the stand. Chillifish also provided the best free gift for me personally, the book "It's not how good you are, It's how good you want to be." By Paul Arden who used to work for Saatchi & Saatchi.
Everyone was talking about accessibility but Nomensa really meant it with solutions for the visually and otherwise impaired. One of their products was a dating game for the RNIB (organization supporting blind and partially sighted people) as well as making flash more accessible (damn – it’s that word again!).
The InBox Warriors also presented a totally different look to the suits and conservative attire, with their relaxed T-Shirts, cult film “The Warriors(?)” running in the background and a stand with giant soft cushions to sit on. Their avowed aim was to ensure E-Mail campaigns by their clients actually hit the in-boxes of the prospective customers. With a Job title on the business card of “Client Slave”, Tony brought a smile to my face.
I could go on about all the others I met – perhaps the Tweets below will give you a flavour.
The exhibition was well organized, however there was one sour note – the food. The Baked Potato at Internet world yesterday was another example of exploitation - nearly £6 for a baked potato - skin was forming on baked beans, the chilli con carni had an unappetising black dried out crust on top, fortunately the cottage cheese & chives was OK. And service? the indifferent serving staff made it more like receiving slops than a meal (and I can normally entice a positive smile from most serving counters). Also the little shop serving chocolates had Mars bars at £0.70, where you could get them for £0.55 at a kiosk within 100yds outside near the station
Overall though, Internet World was a positive experience and we make plenty of contacts who were either interested in talking to us later in the year re our delegation or would be able to pass us onto relevant people.
Tweets (most recent first)
@miltoncontact Best InternetWorld freebie from Chillifish - Book "It's not how good you are, It's how good you want to be." http://bit.ly/jMJ2n #iw_expo
@miltoncontact "Innovative integrated security for cross-platform applications" Sharp http://bit.ly/16vRLR on Gridsure http://bit.ly/IR91Z #iw_expo
@miltoncontact "Protection, intelligence, growth, consumer protection - the power of association" the DMA http://bit.ly/NU4Jp #iw_expo
@miltoncontact "Providing advice , knowledge and support to Austrian companies" Austrian Chamber http://bit.ly/x1FAy #iw_expo
@miltoncontact "Digital pen and flipcharts for annotating presentations - only £99!" Papershow, Hamelin Paper brands - http://bit.ly/nyl94 #iw_expo
@miltoncontact "Widescreen eye-tracking to optimise your site; with detailed analysis" Acuity http://bit.ly/OUGC0 #iw_expo
@miltoncontact "Getting your message into your clients in-box!" Inbox Warriors http://bit.ly/18Em3E #iw_expo
@miltoncontact "Hi end brand internet marketing" Chillifish - http://bit.ly/17arZR #iw_expo
@miltoncontact "Don't miss important parcel deliveries whilst out on business" ByBox http://bit.ly/JirK8 #iw_expo
@miltoncontact "Reward customers, increase their loyalty and generate extra revenue" Adaptive affinity http://bit.ly/k7afs #iw_expo
@miltoncontact "Dating game for RNIB and other unique accessibility services - humanising technology" - Nomensa http://bit.ly/4DGAo2 #iw_expo
@miltoncontact "Web design & Development specialising in accessibility and useability" Fortune Cookie http://bit.ly/4l5iH #iw_expo
@miltoncontact "Leading international professional body for marketing" - the Chartered institute of Marketing http://bit.ly/NaUOu #iw_expo
@miltoncontact Due to poor internet connection at Internet World 2009, entering my tweets after return home #iw_expo
Wednesday, 8 April 2009
From Virtual Reality to Pyramids in Halle
Traveling south of Berlin into the plains that reminded me of flat East Anglia, Sylvia Schmidt of Come Across and I headed to Halle to meet a further five companies curious about opportunities for their businesses in the UK. It promised to be an even warmer day than our visit to Potsdam yesterday and our run of appointments precluded any thoughts of sightseeing or even lunch!
Michael Dresher of the IHK in Halle made us welcome and lent his support in the meetings that followed.
Michael Käding of ANOVA had come down all the way from Rostock on the Baltic coast. Instead of my research memories of ANalysis Of VAriance, the company ANOVA deals with the far more exciting software for visualising home furnishings. Ideal for large sellers of curtain materials, flooring and other interior furnishings, the neat feature of the software is that patterns on fabrics selected by a shopper are molded to the shape of the folds on a particular curtain or drape – giving a much more realistic impression on how their purchase might fit into their home.
Now I know that the standing joke in the UK is that Christmas starts immediately after Easter, you could have been forgiven for thinking that Manfred Salzman was a bit premature in coming to talk about a unique German decoration, the Christmas Pyramid. This is a multi tiered, decorated wooden construction with rotating platforms of Xmas figures, driven by a candle powered fan. Except that Manfred though big, real big – nearly 10m tall in fact! His Christmas Pyramids are centrepieces of German Xmas Markets and contain 25 square metres of pavilion shopping space for businesses that recoup their purchase price. Brilliant for city centre attractions in the December run up to the festive season.
Whilst Saloons epitomise Westerns (films), the company Celloon links itself more to the social aspect of Saloons – meeting people and entertainment. Last week at a Brimingham IT fair, I saw mobile phone interactivity with posters or othr printed media using RFID or bhluetooth technology. Mirko Kisser had come up with an ingenious variant that embedded a visual pattern in the advertising medium and background pictures. A simple piece of self installing software would enable anyone with a mobile phone having a camera to scan an ad or poster with such a design and immediately be redirected to the relevant site on the web. Mirko showed another application by having a design incorporated onto his business card – another mobile could view the card and download his contact details almost instantaneously.
Still waters run deep, as I found when talking to the quiet spoken director of DSSD, Dirk Schulz and his ebullient Sales Director Andree Kruczynski. Dirk has developed a 3D virtual construction software that allows manufacturers to build their prototypes and test them. The neat feature is that real hardware and existing software can interact with the prototype to test functionality and identify issues arising during design. The system had already been used successfully in the automotive industry in Germany and was now available for other manufacturer worldwide. There was a possibility of having a play with the VR Helmet and gloves of the deluxe version on a return visit which I could look forward to.
It was also good to see a familiar face again, Dr Holger Noffz, who had developed an excellent relationship with Sylvia, as evidenced by their animated conversation. Holger's company ACL manufactures high specification PCs and equipment that is suitable for use in operating rooms and other medical environments. The key feature of his products, from a client's purchasing perspective, was that whilst specifically designed to function safely and relevantly in a medical environment – these were not medical devices. This means that they can be purchased on the normal local budgets, rather than under the demanding conditions set for purchasing medical equipment such as X-ray machines etc.
Our enthusiasm on the day let us overrun, which meant that we had to sprint to the railway station to catch our train back to Berlin. Sylvia and I crashed late that evening, exhausted by the busy days yet still exhilarated by the meetings with the people we met.
My Tweets on Twitter for the day were:
#halle-ihk 5 varied and intersting companies met in Halle Germany , searching for UK contacts & partners
#halle-ihk the software for interior design: visualising 3D Window dressing, floor patterns and layouts from digi photo http://bit.ly/HXhy
#halle-ihk X-mas pyramids for Xmas markets - 10m high and with 25m floor space to sell Xmas goods from! contact me for more info
#halle-ihk "Click, Collect & Share" -Mobile phone interactivity to events via 2D codes on printed ads caught on camera http://bit.ly/Is4n
#halle-ihk interFACE reality for designing virtual prototypes able to interact with real hard & software http://bit.ly/ZprHH
#halle-ihk modular operation room PCs - Hi spec for medical environment without hassle of being medical equipment! http://bit.ly/3TFbbz
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
IT companies met in Potsdam
The sun was just breaking through as I arrived with Sylvia Schmidt of Come Across in Potsdam station. A city still in change, we picked our way across the road works and construction sites. One strangely silent – we heard of our luck not to arrive the next day when an unexploded bomb found there was going to be defused.
The ever cheerful Torsten Stehr greeted us at the IHK building where we were holding our meetings, to then hurry back with his planning of this years Green Ventures (photos 2008 – Green Ventures, photos Potsdam 2008).
Our guests over the coming hours were German IT businesses looking for a UK entry and we were curious to hear their interests and activities, fervently hoping that they were more exciting than the website content which is so often misleading.
A laid back and curious Patrick Schwalger of V-CAT dropped in first, having only recently heard of the excellent subsidies by the German Government for business trips abroad for SME’s, which cover a substantial proportion of the costs (nearly two thirds!). V-CAT provide the next generation of platforms for collaborative projects. Cloud based products are aimed primarily at the education sector – those of us with children are already aware of the first generation products in this line being used for student & teacher e-mails, time tabling and daily register. With businesses and employees geographically dispersed, the contract based solutions are secure enough to have been trusted by the Berlin Senate and user friendly enough for a teacher to have described them as “intuitive”; Patrick emphasised “You don't adapt to our software, our software adapts to you”.
Uwe Brodtmann of Inchrom breezed in for an enthusiastic presentation. 80% of innovation in cars is now electronic. The rising number of components have to talk to each other, accurately and without fail within milliseconds (just think what could happen if your ABS fails at a critical moment!). Timing is everything – yet each electronic component has its own clock speed – and these can also drift. Inchron's simulation software allows the user to model scheduling of events and even simulate different scenarios, based on the electronic components talking to each other; Hence “Think real-time for embedded software”.
With more employees, the complexity of management increased exponentially, so processes and Standard Operating Procedures required. The difficulty is often visualizing them and then ensuring that they are followed. A quiet, unassuming Stefan Zorn of Imatics demonstrated his software solution with aplomb. Accessible set up to ensure that new users or followers of SOPs are assisted and guided through a completion process that makes compliance painless. When I asked, tongue in cheek, whether he had a process set up for his sales strategy, his humour shone through as he promptly pulled one forward so that we could use it for our further discussions.
I must admit having looked forward to the MicroMovie delegation of CEO Jasdan Bernward Joerges and his colleague Katrin Ebersohn. MicroMovies provide short films for major advertisers with a twist. Mobile phone users can take a picture of themselves and upload it to a particular advertisers movie and be integrated into the action. I couldn’t resist having a go for their demo based on a ZDF soap!
Whilst I’m fairly adept at technology, I really appreciate solutions that make life simpler! What I had not realized was that this could also safe large firms a lot of money. Christian Dietze of Revacom introduced be to a hidden benefit – software packeting. Think of easy to install Acrobat reader or other software with it’s own installation wizard – it’s the wiz that is the packeting. If a large company wants to install new software company wide, having it encapsulated in a software packeting can save several man days in work time and as we know, time is money!
I ended the day enthused and after a well earned Mexican meal just off the Karl Marx Allee, hurried back to send out some tweets on the subject:
miltoncontact #potsdam "You don't adapt to our platform, our platform adapts to you!" http://bit.ly/9xu2O -12:27 AM Apr 7th, 2009.
miltoncontact #potsdam "Think realtime for embedded software when considering our simuation solution" http://bit.ly/49RD7L -12:32 AM Apr 7th, 2009
miltoncontact #potsdam Simple visualisation and implementation of process procedures for non-IT managers http://bit.ly/2NwrJ8 -12:39 AM Apr 7th, 2009
miltoncontact #potsdam micromovies with customer's faces are innovative new viral marketing tool used by german TV soap http://bit.ly/j0fdC -12:42 AM Apr 7th, 2009
miltoncontact #potsdam Superior international outsourcing partner creates software packaging for companies worldwide. http://bit.ly/kt1j -12:22 AM Apr 7th, 2009
Friday, 3 April 2009
Restaurant 22, not just a number
Some restaurants might regard a restriction of available seating in a restaurant to just 26 a severe limitation. Armando Tommaso, owner/manager of Restaurant 22 has made it into a true benefit. I dashed out of the rain on a March morning and into an intimate small Victorian house at the bottom of Mitchams corner in Cambridge to find out more about Armando and his successful restaurant.
Armando took over Restaurant 22 in 2007 with the objective of providing good quality modern European food based on recipes from France, Italy, Spain and the UK, with a set price, three course menu. Because of the limit on the number of tables and the need for prior booking, Armando was also able to provide a more personal service to clients from Cambridge and the surrounding areas, distinct from the tourist based services in the City itself.
Professionals and academics are a part of his regular and returning clientelle who are kept in touch with the offers and menus available throughout the year through the e-mails sent to friends of the Restaurant. Indeed, regular bookings were being phoned in during our conversation, attesting that even in a recession, a good business model can help you survive!
Our conversation turned towards possible expansion into providing a lunchtime option. Within easy reach of the Science and business parks and other professionals, particularly in the north of Cambridge, the venue is particularly suited for advanced booking by small parties of 6 or more wishing to break up a day of meetings with a good meal in conducive surroundings. One innovative idea was to link with a taxi service to pick people up and drop them back at work again after the meal, neatly avoiding those parking issues in our city.
My particular pleasure of the visit was to end it with a photograph of the gorgeous Art Nouveau window decorating the main dining room, which encapsulated the positive impression created by both Armando and his Restaurant 22.
Friday, 20 March 2009
Presenting Future Business People
The concentrating year 8 timekeepers, ready to signal time; the Year 11 joking extrovert who becomes the friendly toastmaster introducing and welcoming speakers to the front; The courageous speakers who overcome their fear to walk to the front and give a short presentation. These 11 students from Linton Village College had come together as a group to positively achieve more structured presentations by the end of a 90 minute session that had begun with a sea of somewhat apprehensive individuals!
The year 8 students had taken part in the Junior Chamber challenge to set up a business for £10 and make a profit. They were going to give a presentation at an assembly in the next month and needed to gain some presentation skills and experience. The year 11 were three individuals who also wanted to learn a bit more about public speaking.
Maria Briggs of the Cambridgeshire Chambers of Commerce had passed Katie Hart, Rhetonic, who was involved with the Junior Chambers, to me to help out with their presentation skills training as a public speaker, affiliated with Dale Carnegie and member of Toastmasters International. John Taylor was the teacher coordinating the activities at LVC and gave support during my visit.
It was a real pleasure to see how during our session, all the students were open to ideas and examples that they saw in other peoples presentations. They were willing to look at their first speech and positively strive to improve it by incorporating structure and five simple principles of Prepare, Keep it simple, Make it Exciting, Practice and End with a Bang!
So what were the businesses and how had they fared? Well, I'm not one to give the game away, we will have to wait until they give their public presentation to the school!
Good luck to the teams with their presentations and thanks for the pleasure of training with them.
The year 8 students had taken part in the Junior Chamber challenge to set up a business for £10 and make a profit. They were going to give a presentation at an assembly in the next month and needed to gain some presentation skills and experience. The year 11 were three individuals who also wanted to learn a bit more about public speaking.
Maria Briggs of the Cambridgeshire Chambers of Commerce had passed Katie Hart, Rhetonic, who was involved with the Junior Chambers, to me to help out with their presentation skills training as a public speaker, affiliated with Dale Carnegie and member of Toastmasters International. John Taylor was the teacher coordinating the activities at LVC and gave support during my visit.
It was a real pleasure to see how during our session, all the students were open to ideas and examples that they saw in other peoples presentations. They were willing to look at their first speech and positively strive to improve it by incorporating structure and five simple principles of Prepare, Keep it simple, Make it Exciting, Practice and End with a Bang!
So what were the businesses and how had they fared? Well, I'm not one to give the game away, we will have to wait until they give their public presentation to the school!
Good luck to the teams with their presentations and thanks for the pleasure of training with them.
Thursday, 19 March 2009
Golf lawns and football pitches turning yellow
Thirty five Golf courses and 3 football pitches in the UK are developing large yellow patches that may signal the beginnings of a spread of a new pest within the UK. The patches are created by microscopic worms called nematodes (Meloidogyne minor see CSL 2007 Risk Assessment)which attack the roots of the grass species used for lawns & pitches, weakening the plants and causing the sickly patches.
Life cycle of Meloidogyne species which cause damage to plants by draining their resources
So far there are no known effective control measures and there is a small but real risk that the pest will be spread by golfers on their footwear to more of the existing 2600 golf courses in the UK with little chance of prevention. Currently, it appears that M. minor is indigenous to the UK, although similar cases have been seen in the Netherlands.
I was first made aware of this information when I visited Dr Amanda Cottage at NIAB where we reminisced about our past interest in the field of nematolode resistance when I was still a scientist.
Amanda is now a Plant Pathologist at NIAB, with responsibility for developing assays for new and existing diseases in mainly broadleaved plants. NIAB has a long tradition of trialling and testing for a variety of clients, from farmers to the Potato board.
With the increasing importance of rapid pest identification for UK agriculture and the need for faster responses, there is a necessity for the development of assays using the newest molecular techniques.
Angela's experience at the cutting edge of plant molecular research will be a key factor to developing this area for NIAB.
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| From Blogger Pictures |
Life cycle of Meloidogyne species which cause damage to plants by draining their resources
So far there are no known effective control measures and there is a small but real risk that the pest will be spread by golfers on their footwear to more of the existing 2600 golf courses in the UK with little chance of prevention. Currently, it appears that M. minor is indigenous to the UK, although similar cases have been seen in the Netherlands.
I was first made aware of this information when I visited Dr Amanda Cottage at NIAB where we reminisced about our past interest in the field of nematolode resistance when I was still a scientist.
Amanda is now a Plant Pathologist at NIAB, with responsibility for developing assays for new and existing diseases in mainly broadleaved plants. NIAB has a long tradition of trialling and testing for a variety of clients, from farmers to the Potato board.
With the increasing importance of rapid pest identification for UK agriculture and the need for faster responses, there is a necessity for the development of assays using the newest molecular techniques.
Angela's experience at the cutting edge of plant molecular research will be a key factor to developing this area for NIAB.
Tuesday, 17 March 2009
Profile - Stan Taylor
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| From Portrtaits and Lighting at HBN AGM08 |
This is a celebration of a great networker who was the face of the Cambridgeshire Chambers of Commerce for many businesses in and around the south of Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and into the Fens.
Before joining the Chamber four and a half years ago, Stan had been with a successful interior design company and in business development for a B2B magazine.
He joined the Chamber just as John Bridge OBE was taking a vigorous approach to revitalise the Cambridgeshire Chambers and combat the national trend in declining membership within a very restricted budget. Whilst John was dealing with the strategic issues, Stan came in to provide a complementary strong interface on the ground with old, new and prospective members for his area.
One of John’s inspired innovations was the generation of the “Local Chambers”, Peterborough, Huntingdon and Cambridge, where local business people would volunteer their services (free) to support the Chamber and its activities locally. When I became the first Chair of the new Cambridge Chamber (and later when others took on the role), Stan was a key contact point on the Cambridge Committee and rapidly became an increasingly familiar and welcome face at events.
With a smile and a twinkle in his eye, Stan was soon the first warm welcoming point of networking meetings, who ensured that new faces were integrated into a more open style of networking, as opposed to the closed cliques that one might have formerly associated with the Chambers. His easy manner also won over many potential new members as he travelled around the South of Cambridgeshire.
Stan’s competence and networking skills meant that he assumed increasing responsibility, becoming the prime mover in setting up the Ely and Fenland Chambers. He began representing the Chamber on external bodies when John’s couldn’t attend, such as the Huntingdon Town Partnership, HDC Local Procurement, the Economic Development Forum and Business Against Crime. Stan was also proud of his assistance in setting up the St Ives Town Initiative networking.
John and the Chamber’s team had nurtured new special interest groups within the Chamber, such as the International and IT sectors. There were now also the free informal evening drop-in sessions which complemented the local Chambers and required Stan’s presence.
Many of us members were astounded by Stan’s apparently limitless energy, that would have him at a Chamber breakfast at seven in the morning to still mingling with attendees at an informal networking meeting in Huntingdon in the evening!
However, the increased workload and regular long working days that were a consequence of the Chamber’s success were taking their toll. Stan hit a bleak midwinter low when illness, the current economic climate and looming required retirement at 65 from the Chambers in April 09 all came together.
Fortunately, the return to health and the opportunity to continue utilising his networking skills for a new employer have had Stan bouncing back to his positive self. He is now with Huntingdonshire Regional College as their Engagement Coordinator (regular hours and time off in lieu!).
Stan is recognised as an excellent networker beyond the boundaries of any position he holds and respected for it by business people from all fields, Therefore –
If you know Stan, please add your comment or reminiscence below!
To add a comment, scroll to the bottom of the article and
1. Click on “Post A Comment”.
2. In the new comments box, ensure that you click on the “Name/URL” radio button and enter your name
3. Enter your comment in the comment text box
4. Then click on the “Publish Your Comment” button
Monday, 16 March 2009
Patchwork Quilts, a declining artform?
In response to a local radioshow asking for responses on dealing with old duvets, I submitted the following:
"Duvets - If you are creative with a needle and thread or know someone who is, convert a thin duvet the into a patchwork to make a fantastic quilted gift!
Note: get the old duvet cleaned to kill dust mites and reduce dust mite allergens before quilting.
useful sites: http://www.freequiltpatterns.info/ http://www.sewaquilt.com/"
The presenters response implied that making patchwork quilts was not a likely activity in this day and age.
This made me think, is this true? Am I an old fogey? My family enjoy the occasional craft (see my mothers patchwork cushions above)and I'm sure there is a quilting community.
What is your opinion? Quilting/Patchwork quilts: Dead art or alive and kicking. please comment below!
To add a comment, scroll to the bottom of the article and
1. Click on “Post A Comment”.
2. In the new comments box, ensure that you click on the “Name/URL” radio button and enter your name
3. Enter your comment in the comment text box
4. Then click on the “Publish Your Comment” button
Saturday, 14 March 2009
Cambridgeshire history - boxed collection
There was a hint of the last Indiana Jones film as we entered the Count archaeology store on Saturday; admittedly, it did not have the scale and grandeur of the US National treasure store. The crates with lost ark and sundry gold treasures were replaced by cardboard boxes of notes, bones, pottery and skeletons and occasional metal artifact from archaeological digs all over the county. However, these were treasures in themselves, patiently collected from innumerable digs and retained for our posterity.
Arriving near to the end of the open day gave an unrivaled opportunity to plumb the expertise of Quinton Carroll (Cambridgeshire Historic Environment Team Manager). Standing near a Roman lead coffin with skeleton, able to admire the sheen of 2000yr old Samian ware, with its pristine, legible potter's mark, three historical stories stood out.
For example, Cambourne surprised the archaelogists. Due to the hard clay soil there, it had been regarded as poor land unlikely to be lived on. Now we know it was being actively farmed in Roman times. Local people developed ingenious solutions to deal with difficult soil conditions - for example by excavating beds and using different soils - a Roman manual even gave specific instructions for best asparagus growing.
Then consider two key events for our region, the Viking invasion and the Norman Conquest. The Vikings took Ely, and Cambridge in 876 and submitted to the Saxon King Edward in 917 without a battle. Yet no physical archaelogical evidence of the Viking occupation exists. Similarly, the Norman Conquest left no physical evidence to distinguish it from the Saxon period. Most people carried on living as before, adapting to the change of leadership. A total contrast to Boudica's sacking of Colchester, London and St Albans which left a layer of ash recogniseable two millenia later.
Third, defensive points were successively used over the centuries. The river at Earith was a strategic defence in both the Civil War and as part of the planned defences should England be invaded in WWII. The river crossing at Cambridge was controlled at the current Castle Mound by the Romans, the Civil War and became the site of a bunker during the cold war.
I asked Quinton, which finds or artefacts stuck particularly in his mind. He remembered a bone comb found at a Roman dig. Cheap and easily replaced. Still, it had been repaired and used until worn to uselessness, giving a poignent link across the ages. In contrast, he also remembered the skeleton of a Roman woman slave worked to death whose body had just been discarded with the rubbish in a ditch.
But how are archaeologists affected by our current "living in interesting times" economically? It appears that since constructions companies are obliged to finance any archaeological work and this is done by private companies, the downturn has resulted in a 10% - 15% drop in archaaeology work. An unexpected side effect!
A final question at the conclusion of our visit; With all the current Health and safety in the workplace and at home, what will we leave behind for future archaeologists to find? Quiton wryly remembered that already, one site had been dated by a crisp packet - and of course there will be a plethora of finds all concentrated in large collections - our landfill sites!
For further information on Cambridgeshire's archaeological heritage, you can contact Quinton and his team at www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/archaeology.
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| From Blogger Pictures |
Arriving near to the end of the open day gave an unrivaled opportunity to plumb the expertise of Quinton Carroll (Cambridgeshire Historic Environment Team Manager). Standing near a Roman lead coffin with skeleton, able to admire the sheen of 2000yr old Samian ware, with its pristine, legible potter's mark, three historical stories stood out.
For example, Cambourne surprised the archaelogists. Due to the hard clay soil there, it had been regarded as poor land unlikely to be lived on. Now we know it was being actively farmed in Roman times. Local people developed ingenious solutions to deal with difficult soil conditions - for example by excavating beds and using different soils - a Roman manual even gave specific instructions for best asparagus growing.
Then consider two key events for our region, the Viking invasion and the Norman Conquest. The Vikings took Ely, and Cambridge in 876 and submitted to the Saxon King Edward in 917 without a battle. Yet no physical archaelogical evidence of the Viking occupation exists. Similarly, the Norman Conquest left no physical evidence to distinguish it from the Saxon period. Most people carried on living as before, adapting to the change of leadership. A total contrast to Boudica's sacking of Colchester, London and St Albans which left a layer of ash recogniseable two millenia later.
Third, defensive points were successively used over the centuries. The river at Earith was a strategic defence in both the Civil War and as part of the planned defences should England be invaded in WWII. The river crossing at Cambridge was controlled at the current Castle Mound by the Romans, the Civil War and became the site of a bunker during the cold war.
I asked Quinton, which finds or artefacts stuck particularly in his mind. He remembered a bone comb found at a Roman dig. Cheap and easily replaced. Still, it had been repaired and used until worn to uselessness, giving a poignent link across the ages. In contrast, he also remembered the skeleton of a Roman woman slave worked to death whose body had just been discarded with the rubbish in a ditch.
But how are archaeologists affected by our current "living in interesting times" economically? It appears that since constructions companies are obliged to finance any archaeological work and this is done by private companies, the downturn has resulted in a 10% - 15% drop in archaaeology work. An unexpected side effect!
A final question at the conclusion of our visit; With all the current Health and safety in the workplace and at home, what will we leave behind for future archaeologists to find? Quiton wryly remembered that already, one site had been dated by a crisp packet - and of course there will be a plethora of finds all concentrated in large collections - our landfill sites!
For further information on Cambridgeshire's archaeological heritage, you can contact Quinton and his team at www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/archaeology.
Sunday, 22 February 2009
Five Steps to Surviving a PC Crash
Read this even if you have not yet encountered a problem with your PC!
I came home last Tuesday, turned the PC on and was confronted with a boot failure that, after further investigation, turned out to be an irretrievable boot disk corruption. I was frustrated of course, but also thankful that I was not going to be one of those companies that cannot recover their data.
Statistics say that 93% of companies that experience data loss for more than ten days file for bankruptcy within one year of the disaster. It was a component failure over 4 years ago that led me to implement some simple steps to permit a faster recovery.
Two drives are better than one in a PC as a failure in one is only half as bad! I implemented a boot disc on which all the programme software was installed and run from, and installed a second hard drive on which to store all my data.
External USB drives are now relatively cheap for a lot of memory (250Gb to 1Tb or more). I bought two, one to back up each internal drive. Allow for a capacity many times greater than your existing used space for a bit of future proofing.
Backup frequently, weekly if not daily (I use twice a week, minimising potential data loss to a few days).
There are many software options for backing up available, some coming with the external drives themselves or with your operating software. It is very important that the back-up software can create a so called "image" of your boot drive, so that you can recover a functional new boot drive if needed. I use Norton Ghost 14.
If fire, flood or theft hit you, then any on-site external backups are likely to be lost with the PC itself! So ensure that you also create separate off-site backups.
If you do not use too many gigabytes of data, you could use some of the internet based systems (some free) or commercial companies providing this service.
Companies with lots of data (for example I have hundreds of Gb of images) will still need to do this with tapes or removable/portable hard drives - the important thing is to update them regularly and store them offsite!
I'm still waiting for my repaired and upgraded PC and have found my little eeepc notebook a godsend! I can still e-mail, write documents and letters, even edit photos. This safety machine does not have to be expensive or the highest spec - just able to provide you with a minimum functionality.
Theoretically, I'm sufficiently competent to do my own hard drive replacements. However, hit any small snag and it eats up your time!
I received valuable reassurance and advice from good friend Terry Downing of Wisdom Communications over the phone almost immediately after my crash. I was able to delegate the task of bringing my PC back up to speed to the professional hands of David Kilpatrick of iTEXS, this has left me free to continue with my work.
By following these five steps you too can ensure that you will not be one of those individuals or companies that will fai due to irrecoverable data loss. Implement them now.
I came home last Tuesday, turned the PC on and was confronted with a boot failure that, after further investigation, turned out to be an irretrievable boot disk corruption. I was frustrated of course, but also thankful that I was not going to be one of those companies that cannot recover their data.
Statistics say that 93% of companies that experience data loss for more than ten days file for bankruptcy within one year of the disaster. It was a component failure over 4 years ago that led me to implement some simple steps to permit a faster recovery.
Step 1. Separate data and boot drives
Two drives are better than one in a PC as a failure in one is only half as bad! I implemented a boot disc on which all the programme software was installed and run from, and installed a second hard drive on which to store all my data.
Step 2. Back up frequently to external drives
External USB drives are now relatively cheap for a lot of memory (250Gb to 1Tb or more). I bought two, one to back up each internal drive. Allow for a capacity many times greater than your existing used space for a bit of future proofing.
Backup frequently, weekly if not daily (I use twice a week, minimising potential data loss to a few days).
There are many software options for backing up available, some coming with the external drives themselves or with your operating software. It is very important that the back-up software can create a so called "image" of your boot drive, so that you can recover a functional new boot drive if needed. I use Norton Ghost 14.
Step 3. Have an offsite backup
If fire, flood or theft hit you, then any on-site external backups are likely to be lost with the PC itself! So ensure that you also create separate off-site backups.
If you do not use too many gigabytes of data, you could use some of the internet based systems (some free) or commercial companies providing this service.
Companies with lots of data (for example I have hundreds of Gb of images) will still need to do this with tapes or removable/portable hard drives - the important thing is to update them regularly and store them offsite!
Step 4. Have an additional PC/laptop/notebook so you can still work
I'm still waiting for my repaired and upgraded PC and have found my little eeepc notebook a godsend! I can still e-mail, write documents and letters, even edit photos. This safety machine does not have to be expensive or the highest spec - just able to provide you with a minimum functionality.
Step 5. Cultivate good IT contacts
Theoretically, I'm sufficiently competent to do my own hard drive replacements. However, hit any small snag and it eats up your time!
I received valuable reassurance and advice from good friend Terry Downing of Wisdom Communications over the phone almost immediately after my crash. I was able to delegate the task of bringing my PC back up to speed to the professional hands of David Kilpatrick of iTEXS, this has left me free to continue with my work.
By following these five steps you too can ensure that you will not be one of those individuals or companies that will fai due to irrecoverable data loss. Implement them now.
Thursday, 19 February 2009
Biotech writing in europe with Barbara Nasto
Networking at ERBI leads you to meet a variety of interesting people. It was because of a fortuitous meeting, that I ended up at the Trinity Centre for a pleasant morning exchanging notes with Barbara Nasto, a Science and Medical Writer.
Barbara cut her teeth on editing and writing for the prestigious Elsevier and Nature publishing houses and is now based in Cambridge to be close to the Biotech hubs in Cambridge. Barbara has extensive experience ranging from oncology to biotech finance for medicines in development, right through to the impact of biotech on the lucrative beauty market (not that Barabara seemed to need it, as I sat opposite her on a pleasant February day).
Barbara can be found on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/pub/1/681/840 and you caqn read a precis of her fascinating article on Biotech across Europe here http://blogs.nature.com/nautilus/2008/03/chasing_biotech_across_europe.html
Barbara cut her teeth on editing and writing for the prestigious Elsevier and Nature publishing houses and is now based in Cambridge to be close to the Biotech hubs in Cambridge. Barbara has extensive experience ranging from oncology to biotech finance for medicines in development, right through to the impact of biotech on the lucrative beauty market (not that Barabara seemed to need it, as I sat opposite her on a pleasant February day).
Barbara can be found on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/pub/1/681/840 and you caqn read a precis of her fascinating article on Biotech across Europe here http://blogs.nature.com/nautilus/2008/03/chasing_biotech_across_europe.html
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Capping it all in dental technology
Today found me in the delightful city of Birmingham with the lovely Katrin Lestschinski, the owner Manager of Zahntechnik Lestschinski and facing the dazzling smile of Colin Pocock, an active city dentist.
Katrin was demonstrating the peak of dental technical skills available in her practice, from bridges and crowns to telescopes and dentures.
The most impressive for me was the use of electroplating to build precise and strong pure gold caps that could be used as the foundations of any oral dental implant, from a removable crown to a complete bridge.
The interesting fact of the day that ceramics were a fortuitious discovery by von Tschirnhaus, von Ohain and Boettger in Meissen, alchemists who were looking to transmute other elements to gold! Meissen became famous for its porcelain and of course ceramics are now integral to dentistry. Boettger unfortunately died of poisoning from exposure to the range of poisonous chemicals his work exposed him to before seeing the fruits of his labours.
Katrin was demonstrating the peak of dental technical skills available in her practice, from bridges and crowns to telescopes and dentures.
The most impressive for me was the use of electroplating to build precise and strong pure gold caps that could be used as the foundations of any oral dental implant, from a removable crown to a complete bridge.
The interesting fact of the day that ceramics were a fortuitious discovery by von Tschirnhaus, von Ohain and Boettger in Meissen, alchemists who were looking to transmute other elements to gold! Meissen became famous for its porcelain and of course ceramics are now integral to dentistry. Boettger unfortunately died of poisoning from exposure to the range of poisonous chemicals his work exposed him to before seeing the fruits of his labours.
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