Olympic Standards

Well there it is . . . a lot of money spent, a team of 'creative' people working to a brief, and many meetings and many hours, to achieve this.

I guess that, as part of the design requirement it had to be able to be animated, so it probably does what it says on the packet.

Many folk think it's not very good and have come up with their own variations ~



























Other designers have created some really good, colourful designs that could easily be animated too.

My favourite has to be:




I think that we could do much better than the official logo which, however much hard work went into it, is no substitute for talent!

PR for Eurostar

Train travel gets on board the ‘horse-drawn’ bandwagon?

From: Eurostar advertising

"Tread Lightly. Two words. One commitment.
A whole new approach to European travel.


Global warming is a scientific fact. No one can afford to ignore it. Travellers are worried about it. And the industry is talking about it. But actions speak louder than words.

You may already be aware that a Eurostar journey is 10 times less polluting than flying. But we believe that everyone can do more. So, from November 14th 2007, the day we open at St. Pancras International, we are changing the way we operate as a business. We have now launched Tread Lightly, an initiative designed to further reduce our impact on the environment (what scientists call our ‘footprint’) and to help our travellers do the same.

As part of this initiative, we have made a commitment to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by a further 25% per traveller journey by 2012. Consequently, we will be making changes across all areas of our business, from the big things like energy efficiency, paperless ticketing and waste management, through supply chain selection to smaller cultural changes like recycling in our offices.

Any remaining emissions will be offset, at no cost to the traveller, meaning that from November 14th 2007, Eurostar is proud to offer carbon neutral journeys.

We’re on a journey. A very important one. And, as ever we’re delighted to have you with us."

My slight confusion arises in trying to reconcile these two statements:

“Any remaining emissions will be offset, at no cost to the traveller, meaning that from November 14th 2007, Eurostar is proud to offer carbon neutral journeys.”

So carbon neutral by 2007 ~ Splendid.

“we have made a commitment to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by a further 25% per traveller journey by 2012.”

Does this mean that they go from Carbon Neutral journeys (2007) to Carbon Negative travel (2012) as they reduce emmissions by a further 25% ?

Is it me, or does this lack ‘joined up thinking’?

Perhaps the "Tread Lightly" quotation needs to finished as intended by W.B.Yeats; " Tread lightly because you tread on my dreams."

Dream on Eurostar!

Pathetic Panasonic

So, I present Brian with a new camera because I think that he deserves encouragement with his photography and this slightly larger model than the Ixus camera, which got stolen, has a better grip and has a stabiliser. Our friend Sophie has one and we were impressed with the results. Lumix DCM FZ7 for the technophiles. It came without a camera case.



After a search on the internet I find that the case for this camera is in the USA. I try to purchase it but I have to register for an account and, yes there is no space to register in the UK. I send them e-mails asking if they ship to the UK. I guess by their lack of response that they don't even e-mail to the UK. Dead end. No-one in the UK seems to have this item so I finally find Panasonic's UK site. Now I will get somewhere . . .



I phone them:


"Hi, I'm trying to track down a camera case for the Lumix DCM FZ7. Can you help?"

"There is one but it is not available in this country"

"Er yes, in the USA?"

" Not in this country ~ we are seeing if they can be made available."

" You mean I can buy a Panasonic camera in this country but not the case for it?"

"There is a case for it ~ but it's not available in this country."

"Mmmm (What a load of rubbish this international corporation is) What do you suggest I do?"

"Go to Jessops and buy a third party case."

"Thank you. Goodbye"

Panasonic are, therefore, pathetic. Buyer beware!

Why do it?

Just because something can be done isn’t necessarily a reason to do it.

Version Tracker lists programmes, daily, that are available on Mac computers.

This one turned up today:

Keymileage - 0.5.2
 measures how much your fingers move to type

Product Description:
Keymileage figures out how many miles your fingers travel when typing. You can even measure really long files.

Keymileage tabulates in both the simplified Dvorak layout and the QWERTY layout.


If you can think of a reason for having this, then you can at this site ~ and free too!

B.A. ~ Bl**dy Awful!

BA offered me the chance to upgrade my flight for £50
I go on on-line and try to to do this.
I can’t.
I send an e-mail asking why this is.



The reply:

Dear Mr Weeks
Thank you very much for contacting us.
To be sure you have an answer from us as swiftly as possible, I would be grateful if you will speak to our customer support team. They deal with all pre-travel enquiries and they'll be happy to give you individual assistance.

Please phone them on 0870 850 9 850 and give your booking reference number when you call.

I'm sorry not to be more immediately helpful, but do please phone our customer support team. They'll do all they can to help you at once.

Best regards

Praveen Satheesan


British Airways Customer Relations


I phone the number given:
After an interminable wait I ring off and send another e-mail:

Your reply sent me back to your telephone enquiry service. Here I pay for the privilege of being held in a queue and listening to endless BA adverts and information.
Even early on a Sunday morning you experience and extremely high volume of calls ~ well it is a pre-recorded message so you always experience a high volume of calls ~ perhaps this should tell you something!

I have visited BA.com and failed to "manage my booking" and was told to ring you.
I ring you and your message suggests I go on-line.
I am quite dizzy going backwards & forwards. . . .
Most unimpressive.

Looks like the upgrade isn’t going to happen!

What a Load of Rubbish!

We are led to believe that councils up and down the country care about the environment and to this end they instigate and encourage householders to separate their rubbish so that glass and cardboard and paper can be recycled. A separate collection of this recyclable material is made on a weekly basis. What a good socially responsible thing to do.

This week in conversation with two restaurateurs, who operate in Lambeth, South London, I discover that those 'green' credentials are not what they appear.

These restaurants, between them, produce at least one hundred empty glass bottles per day and numerous sacks of paper and cardboard; in fact the bulk of their waste is not left-over food but this recyclable stuff.

Multiply this by the number of restaurants in this borough and it is clear that there is the potential for an enormous quantity of recyclable material to be collected from relatively few locations.

Is it recycled? Not on your life. It goes to landfill!
Why on earth would the council pass up on such a treasure trove?




It goes like this . . .

Domestic waste is split by the householder. There are two collections per week. one for landfill, one for recycling.

A different firm collects the waste from restaurants and even though it is bagged-up according to type of material, because it has to be collected daily the firm charges those from whom they collect £2.50 per bag; none of this is recycled.

So why don't the restaurateurs take their recyclable stuff to a depot or recycling place ~ because then they are fined for 'fly-tipping'.




It's no win position for them ~ more money is made out of them by charging per bag and increasing the land-fill rather than exercising the socially responsible option.

Any council that behaves like this really is ~ "RUBBISH!"
The point is these restaurants are not producing 'rubbish' but resources.

"Local councils are responsible for the collection and disposal of refuse and have an obligation to reduce waste and promote recycling." Greenhouse Trust