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End User travel

…the train has stopped…

…the train has stopped and there is no cellular data coverage…

The Internet has gone to sleep. Around the world power stations idle and time stops. Life is not so efficient – things take longer to happen. Children go out to play and people sink gracefully into old age not categorised as “digitally excluded”. Families begin to talk, rediscovering relationships previously unseen in the light of day.

The clock on the mantelpiece counts its interminable seconds; tock, tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock…

…eventually the journey continues, time speeds up and normal service is resumed…

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End User travel

You played it for her you can play it for me @thekinema in the woods

newsreel of the coronation of QE2

compton organYou probably don’t know but when I was 16 I worked as a projectionist at the cinema in Summerland in Douglas Isle of Man. It was a great summer job – I saw the James Bond movie Spy Who Loved Me  50 times in the space of a fortnight 🙂

In Lincolnshire last weekend was the 90th anniversary of another28 volts supply for the Compton organ cinema, The Kinema in the Woods in Woodhall Spa. I went along for the open day and got to see places where the public weren’t normally allowed – in particular the organ room and the projection room.

We used to play vinyl records during the interval – you know cowboy theme tunes and other tracks suitable for cinema listening. The Kinema has a restored Compton organ, a magnificent beast with a huge array of pipes backstage and which runs on a 28volt supply. Nothing wasthe organ at the Kinema in the Woods in Woodhall Spa standard in those days.

Things have moved on since I was in the trade, even at the Kinema which prides itself on its olde worlde quaintness.

The old Peerless projector has been replaced with a new digital job that cost £50k including server. Instead of shipping 6 reels of movie film the studios now just send a hard drive with the digital movie on it. The latest Batman movie – Dark Knight was 304GB I noted. This is aPeerless projector still in situ at the Kinema but now replaced by digital job massive cost saving for the studios as each film cost knocking on a couple of thousand pounds to print.

I got to use a film splicer which took me back – same one I used in Summerland. I’ve still got a few frames of The Spy Who Loved Me somewhere at mams and dads after I had to do some emergency repair work mid movie.

Some big names had turned out to support the open day. It was thefilm splicer at the Kinema in the Woods - click to see me in action least they could do after all the Kinema had done for them. I’m pictured here with Humphrey Bogart who you will remember from Casablanca and the African Queen. Classics both. He’s wearing well.

All in all we spent a very pleasant couple of hours there being entertained by the organist and watching old shorts such as Laurel and Hardy and the Road Runner and Wylie E Coyote.

Finally the embedded video is of the organ in action including the bit at the end where it sinks back into the stage. Enjoy…I was pleased to meet one of my film heroes Humphrey Bogart who I greatly admire

PS Summerland got demolished a few years back. The remnants of my childhood gradually being erased.

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End User travel

Why go abroad for your holiday when you can go camping in the UK?

sunny Bank Holiday in the UK - calm before the stormRegular readers will know that this is a very glamorous job. Hard work though so when I have a free day as was the case last August Bank Holiday weekend I like to pack the family off somewhere exotic where we can all relax and enjoy each other’s company without being distracted by work and the internet.

This video was taken at Jubilee Park campsite in Woodhall Spa at the height of the British summer. Why go abroad eh? There was calm after the storm as the header photo shows – click to see more.

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End User travel

On holiday

Camp fire at Woodall Spa

image

Posted using WordPress for android.

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End User travel

what’s in a bus/coach/luxury method of transportation?

Ok you all. What do you know about luxury travel? Have you ever been on a coach where the seats move sideways so as to not have you crushed against the person next to you? Well I have. Here is the evidence – you might need to click to enlarge each pic to see what I am talking about. Technology at its best. Manyana…

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Engineer travel

Fenella Beach – far away in time – undersea cables, blocks and tackles

chart showing undersea cable between UK and EireHolidays are greatly helped by nice weather. Peel Castle from above on Peel Hill showing Fenella BeachThis has been a typical week in April in the British Isles. Sunshine and showers. Bathed in sunshine Peel is a lovely place to stroll around. I have been up at around 6am every day to go down to my favourite spot on Fenella Beach. It’s rare to see anyone else around at that time of day, except maybe the odd fisherman.

Although I have a rule to stay away from the likes of Twitter the holiday has not been without connectivity. There is wifi at mam and dads. 11.8Megs down despite the exchange beingweather vane at Peel in the Isle of Man just around the corner. 0.47Megs up.

Mam and dad don’t really care – as long as the Guardian loads up in a timely manner. I have principally been using it to catch up on the local weather forecast. Also gmail – I’m speaking at a meeting at the LSE next Thursday so kept in touch with the organisation of that. Olympic news emails are also welcome – we have tickets for the kayaking. Work email has been left alone. My phone has been left mostly in the car. I don’t like to use it due to the cost of data roaming.rocks at Fenella Beach seen from the base of Peel Castle

We had to reboot the router one day. Pretty much all the Davies complained to my Dad that they couldn’t pick up the wifi/internet. His laptop still worked fine so he didn’t care 🙂 Neither did I. Internet! Who needs it 🙂

The main story of the week in respect of connectivity is my discovery in the ships chandlery at Peel of a laminated map showing the line of the undersea telecommunications cable between the UK and Ireland – near Blackpool to near Dublin.alternative view of peel castle It was free so I took a copy – you never know when these things are going to come in handy.

The chandlery is down on the quayside near the museum if you happen to be in Peel and need some spares for your seagoing vessel. You don’t have to be a sailor to appreciate it. I was sorely tempted to buy some block and tackle gear. Only problem is I don’t have a use for it other than it is really cool gear to have. I doubt that Mrs Davies would entertain having it on the wall above the fireplace.

You will otherwise be pleased to know that we ate well and slept well and fully recharged the batteries in the fresh Manx sea air. Hooray for holidays. The short amateur video below is of Fenella Beach  – one of my favourite places.

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End User travel

Random connectivity musings of a traveller

with all these wires running along the train tracks why isn't there better connectivity on boardThere is frost on the ground but it is a bright morning and I am on the way to London. I’m using the train WiFi which according to the speed tester is giving me 3.1Megs. I don’t know what it’s max speed is but the train is not very full – when it is full it certainly doesn’t feel like 3 Megs & I sometimes oscillate between WiFi and 3G and mostly 2G. Currently 3Megs feels fast enough.

We put up with poor connectivity on a train and accept that when we go in to a tunnel it disappears altogether. We shouldn’t have to.

I’m off to Olympia for UCExpo – it’s a good place to get together with people and I have a few meetings lined up over the two days. In my experience connectivity at Exhibition Halls is poor. I once did a VoIP video conferencing demo over 3G. It was all fine in the dry run but of course once the place filled up with thousands of punters it was a different matter. I could barely get the client registered let alone use it in a demo. The patter had to kick in big time:) I don’t know why we should put up with poor connectivity at these places. There is no reason for it. They know we are coming. Perhaps I’ll be surprised.

Between Kings X station and Olympia connectivity will be pretty variable and of course on the Underground it will be non-existent, mostly, though there is no need for this to be the case.

Most pubs I’ve been to in London recently offer free wifi. 20 minutes and a stop in Newark to pick up some punters later the on-train WiFi speed is down to 1.1Megs.

Is Utopia a country with perfect connectivity1? What is that connectivity speed? It’s not 1 or 2 Megs. It has to be fast enough for us never to notice any delay. Bandwidth on demand. With the massive growth in mobile apps this connectivity has to get a lot better a lot more quickly than it is doing so. It’s all very well being ok when you are sat in your living room and using your home WiFi but that on its own isn’t good enough any more.

I’m up to 8.4Megs at Peterborough station but that may be my SIM kicking in with HSPDA. Outside the station, with more people on board it is down to 0.11Megs. This is more like it. It makes my whinging more valid.

I would say 100Megs per person would be a good number to have but it will be a moving number. It is going to depend on what you are doing at a given point in time. Bandwidth needs when just sending texts are different to when uploading photos for example.

I’m getting nearer to the big smoke. What’s happened to the sun? Thatsenoughfornow.

1 Ok ok add in perfect health service, zero unemployment etc but I’m trying to stay focussed here.

PS Bloke sat behind me is reading out his card details to someone over the phone! Including security number. I could have written it all down. Perhaps someone did. Personal security will be a blog post for another day.

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End User travel

I’m off on holiday again – different kind of surfing

surfboards at Llangenith, Rhossili Beach, Gower

No more posts until after the Bank Holiday. This time we are going surfing on the Gower peninsula where there is of course no mobile signal to speak of and therefore no internet connection and no surfing the web. I’m sure the residents don’t like that situation but us tourists do.

When I get back it’s going to be an uber busy Autumn and I look forward to re-engaging with everyone fully refreshed and having used up all my annual leave allowance.

Ciao (or hwyl, seeing as I’m of to Wales).

Header photo was taken last August at Rhosili beach (far away in time).

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Cloud End User surveillance & privacy travel

Fancy popping down to the library for a coffee?

British Library with St Pancras Station in the background

Popped in to the British Library for a coffee yesterday en route to a meeting. It’s handily placed next to Kings Cross Station and I had only been there once before when I gave a talk on the likely impact of the DEAct on public intermediaries such as libraries and universities.

I was very pleasantly surprised with the place but it did make me think what will happen when all books are available electronically? In theory people will have much less reason to visit a library, other than for a quick coffee and, in the case of the British library to view some “ancient treasures”. This potentially must go down as a great source of sadness.

I’m probably not a good example though since I don’t usually like to borrow books from a library or anywhere else.  This is because, for those of you unfamiliar with the system, you have to give them back. I’m sorry but online doesn’t cut it for me either. I have to have bookcase lined walls where I can identify old favourites by the colour of the spine. I have kindle on my iPad but have only ever downloaded free, “out of copyright” books – Darwin, Marx, Plato et al. Good stuff I know but they are a better read on paper.

So how will our behaviour towards books change when everything is online? Will an online librarian ask you to turn the music down, or the TV? Ssshhh for kindle’s sake.  Or am I barking up the wrong tree here?

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End User travel

Easter break

No blog posts this week.  Back after Easter.

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Business travel

Top saleperson gets to work faster than others

Timico top performing salesperson Jo Barker shows off her new Audi R8. I’m told it does over 200mph but Jo assures me that she has set the cruise control to never go over 70mph.

Personally a car is no use to me if you can’t get a set of golf clubs in it – doesn’t look very practical to me!

top Timico sales person Jo Barker in her Audi R8

not enough room to swing a cat!

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End User travel

is in Sherwood Forest

with very intermittent WiFi connectivity – how did Robin Hood manage?

Normal service will be resumed after half term.

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Business travel

Out of office

My out off office is now officially on as I take the family away for annual leave in the sunny Isle of Man.

During this time it is unlikely that I will be writing posts but you can keep up with me on facebook if you want to.

PS I know that I have only just had a week in South Africa playing rugby.  That wasn’t a holiday.  It was a life enriching experience that boys sometimes just have to do.

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Business travel

40 years since 1st moon landing

As I drove in to work this morning I heard a BBC Radio 4 interview with 2nd man on the moon Buzz Aldrin. Part of it included playback of the telephone conversation the astronauts had with President Richard Nixon who emphasised that he was using the telephone in the Oval Office to make the call. Of course this was a technological marvel at the time.

I actually met Buzz Aldrin 15 years ago on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the moon landings. What struck me was the high calibre of everyone involved with the Apollo missions.

The technology they used was so basic that the astronauts had to pilot the spacecraft manually. None of this onboard guidance computer stuff. In fact my Nokia phone now  has much more computing power than did the whole mission to the moon.

Buzz described to me the way that they flew the lunar landing craft by hand across the moon’s surface until they spotted somewhere suitable to land.  The whole mission was balanced on a knife edge as the lander only had 40 seconds of fuel left before they had to abort the landing.  Fortunately, as we now all know, they spotted a landing spot and took it down.

The missions to the moon were the catalyst that set in train the whole semiconductor industry and brought about the technological revolution that is still going on today. One small step for man, one massive leap for technology.

I had my photo taken with Buzz at that event 15 years ago.  If I can find it I’ll scan it in and post it here. I wonder if he remembers me ?:-)

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End User travel

A4 Pacific

Leading edge technology of its time.

Sir Nigel Gresley was the designer of the A4 Pacific Class Locomotive.

The A4 Pacific Mallard still holds the world speed record of 125mph created on 3rd July 1938.

The A4 Pacifics cut the journey time between London and Newcastle down to 4 hours (from 5 days by horse and cart 🙂 . The coal tender had a walk through passage so that drivers could be changed without having to stop the train.

These pictures were taken at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway which still operates the Sir Nigel Gresley.

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End User travel

The rain in Scarborough falls mainly on the Davies’

It also rains in Spain

but are they as well prepared for it?

You won’t find anything like this in Las Vegas.

Nor this.

 

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End User travel

The rain in Scarborough falls mainly on the Davies'

It also rains in Spain

but are they as well prepared for it?

You won’t find anything like this in Las Vegas.

Nor this.

 

Categories
Business travel

Business travel costs being cut

More indicators pointing towards businesses cutting down on their travel spend with a boom in the low cost hotel market.

See this link from the Daily Telegraph for more