I recently had the privilege of interviewing TV presenter Chris Packham for my other site: uknatureblog.com. He was a very straightforward and knowledgeable chap who's clearly passionate about what he does. It was interesting to get an insight into his own garden full of birds, his photography kit and activities, and the deeper topics of the cut and thrust of modern conservation.
It's in three instalments: one, two, three. Personally I think the third is the best!
I was particularly chuffed, and even rather impressed to see that in Hertfordshire apparently "just under 70 per cent of the county's household waste was sent for re-use, recycling or composting" in April and June. That's scarcely believable actually, but I've seen the increasing facilities and attention to separating waste for re-use at the local tip, and I'd say that we personally recycle at about that rate. Now we've moved into a house rather than a flat we have recycling boxes and a big green wheelie bin for garden waste and card, making it easier than ever.
We're doing a lot of work on the garden recently though so the big green bin is usually overflowing whereas the black bin just has a paltry amount of waste in the bottom, even with the 2 weeks between collections.
Update (26th Aug 2009): It does now seem to be working and I've successfully ordered my copy. In fact it tried to order me 4 copies, apparently having remembered my previous failed attempts.
I recently bought a new Mac so I qualify to get Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) super-cheap as part of Apple's Up-To-Date program. Unfortunately, the online up-to-date system doesn't seem to be working, for the UK at least. Here's my transcript of live chat with the Apple rep, where they state that indeed it's not working and they know it.
Hi, my name is Danielle C. Welcome to Apple!
Hello – I'm struggling to use the Snow Leopard Up to date program.
Good evening
You are trying to register for it online?
I click through, fill in details, it says my computer is qualifying, but then it says "There are no items in your basket"
yes – using website
I apologize for the inconvenience.
I'm clicking through from http://www.apple.com/uk/macosx/uptodate/index.html
Unfortunately there is a glitch in the site, you can still order via post or fax in your order form.
:-/
I've been trying for days.
Using different browsers, assuming the problem might be my fault.
The site is not working for most people trying to order it unfortunately.
You would have to fax or send in your order form.
How about putting something up on the page to say so, to save all those people's time?
I am very sorry about the inconvenience.
How do I email in an order?
You cannot email it in, it has to be Fax or Post.
I bet a lot of people will stump up the full amount, to get past the inconvenience.
Which might be why nobody's fixing it or even putting up a sign saying it's broken. But that's the cynic in me.
Do you know when it might be fixed? I'll wait if it's fairly soon.
Unfortunately I would not have that information.
Do you mind if I post this transcript on my blog?
Thanks for waiting. I'll be right with you.
Sure.
I was pleasantly surprised when I went to pay my most recent credit card bill. Not only was it relatively small for a change, but the BarclayCard website has been revamped, with that most unusual of results: a markedly better user experience!
They now show a coloured bar meter indicating your total credit limit (the whole length of the bar) with your last statement and current total outstanding clearly marked as coloured portions of it. It's a really great way to graphically show the balance. They've clearly paid attention to every aspect of user interaction, with the flow being very straightforward and very clearly guided at all times, but not onerous.
Perhaps the very best change is the return of the option to pay off your last statement in full. For the last year or so they had things set up so the options when paying were: minimum amount, whole balance (including new transactions since last statement) or custom amount. To pay off your last statement in full you had to manually read off the amount and type it into the custom field. This was very cheeky of them, clearly trying to steer the punters into taking less advantage of the free credit grace period (by paying more than their last statement amount) or paying less than their last statement amount and so accruing expensive interest. I'm glad to see this cynical move has been reversed.
A funny thing appears to be happening in the mortgage market, and it's of precisely no help to me, seeing as I just want to buy a house to live in. First some facts to set the scene.
The net result of this is that people with vast stacks of money just sitting around in savings accounts are realising that they're not getting any interest on their stash and might be better off investing in bricks and mortar. Seeing as they have these giant piles of cash they can pay a 40% deposit no problem and take advantage of the seriously cheap mortgage deals available only to the already mega-rich. I'm told by local estate agents that young folk are now streaming into their offices with their parents in tow (they supply the briefcase full of gold bars) to get their investment property sorted as a nice little earner.
It only seems like days ago that I put it up, but now the fake Xmas tree must come down again. I always dread this bit as it wrecks my hands trying to get all the fronds folded together into a streamlined torpedo of bristly green foliage. This year I fought back with heavy duty gloves!
It's actually officially Xmas now, though you'd think that had been the case since early November in some shops.
Nearly there, and dare I say I've been quite organised about it this year. Let's hope I haven't forgotten anybody.
