28 May, 2010

26 May, 2010

Twelve cups of tea a day...

Prompted by my (soon to be ex) office manager, yesterday I kept a tally of how many cups of tea I drank during the course of the day...I don't know if, in a quantum way, by the very act of monitoring my behaviour I altered it in any way (I tried not to, but you never know) but the end result is that, on this occasion at least, I consumed twelve cups (with a spot of milk, no sugar, ta)...

This, slightly surprising figure, caused both he and I to raise our eyebrows a little...but is it actually bad?

From one point of view, no, it's actually quite the contrary - to quote Wikipedia -

"Tea leaves contain more than 700 chemicals, among which the compounds closely related to human health are flavanoides, amino acids, vitamins (C, E and K), caffeine and polysaccharides. Moreover, tea drinking has recently proven to be associated with cell-mediated immune function of the human body. Tea plays an important role in improving beneficial intestinal microflora, as well as providing immunity against intestinal disorders and in protecting cell membranes from oxidative damage. Tea also prevents dental caries due to the presence of fluorine. The role of tea is well established in normalizing blood pressure, lipid depressing activity, prevention of coronary heart diseases and diabetes by reducing the blood-glucose activity. Tea also possesses germicidal and germistatic activities against various gram-positive and gram negative human pathogenic bacteria. Both green and black tea infusions contain a number of antioxidants, mainly catechins that have anti-carcinogenic, anti-mutagenic and anti-tumoric properties".

- however, it does also contain quite a lot of caffeine...50mg per cup in fact...which means I am dosing (although spread out over 9-ish hours) on roughly 600mg of caffeine per day...this *seems* like a lot to me, even though (medically) there is "very little risk of harm" (see the note above the chart) - and (in my defence) - I barely touch a drop of tea outside the office (I go every week night and all weekend long without so much as a sniff, with no ill effects at all)...

But it's given me pause...What do you think? Is twelve cups of tea a day too much?

25 May, 2010

DLR from Lewisham to Canary Wharf

Here we go, just a few shots from my HTC Hero of my new Journey, unfortunately an operator came and took my place by the only clean window so my later shots are through rather a lot of grime, but actually, that improved some of them (imho)...anyway, this is where the journey on the DLR starts, Lewisham station -
DLR - Lewisham to Canary Wharf
- I've only got down the stairs to these two platforms *twice* and not managed to walk straight onto a train and choose a seat, once was a points failure (when I ended up walking through the docklands heading for the big tower from Crossharbour), and once was a sub-station failure (last week, and was fixed in about ten minutes flat), trains come in every two minutes or so, so if one were to find both trains full, it's only a very short wait for another empty one to arrive (as this is the end of the line)...
DLR - Lewisham to Canary Wharf
The first couple of stops are very close together, Elverson Road -
DLR - Lewisham to Canary Wharf
- and Deptford Bridge...it's then a slightly longer hop to Greenwich (where I change for CannonStreet services on the way home), the reason why I don't change here in the morning is because all the seats have now (usually) been filled...
DLR - Lewisham to Canary Wharf
- at Greenwich we are usually full and standing, ready to start the journey under the Thames -
DLR - Lewisham to Canary Wharf
- stopping underground at Cutty Sark (for historic Greenwich) -
DLR - Lewisham to Canary Wharf
- (yeah, sorry 'bout that - cameraphone no likie low lightie) - and Island Gardens, then back out into the daylight for Mudchute (named thusly as it was the dumping ground for all the mud when Millwall Dock was being dug) -
DLR - Lewisham to Canary Wharf
- lucky really, as, as a result it became a sort of improptu nature reserve, eventually becoming home to a big urban farming project (the one on Junior Apprentice last week, if you saw it) and actually quite a pretty area -
DLR - Lewisham to Canary Wharf
- from here it's another fairly short hop to Crossharbour (which, as I mentioned already, I now know how to walk from if needs be) -
DLR - Lewisham to Canary Wharf
- this is a busy little shopping area, full of waterside cafes and bars, just a taste of the buzz a stone's throw away -
DLR - Lewisham to Canary Wharf
- then on (past the foundations of the old Crossharbour stop, demolished I imagine, as the platforms were too short for the new trains), the towers of the Wharf now clearly visible glittering in the sunshine off to our right through South Quay and Heron Quays (in very quick succession) -
Heron Quays DLR
- and then into Canary Wharf station (where I get off and walk for 30 seconds to find myself in reception, One Canada Square)...DLR Commute - Done!
Canary Wharf DLR #4

Update - found this time lapse video -

24 May, 2010

A few things I don't miss...

What a morning
Commuting from Redhill, on the stupid full-and-standing or late/cancelled pink Thameslink/First Capital Connect service...

Spring Clean
Trying to empty the spare room to build a nursery...

Alcatraz...(my new office)...
Alcatraz...

Bug Jam 21 - #66
Santa Pod in the rain...

Heatwave London
The Jubilee Line...

Huge queue!
Queueing for the number 17 bus...

Endless Shoes... 8(
Shopping for the Wedding (although luckily Flyingpops rather enjoyed it)...

Leeds Castle #42
Colin the Camper breaking down...

Jubilee Line Closure #3
The Jubilee Line...

Broken Xbox 360
My Xbox breaking (twice)...

New Forest Mini Break #13
Putting up the thermal shields in Colin (seemed to take forever)...

New Boiler #46
Our rubbish old boiler and being able to run out of hot water...

Laughton Cuckoo Spring Fayre 2007 #63
Tent camping in the rain...

Tube Carriage - Packed
The Jubilee Line...

Mexico #65
Experimenting (foolishly) with the various chilli sauces in Mexico in the "native" section of the buffet (despite my asbestos mouth)...

Bugaboo Frog in VW Beetle
Trying to fit everything into Poppy the Beetle's boot...

Earlswood - Giant Spider on the loose
Giant spiders on the doorstep...

Glasgow Car Bomb #2
Brain dead domestic terrorists...

Kings Cross #35
Kings cross (in general)...

Earlswood Snow
Trying to commute in the snow...

NCT Sale #4
Chaotic scenes at NCT sales, when we needed *everything*...

Stupid Nokia N73
Nokia N73 headphones...

Skimming the Plasterboard
Trying to be a plasterer...

Dave's Insanity Sauce
Daves insanity sauce...

23 May, 2010

West Wittering


West Wittering
Originally uploaded by finkangel.

...just sat enjoying our second glorious day in the sun on West Wittering beach, even managed to use our local knowledge to skip the three mile tailback to the car park! ;)

21 May, 2010

Finks Links #96

Friday!

The facts in the case of Dr Andrew Wakefield...

Hilarious campfire joke (if you are geeky enough)...

Fallout shelters for the next generation...

Time is Money!

Only in America...*sigh*...what a waste...

All the trailers from Cannes in one handy package...

(only slightly fake looking, but amusing) Lost Cat Posters... ;)

Some (slightly old) pictures of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (exciting)!

Manned mission to Mars launching on 3rd of June...

...and finally a rather nice Zombie t-shirt...

Enjoy the forecast great weather weekend...!! ;)

20 May, 2010

A few things I miss...

New York #70
*Proper* crunchy Buffalo chicken wings (New York Style) - with insane American Hot Sauce and salty creamy blue cheese dip...no-one in England can get it quite right (apart from Chillis - which was killed by the credit crunch)...

Cornwall 2007 #2
Waking up in Colin the Camper...

Smithys Burger 180405
Cheeky lunchtime burgers at Smithy's...

Chilli Pepper Pete 2
Chilli Pepper Pete turning up to Laughton...

Tox 05 Thames 120505
The view down the Thames on a summer day when stranded at Blackfriars station by First Capital Connect...

Route of the number 17 bus #9
The route of the number 17 bus...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - 2 days to go
New Harry Potter books...

Bug Jam 21 - #122
Being able to stand in the shed at the end of the strip at Santa Pod (and be almost choked to death by toxic fume - much better than it sounds)...

Self portrait - reflection
My Mavica MVC-CD500 (effortless quality)...

Front Garden 1
Our front garden, that one year (with the throw-and-grow) although it did take a lot of watering...

Widemouth Bay
Widemouth Bay...

Dorking 2001 #4
Living in the penthouse...

Mexico #37
Breakfast in Mexico...

Make tea not war
Wondering what would be in the window of the Porcupine Book Shop...

Another of the pools...
Holidaying in the Canary Islands...

New York #62
Cheesesteak...

Star Trek - The Adventure #37
"All new" episodes of Star Trek...

C500
My C500 running Windows Mobile (Smartphones didn't start with the iphone, here's to full internet, movies and apps way back in 2004, I wasn't even blogging back then)... ;)

Nyko AirFlo mouse
My Nyko Airflow...

New Years Break #44
New Years Day at Hedley Wood...

The London Paper
All the evening papers except the Evening Standard (it's far too grown up)...

Arkle Manor #2
Fillet steak at the Arkle Manor (or anywhere else for that matter) I think my most recent one was before the wedding...!

James May Lego House
James May's Lego House...

So I'm obviously in desperate need of a holiday and something nice to eat (just to start with)... ;)