PigBlog

Today, we had a bit of a walk out: a bus to Walsall, and a walk to Park Hall to visit the King Arthur, and then a walk up Sutton Rd and over the Beacon to the Foley Arms, where the plan was to get a 56 bus back home.

Here, we hit on a problem. We didn’t know the bus times. No problem, I have my antique Nokia phone with me, and call up an online bus timetable. It’s around 5:30pm, and the next bus is allegedly 7:33pm. This cannot be right, so I call the Centro hotline, where the nice lady tells me that she is only allowed access to the evening service- the ones subsidised by Centro (and therefore the same one I’ve just seen online)- and not the daytime schedule, but gives me Diamond Bus‘s phone number (which just rings). I take a look at their site, but the timetable is not fully viewable on my antique phone (the scrollbars do not appear).

So, to summarise:

We have a public body who uses Network West Midlands branding and has in the past used TV adverts with that branding, whose remit is:

(to) put(s) that policy into action, developing and promoting public transport services for people and encouraging their use.

but doesn’t have access to timetables, and a private bus company who receives subsidy from said public body, but provides no access to their timetable, unless you have access to their website via a modern browser.

How does this represent a joined up network, a sensible way to operate a public service? Think about it: why does everyone go everwhere by car? Could it be because public transport is disjointed, scattered, and not a service in the real sense of the word?

As it was, we had another couple of drinks and some food, but we weren’t in a hurry and can afford to do that. This is just not good enough.

Followers of BrowhillsBob‘s blog may have seen that someone’s pulled a blinding prank on the Walsall Wood fisherman sculpture. The Express and Star have subsequently reported this, and, as is traditional, haven’t allowed the trivial matter of facts get in the way.

Lies, damned lies, and journalism.

The fish has, in fact, been missing for over a year, after becoming detached once, found and being refitted, (in fact, I remarked upon this fact here) so the prankster(s) have not removed it, merely replaced it with a rather fectchingly painted wellie. I think it’s brilliant, and will gladly buy those responsible a pint.

This morning, sorely in need of both a few groceries and some excercise, I took a short wander up the canal to Brownhills to visit our retail overlords. Today was a cold, bright morning: good walking weather, as I didn’t have to carry my coat all the way. Joining the canal at Black Cock Bridge, it was evident the canal was mostly frozen over, now the weather has turned to something more usual for January. This was proving fustrating for some of the resident swans, having to ice-beak their way:

Swans struggling against the ice, Daw End Branch Canal, 15 Jan 2012

As I returned back over the Pier St bridge, a narrowboat came towards me: they usually move faster than I generally walk, but this too was struggling against the ice.

Narrowboat approcahing the Pier St Footbridge

The owners said they were heading to Aldridge to turn round- no further because of the cold, but may have changed their mind, because by the time I got past Catshill Junction, they were out of sight. Nice to see anyway, and I got my exercise and my shopping without having to de-ice the car. On my return journey, the swans were swimming freely, and I was carrying my coat, due to the bright sunshine.

Anyone who knows me will know my dislike of marketing: the art of disguising what you are selling, hiding the true meaning of words, and bullshitting. Selling stuff no-one wants, at least some of the time. I’m too direct for this sort of fluff.

Marketing brings you crap like this, for example.

This time, what’s set me off is SEO, or specifically, a bottom-feeder idiot spammer.

Now, SEO and indeed Internet marketing done well can be a great thing for a commercial site, as explored by Stu on his blog here. Stu has a commercial website and approached people to help.
Read the rest of this entry »

With another year passing, I’ve now been blogging for 8 years. There’s a lot more people blogging in Walsall and the surrounding area now, and many of them have real content, instead of the random rants and ramblings I come out with. There’s been some newcomers quite recently, which is nice, as blogging is often seen as ‘old hat’ now….

Best wishes for 2012.

It’s Christmas Eve, and I’m feeling festive. The definitive version of A Christmas Carol has been watched, all the preparations are done. The pub and curry house are calling, and some good friends will be there. Some other good friends won’t be, but hopefully we’ll catch up some point.

Merry Christmas everyone reading, both people I’ve met (I’m glad to say the last 12 months have added to that list), and those I haven’t.

Picked this article up via Twatter (thanks @sussexbrews). I’ve speculated here before about pub closures, costs, and landlords making money without stiffing us too much for the price of a pint. We’ve discussed it both here and over at Come the Revolution more than once. Brownhills Bob has documented pubs closing and opening, and we’ve all seen more close than open: I stand by what I’ve said before: Real Ale is the saviour of the British pub these days, and the only way, it seems, to make money is either do a spoons (or similar) or to open a free house like The Swan or the Lazy Hill, free of the drain of a pubco.

We all hate the fact that we’re now typically paying £2.70-£3.10 for a pint, but publicans have to make money: I overheard one locally saying he could no longer sell Wife Beater because he couldn’t buy it at a price his customers would pay. Needless to say, this was a (very nice, well run) tied house….

I’ve ugraded pigblog and pubblog to WordPress 3.3.

I picked up via good old usenet this story from the US that says that the FCC are going to limit the volume that TV adverts are played at in the us, so that the average volume of the programmes and adverts are the same.

A great idea. let’s hope it comes here- but….

It’s not quite that simple.

It may well be the adverts aren’t actually louder. In fact, the ASA already regulate volume here in the UK, but clearly, it doesn’t sound like it. The US, it would seem, didn’t even have that.

Just like with music, compression gets used. Not lossy/lossless digital compression like MP3 or FLAC, but dynamic range compression: making the quieter bits louder, so whilst the loudest bit is only as loud, the overall sound is louder. You might have heard the reverse, a wide dynamic range, with a DVD movie- you generally turn the volume up a little to bring the quiet sections up.

The upshot of this is that, if measured in one way (with a peak-level meter, for example), the adverts are still only as loud as the programmes, but they may sound appreciably louder (and if the station is showing a movie without DRC, they almost certainly will) so lets hope those legislating talk to someone who actually knows about the subject if UK law is reviewed, and we can all avoid hitting mute in the ad breaks…

I picked up, via my twatter feed, this article in the Daily Fail. Now I’m not usually one for the Fail, but this article actually caught my interest, both because it had pub content, and because it mentioned a pub I’ve been meaning to visit for years.

The article in the main is concerned with the JD Wetherspoon chain, and if they’re ‘doing a tesco’ by driving the other pubs out of business or not. From the article:

Andrew Gayle, 49, is facing the prospect of a Wetherspoon opening in the former library building next to his pub, the Waggon & Horses in Oldbury, a small industrial town near Birmingham.

Oldbury is not a big place and there are already four pubs,’ said Gayle, 49, who has been an SA Brains tenant there for 12 years. ‘I complained to the council but they took no notice. Times are hard enough anyway and some of the pubs are going to have to close – that’s the effect Wetherspoon has.’

At least one pub closed in nearby Stourbridge after a second Wetherspoon pub opened there, while another is up for sale.

Now, I’d be ready to believe some pubs being driven out of business by a ‘spoons. Love them or hate them, you can’t argue with the fact that they serve Ok food and usually decent beer at a low price. I’d question however, that they’ll impact the traditional pub like the Wagon & Horses. A spokesman for CAMRA said:

Wetherspoon can have a halo effect where other pubs benefit from people coming into the area, and if pubs can’t compete on price they can certainly compete on atmosphere, events and offering a more cosy, traditional pub experience.

Which I’d agree with. I do use wetherspoons, and they have their good points, but I much prefer a proper, traditional pub- as previously discussed here and here.