leicester square new look

london
Such a lovely sunny day i thought i shall cycle to leicester square and do the touristy bit.

the central fountains at first i thought were not a good idea, as it took up so much space.and splashes the people as the wind blows it about.  

But after i have sat there for a bit, half listening to the two guys interview on stage talking about films,  and seeing the fountains play and going through a sequence of motions, I thought it was rather restful and once the stage and the pavilions which have been erected just for this weekend are removed  and the benches put back it would be very nice as a focal point for us to rest our eyes on  while we rest our feet sitting there.

the thought did occur to me while i was looking at it, that there is a hosepipe ban going on now, so how come they are able to have these fountains playing? Trafalgar square fountains were not working. Though if u recycle the water, it should not be included in the hosepipe ban. it is so nice to have fountains playing, and cooling the air. 

the four statues that used to be at the 4 corners have gone, leaving only the shakespeare central statue atop the old fountain which still remains. Steel hollow ventilation shafts to the men and ladies toilets now stand at the two northern corners. It suggests that the toilets have been extended below the square.

Added. 31.5.12 This article laments the absence of the sculptured heads, and mentioned who they are. He also mentioned a statue of chaplin as the tramp missing as well. personally i dont mind if they are gone. 

I got some pics of trafalgar square and the building around it too.

 All very touristy .Looking at all the corinthian columns the place look very roman, at least it reminded me of what rome looks like when i was there last time. right down to a piazza which trafalgar square looks more and more like now with its revamped design. its a great success that new design , it removed the road passing by the entrance to the national gallery. the hot sun makes the similarity with rome even more pronounced. i can pretend to be in italy helped by so many tourists from other countries sitting there.

Added. 26.5.12 I wrote to a gay italian guy who i found in the gay website i belong to, and told him about how the square reminded me of italy, and he wrote back and said he came 10wks ago to live in london and nothing in london is italian, not the food or the columns. haha. 

it certainly gave me a reality check and made me realise that i am as prone as anyone to see things through biased glasses. haha. 

the last time i was in rome was about 20yrs ago or more, so my views of what italy is like is via films like room with a view. surprising that he said not even the food reminds him of rome. What about all the italian restaurants that abound here... are they not authentic? maybe i should not ask, of course they are not authentic, how could they be with the british taste to be catered for. even malaysian food here is not authentic, partly because it is expensive to get the ingredients, so they substitute but also the british and other tourists that frequent it may not appreciate the real taste of malaysian foods and prefer the adulterated version. 

it will be interesting to find out more about this guy... not to mention he lives near me. 

hot day today

london
We have got 2 days of hot weather that makes it feel really that summer has arrived. it is 26C, so not high in terms of numbers, but i think it is ideal temperature. any higher and it will be uncomfortable. 


i was going to meet someone at the tate britain at 4pm, but he was caught in a tube delay, and was so hot there, that he said he wanted to go back home to shower before we meet. 
i got that txt message from him, so i returned to the flat, where he called me and i told him not to worry, no hurry, and to call me when he arrived at the tate as it wont take a moment for me to walk there from my flat. 


i was there earlier at 4pm, and was walking around looking at the main exhibition in the hall. there was also picasso exhibition going on, and outside the entrance they have a book shop selling the books of his work.


i saw a book featuring his vollard suite, and so was able to see the picture of his etchings. after seeing it in print, i dont have anydesire to go to the british musuem to see the real thing. 


have i missed anything by not seeing the real thing? i dont think so. Usually the lighting will be so low, it is quite a strain to see these things, and it will be under glass as well. 
so maybe seeing it in print is better as u can touch it and see it real close if u want under bright lights. 


is it only me or what? i find i dont fancy going to see the real thing when i can see it in a book. the real thing can be quite disappointing , it tends to either be small, or dark with hardly any detail to be seen as clearly as in the picture of it. or there will be tons of people all wanting to see it and u end up looking at it over people's heads. I am thinking of that time when i went to paris, to see the mona lisa. disappointing that. 




and u have to stand and walk about in the vast place looking at the paintings or exhibits. 


to think that when i was younger i would go to no end of trouble to see it for real. 


I think i would much prefer to go to the naked beach and walk about and bask in the sun. or go to a nudist resort. 


i read today in the standard, which someone had picked up for free and put it on the landing in our block of flats. saves me having to walk to the tube station to get it from the vendors. 


i read that there has been any train trapped in the underground, so that people have to walk along the tracks to get out. and it was hot underground last night. 


ah well, cold they have trouble , hot they have trouble, no end of trouble on the tube. it runs smoothly when it was built by the victorians 


gotta go, my friend is at the tate now and i just got a call from him. 

chelsea won champion league for first time ever

london
I know this is unusual for me talking about football. But last night simon was engrossed in watching the match live against munich . Occasionally i can hear shouting where he was in the lounge, i was in my bedroom watching another tv program. he came in and told me that chelsea scored even and so it will go to a penalty shootout.
that is when they take turns shooting at goal. 
well my tv program ended so i turned onto the live match and was in time to see the final shootout. 
very exciting, even though i am not that keen on football. very tense. 
it was a tingling up the spine moment when munich missed the goal by hitting the post. i can commiserate with the player who missed. these are professionals , it is really not the done thing, but it is understandable. 
Simon said  he stopped too long, simon told me that they do it to watch the reaction of the goalie, which way the goalie leans, but the goalie stayed still and this simon said confused, a moment of indecision, lost a bit of his momentum.  Anyway whatever it was, he hit the goal post. 
Another nail biting moment when the final chelsea player took his turn, he did it smoothly and in it went. 
what is ironic is that this player is leaving soon, as the owner wont give him a 2yr contract . i think he was also the same player that scored the equalising goal and forced the penalty. 


Added. 22.5.12 Read in yesterday's evening standard that drogba is going to shanghai shenhua for £250,000 a week!!(following former chelsea striker ,Anelka). its a free transfer too... so i suppose it is a bargain. haha. )Drogba has been 8 yrs with chelsea. and it seems the club wants a clear out of old players and only want to give him 1yr instead of 2yrs. 


i was a bit puzzled why there was so much indecision to give di matteo a permanent contract as manager, but it seems they dont think he can manage the changeover. chelsea wants to change over as the rules are going to change about clubs not allowed to have huge deficits/ All the clubs are now making sure they have bought enough talented players before than. 


Its quite possible that the sudden revival of chelsea's fortunes is due to the threat to axe them all which makes the players who have been bought at huge expense and not doing anything to justify their price so far, to up their game. 


for £2billion which abramovitch has paid one would expect it should not take 8 yrs to achieve this cup. But then, football is such a unpredictable game even billions cannot guarantee anything. A good thing, i think, so let them chuck money at it, but it wont guarantee anything. haha. 


Shanghai Shenhua is a chinese billionaire's plaything. His money is made when he won the exclusive license to operate and distribute the fantasy game world of warcraft (the most popular game on the internet) in china.


And chelsea won the champions league for the first time in its history.it is also the first time a london footballclub won it. (it surprised me that because i thought man united would have won it) it is a historic moment and it is hard not to get caught up in the joy and excitement. 


Added. 15.7.12 i thought i should add this. i mentioned to simon how come man united hadn't won it, and he said they had. i said, but chelsea was mentioned as the only london fc to win it... and he just said 'manchester united'. and it dawned on me haha. what part of manchester united did i not understand. of course it is in manchester. haha. funny how i always think it is in london. hehe. 


this year has been a good year for chelsea, winning a cup for something (FA cup , do you think? so many  cups these football clubs play at, i am surprised not all of them won something or other) and now this cup, qualifying for the champions league next year because of their win, ousting tottenham. it must be galling for the latter. 


Added. i heard the channel 5 news at 10pm calling it the european cup. so is this that famous european cup that liverpool won in a shock defeat some years ago? or was that another cup. Gawd, so many different cups!!!
so i googled it and here is the wiki entry.
I was not mistaken, liverpool did win it, and so that is the reason why they mentioned the first London football club to win it. 

Added.just read in a tweet that this win means next year the european cup final will be played in London at wembley  2013. Well, to the victor the spoils.


After all this, i wonder if the owner will dare to sack his manager. he might well do so, because he had said so, even to the extent that he will still sack him even if chelsea wins. 




That is really a entrenched position which is difficult to overturn for a overegoistic person like him, who thinks he can buy anyone. The trouble is most of the time, if not all the time, money can buy a person. give a person enough money and he can be bought.So there is good reason for his being really quite a egoistic person. cross him and out u go. that is why everyone is keeping quiet about it ...not mentioning it. haha. (I have to take that back, it is not an ego thing after all but a cold business plan.he has to change his whole team before the UEFA rules comes (in 2015?) that football clubs must balance the budget and limit their loss so cannot spend such huge amounts of money buying transfers of talented players.it is meant to level the playing field. )


I was surprised the match was live in bbc2. i thought they would try to make people pay to see it. 
here is the link to the match if u can understand the gobbledegook. haha.


Added. 22.5.12 Simon is not too keen on fabio capello taking over as manager of chelsea, stating that he and the players were clashing when he was running the team for the world cup, most of whom are made up of chelsea players, but i think if the old team is broken up it would not matter. and capello will have the experience of building up a strong team and be able to advise on which players to buy and have the reputation to attract such players. 
the disadvantage is that his english is not good and he needs an interpreter. 
Imagine me so caught up in this football thing, me who never bother with them.haha. just goes to show what a big win can do. 

I read that the strong contender is the coach for barcelona, who is leaving barcelona but wants a 1 yr sabbatical. so chelsea might give di matteo a 1yr contract as caretaker. it looked like di matteo is too inexperienced. 

zurker.co.uk

london
latest news. facebook flotation at $38 (£24) a share.18.5.12 not that i am buying any.

Live feed here

I was browsing the guardian, and read an article about facebook and the upcoming share sale, and in the comment there was a guy mentioning this new social network website. 
i searched for it on google and found the website. it says it is owned by its members. 
I wonder if it will be as big as facebook. 
i joined anyway because i thought if what it says is correct, that members can build up whatever contacts they want, i would like to build one up , of gay guys who like naturism, and who like to stay at each others place, share holiday costs in nudist resorts, and just to hang around in london. 
If you are one of those people living in uk join in. 
link to the website. (of course u can join even if u dont want to connect with me, nor let me know that u have joined. it is not compulsory to connect with me, nor me with you as prior permission must be obtained from both parties to accept the connection. so even if you just want to join zurker without the baggage of being a naturist or gay u can)


Added 17.5.12 it is strange but when i first googled it, google took me to the site, and i was able to join using the invite by the founder. Today, i tried to do the same thing and i could not find the website at all in google. 
by then i have my own url, so was able to use it. 
u can only join the  website by invitation. 


i realise when google persist in completing what i wrote by adding to 'zurker' with 'zurkerburg' that zurker is a shortened version of zurkerburg, founder of facebook. coincidence, irony, humour, or what? will zurkerburg sue this website if or when it gets famous?


Added. 17.5.12 here is an article in forbes about how facebook advertising is like a ponzi scheme. people are not seeing the ads, and advertisers are beginning to realise no point advertising in facebook.
interesting that General motors GM has stopped advertising in facebook, though they still maintain a facebook page.
I realised that i dont have the contacts to build up the social network that i joined. so i asked a few others who i think might have the contacts. I hope they join and become more successful at building it up than me.

man city won premier league/i end my gym membership

london
I am not a great fan of football but just now was a thrilling game.
simon and i were watching the bbc match commentary live and we heard that QPR scored 2-1 against Man City, and so looks like Man City lost the premier league
. 
Then at the last 10secs Man City took 2 goals and scored 3-2 and won ... they last won 44yrs ago.
what a nail biting finish. 
It wasn't really 10secs, of course. It just happened that we were seeing the subtitles on bbc, where it said man city scored the first goal and that subtitle was on for sometime obviously, it just so happened simon switched over to that channel, after the channel i was watching ended; and so we saw it only just now.(and we were speculating that maybe man city may still have a chance to win if man united lose to bolton. they were showing the scoreboard listing all the teams playing that day; then 10secs after we saw that score, it changed and said man city scored again. and we knew they won. 


i can see why people like football, it is so unpredictable, and even these clubs  throwing huge amounts of money into players cannot guarantee a win. 


QPR is a strange club. They seem to have beat the top clubs arsenal, chelsea,, man united but lost to everyone else that is why they are facing relegation. 
what a giant killer ,and yet facing relegation. 
Though QPR just avoided relegation, because the 3 clubs below it all lost their final matches. 


I have decided to terminate my gym membership. Gave notice today, and it will end 30june. 
the title makes it look as if man city winning the premier league made me decide to end my gym membership . haha. not so of course.
I have been toying with the idea of leaving the gym. And what happened this afternoon make me take the decision.


 i went to the other branch and read the new magazine which they have provided. Fab, it is called, a magazine for businesswomen to start their own business. There was an article about using google doc and site to share business stuff ... I thought it was useful but when i got back and tried to use the doc, i could not work it. 
(Added. dropbox is better. it is easier to use, though i have uninstalled it as i find i dont really use it that much. it is great for travellers or people with lots of gadgets to access the internet, smartphones , etc . or people who want to share documents as additions to the docs can be made by everyone in the group in real time.
But coming back to the gym, i think i can still visit the other branch of the gym where they still have coffee and free magazines to read, without being a member... 


Then, when i was walking back past the victoria train station, i saw a man on a wheelchair using a lever operated by his arms to move the wheelchair, and i made a comment in passing saying what a good idea and an elderly man near me overheard and agreed with me. When i said it is not wise to sit on a wheelchair for it is the slippery slope to death, he agreed too and said he walks all over london as an exercise everyday. 
Which makes me think i could do that too except i shall cycle and go to see and do things. 


I find going to the gym is not so interesting anymore, what with them stopping the papers, and beverages ... i shall move on to another form of exercise. cycling around london and going to see things, like the Vollard suite of picasso etchings showing in the British museum now. Usually art exhibitions dont interest me, but these etchings by picasso are really something else. And free to see too.


This is not the first time i have resigned from a gym. i have been with this gym for 3years i think (i should search my blog to see when i joined.) but before this gym i was gym-less for 8mths. so i know what it is like not to go to a gym and it is not such a bad thing. 

oblivious

london
Do you sometimes get this feeling that you can be quite oblivious of the world, and that people or events that is talked about as quite important passes you by, and you have never heard of them?


Well, i have two examples of that with me.


one is seeing a tv program tonight on bbc4, a repeat , it is a film about tom petty and the heartbreakers. 
I have never heard of them. 
yet they seem to be a big band and influenced rock and roll. I cant say i like their songs.not much tune to it. they say he has good lyrics and i was able to read them in the subtitles which is great, because i can never make out what they are actually when they are sung. Can't say the lyrics were that good. 


Another is maurice sendak, whose children books are influential or so they say. i have never heard of him nor seen his children's book. 
Until today when i was at the library and saw his children's book 'the wild things' . it is about a make belief journey a boy took to a place full of monsters a long way across the sea . a very simple story and i could not see why it was so important.
Perhaps it was infuential in making children think there are monsters out in the wide world and make them fearful. is that why so many children are so fearful, or people telling so many stories whose theme seem to be fear??maybe in that way it was influential. not for the better in my opinion if it is true that it has a big hand in starting the trend among childrens books that dwell on fear and instilling fear amongst children.


but then, i never read children's stories when i was a child. i went straight to reading books for adults. i personally dont think it is a good thing to write children's stories specifically for children. 


i dont remember reading simple children's books like they have nowadays, geared to different age groups. When i picked up a book, there were no children's books as such. they were all books written for adults. i think it was a good thing. 


Have alook at this link to an interview about sendak, and a cartoon about his views on children.
he says children have a lot of fears and the important thing is not to show them to adults for it will frighten the adults.


i dont know why people say children's worlds are fearful. i never have that feeling. and for people to say they remember their childhood very well is strange to me. i dont remember it much. i just have a general feeling of wellbeing, no worries and a stable family. Maybe i was lucky to get a mother and father who were there all the time during my childhood. 


Added. this is a nice analysis of his 'wild things'.
That’s probably the most telling thing about Sendak’s story: the absence of adult actors to shape or guide Max’s behaviour. He’s all alone, feeling his way through his own anger towards some kind of mental balance.


There seem to be quite a lot of the world happenings in the past that passes me by, even though i lived through that period and i am not aware of them. 


Even now i realise there are things happening that i do not know. i wonder whether any one individual can ever know the whole history of his era. maybe there are people living in hitler's time who are oblivious of him. it is very possible, judging from my own experience. I mean someone in malaya would maybe not be that interested nor be aware of what is happening in europe even though he was living at that time.

my russell hobb kettle has kaput

london
Yesterday simon came back from work and asked me if i had used the kettle that morning. i thought i had, but actually i haven't, as i had warmed up my mug of tea using the microwave.
simon said the kettle was working fine this morning early when he used it , but now it is not working.
i tested it using a fuse, because a lot of the time, it is the fuse that blew. but no, the kettle really has gone. 
Recently simon cleaned it, but maybe it is a coincidence, because it worked a few days after he cleaned it.
This is the time when i am glad i got a blog, because i searched for it and found when i first got it. 21june2009. 
I did not use it straight away, but after all these years of using it it has finally gone. 3yrs. not bad i think for something i found in the recycling bins.
It is very satisfying i feel to use something to the fullest extent. That kettle has been used many times a day and had been put through its paces thoroughly. 


even the picture on my weblog on that post so long ago is not retrievable. i dont know why. 


And in the 3yrs the charity is no more at tooting kitchen. We had moved to battersea kitchen, and only yesterday i got an email from the charity saying they have been asked to leave it , next sunday will be their last day there. And we shall be moving again.
and the charity is thinking of merging it with the bermondsey kitchen and asked me if i can go there. 


I replied saying i can, once i found out where it is, because i can still go there on one bus, which is another advantage to living so centrally. bermondsey is not near a tube station, the nearest  is a train station. 
(Added.11.5.12 just thought i shall check bermondsey, and found out it is a tube station, i used the tfl website to plot a route from pimlico, my usual tube station. but i noticed the downside to these route planners, they dont tell you it is nearer if you use waterloo instead.  i could walk to waterloo which is quite near me instead of to pimlico and so no need to change at green park.(there are a lot of work disruptions on the victoria line that i will avoid as well).


the fare will still include zone 1 & 2 but the journey is quicker than by bus. it is quite expensive to go by tube if it involves zones1&2, £2.70 peak, £2 off peak and weekends. zone 2 &3, £1.50 peak, £1.40 offpeak and weekends. bus is only £1.35 and it stops just by my flat. (I shall most probably use the bus)
I should check whether i can get the zone2 fare if i travel via vauxhall. bermondsey and vauxhall are in zone 2, but the route goes through zone1 and i wonder if they will consider it as a zone1&2 route. it involves 2 changes. 
Added. 17.5.12 I went to vauxhall to look at their fares. they charge £2.7opeak, £2 offpeak and weekends...the same fare as for zone1-2 instead of the zone2-3  to bermondsey, so that rules out taking the tube from vauxhall to bermondsey for me.  I shall be doing the charity this sunday and i shall go by bus. 
Added.18.5.12 there is one too many navigator for this sunday, 20/5 so i have asked to be moved to next sunday instead. 


Now my finding and keeping kettles comes in usefulness. i am able to use the kettle i found which i had been using to boil water for the hot water bottle and to boil water for bathroom usage. i found that on 15dec2010.


things move on i guess, though this is only the 2nd time in my life  that a kettle has gone kaput on me. They are usually very reliable and last a long time. 


I shall keep an eye out for another kettle in the recyling bins. haha. 

london
I hope i am not boring readers, the few that i have. You can tell that i write for myself and though you are welcome to read this, it is at the risk of being bored with my wittering ons. i mean who wants to know what my electricity bill is like, right?
haha.


Now that i have so many tv channels to watch, i find i am watching them, especially films, and i find there is a button for subtitles and i am finding that so useful. this is because whether from age or what, i dont hear the dialogue that easily. i asked simon and he said he can hear the dialogue, though sometimes not. so maybe it is not all my fault.


but i think i am getting older and my hearing is going. i know lots of old people write into the newspapers to complain about the sound, some complaining about the background music drowning the dialogue. 
i dont notice the background music, but i think that is because my deafness makes me not hear it. haha. 


oh well whatever, the subtitles help a lot for me;  though can be a bit distracting if they are not synchronised. 


what is great is that i can read the lyrics when someone is singing. for sure, i can never make out the words when someone is singing.


I am watching a tv program now called I love 1977 narrated by carrie fisher (who played the princess in star wars.) and they were talking of the skateboard craze. so that is when it started. 
it is still popular now. i saw a guy carrying a broken skate board in clapham common recently. i was on my bike and was tempted to stop him and say i got a skateboard which i found and not use and u can have it. but it was just too much bother to give it to him, as we will have to arrange for him to come to my flat in central london and so i did not. 


i saw a article some time ago,  about someone inventing a skateboard with a motor in it, that allows u to ride it , stopping and starting. i thought it was quite good idea, but felt that it would be better to make it a square board so u can stand straight instead of on the narrow skateboard. but then i thought further that maybe they have allready invented something like it, that thing with the handle that u push forward to go and push back to stop. 
it killed some millionaire who bought the company , he went over the cliff with it, so maybe it is not a good idea after all.


but a motorised skateboard will be small enough to be easier to carry about. some times u wonder who these inventions are for. the young would not need it, old people would find it too unsteady ... it is a bit like that foot scooters which so many kids are riding on these days. i find quite a lot of them in the recycling bins, or abandoned in the street. or see parents carrying it, followed by their child, because the kid got fed up with it. haha. 


this weekend is a bank holiday weekend, i dont know what they call it now. labour day ? or spring bank holiday?
there is another one later on this month, so many bank holidays it is really ridiculous. 
every month since april to june there is a bank holiday, if not two. 
and then there is a desert with no bank holidays from sept to nov. 
if i were working i would be miffed. 


you wonder why they dont space the bank holidays. 


It looked like the pot noodle was invented in 1977 too. Actually it is easy to make your own noodle meal , instead of buying these instant pot noodles where u just add water. but before the pot noodle there was just the instant noodle sold in packs  in chinatown. they are so convenient, and quick , many chinese people have used it instead of the dried noodles or fresh noodles whether made from rice or egg.  
they have gone up from 9p to 12p now in the supermarkets, though they are like double or more each in chinatown.


I wonder what plans other people have for this bank holiday? you know me, i stay at home. 


i will be doing the charity sunday lunch run this sunday, because someone had cancelled and i have stepped in. 


i wonder who will be doing the charity run on 3 june, it is the sunday when there is the jubilee thames boat parade which i want to see so i wont be volunteering for the charity on that sunday. There is a leaflet given to us saying if we want to go to the river to watch it, to bring a utility bill to show we live near by and we can be given priority. Well the river runs just down the road from me. but hope not many want to come down for it. but u never know, there are so many people who actually will come down to visit london to see it. all the bridges will be full i think. 


Added. Simon was telling me about the chelsea-liverpool FA cup final today which he was watching on live tv. chelsea won, 2-1, so simon was very happy .haha. 
it was held in london at the chelsea stadium today. 


Added. 6.5.12 I was browsing the web, and saw this... 
star wars memes it is so screamingly funny, the cat's expression is spot on. 
i came to it via Mashable which i came to via the webby nominees

electricity bill feb-april 2012

london
I notice bills come fast and furious at the beginning of the year. so far i got the water bill, the tv license bill, the flatservice charge bill. 
now it is the electricity bill.
but since i got a direct debit of £20 monthly i dont have to comeup with the cost .


What is irritating to me who like to compare the usage from each quarter is that the last bill ended on 20jan. instead of to the end of the month.


so this bill is for 101 days instead of the usual 93days.
21 jan12 to 30 april 12
442kwh over 101days . I actually used 372kwh from 1.2.12-30.4
first 199 kwh x 23.513 = £46.79
next 253 kwh x 11.203 = £28.34
total £75.13


1kwh =0.17p average
4.376kwh per day usage
0.743p per day


considering this is a winter bill, it is not too bad. but i have noticed the bill is creeping up from an average of about £57 to £67 per quater now. the problem is it is difficult to compare like for like, because it depands on how much electricity i use. my usage fluctuates. when those companies compare prices, they take as a guide average usage, but that is not a good measure to compare. comparing by the cost of kwh per hour is also difficult because of the front loading of the costs ... no wonder people find it difficult to compare. i think for practical purposes is comparing costs per kwh over the whole period is the best way. 


but u will soon find that it is no indicator of how thrifty that person is. a person who uses a lot of electricity will have a lower cost per kwh usage than someone who uses very little.


I can understand if someone not bother to be thrifty and save electricity. the amount saved in terms of money is not a lot. i do it, simply because i dislike waste. i think it a waste of electricity to use a full kettle of water to boil when u only want one cupful of hot water. or to heat up a room to keep warm when just wearing warm clothes can produce the same result. 

service charges

london
I have not posted any of my service charges for this flat that i am living in. So i am doing so now. 


I have just got into a google app that google chrome is giving me , called finance41(finance for one) and putting in my expenses each month.
it is quite interesting and fascinating. i can see the total for each items, how much veg, pork, beef, chicken i buy each month, and there is even a pie chart to show the relative amounts of what i spend on. i  have never done this before and it is quite fun.  


this latest service charge is for the half yearly one april-sept2012. it is £572.54. 


It is just a assessment, come next year they will have the final adjustment.
usually there is not much discrepancy from their calculated charge and the actual charge.


it looks like this year my yearly service charge is about £1100. 
Previous year it was £900.


what is surprising is how much the estimated management costs 
The co-op management cost per block £5,278.40  my share is £211.14
Supervision and management per block is £2,804, my share is £112.19
Accountancy and administration my share is £47.06
total my share is £370.39


When you consider the actual service costs per block is £197.15 my share. 
this includes caretaking services , grounds maintenance, paladin bins, pest control, for the whole estate


and contract cleaning, co-op repairs, preventative maintenance, building insurance communal electricity for my block  


The admin cost is almost double. 


Ah well, i guess it is still very reasonable at only about £1000 for the whole year.
The whole estate has no lifts so that is a great cost saver.
Of course, i have got the money for it. 


in the leaflet accompanying the letter was the warning that anyone wanting to rent their homes or part of it for less than 90days  this year have to get permission.  they want to stop people competing with the hotels and guest houses in providing accommodation to the olympic games tourists. you can get fined £20,000 if u dont get permission. 
All to keep the hotels and guesthouses sweet. 


I doubt there will be that many tourists coming. they are all avoiding london during the games because of the inflated prices charged by the hotels and guesthouses. 


Added. This morning was rather cloudy so unlike yesterday when it was sunny. I had wanted to go to brixton to buy garlic and ginger and chilli yesterday, but got so sleepy when i came back from the gym that i went to sleep and missed all that sun.


anyway today i thought it was too cloudy and looks like rain for me to go there. but in the afternoon, it brightened, and so i decided on a spur of the moment to take the bike out and cycle there. 


it was a pleasant ride and quite near by, which makes me wonder why i dont ride there more often. 


i bought 2packs of ginger,(50p each) as i want it to last and it makes sense to stock up on ginger which i use quite a lot of. i bought quite a lot of stuff , unusual for me, but i thought if i am going to go to all that effort of cycling there, i might as well buy all the things i want, to make it worthwhile. Even then, it only came to £3.50 the total i spent. i got a pack of chillis, and a pack of tomatoes that are so small you can pop them in the mouth and make them burst in the mouth flooding it with juice. lovely.


Added. 2.5.12 Those tomatoes must be really more-ish, simon have eaten them all. haha. this morning i wokeup to see it is all gone. 


I bought a £1 pack of 6garlic bulbs, but later i saw at another store 4garlic bulbs for 59p which is much more worth it. so next time i must remember to buy those instead. 


i see chicken there on sale for £2.99 . so if tesco do not sell anymore of their reduced chicken i shall come here instead. of course my local tesco is more convenient for me. 


brixton market is still so alive, and colourful and as my purchases bear me out, still good value.