Stop the drownings

So the flights for Rwanda can now take off, and that will deter illegal migrants from attempting the dangerous crossing between France and England. 

I wonder what planet the British government is on. The problem is not the people, who risk (and as shown today, sometimes forfeit) their lives in the crossing. The problem is the people smugglers. That is not something the UK government can do anything about. That is up the French government, who seem to be sitting on their hands. 

Stop the Boats should be a policy for the government of the Republique Française, not for the United Kingdom. And they could call it: Vider les Plages.

Twenty years in social media

On 14th April 2004, I joined AOL for its dial-up service. We all remember the unworldly creaking noises as the 40 kilobyte per second connection was set up. Nowadays, I enjoy 37 megabytes per second, a thousand times fast. And in some places, internet speeds are measured in gigabytes per second, another factor of thousand quicker. 

I found myself embroiled in an internet chatroom of dubious repute, until my circumstances changed. From 2005, I became involved in AOL J-land, a community of bloggers. I became friends with people like the much missed Donna Diggins, then more familiarly known as nightmaremom, and Sugar Lewis, who has now disappeared of the radar, and might well have passed away. More than 60 of our friends have died in those 20 years. 

Who knows what the coming years will bring?

2 April 2024

Spring is slowly arriving here, with the dandelions already out and about. The first cruiseliner came yesterday, also a bit earlier than usual. But it remains a tad on the chilly side. 

The cruiseship Ambition docked at a new quay, dubbed the Deep Water Terminal, built over the last few years at a cost of £59 million. This comes hard on the heels of the Newton Marina, built for £5 million between 2019 and 2021. That seems to be a well-used facility. The DWT will not just play host to the 90-odd cruiseliners we're expecting this year (some will still dock alongside the piers in the town centre), but in time, will also receive bulk carriers (for coal and roadsalt). The preparations for that are not yet complete. The DWT has also prompted the double-tracking of the road to Arnish, but I have not yet been down that way to check on progress.

Cruiseliner Ambition

 

Dandelions