Frankfurt Hahn Airport and bus to Frankfurt

This blog has moved, this post is now located at http://wightweirdos.co.uk/ww/2007/12/frankfurt-hahn-airport-and-bus-to-frankfurt/

Frankfurt - a few ramblings

We got back a couple of days ago from a lightening trip to Frankfurt. It was borne out of Ryanair's 1p flight deal, discovered thanks to the most excellent Martin Lewis and his splendid Moneysavingexpert.com website. When I say 1p, that was it. One solitary penny per person each way (inc. taxes). So 7 of us travelled from London Stansted to Frankfurt Hahn for 14p. Unfortunately it cost us £55 to get across the Solent....

This was my first visit to Germany, and comments on line had left me uninspired about the idea of visiting Frankfurt. Overall I was pleasantly surprised. We found a clean city, a very friendly welcome, and a huge Christmas market (which was the main reason for our visit).

So, some vague ramblings about some of my observations. I'll talk about the airport in a separate post, including our top transport tips!

The transfer from the airport left us at an S-Bahn station, where we needed a little help with the ticket machine to get the best tickets, but we ended up with an all day ticket for 5 people for just €8.40 and a single trip ticket for just €2. The trains were fast, clean, on time and the information provision was pretty good.

We stayed in the Hotel Europa (booked via Hostelworld.com), which was carefully selected as it appeared to be the cheapest habitable hotel with the right configuration of rooms. For a triple and a twin room we paid around £80 for the night including breakfast. £16 per person is pretty good in my book. The rooms were small but clean and comfortable, the hotel was a bit noisy but we were prepared for that based on online reviews (like this and this), but the staff were fantastic; helpful, laid back and friendly. Breakfast was simple but good and plentiful. Really can't quibble for the money. Oh, and it's 3 minutes walk from the Hauptbahnhof (main station).

I won't bore you with all the details of the trip, but a few things stood out:

This beautiful (cough!) sculpture really is as dominant as it looks in the picture. I guess the people of Frankfurt are proud of their place at the centre of the European banking system. Unfortunately this appears to be what happens when you let bankers commission art. The towers in the background are interesting too. I had presumed that Frankfurt's "skyscrapers" would all be in a group together in the city centre, but they are actually quite spread out. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing...

Now this was a better attempt IMHO. This guy is pretty big, and he moves. I think the scale is just right for the space, and I actually got left behind because I kept wandering round this sculpture looking at it from different angles, where the size seems to magically change. The picture below shows how small it appears when viewed with the tower behind (sorry, didn't notice what the building was, but it was tall!).

When taking these we were on our way to Senckenberg, the natural history museum in Frankfurt. As with most museums it had its good and bad points, but what really stood out was the Cafe. In the UK we pay high prices for awful canteen food in many museums. The Bistro in here was not particularly cheap, but the food was good (mmmmm cakes) and you could even get a beer....I wonder if the Natural History Museum in London serves alcohol.... It also looked very attractive. So all you OK museum curators - it can be done!

Heading back for the Christmas market we forced certain members of our party to walk rather than catching the underground. I'm glad we did, because we meandered along some interesting residential streets. They aren't going to get in the guide books, but I think this is an important part of visiting a new city. I also saw lots of evidence of simple cycle provision, like residential streets which were one way for cars and two way for bikes. This was the norm it appeared, as it is in the Netherlands. Take note UK traffic planners!!!

More silly stuff to break the day up

For some odd reason I can't quite remember, the national anthem just came up at work, which reminded my of this which, unlike the Gordon Brown song, I found instantly on You Tube. Enjoy.

Pizza Shut

Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear.

The family are all (except DS who is allergic to milk) like pizza. Pizza of all kinds is popular, and sometimes only a Pizza Hut will do. I'm not saying that this is the finest pizza available, just that it has a certain something that others do not (DW makes finer pizzas). It is not a cheap business though, so for a treat a couple of weekends ago, while DS was away, we turned up at Pizza Hut in Newport, and ordered two take away pizzas. As is usual given the dull waiting area, the wait appeared to go on for ages. Eventually we started wondering how long it had been, and had the brainwave of checking our receipt (doh). Over 45 minutes! Just then a couple who had arrived sometime after us asked where their takeeaway had got to. It was mysteriously found, so we asked about ours, which was too. Staff were bewildered at why we were cross they had not bothered telling us our food was ready at least 20 minutes before, but eventually DW managed to collar the manager who apologised and offered to remake the pizzas (haha) or give us two free pizzas on a return visit.

Having swum our way to fitness on Tuesday, we decided to gorge ourselves on our free pizzas. We arrived back at Pizza Hut at around 7.35, DW waited at the takeway counter for 5 minutes before eventually a staff member volunteered that she couldn't order pizza, as they were closing at 8. Now, I know it doesn't take them more than 20 minutes to make a pizza if they get their act together, so this was ludicrous. And closing at 8? I can only guess they can't find staff to work for them (and would you work for an employer this inept at serving its customers). Maybe one day we'll get our replacement pizzas, and maybe they'll be hot. But we'll probably have to get there at breakfast time to be sure....

A little light relief courtesy of Weird Al

In our house we have long been fans of Weird Al's ebay song, but yesterday DW came across a veritable treasure trove of Al's stuff on You Tube. A particular favourite is a classic Star Wars song at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-gi4Nt_xxg but there are just too many great songs to list, go watch.

Isn't it obvious I'm not sweet enough?

If I want a diet drink, I'll buy a diet drink. If I don't, it appears I'm stuffed. Bought a can of RWhites (I think) lemonade (actually a colleague kindly bought it for me as I had run out of money so resorted to scrounging) only to discover it was stuffed with artificial sweeteners. Yuck! I understand some people prefer diet drinks, like their teeth more than I do, want to keep their colorie intake down etc. etc. Fine. But why can't we have an alternative, with tried and tested sugar for those who want it? You can now have a 0 cal cancer causing drink (allegedly) or a 40 or so cal cancer causing drink (allegedly). They both taste foul. This isn't the first time this has happened, cheap brands have been at it for a while to avoid nasty expensive sugar, but the big brands.... shame on you.

Gordon Brown Spitting Image Song

Am I the only one who remembers this? Spitting Image song to the tune of "Golden Brown" but with words changed to suit Gordon? I was amazed I never heard it when he took over as PM. I can't find it on You Tube either, despite loads of other Spitting Image songs being on there. Did I dream it?

Disenchanted.....

...with being disenchanted.

Life is good. I know I like to have a grumble and moan here, and that's the point of the blog, but really, I'm sick at tired of petty grumbling (he complained). Sometimes living here on the Isle of Wight we forget just how lucky we are to live here, and instead spend our time complaining about the cost of housing being pushed up by holiday home owners, overners (like me (an overner that is)) etc., the high cost of the ferries, the poor standards of the local authority, the lack of facilities at the hospital (like any other population of under 135,000 has there own general with A&E, maternity etc. etc.). I know there are issues with some of these things, but if we *just* complain endlessly, does that really help?

So this post is dedicated to the fantastic beaches, vibrant arts scene, vast array of festivals and activities, laid back attitude, fantastic countryside, friendly people, great restaurants and cafes, hundreds of miles of footpaths and bridleways, brilliant off road cycle tracks and fantastic home education group on the Isle of Wight. As for the stuff that's not so good, lets work to make it better. And lets not just rely on the government (central or local) to do that for us. No use grumbling, do something positive instead.

Please note: normal service of muttering and moaning will be restored shortly.

Give way to those travelling uphill...

I was going to rant about car drivers not giving way to cyclist travelling uphill, but see the Weekly Gripe has beaten me to it. (Great title by the way!). I share their grievance. Travelling along National Cycle Network 23 I had the same problem the other day. In a car, stopping to give way to a bike takes mere seconds and no effort (unless you count depressing the brake pedal). By following the correct procedure you will, however, save the cyclist from losing momentum, and expelling lots of effort restarting on a hill. Get a grip guys, it costs you mere seconds.

Moving music from ex-offenders

Went to a Changing Tunes concert last night. Wow, was it good, and boy, did it reiterate what a mess our prison system is (though I have to say no-one from the organisation was critical of the system per se, it was just apparent in my thoughts afterwards, based on some of the things said and unsaid).

Changing Tunes is a charity that uses music to aid the rehabilitation of prisoners and ex-offenders. That's how their website puts it. What we saw was a group of fantastic people really touching peoples lives, through sharing their love of music with a group of people many in society want to simply ignore. The staff team of CT played together, along with a few people who have benefited from their work. The standard of music from both staff and ex-offenders was amazing, as are the statistics on re-offending (see the CT website for more on that).

I mentioned "unsaid" things earlier, and here is one of them. This is a charity, run on a tight budget. It reduces re-offending rates significantly. There are similar success stories elsewhere. Yet our prison service still centres around locking people away for years in poor conditions, then disgorging them onto a by-now alien society, and acting surprised when they turn up again fairly soon thereafter having offended again. Isn't it time we started seriously investing in programmes like Changing Tunes, investing in education in prisons, investing in schemes that help prisoners upon release. Why don't programmes that show consistently reduced re-offending rates get shouted about from the rooftops and funded to the hilt by the government?

Maybe CT don't want government funding, requiring that degree of independence (I could well understand that position). Regardless, it just highlights the sorry state of affairs we are in. Prison population is incredibly high, yet we refuse to acknowledge that the system needs radical change if this is ever to change.

Blairs new anti-terror police take to the streets

In a bid to deal with the rising threat of terrorism, gun crime, grafitti, bunking off school and all the other evil things that would be rampant on our streets without our politicians keeping us safe, our Tone has hired storm troopers to patrol the capitals streets. You can see this one using his stop-and-search-for-no-flaming-reason-at-all powers, as this child should obviously be in school learning how to be greedy enough to keep Golden Brown happy, but instead he is wandering teh streets of London looking happy. Tsk, happy. I ask you. How will we keep the country running if people start getting all happy?

Actually this particular storm trooper was patrolling outside County Hall. Perhaps trying to track down that dengerous rebel Ken Livingstone, but his intelligence is a bit out of date, the info. that Ken left years ago and is now in a glittery building down the road hasn't quite got through. Must have come from MI5...

I never thought Blair going would be a bad thing but....

...Golden Brown is really starting to scare me. BBC news article sets out some of his views on education. Yet more tinkering at the edges, and essential lots more of the same, generally the sort of things most politicians spout. My concern is just how wedded "education" is becoming to "career" "aspirations" and "potential" (otherwise known as "money" "money" and "money". Gordon is not looking for a system that yields bright, inquisitive people coming out of our education system, with the necessary basic skills for life, an interest in learning and the ability to think for themselves, rather economy slaves. We are determined that continuous economic growth is a panacea, and the only way it can continue is well training people being churned out of the sausage factory. Education doesn't come into it.

I wonder what "no place in the new Britain we seek for complacency and no room for inadequate skills, low aspirations" means. Would aspiring to be a gardener be a low aspiration? Aspiring to being a full time parent? Aspiring to work few hours and live frugally in order to free up your time for more fulfilling activities than work? How about aspiring to work in the charitable sector?.....

I rather suspect all Gordon wants for our children is to aspire to earn as much as possible, buy ever more "stuff", and keep the economy growing.

Harbour replaced by car park replaced by harbour... eh?

During a walking tour of Breda, I discovered the local authority there have decided to reopen the harbour, what a good idea. But impossible of course, since it was filled in in the '60s and an underground car park built across much of it. Yet wait, this is the Netherlands, engineering watercourses is a way of life, and they want their waterfront back, so the car park gets the heave-ho (with parking relocated to a more suitable location) and the canal gets reinstated, with harbour allowing pleasure boats etc to moor up, locals and tourists to stroll or cycle the banks, and this prime city centre area to look luverly and have a sense of place, rather than just being a car park and grim road. More information on the project (in English) can be found here. You will find on that page the heartwarming (for me anyway) phrase "Plenty of space will be set aside for pedestrians and cyclists in the area" UK planners take note - they actually mean that.

Belgian Drivers

This blog has been moved. This post can now be found at http://wightweirdos.co.uk/ww/2007/06/belgian-drivers/

I fought the law

Just finished Dan Kieran's book "I Fought the Law" which I stumbled on in WHSmith at the Port of Dover, having realised I was short of holiday reading. Great book - worrying and liberating at the same time. Think it may be one of those which has an impact on life - not quite sure what/how yet. Will probably write more later, but for now, go and buy a copy - it's worth it (but only if you can afford it. If there's any question, there's always the library).

Take turns

Father and I just decided we need a new approach to roadworks and other situations where lanes merge. The most efficient system is to use both lanes until the point when they must merge, then merge in turn. Unfortunately our mentality is to join the queue straight away, which actually leads to an inefficient system, with multiple merge points and porr utilisation of road space, hence longer ques and road rage as a few drivers actually carry on to teh end. One person cannot change this, and would just become a road rage target.

So, how about a mass advertising campaign, followed by signs at such places announcing - USE BOTH LANES --- STAY IN LANE - then - MERGE IN TURN - at the end? I've seen this done in one spot in Edinburgh (never suggested it was an original idea!), and largely it works OK. Change the culture overall and I think it would be a stunning success.

Anti-bike culture

Just posted on the family blog about how good cycle infrastructure is in the Netherlands (after a slightly petty gripe about signage at one junction) and that improving ours in the UK would almost certainly see a modal shift from car to bike. What I'm not sure about is how you change an anti-bike culture. The Dutch drive sensibly around cyclists, are tolerant of them making mistakes (and misdemeanours), I would wager there are few calls for compulsory tests, insurance or tax on bikes as are often heard in the UK. Cycling is deeply embedded in Dutch culture though, and we have lost that now. I'd like to hope that would start to change if we got to the stage where we had decent facilities for cyclists and hence more people using bikes. But I'm not sure. Oh, and before anyone suggests no-one will cycle in the UK because its hilly, and the Netherlands is Pancake-flat, I don't expect us to reach NL numbers of cyclists or distances, but for many trips a bike makes sense, and for many more it would make sense with some major or even minor improvements to our infrastructure.

Oh, and by the way, Dutch roads are excellent by and large. Driving here is not unpleasant at all. Just often unnecessary.

Q

Discovered today I rather like the British art of queuing and similar niceties, but not the aggressive attitude towards those who flout our conventions. For example in the Netherlands, France and Belgium if you want to change lanes you pretty much just signal and move into traffic in the next lane. No-one flashes, swears, tries to ram you etc (one boy racer in a tarted up piece of *** broke the mould but I'll let that go). This rather laid back approach generally works, but I do miss people flashing to let you out, waving me across a junction or whatever.

Big Smoke (no, I didn't have one, I had the children with me...)

I am a Philistine and a country bumpkin.

Went to Amsterdam today, too many people, too busy. Much nicer further south IMO (I am rather fond of Noord-Brabant). I lived for 16 years in London and never liked it greatly. Several years out of cities have only confirmed my views.

Oh, and I'm a Philistine because we went to the Van Gogh museum and it was just some pictures. I liked a few very much, but that was it really. Oh well, we can't all be cultured ;-)

DS (age 5) commented on one of the paintings featured in the museum leaflet "Yes, Mum said that it was his famousest painting, but I don't think they look much like sunflowers". Like father like son then.

Cycling in the Netherlands

Cycled the 7.5km (5 miles or thereabouts for the terminally British) into Breda.

Along the main road there was mostly a cycle lane on each side of the road, separate from the road and footpath. It was wide, well surfaced and had right of way over minor roads and entrances to premises. It's illegal to cycle on road if there is an adjacent cycle path. Some people think this should be the same in the UK. I could go for that, but only when all our cycle tracks are up to Netherlands standards.

Breda has a population of over 150,000, yet we managed to cycle right into the heart of the town with young children without ever feeling unsafe on the bikes. Can we inject some of this into UK transport planning, please?

Offline for 10 days!

Worried about withdrawal symptoms. Anyway, have decided to "blog" on paper (I guess that makes it a journal really...) and type it up when I get home.

Drove across a bit of France, Belgium and the Netherlands today. Their motorways mostly put us to shame with two exceptions, the woefully inadequate signs and the corkscrew junctions followed by 6" long slip roads. Hair raising.

N.B. The dates of these posts will reflect the time of writing rather than posting online!

Tech Support

I provide tech support to various people both formally and informally, so when a friend emailed this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRBIVRwvUeE
I just had to post the link here.

Enjoy!

Who wants to live in a society where children are at risk? I do!

So often we here statements along the lines of "but if one less child dies..." or "if we can stop one child being abused...". Indeed the government cliche of the moment is "Every Child Matters". The trouble is, in a simplistic way I guess most of tend to agree with these sorts of statements. There is a problem in that statement though - the word "simplistic". These are not simple matters, they are complex, and cannot be boiled down to "Every Child Matters - how could you possibly disagree?" The dangers of children being abused or endangered in some form of another need to be weighed against the risk of a meddling nanny state really screwing our kids up, or risk aversion that leaves our children soulless and with no sense of adventure or enquiry.

And please dear reader, do not forget, the state has a history of acting in loco parentis. It is utterly useless at it. So I'll keep looking after my kids, and ask the government to stick to what it's good at. As soon as I find out what that is.

The state is a drug, time we kicked the habit

Just been reading on the Solent TV website about a new survey which says the Isle of Wight is one of the worst places to bring up children. This is based on a survey of the things parents rate most important in an area, and then using statistical information to score each of these, duly weighted. Interestingly one of the important factors was "community spirit" - not quite sure what statistical measure they used for that?

Of course good state schools was at the top, good hospitals not far behind. It started me thinking about the amount of emphasis we place on what the state do.

I think the Island is a great place to raise kids. Lots of open countryside, miles of beautiful beaches, some really knowledgeable local people ready to share their skills and experience with people, good quality local food, relatively light traffic and clean air. But these aren't things we can use a state statistic to rank how the state is doing. These are things we have to avail ourselves of, not something someone else will serve up.

So much of what makes somewhere a good place to live and raise a family is having some good raw materials, then making the most of them. Yes, I'd like good hospitals, and I can see good state schools might be a help for those who use them, but can't we make things better ourselves? And when did community spirit become something you can buy into in a good area? Surely you have to help create it.

We're addicted to the state. We think if they don't provide, we can't be happy. Time to wean ourselves off.

Statistics, Lies and Vitriol

Ah, the Times Schools Supplement has done it again. And yes, I have renamed them, I don't think they're entitled to call themselves an Education paper, not until they start to seriously acknowledge that there are viable alternatives to traditional schooling, and I suspect that's not going to happen while their rag is purchased primarily by teachers and local authorities.

This weeks front page headline reads "35,000 lost to schooling". They then go on to suggest that "As many as" 35,000 children may not be receiving a basic education. Before I go further, two points.
1. Schooling does not equal education (see first paragraph rant). Learn the difference TES, please. It is fundamental to the business you are supposed to be in.
2. TES is like Lidl. Yes, the German supermarket chain. They are currently advertising

Up To
50% OFF
ALL FROZEN FOODS

or some such. Gee and gosh, aren't they clever? They got us thinking that they had slashed all their chilly grub to half price, lets go and fill our trolleys. And look, 35,000 children are definitely not in receipt of an education because the front page of the TES says so in big letters on its front page.

Now I know what you are saying, we are all clever enough to read the small print in both cases, we have learnt to be equally sceptical of supermarket ads and newspaper headlines. Let me ask you this then, why do they keep doing it? Because at some level, it penetrates our subconscious. And we aren't all that clever really.

So back to the article. As this is front page news, it must be thoroughly researched, balanced and carefully thought through. Oh if only. The main source appears to be "Local authority inspectors". Which ones, and how many are never mentioned. Two are named and quoted, I hope the TES have a few more than that, but there is no real suggestion of this.

I'm starting to see a pattern here. A few anti Home Education local authorities complain that they need new powers to crack down on home educators. The government say, "Really, oh OK then, lets look at changing the law" the press say "Oh look, local authority inspectors say tens of thousands of children are being neglected and home educators eat their babies, it must be true, hold the front page". Does nobody seriously question this approach except those of us actively engaged in home education? Has it not occurred to people that these "inspectors" are mostly ex-headteachers or ex-school teachers, who work for the local education authority? They are very often entirely entrenched in the system, and rarely have any training of alternative forms of education - they are trained as school teachers.

Given this, if there is a call for new regulation of home education, can we not take the time to consider, research and make informed decisions, rather than knee-jerk reactions based on prejudice, intolerance and ignorance? As for the TES, what is with the idea of pouring petrol onto teh flames the local authority are trying to fan into life? You have a responsibility for your output, try journalism rather than scaremongering.

NIBOR DOOH

Ok, so I may be slow, but I have now worked out my bleating about this government's approach to the voluntary sector a few weeks ago was quite timely. You see, dear old Mr Brown has just screwed the third sector - again. Tax is down to 20% from next year, whoppee! Oh, except there will be no 10% rate any more, so its only down as long as you are not on a low income. I have heard the income tax changes described as "roughly neutral" by some and a "small increase" by others, either way, it is redistributive taxation rather than a real tax cut. Just the sort of thing you expect from a labour government. Oh, aside from the bit where it favours the better off, and dumps on the working class, but never mind, there's the good ol' incomprehensible tax credits system, so we'll all be OK....

Anyway, I digress. So Gordon has claimed a tax cut while saving a few pennies (very prudent) but hold on a mo, he has actually made a bit more, by reducing charities income. You see the base rate of income tax will drop, and so will the amount charities can reclaim under the Gift Aid scheme. Fair enough you might think, you should only be able to reclaim what has been paid in. Except we are paying the same amount of income tax, or slightly more, yet Gordon is keeping more for the government to fritter away, and leaving less for the voluntary and community sector they are so keen to support (at least when it means cheaper contracts for them than the private sector can offer.)

Harumph.

Time for a more left wing administration, like, erm... just about anyone else....

Life's a lottery...especially in the voluntary sector

So, the government's screwed the third sector again. Yet more overspend on the Olympics, so the lottery will be mined deeper still to make up the short fall. For all the talk of supporting the voluntary and community sector, there never appears to be much action. Or money. Take a look at government grants available. They have a whole website listing them. Only they're virtually all closed to applications. Recent changes to the lottery opened it up to a wider range of applicants including government bodies, and at the same time "targeted" a lot more of the money, reducing the chance for organisations to bid for projects based on need, rather having to come up with projects that deliver to a particular agenda.

As well as the direct impact on bodies applying to the lottery, this affects those who don't even want lottery money, as the demand for funding from charitable trusts etc. is in higher demand.

I guess this is all part of the great nanny state thing. We can't have local people accessing funding for what they need. Far better if central government tells them what's best.

Do not meddle

Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.



Picture courtesy of Anneliese Myers

What a state....

I wonder just how much state control/surveillance the average Brit can stand? It appears the country will quite happily swallow almost anything as long as it is dressed up in terms of "protecting" the vulnerable - particularly children. The Government's "Every Child Matters" strategy is a classic. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there is some good stuff in it, but it takes us yet deeper into being a surveillance society.

Some will think this is scaremongering, and that I'll mention 1984 any minute like all good conspiracy theorists. I shall confess at this point I have never read 1984, though I probably should!

So what is the limit? Where does the state responsibility to protect overrule the individual rights to privacy and non-interference? Would compulsory ID cards be OK? Statutory anti-abuse visits by Social Services? How about CCTV cameras in your house, then at the slightest hint of abuse the police could drop by and arrest you. Think of all the crime that could be avoided. Oh, and we could catch all those nasty terrorists too. How could anyone object? If it saves just one life......

Farmer Giles (or Oi bee an allarrrtment 'older)

I have become an allotment holder! Well not quite, I have just started sharing an allotment with a friend. So, I have a year of hard work but hopefully lots of nice tasty veg. My garden is the size of a postage stamp, and I manage to grow a surprising amount on it, but it's just too small for serious growing. Looking forward to this, though my back isn't!

On Sat DS (age nearly 5) and I started work on the allotment with Andrew. About an hour in DS suddenly says "why are you talking like Farmer Giles?" Hmm.... talking like a son of the soil after just an hour, I must be a natural!

What really amazed me was how cheap it is to rent an allotment. £21 for a standard plot. About what I expected per month. But no, that's the annual plot fee! I think that's great, and rather democratic. Us paupers can still farm our little bit of England's green and pleasant at a very modest cost. Long may it continue!

House prices

A few weeks ago The Times published an article entitled:

Bolt holes at a bargain price

You think you can't buy a second home in Britain for less than £100,000? Think again, says Lucy Denyer

http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/buying_and_selling/article1294147.ece

Hmmm...... I wouldn't mind being able to afford a first home for under £100,000. Unfortunately the Isle of Wight is one of those places they list, and indeed many people find it is a lovely place to own a second home. The trouble is said second home will be occupied for a tiny amount of the year, and the rest of the time lie empty, while many locals can't even get in sight of the property ladder, never mind reaching the first rung. I believe average house prices on the Island are now ten times average wages (I can only find stats for 2004, when it was "only" 7.4).

So if you're thinking of "investing" in a second property, why not think about investing in something else and instead renting your holiday accommodation? Saving resources is a big issue, we try and save water, save energy etc. as we are aware of the finite nature of such things. So can we please start thinking about how we use our limited housing resources?

Obviously I have a vested interest, as I live in a rented house, on a short term lease. But is it really so much to ask when my income is around 30% higher than the average for the area to be able to afford a modest family home without needing to borrow 7 times my income?

So Lucy Denyer, how about promoting shared bolt-holes rather than increasing the over-consumption of our precious housing resource?

why oh why oh why.....

am I so disorganised? One blog post then nothing. Hmmmm. Will try harder.