South West Trains Run Brompton Trial

In an attempt to try and provide an integrated service for it’s passengers, customers, South West Trains are currently trialling a scheme for Gold Card season ticket holders to ‘rent’ a Brompton folding bicycle for 3 months in exchange for a £100 deposit.

Available in a South West Trains colourway with South West Trains branding and Zéfal pump, this looks like a good deal.

I received a letter yesterday inviting me to join the scheme, but I already have a folding bike (A Dahon Speed Pro should you ask), so I’m not going to, but I encourage you to do so if you are a card holder. this is a progressive idea and needs to be successful as a pilot.

After lambasting South West Trains on a regular basis for failing to get me to work in a ‘friction free’ way, I applaud this scheme. It’s probably an idea that was brought to SWT by Brompton, but it’s encouraging to see.

It’s as yet unclear what the scheme will be if the pilot is a success, but I guess it’ll be provided for a small fee.

I ‘m glad that they are encouraging people to take bikes onto the trains as it always confused me why they didn’t consider cycle transport when the trains were designed in the first place.

Anyone who has travelled into London with a bike will know the ’second class citizen’ feeling you get when you take a bike onto a crowded train. People don’t like it. They fail to see that you’re doing a good thing, that you’ve spent you’re own money on trying to alleviate the congestion on our capital’s public transport.

I like to write about our cycling problem and I think that people who cycle rock.

And London os such a terrible city to cycle in.

Also read: London is definitely NOT a cycling city and Cycling in London

Why I hate Microsoft – LiveID

I have a stupid Mac fanboy obsession with hating all things windows. Most fanboys do. Mostly it’s irrational, but quite often it’s not.

I know it’s lazy to be a hater but when stuff like this happens, it’s all too easy. They just can’t get it right.

I was signing up for some Office Live thing where you can share docs online (why someone couldn’t use Google Docs I don’t know), and I get this after trying just once!

Meh!

Pah!

…and Shesh!

Look at the ‘error message’. FFS!

Mattress dumping is uncool

If you’ve ever moved house you’ll know how hard it is to move a mattress.I think they are my chief hate moving object.

They’re heavy, squashy (but not enough so that they bend round stairs) and generally a pain in the arse to lift. Two people isn’t enough. Three people is too many.

But why do they end up in the street?

Who is it that thinks it’s okay to leave a mattress in a street? It’s so not cool. So un-okay.

When do they do it, at night? If there are 2 people, which a mattress of this size warrants, doesn’t one of them think ‘hey.. this is uncool. We shouldn’t do this?’

Why is it placed here, on the corner of two roads? Do the same two people have a debate about how far away from the house they need to be? Because the object of dumping it is to avoid lots of effort right?

Does the perpetrator live within a certain distance because the thing is so damn heavy? Do they think ‘Well, if I dump too near, Neighbour X will know it was me because they’ll see the delivery from John Lewis’.

If i were to study all mattress dumpings and their origin, would I find that when people dump them, there is a trend that shows people struggle with a heavy, squashy double mattress for an average distance of 200m from the point of origin but 500m with a single.?

This baffles me.

Why is it that it’s okay to dump fridges, tvs and mattresses in the street? The occasional washing machine or oven but not dining room tables? Or baths?

Mental.

Mobile driven Formula 1… Too cool.

Just because… and I like it.

Driving a formula 1 car with a mobile phone and bluetooth

New Skittles Website redesign – Oh Dear, Oh Dear

Skittles have ‘redesigned’ their website and gone all ‘Web two-Oh’ with a Twitter page being the main basis.

I say; ‘Web-Two-Oh Dear Oh Dear’.

Using live social tools to promote your brand in this way is dangerous… Red rag to a bull. Cue random stream of abusive tweets to subvert the idea and push back against this corporate use of a social tool.

Consequently their homepage has now filled up with comments such as:

“Rats have yellow teeth from eating skittles.”
and
“I heard that when Obama comes, he comes #skittles”

WHEN WILL THEY LEARN??? ?

Yahoo did it with Wii by linking to the Flickr Tag Wii, thus flouting Creative Commons rules. The response? Users crafting anti-Wii/Yahoo images and tagging the ‘Wii’ so that they appear on the campaign site.

As Mr T would say: “I pity the fool.”

If you click ‘Friends’ in the navigation you get sent to a Facebook page.

Quick.. I’d better friend up on FB.

Urghhh and Yawn.

Apparently it’s Agency.com who are behind this.

Well, if it is.. you’re credentials just plummeted. This is lazy, weak, predictable and shows a massive ‘misunderestimating‘ of the community.

And before you start… yes yes.. It does beg the question ‘Was this such a bad idea?’ and the statement ‘No publicity is bad publicity.’

But still, risky right..?