Archive for the 'twitter' Category

07
Jan
10

Big Garden Birdwatch and RSPB Membership

Happy New Year!

Big Garden Birdwatch.

The next big Weekend birdwatch is on 30th and 31st January 2010.

The RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch encourages people all over the country
to count the birds in their garden for just an hour over this one
weekend. It’s very simple to take part and provides the RSPB with
information and patterns in bird numbers that help prioritise
conservation work. More details about the event and how people can
join in can be found at www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch

An adult RSPB membership now costs £36 a year and joint membership is
£46. Family membership remains at £51 and kids’ memberships are
unchanged at just £15 a year for one child and £25 for two or more
children at the same address.

http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2009/03/25/big-garden-bird-watch-results-are-out

Posted via email from Andy Roberts email podcast photo music and video blog on Posterous

02
Jan
10

Pictures of my farm/land

Sent from my iPhone

Posted via email from Andy Roberts email podcast photo music and video blog on Posterous

30
Dec
09

Theatre Breaks Agents Compared | London Theatre Breaks

Theatre Breaks Agents Compared

Posted by Linda on 30/12/09 • Categorized as Theatre breaks

Theatre Breaks Agents

Theatre breaks agencies come in many shapes but here at the London Theatre Breaks blog we like to work with three in particular. We get a small commission from each reader who books a theatre break through our links and that helps to fund our blog. The theatre breaks agents offer somewhat differing services and the best one for you depends on what you are looking for when you start searching for a theatre break package.

You need to decide what your priorities are first before you look at the various deals on offer because you are not really comparing like with like. (If you need help with this have a look at this post on our sister site Theatre Breaks Magazine.) The agencies specialise and offer various options, they often work with particular hotels or a particular level of ticket. Some agencies have offers on rail fares which you can bundle in with the cost of your tickets, other optional extras like meals can also be added. Often agencies offer discounts on London attractions when they are booked with your theatre break.

We only work with reputable agencies where we can be sure that not only will you get a good deal but that your tickets and hotel room will be honoured. Some of the other theatre breaks companies add lots of hidden extras, like booking fees, on to your final bill. We think this is not acceptable so we only recommend the following package deals:

Show and Stay Theatre Breaks

London Theatre Breaks | Shows and Hotel Deals with Show and Stay

Show and Stay is a long-established theatre package company. They are part of the larger Holiday Extras group and we have been working with them for the last 2-3 years. Feedback from customers has been very positive and we continue to recommend them. Show and Stay really specialise in getting you top quality tickets at a good price and combining them with a good choice of 3 or 4* hotels. They also offer a very good deal on rail tickets, with up to 40% discount as standard. Show and Stay often has the hot tickets that no one else has. For example when Jodie first appeared and Oliver! London was the hottest ticket in town, Show and Stay was able to offer Saturday night, best seats, when there was no other way to get them and everyone else said the show was sold out.

Now despite what I’ve said about them offering top quality tickets don’t assume that Show and Stay only do expensive theatre breaks. Their breaks are very competitive. For example someone just booked a midweek evening at Oliver! and 1 night in a 3* hotel for 2 people for only £213.96.

Superbreak Theatre Breaks

Superbreak theatrebreaks

Superbreak is where you go for bargains. They offer a range of ticket prices so if you don’t mind being in the Upper Circle you can get a very good price indeed. They have more limited availability sometimes, than Show and Stay but if you are looking for particular dates rather than a specific show they can be very good value. The hotels they work with are just as good as Show and Stay and are usually 3 or 4*.

Superbreak are a large company and they do all sorts of London breaks and breaks to other cities too. They are less specialised than Show and Stay but they still offer a good service. Their web site can be a bit harder to find your way around, as it is so large, but if you persevere you can definitely get some great deals.

TheatreBreaks.com

Theatre Breaks - Booking

TheatreBreaks.com is a smaller company established thirty years ago. They’ve been online for over ten years. They have pretty good availability, work with good 3 and 4* hotels but where they really excel is in their personal touch. They are they people to go to if your needs are at all outside the ordinary. Maybe you want to do a large group with an odd number to see Dirty Dancing on a specific weekend. Perhaps you have limited mobility and need to know that your hotel, and your theatre seats, are fully accessible. They are the best people to help you. You just phone them up quoting your reference number from the website and they will go out of their way to make sure your problems are sorted out.

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This post looks at three of the main Theatre Breaks Agents, namely Superbreak, Show And Stay and Theatrebreaks.com looking at the different specialities and strengths.

Posted via web from London Theatre Breaks

29
Dec
09

DARnet Andy Roberts – Seashore Image Editing Tutorial 5 – Tinting

22
Dec
09

Best Broadband Deals in the Countryside | Best Broadband Deals

Best Broadband Deals if you live in the countryside

Which are the best broadband deals if you live in the countryside or want to move to a remote part of the country?

It’s a problem that has no easy answer but it well worth researching if having a good fast broadband internet connection is important to you, but you also want to be able to live somewhere where the quality of life is different to that in the cities. If you already live somewhere that doesn’t have the best broadband deals that many city dwellers enjoy available to you then you you’ll still want to get the best internet service you can, possibly regardless of the price really. Working with a slow internet is both inefficient and also unpleasant and frustrating so paying a bit more just to get the kind of service that others would take for granted is still worthwhile.

The key factor is coverage.

So how do you find out if your area or intended area is covered by the better broadband internet service suppliers? Well one way to find out is to go to the various broadband ISPs websites and find the part which deals with enquiries about coverage. There you will be asked for a postcode, landline telephone number, or both. From this you’ll get an answer which tells you whether it will be possible to order a broadband package deal from that supplier, but it won’t really tell you how fast the eventual internet connection is likely to run at. That’s because the ultimate connection speed is going to depend on a number of factors including the quality of the wiring into your house and the distance from the telephone exchange. The state of the specific telephone exchange local to the house is important too. If it’s an old one that hasn’t be upgraded to work with modern fast broadband, then you could be stuck for a long time without a slow internet connection until BT finally decide to get around to upgrading that exchange.

But you might not find out that the internet connection is impossibly slow at your new house in the countryside until after you’ve already moved in! How annoying is that?

Researching Best Broadband Deals

So my suggestion is that you do some research on the ground rather than from your computer. You’ll need to find out if any prospective neighbours have already grappled with the rural broadband problem and see which solutions they have come up with. Be careful though, because the potential service from just half a mile down the lane might be very different, so if you find a good result nearby then try to check that they are actually connected to the same telephone exchange as the house you are thinking of moving in to. You might be able to do this by looking at the telegraph poles and wire going from the road to the houses, or by enquiring at BT themselves.

It may sound extreme to base a decision on whether or not to buy or rent a particular property partly on the availability or otherwise of best broadband deals in the exact location, but if your work or other large part of life is dependent on using an acceptably fast broadband in the house then it’s going to have a big impact on everyday living and just getting by more easily.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 at 8:24 am and is filed under best broadband deals. Follow the comments through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or leave a trackback. Edit this entry.

Thinking of moving to your dream house in the country? Better make sure you can find out if the broadband is any use first.

Posted via web from Andy Roberts email podcast photo music and video blog on Posterous

19
Dec
09

Andy Roberts – Redpoll

Redpoll

A redpoll visited our wintry East London garden today, part of a small mixed flock of birds including Great Tits. It’s the first one I’ve seen, and this brings the garden birds list total up to 25.


Redpoll

Originally uploaded by ArunMarsh

There’s snow on the ground and plenty of birds are out there stocking up on the wild bird food we put out for them.

The solitary squirrel who took up residence a year or so ago has found a mate, and they can both tightrope walk across the clothes line to get to the bird feeders, which provides entertainment but it seems they are afraid of starlings, so when a flock of those comes by all the other little birds get their feeders back for a while, not to mention the woodpecker.

A dusting of snow

A dusting of snow

Snow picture by Linda Hartley

Squirrel gnawing on a walnut root

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Redpoll

Related posts:

  1. Big Garden Bird Watch results are out
  2. How to Photograph Birds
  3. Fledgling Baby Birds


More Recent Articles

Andy Roberts

http://distributedresearch.net/blog/

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16
Dec
09

Andy Roberts Music

Andy Roberts Music

Andy Roberts Music: Andy Roberts sings Close Your Eyes by James Taylor
Andy Roberts music and songs as recorded or performed live at Havering Folk
Club and elsewhere … Video by Linda for Andy Roberts Music channel on
youTube. …
http://andyrobertsmusic.blogspot.com/2009/12/andy-roberts-sings-close-your-eyes-by.html

YouTube – Andy Roberts sings Close Your Eyes by James Taylor
Dec 4, 2009 … One More Cup of Coffee – Bob Dylan – Andy Roberts Music …
Grow Fins from Captain Beefheart on acoustic guitar by Andy Roberts music

Recorded shows, VIDEOS from Andy Roberts Music on USTREAM. Listing …
See the most-popular recorded live shows, videos from Andy Roberts Music on
USTREAM. Listing all videos pg. 1 of 2. (Music childrens music)
http://www.ustream.tv/discovery/recorded/music-childrens-music?broadcast=577790

video « Andy Roberts
Tags: andy roberts music, cormorants, london, London bridge. Ths should
make a slideshow of pictures of London Bridge. There are cormorants
underneath London Bridge, which is absolutely true you know.
http://andyroberts.wordpress.com/category/video/

havering | most popular | Mister Wong
Nov 17, 2009 … Andy Roberts Music: Havering Folk Club. Havering Folk Club
meets at the Golden Lion in Romford on Wednesdays at 8.00pm …
http://www.mister-wong.com/topics/havering/

Andy Roberts Music

http://distributedresearch.net/blog/andyrobertsmusic

Posted via email from Andy Roberts email podcast photo music and video blog on Posterous

16
Dec
09

Sharps Orchard Cider and Abbey Ales Hells Bells


Sharps Orchard Cider – Abbey Ales Hells Bells
December 15, 2009 at 8:26 am

Acclaimed Cornish brewery Sharp’s of Rock near Padstow has teamed up with Cornish Orchards to produce a cider for the UK market.

Orchard Cider is made from 100% local cider apples and is being trialled in selected outlets in Cornwall and Devon.

Joe Keohane, of Sharp’s, said: “Our introduction to Cornish Orchards was the Eden Project. We are incredibly proud of the cider produced as a result of this partnership.” Orchard Cider is the only draft cider available at local tourist attraction the Eden Project.

Sharp’s said there are plans to extend the distribution of Orchard Cider next year.

Another brewery, Bath’s Abbey Ales has launched Hell’s Bells, produced by the Tricky Cider Company, situated in the Blackdown Hills in Somerset.

Abbey Ales managing director Alan Morgan said of his company’s new product: “We will be offering it to our existing customers initially, and in our own pubs, the Star, the Coeur De Lion and The Assembly Inn.” Distribution will be extended later in the year.

 

Posted via email from Cider

14
Dec
09

Early Day Motion proposes Cider tax hike

After the pre-budget poposals to review the whole regime of taxing
cider in time for next year’s budget, now we have an early day motion
demanding that cider be taxed the same as beer.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/8411698.stm

The Early Day Motion reads: “That this House notes that duty paid on a
pint of 5% alcohol cider is 29p less than is paid on a beer of
equivalent strength.” and “further notes that the UK Treasury could
raise £400m annually in additional revenue if cider duty were brought
into line with beer duty”.

Posted via email from Cider

13
Dec
09

West End Shows London

 

Time for another quick round up of the West End shows. London theatreland at the end of 2009 is beginning to adapt slightly to the changing economy and the initial bravado about the industry being recession-proof has faded. The same old shows are still playing to nearly full audiences in the West End, but the theatre going public is expecting to be able to find bargain packages and special offers before committing to future bookings. As ever, a large part of the London audience is comprised of visitors to the capital, more from abroad and a few less from the UK regions. The percentage of foreign language speaking ticket buyers has even been recognised by theatre managers with Hairspray trialling a gizmo that provides a text translation in sync with the show in several popular languages.

New West End Shows, London 2010

Love Never Dies

Andrew Lloyd Webber insists this is not a sequel to Phantom of the Opera but the plot for this big new show continues the story 10 years later with the same characters. Opening in the West End London in March 2010

The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz is going to be as well known as Oliver because of a similar TV contest to find Dorothy, a show called “Over The Rainbow”

Chicago

Not a new show as such but Chicago in London manages to keep fresh interest through a series of creative cast changes. Early in 2010, West end favourite Ruthie Henshall returns to play Roxy.

Moonshadow

Cat Stevens is back, but different. At some point Yusuf Islam’s “Moonshadow” musical will appear in one of the West end theatres and I think it will find a lasting audience after initial problems settle down.

London Musicals and Plays

Oliver, London

Oliver is on its third Fagin and now Kerry Ellis, the former Wicked star is due to take over from Jodie Prenger as Nancy.

Billy Elliot, London

A Surprising huge success on Broadway, Billy Elliot in London edges further into a long continuous run at the Victoria Palace Theatre. Support the Miners.

Cat On A Hot Tin Roof

Tennesse Wiliams’ Cat On A Hot Tin Roof is the hot ticket for non-musical show in London, with a much acclaimed adaptation brought over from a sell out run on Broadway.

West End Shows London Theatre Breaks

LionKing-westendshowslondon

West End Shows London Theatre Breaks as thoughtful presents or booked online during the holiday as an antidote to the festive season.

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West End Shows London

Related posts:

  1. 7 Best London Theatre Breaks
  2. Summer Theatre Breaks
  3. Theatre Breaks Magazine


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Posted via email from Andy Roberts email podcast photo music and video blog on Posterous




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