Thoughts from the Shelf

Cheddar Gorge, one of the most spectacular places to visit in South West England - home of pasties. Situated above the rural village of Cheddar, Cheddar Gorge is Britain’s largest gorge, whilst the Cheddar Yeo in Gough’s Cave is Britain’s biggest underground river, and the Gorge Cliffs are Britain’s highest inland limestone cliffs.

I had the pleasure of visiting Cheddar Gorge not too long ago for a day out. Although I don’t live too far away, I’d never actually been before. The views from the cliff top footpath is breathtaking, I don’t think that even a Freelander could descend the slopes safely. The Cheddar Cheese visitor centre is another feature well worth a visit, they still make the famous cheese there and you can watch the process from start to finish.

I would definitely recommend it as a day out, or even just driving through the gorge is amazing. If you’re of a mind to do some Freelander off-roading, I doubt you’d get very far, but you might have fun trying!

Virgin Galactic has released final designs of the launch system that is to be used in its commercial venture to put fare paying passengers into space. When the project is completed in 2010 passengers will be able to experience up to six minutes of weightlessness for a cost of around £100,000.

Unveiled at the American Museum of Natural History, the model of SpaceShipTwo is the vehicle that will take passengers 62 miles above the earth, with test flights already scheduled for later this year.

The main aim of designers in test flights is to ensure the safety of the system after three people were killed when a tank of nitrous oxide exploded in a test of SpaceShipTwo’s propellant system.

Will Whitehorn, president of Branson’s space-tourism company, Virgin Galactic, said “construction on the White Knight Two is more than 70 percent complete.”

When completed SpaceShipTwo will be carried by its carrier WhiteKnightTwo, where it will be launched mid-flight carrying six passengers and two crew. The craft will drop from the twin cabin high altitude jet which can also double as a space tourist training craft.

WhiteKnightTwo itself has a wingspan of 140ft and is built to handle unmanned rockets, and is capable of launching small payloads such as satellites into orbit. The SpaceShipTwo itself is based upon the X-Prize winning SpacShipOne concept, a rocket ship that was launched in flight before blasting skywards.

“I think it’s very important that we make a genuine commercial success of this project, if we do, I believe we’ll unlock a wall of private sector money into both space launch systems and space technology” Richard Branson said on his latest commercial venture

So far Virgin Galactic has already taken 200 prospective bookings from 30 countries accounting for millions of dollars already being on the books.

Virgin Galactic is just one of several companies aiming to offer space trips in the near future. Competitors include the entrepreneur of Amazon.com Jeff Bezos who has his own scheme, as does the Paypal founder, Elon Musk. Even Europe’s EADS Astrium, the company that coordinates the manufacture of the Ariane 5 rocket, is developing a commercial suborbital ship.

New legislation that is to be brought in will now mean motorists caught driving whilst on a mobile handset could be sent to jail for up to two years. The change in policy has come about as the altered laws involving mobiles and driving that were introduced in September are said not to have had the desired effect on motorists.

Using a mobile phones while driving was first banned in 2003, but since then thousands of drivers ignore the law each day, despite an increased £60 fine and penalty points being introduced in September.

Under the new guidelines most motorists caught using mobile handsets whilst driving will still face the increased fine and penalty points that was introduced in September. The changes however will give courts more power against anyone who has an accident whilst on their mobile, the result of which could be a dangerous driving conviction and a two year jail term.

Increased penalties do not solely apply to accidents but any driving that falls short of what is deemed safe. Sending text messages, speeding and over taking whilst on a mobile could therefore result in the increased penalties. The laws also include using Sat-Nav devices whilst driving.

Motorists who cause death on the road could additionally be prosecuted for manslaughter, a charge that carries penalties up to life imprisonment.

The change in policy comes at a time when the safety of using mobile hands free kits whilst driving has also been thrown into question, with one large transport company already banning employees from using them.

Findings from the Transport research Laboratory had suggested that driving whilst using a mobile handset could be more dangerous than drink driving. Other reports have also suggested using a mobile behind the wheel puts a drivers concentration at the same levels as the drink drive limit.

With hands free kits also being declared unsafe, it is suggested that it is actually speaking to someone not in the car themselves that is deemed distracting and is therefore dangerous.

“What we think that is to do with is that the passenger can see the traffic around you and can maybe pick up on your body language cues, and then modify the conversation accordingly.” Said Dr Nick Reed

I agree with the fact that driving whilst using a mobile phone is not only irresponsible but can impair someone’s driving ability, but to make such a stark comparison to drink driving is more a scare tactic in my opinion.

I can understand how concentration levels may temporarily drop whilst a mobile call is taken, but this is for the duration of the call, and no way does someone remain under that reduced state of awareness for anything like the length of time a driver under the influence of drugs or alcohol does.

If talking on a hands free kit is distracting, so too is talking to passengers, however I doubt the government will advise against car sharing!

Drivers who do answer a mobile whilst driving certainly do not set out on their journey with the intention of breaking the law, and it is a split second decision to answer the call. This does not justify it, but this point is intended solely to make the comparison with a driver under the influence who sets out intentionally breaking the law, knowing full well his ability to drive will be impaired for the entire duration of their journey. Yet people who do use a mobile handset could still end up with a two year jail term along side people the steal, rape and murder.

It is the culture of using electronic device behind the wheel that needs to be tackled, and with increased policing this culture would change.

“We’d like to see police on the streets taking action. The best deterrent is for a motorist to be either pulled over themselves or know someone else who has been stopped.” RAC

Unfortunately increased penalties which result in jail terms will only send otherwise law abiding members of society to an already overcrowded prison system, whilst proper criminals get increased parole, home sentencing and ASBO tracking.

I read news today about the governments intentions to increase the penalties for speeding so that motorists could loose their license after two speeding offences instead of four.

Under the proposals that were outlined toady, motorists who are caught doing 45 mph in a 30 mph zone could receive a £100 fine and six points on their license as opposed to the current £60 and three points.

Currently motorists are allowed twelve points on a licence over a three year period, but this increase in penalty points alters how many offences one licensee can commit over that period of time.

The increased penalties will also apply to drivers who commit speeding offences in higher speed zones. Drivers doing 70 mph in 50 mph zones and 94 mph in 70 mph zones will also receive the increased penalties under the proposals.

In a reversal the government shelved plans to lower the penalty for drivers who are caught speeding just over the limit.

I know people will say the bottom line is don’t speed, but as founder of safespeed.org says . . .

“A speed limit is nothing more than a weak proxy for the desired behaviour. Drivers will rightly be concerned that they will be faced with losing their licences for six months after two perfectly routine cases of driving safely. We all know that exceeding the speed limit isn’t automatically dangerous.”

I would be surprised if anybody can honestly state that when it is safe they don’t speed, even if by a few mph. I support any action that is put in place to make the road safer, such as speed cameras in accident black spots, but increasing driving penalties in such a way will only increase the estimated 4.5 million drivers who have points on their license and 21% of drivers who are only three points off a six month ban already.

Recently on The Shelf, Google’s private enterprise competition was discussed, and how by offering a $30million the search giant hopes to boost non-government backed missions to the moon.

Such incentives only boost private funding for missions into space, and although a moon landing seems the next frontier for the private sector, it has already been successful with other areas of space travel.

So much is this the case that already the concept of ‘Space Tourism’ is not foreign to most. Although the Russian Space Agency is currently the only provider of tourist space flights, people are well aware that with enough money the opportunity to take a trip into outer space is available to anybody.

Although currently restricted to an elite group, trips into space are thought to become commonplace in the next five years, with trips to the moon estimated by 2050. There is already an inflatable hotel being developed for commercial use by Bigelow Aerospace after a successful prototype was launched into orbit last year.

So if space is the next tourist frontier, then what will participants use to pay for goods and services whilst not on Earth. Coins would be deemed to sharp and would pose a danger to astronauts, whilst chips and magnetic strips used in debit or credit cards on Earth would be damaged beyond repair by cosmic radiation. This was a question answered when I stumbled upon an unusual story today about the development of a new currency, the QUID.

The new inter-planetary currency has been designed to withstand the stress of space travel and has no sharp edges or dangerous chemicals. Made of the polymer the QUID (Quasi Universal Intergalactic Denomination), was designed was designed for Travelex, the popular foreign exchange company, and currently quotes the currency at £6.25 to the QUID.

If you have friends abroad, keeping in contact regularly can be difficult and expensive. That is why the international prepaid phone cards from Pingo are a great way to ensure you stay in touch with close friends abroad.

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After my previous post about my trip to Poole in Dorset I thought I right to set the record straight. True it was a terrible start top the weekend, however after breaking down and limping to our final destination 10 miles later we decide to put the extra effort in to ensure the rest of the weekend wasn’t spoilt.

We arrived late on the Friday night tired and thoroughly fed up, so we decided to log on to Trusted Places to quickly check out some attractions that were near by. As we only had one day remaining, we ended up making plans to shop in the morning and eat in the afternoon before driving back the following evening.

Having previously lived in Poole I have a fairly good idea of what was on offer, but we found a great little Café where we had a fantastic lunch in the Dolphin centre. For those of you unfamiliar this was right in the centre of town, in the main shipping complex.

This was only a five minute walk to the quay and so we then spend the afternoon by the sea with one of the main themed gatherings in full swing. This weekend we managed to catch motorbikes, and we were impressed with the sight of several hundred motorcycles sprawled along the quay.

Although a valuable lesson learned, we were able to efficiently save the weekend and have a great final day in Poole before we travelled home.

During my time in the states in the summer of 2005, being an avid sports fan I attempted to experience as many of the American national sports as possible. Although not entirely unfamiliar to them, what was an eerie experience seeing first hand the committed fan base each individual sport had, the set up of each sport from grass roots to professional, and how sport seemed to be engrained in every Americans life, male, female young and old.

The experience that helped me understand this was a college Le Cross game. Le Cross isn’t even one of the top sports in the US, however the home stadium in which we watched the game was better than most league two football stadiums in England. This is three leagues of the most prestigious sport in the UK and a second rate sport at college level in the US boasts better facilities and bigger crowds.

Obviously this is to do with the way colleges fund sport in America, but the fact that I could only sit there in awe, envious of the fact that such facilities were never on offer at to young people at home got to me.

Another outing was to an evening baseball game held Baltimore. At first I was surprised at how relaxed the atmosphere in the stands was, and although I had never seen a baseball game before, nothing was made of strolling in half and hour late, and others leaving early. It was an evening long affair and the lack of focus on the game amongst the group I attended with surprised me. Composed of a mix of boys and girls, it seemed as if this was more of a social gathering than the sports events I was used to attending at home.

It seemed as if the idea of attending a live sporting event was a as much a social event as a sporting one, and came without the fans must win attitude we are accustomed to in the UK, that results in so many staying away. It was a nice change seeing grandmas, granddads, mums and kids attending a live sporting fixture. In all it was an enjoyable evening and the Baltimore Orioles have become a regularly followed team ever since.

When you look from the outside it is amazed me how professional sports in America could make so much money. You here of these multi million dollar deals within sports we barely know anything about, but seeing how big a part sport plays in an Americans life, from school to retirement, you begin to understand how it is possible.

On the topic of yesterdays post, I thought it worth sharing an experience I had last weekend.

Ever since my first car was purchased at the age of 17, a 1980 automatic mini for those who are interested, I have always tried to keep my car well maintained. This probably has something to do with the fact that at a young age I experienced a blow out whilst on a duel carriage way due to a bald tyre. The blow out led to the car swerving across the road several times and eventually coming to a halt in the outside lane! If it had not been for the time of day and the fact the road wasn’t too busy who knows what could then have then collided into us.

Since then I have always been more aware of the fact that when driving, all that retains your grip on the road are those four pieces of rubber. With this in mind I have been border line obsessive with the belief that it is best to keep your tyres well maintained, and properly prepped before long journeys if nothing else.

Last week tested my resolve in terms of this when on Friday morning I awoke to a flat tyre. Whether or not this was a suspected slow puncture or local clowns I did not know. Whatever the case the jack was out and the flat tyre swiftly replaced with the spare.

We were due to travel to Poole that evening and the thought crossed my mind to get the flat tyre replaced. A busy day prohibited this, well that’s my excuse, and come 5.00pm my partner and I set off on the fairly short two hour journey.

Everything was going fine, and bar a dubious mix compilation CD we missed most of the traffic and found ourselves 10 miles short of Poole in no time, when smoke was spotted bellowing from rear tyre. Another flat but luckily not a full blow out.

Upon closer inspection I saw the state of the spare tyre that had split at the rims due to what appeared to be severely worn rubber. As it was late there were no tyre repair places open and the RAC were swiftly called. The flat tyre that was replaced earlier in the day was inflated, and with a slow puncture we limped into Poole, changing the flat the following morning.

I used this as an opportunity to add to my philosophy of good tyre maintenance, and make sure the spare is also up to scratch too.

Toady I received confirmation for my latest planned trip. I shall be travelling to Moscow in October for a week, and whilst their will be watching England play their penultimate qualifying match for the 2008 European Football Championships.

We intend to travel on the Monday watch the midweek game and fly back on the Friday, so although the core reason for the trip is an England match, there will be time to soak up the unique atmosphere that I imagine Moscow has to offer.

For me it was the chance to visit a place that in all honesty I may never get the opportunity to visit again. I mean, for what it costs would you not prefer to travel to somewhere hot? Who in their right mind would travel with me to Russia in mid October to stay in -2 temperatures? I felt only England supporters provided answers to this. Bottom line, I felt the game provided a great excuse to visit an area of the world I have always shown a keen interest in.

The former communist state, as with many Eastern European countries has undergone such change over the past decade seeing it for myself really appealed to me. It have also recently looked into travelling to other former communist states including the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, and even Romania, so when the oppertunity to travel to Moscow came up I had to take it . The trip will provide a great oppertunity to see the results of Russia’s evolution within its political and economic system from a socialist economy to state capitalism.

Defiantly a trip with a twist.