BBC Radio 4 long wave shutdown

Being someone of a certain age, I remember listening to the transistor radio growing up and in particular the long wave band as it was clearer than medium wave.  In particular I used long wave for BBC Radio 4 and the long defunct Atlantic 252 station.  During my sixth form and higher education student days I developed a habit of listening to Radio 4’s Any questions programme so this story caught my attention. 

The BBC shutdown its long wave transmission is very understandable as there are not enough listeners to justify operating and maintaining its long wave transmitters and sad, though it is, we have to move to with the times.  Being rather old school myself, I still listen to radio using a radio receiver, so I hope FM and MW can hang around for a bit, as I don’t want to use my mobile’s battery up.

Morocco vs Netherlands Fifa world cup 2026

Now that was an exciting second half, now looking forward to extra time commentary on BBC Radio five live via the BBC Sounds app. 

England vs New Zealand 3rd test day 5

Congratulations New Zealand, well played.  Good luck for the future Ben Stokes, thanks for the memories. 

Goodbye PC and Windows

Today I did some python django programming related to my website, tested it and pushed the code to source control, all from my Apple Ipad.  I then used the Ipad’s own browser to update it on the live web host. 

The significance of this is that I no longer have a use for my PC laptop running Windows.  It still runs reasonably, albeit slowly and noisily.  Before I pack it away for good, I will back up all the files on it and then it’s goodbye.

Working copy app

As a programmer on an Apple IPAD, I cannot recommend enough the Working Copy app that is available on Apple Store.  I use it to clone, commit and push code repositories on Github. The great bonus is that cloning a project will download it into a new directory in the Working Copy local directory.  The push functionality no longer requires passkeys or multiple logins if you are logged into the Github account via the app.  

In short, I wish such a thing was available when I was paid to do IT back in the 1990s and 2000s.

England vs New Zealand 3rd test day 3

I'm listening to BBC Test Match Special as I write this, England are all out on the first innings. This final test has swung from one side to another.  Dare I say that test cricket is more exciting and absorbing than the football world cup?

Guangzhou Railway Museum

Today is my day off from work and what better way to spend it than go across the border and visit the Guangzhou Railway museum.  Getting there is quite easy as it is close to a metro station.  As an added bonus it is free to get in.

There were a few engines and carriages on display outside, including an impressive looking black steam engine.  As today is a weekday there were just a handful of other visitors.  The first thing which struck me was the lack of English text on the artefacts, the only English text available were as summaries on each section of the exhibition.

The exhibition was done in chronological order and Guangzhou was the birthplace of China’s railways with the first railway opened in 1908 and the (still operating) Kowloon Canton(Guangzhou) railway opening two years later. 

As a railway enthusiast myself, I was expecting a bit more, even though the floorspace was huge, the number of exhibits and artefacts was disappointingly low.  This was especially true with the number of trains on actual display. The museum focused on history and especially the achievements post 1949 rather than on railways, the trains and how they changed China.  It didn’t help that the carriages on display didn’t let visitors inside them.

I left after about two hours and unless it changes radically I would not be making a repeat visit.