lhomdee

Can confirm this anecdotally. When I use my bike light in blinking mode, drivers are more careful around me every time. When I use the non-blinking mode, there have been times when drivers have clearly ignored my presence and I’ve had to wave my hand in front of the light to simulate blinking to get their attention.

Taste is indeed subjective (see what I’ll do next ;)), but even with a panel of 32 experts, this list is limited to a handful of OECD countries in their spotlight, with one exception.

I’ve tried a good number of roasters on this list, and only a few come within batting distance of Father Coffee (not to be confused with Fathers) in Johannesburg and Rosetta Roastery in Cape Town. Those two roasters, the former more experimental and the latter more traditional, are doing wonders and punching well above their weight in the South African market. Both could easily be in the top 25, and Father is surely top 5.

Seriously, if you care about coffee and find yourself in Johannesburg, go to Father and grab as many beans as you can carry.

Note for anyone in the UK or Europe: summer lilac (a type of butterfly bush) is highly invasive and spreads easily. In the UK consider planting native alternatives such as gorse which flower for most of the year. When gorse doesn’t flower, lavender will. For butterflies consider cow parsley.

I learned this when I had strawberries from the Bon Marche in Antibes. I was there in season, and the strawberries were small and “ugly” by supermarket standards, but my word did they taste like nothing else on earth. When you know, it’s like an awakening.

> None of the in-year deficit cited in the section 114 notice relates to the settlement of new equal pay claims. And none of the £149 million of cuts to services relate to any deficit created by equal pay settlements.

Instead, the council’s spiralling deficit, estimated at more than £300 million, appears to relate to the disastrous launch of the Oracle IT system that went live in April 2022. Originally budgeted at £40 million, the latest report by the head of financial planning to the cabinet on February 27 2024 showed that the Oracle finance and human resources system has now run to an astonishing £131 million. <end>

In short Birmingham Council claimed that equal pay settlements are the reason for the bankruptcy, but the investigation shows that an Oracle IT implementation which has overrun its budget is to blame. The nefariousness is not just mismanaging the project, but casting blame on a scheme that’s supposed to correct more past wrongs. It’s turtles all the way down.

Indeed. Islington in London was famous for having few trees and lots of crime. Now it’s a nice fancy area that still doesn’t have a lot of trees.

Try downtown Johannesburg, turning cars are supposed to wait for pedestrians when it’s a green pedestrian light, but the minibus taxis will intentionally drive through the crossings forcing gaps between pedestrians. You almost have to hold your nerve because if you don’t use the green, you’ll never be able to cross.

And of course being South Africa you also have to watch out for the “stopped” cars, which are never quite stopped and actually edge forward while the driver is checking their phone and not watching if they’ll bump into a pedestrian crossing. When I used to run there I had to tap the bonnet/hood of cars multiple times to catch the attention of the driver because they were edging forward over the crossing while checking their phone.

In London we have those but cars frequently stop over them either because the drivers are ignorant of the rules, they don’t care or they were too ambitious about making a green and ended up being forced to stop at the last minute. So as a cyclist I frequently have to push up to the pedestrian crossing for my own safety from cars behind.

I was in Montreal recently and the metro is one of the nicest I’ve used. It was on time, reliable and well designed. The stations are all architecturally interesting, and some of them even “beautiful”. The trains are very comfortable and unlike most metro’s, the lighting is soft and doesn’t overwhelm your senses when taking at night. Also for anyone interested in trains, the rubber tires on an interesting touch, albeit limiting if they wanted to expand the metro above ground.