Blog posts of '2017' 'December'

It only leaves me to say Happy Christmas everybody.

There is something rather magnificent about London at Christmas time. The lights that are illuminating all the incredible shopping streets of London and the atmosphere that purvades everywhere are just 2 of the things that makes an annual trip to the capital essential.

Normally we go to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park but decided to give it a miss this year, no particular reason but just trying to vary what we do. So this year it was a browse around Harrods to be amazed by the cuddly toys that included life size Pandas, Giraffes, Bears and Camels. A visit to the sound and vision department now called Technology at Harrods to see a 100" Sony television a true bargain at a mere £70,000, I've actually been to a cinema with a smaller screen than that! Speaker systems that are in the form of Bulldogs that have a bone shaped remote control and other things that you only see at Harrods all making it a thgoroughly entertaining trip. 

Once we had bought the few things that we actually came for it was on to Harvey Nicols for a well earned glass of champagne and a good people watch in the 5th floor bar. All finished off with a meal in the Burger and Lobster restaurant that is a new addition to the place since I last visited. All in all a very pleasant day that signals the start of Christmas proper for me. Already looking forawrd to next year!!

The only thing to talk about today is the funny white stuff that appears to be falling out of the sky. According to the news reports schools in the midlands are closed and even a Christmas market was closed due to snow. I ask you just how ridiculous is this country getting. Police have apparently been called to the Business Class lounge at Heathrow because some flights have been cancelled. Once again the level of snow that would be regarded as nothing in an awful lot of countries brings vast parts of ours to a standstill. Clearly it is not worth our councils investing many millions of pounds in dedicated snow clearing machines that would only get used on a few occasions each year but surely the ability to put a plough and some chains onto some existing bin lorries or the like is not beyond the realms of possibility? Or is it, maybe I'm missing an important point but I dont think so.

I was reminded today of a phenomenon that I first encountered in Chatel, a small skiing village on the Porte du Soleil ski area of France. There is always something called the 'Snowline' a height at which above it falls snow and below it is rain. When you looked out the window of the Chalet at breakfast up the mountainside there was a very clear, exactly horizontal line where the trees were completely white above it and completely green below it, quite an amazing sight the first time. This is a video outside the window of my office today:

 and this is a picture outside a house in Purley which is probably about 400 feet lower than Caterham on the Hill where the video was taken.

Meaning that somewhere between Caterham on the Hill and Purley is the snowline and I suspect its just as you start going down the hill, I am just about to go and find out.

Good morning 

Part 2 of my VLOG on General Data Protection Regulation compliance. Back to normal blogging next week.

GDPR Part 2 from Roger Oxford on Vimeo.