On the London Eye

After frantically watching the news for Riot updates, my parents finally decided to take their 4 grandchildren (aged 15 to 10) to London today.

The trip, to coincide with my two visiting from Derbyshire for the week had been planned for some time - tickets booked and paid for etc.

So you can imagine the hand-wringing and shall we - shan't we go conversations there's been this week.

Actually, the London Eye were extremely helpful and said that they'd happily re-schedule the ride if my Mum couldn't travel that day.

Anyway, today (Thursday) dawned trouble free so they all set off.

I got a text from my daughter "we're just coming down now" from atop the London Eye.

I can only imagine the excitement.

Plastic bag usage up by 5% - I have a theory

Plastic bag usage up by 5% - I have a theory.

Yes shoppers, shop owners and all the politicians in between were equally shocked to hear the plastic bag usage had grown by 5% recently.

This is despite 'bags for life' being thrust into our faces at every cash till opportunity and the abundance of "bad for the environment' messages in the media.

However, I have a theory.

Not in the same league as 'magic bullets' and 'grassy knoll's' admittedly but a theory all the same.

Fuel for our cars has risen to such levels that the cash-strapped British consumer is having to seriously weigh up the worth of each journey before they make it.

So instead of driving around the corner to the local supermarket for a full weeks shopping (which is expensive enough these days), I believe people are shopping often and little by foot instead. (I tried it at the weekend - it was very liberating).

The downside is that you need to spread the load when walking so you'll probably spread your shopping out over more bags than you would if you were driving. Also, we all know that you do seem to buy more stuff if you shop every day, hence we're physically requiring more bags - especially if we have to buy the same thing twice in a week (thinking bread and milk here).

If this theory holds water (and I'm pretty confident), then the use of plastic carrier bags could even be a good indicator of the UK's economy?

More Nissan bashing from Top Gear - this time it's the Nissan Leaf electric car.

More Nissan bashing from Top Gear - this time it's the Nissan Leaf electric car.

Poor old Nissan, they can't seem to do a lot right in Top Gear's eyes can they?

First was the £6995 car that had optional electric windows… I remember when the Austin Ambassador's (a large family car of the early '80's) big selling point was front electric windows and (hand onto you hats) power steering! And all for the incredible price of £5,695 (if memory serves).

Then the other evening, they took the new Nissan Leaf - Nissans first all electric car - out for a spin with another electric car from Peugeot.

They ran out of juice - spent the day in Lincoln brass rubbing and begged borrowed or tried to steal from cafe's, boat moorings before ending up at Lincoln University.

I know, I know it's all in the name of entertainment but the trouble is many take Top Gear's word as gospel. Also, any owner of an electric vehicle will a) not be contemplating such long journeys and b) will be organised enough to have recharging points / stops worked out well in advance and plan the journey accordingly.

The 100 mile range would certainly do my weeks commuting on a single charge. £8 of electric for a weeks commuting - cheaper than the bus.

Of course, the cost of these electric vehicles is sell high - £25,000 after the covernments £5k electric vehicle subsidy.

The studio post-drive debate (banter) did draw some interesting ideas - James May wanted to turn the entire road network into a kind of dodgem ride with a wire mesh network for vehicles to draw power from.

In a crazy world, I think a better idea would be a remote spike you can lower down from the floor of the car, which locates in a slot on the main roads / motorways and a spring / chain running continuously in a channel in the road pulls you along.

When you reach the exit you require, you just pull up the spike and drive manually.

This sort of system would mean less accidents and less congestion hold ups and vehicles would always be evenly spaced and all doing the same speed.

What do you think?