A sassier shade of green

http://www.idealbite.com/

'We know that you would just love to "do the right thing" for yourself and the planet if it were convenient, fun, inexpensive, and made you feel good. But until now you have lacked a good source of advice for real people leading busy lives.

Congrats. Now you have a free one. Easy eco-living tips are delivered in a short, sassy email each weekday."

Cycle Friendly Engineering Design Checklist

http://www.cyclingengland.co.uk/engineering2e.php

I think this is a very good check list; life would be better for cycling if it were always followed.

"The purpose of this document is to provide short cuts to the most up to date guidance and best practice [or] - printed out ... to serve as a simple checklist to help planners and designers ensure that their projects create cycle friendly infrastructure.

Clicking on the links ... will take you to concise guidance and examples, with further links to the web-available technical documents on which the advice is based. Where web-based information is not available full details of references are included."

Stop Junk Mail

http://www.stopjunkmail.org.uk/

"Stop Junk Mail is a campaign group giving free and independent advice on how to stamp out junk mail. On this site you will find all the information you need to live junk mail free."

Oyster PAYG on National Rail

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/london/OysterPAYG.pdf

Oyster PAYG has always been valid on National Rail (NR) on lines where Underground Tickets were historically valid, which are basically lines that double the Underground -eg Barking <--> Fenchurch St and Stratford<--> Liverpool Street. But the NR PAYG network is growing, partly because when franchises are renewed the franchise includes a requirement to accept it, partly because TfL are funding Oyster equipment at NR stations and partly because TfL now runs NR lines -ie the London Overground. Some NR companies have willingly accepted the improvement, and others are reluctant. It is worth keeping an eye on the map for additions.

Stansted to London Cheap Day Returns

The inimitable Barry Doe has pointed out that CDR's from Stansted Airport to "London", including London Liverpool Street cost more than CDRs to stations in the London area - he suggested Clapham Junction. The cost falls from £26 to £21 and the latter includes a Travel Card! I tried Barking as a destination and it was cheaper still.

Green search engine / internet tools

www.greenmaven.com

Quotes from their website:

"Green Maven is your gateway to the Green Web. We're a search engine that focuses on green, conscious, and sustainable websites."

"Finally a website that brings the best of the Green Web together. Designed for Mavens that just can't get enough of all things Green. Use it as a research tool, or keep up to date on the latest trends in the Green Revolution.

We have a mission to grow the green economy by leveraging the power of the collective internet.

Here are our first three tools:

• Green Search Engine : We've built the world's first comprehensive Green Search Engine based on Google's Coop Search technology. Rather than searching the entire web, your search yields "green" results. Soon we will have the ability for anybody to be a Green Maven and help contribute to the research of mapping the Green Web.
  
  
• Green News Reader : We've integrated the best of the green blogs into one, easy to read format. We receive new stories all day long day from channels of the best news on the web. Read all the news channels at once, or switch channels to read any specific news source. Use the "Share It!" feature to send a positive news story to a friend, family, or co-worker. If you have any suggestions for great online news sources, let us know .
  
  
• Green Directory : This is the source for our Green Search Engine. If you'd rather browse than search, explore the Green Web using our comprehensive directory."

A maven (also mavin) is a trusted expert in a particular field, who seeks to pass knowledge on to others. (Wikipedia)

Next train out

I only recently realised that the "next train out" indicator at Tower Hill (westbound) has been taken out of service. Tourists always seemed to be oblivious to it but once you knew about it it was very handy for knowing whether to get on the left or right hand train - the right hand train being one that terminated in the "bay road".

The dot matrix displays now show which platform the next train out is on, but I wish TfL would remove the old sign if they aren't going to use it.

It was a very simple, low tech solution, using a strip light behind glass - a signing technology that I think must now have been eradicated.