AN OUTSIDE VIEW

Brighton promenade Originally uploaded by Tibi08 . An article in The Observer on 22 October by their architectural correspondent, Steven Bayley, perpetuates the myth that Brighton first came to prominence on the strength of Dr Russell's promotion of the Sea Cure. The real story is more interesting. The development of a sea front at Brighton, based on sea bathing, begins with Londoners buying properties for the purpose over twenty years before Russell set up his establishment in the late 1750s. This first generation of Brighton sea bathers take up the practice as a means of engaging with the unconstrained forces of the ocean in order to replicate the habits of enquiring thought developed by the pioneering members of the Royal Society in the second half of the seventeenth century. Russell enters the picture later on, trading on pre-scientific beliefs about intellectual efforts being powered by the production of "animal spirits". The Russell Sea Cure was based on th...

Thalys train interior shambles Originally uploaded by seadipper . The Thalys is a train based on the French TGV, it runs between Paris, Brussels, Köln and Amsterdam. It is an appalling train. The seats are cramped and a lot of "window" seats just give you a view of the curtains. There is not enough space for luggage and it gets left in the doorways. At the next stop the platform was this side and all the stuff had to be moved. Trouble is nearly all the seats are face-to-back, airline style, only the difference betweens trains and aircraft is that planes have a baggage hold but trains don't. Compare the Danish IC3 train

Tramway/bus lane crossing Originally uploaded by seadipper . Pedestrian facilities in British towns are often poor but in Brighton they are truIy atrocious. In many parts of the city centre, there are no pedestrian crossings where they are most needed, forcing people into long and time-consuming detours if they are not prepared to take risks. If you try walking from St James's Street to North Street, you will see what the problem is. People have to wait too long before they can get across the road, and because the lights show danger when it is apparently safe to cross, ignore the lights and are then liable to be hit by vehicles, especially buses, coming from an unexpected direction. Particularly bad locations include St Peter's Church, Castle Square, and North Street, outside Boots. There are a lot of serious accidents, including fatalities. The layout of the bus lanes in the city needs to be re-thought, as well as the design of the traffic lights. The photograph shows...

Recycling centre Originally uploaded by seadipper . The principle is to reward desirable behaviour. You put your used bottles and empty cans in and the machine reads a bar code and you get your deposit back. So bottles and cans are not left lying around and some people make a bit of pocket money by collecting them. Better than charging to have the council take your rubbish away, that just encourages dumping.

211020061739.jpg Originally uploaded by Robert Brook . In other countries they manage perfectly will without putting up miles and miles of this expensive and hideous hardware so why do we have to have it in Britain?

Royal Mail Travelling Post Office Originally uploaded by Tango_hui_voine . This is from the days when corporate identities spelled out "Quality Public Service". Nowadays corporate identity is about marketing. Once Margaret Thatcher had asserted that there was no such thing as society, the notion of public service disappeared and we just have lip service paid to "customers" or "clients" who are treated like punters. A travelling post office was a mobile sorting office - the mailbags were put on the train and sorted as it went along. Mail could be picked up and dropped on the way without the train having to stop, using a system of nets on the trains and by the track.

Helsingborg street crossing Originally uploaded by seadipper . This road is just as busy as Brighton sea front. But there is no pig-pen in the middle, and when the lights change you can cross in one go. The safety-conscious Swedes seem to manage without putting up miles of railings in their streets so why do we need them?

Crossing Originally uploaded by Elsie esq. . This crossing is on Brighton sea front by East Street. It is a perfect example of how Brighton's traffic engineers make life hard for pedestrians. * The waiting time is too long. * You have to cross the road in two stages, and are made to wait in the pig pen in the middle. * When you have crossed the road you also have to cross the cycle lane, but this is not controlled by the traffic lights so you step right into the path of fast-moving cyclists. Wonderful.

Rat in my street this morning Originally uploaded by seadipper . There are a lot of dirty people live round here and restaurants who put their food waste out. Good for foxes as well as rats. Brighton and Hove Council are curiously slack about enforcement, which is odd because they could make quite a lot in fines until people got the idea that they should not leave their muck about everywhere.

The hotel I stayed at in Helsingborg had just opened and the internet access was dodgy - there was an American journalist who had not been able to email to his office using his Apple laptop. They let me speak to their ISP who told me what the settings should be but they didn't work. As I was using Linux I could get some information, I was getting a faulty IP number. I made several telephone calls to the UK and Germany and enquired in the local Apple shop, then the hotel people let me speak to the ISP again - this time they gave me a fixed IP number which didn't sound right but it worked. Next thing was the computer at the reception desk had lost its internet connection, which was obviously because I had taken the IP number, so I disconnected and their computer regained its connection. I asked about router and they said they couldn't get to it, I asked where ethernet cables came from room and they showed me a box in a cupboard. I noted make and model number and looked it up ...

What a mess Originally uploaded by seadipper . They are renewing the paving in this Conservation Area and they are making a complete mess of it as the blocks are too widely spaced. They had to fill in the gaps with wet cement which is wrong and it looks as if they did the pointing with their fingers. Either there wasn't a proper specification or it is bad workmanship and supervision. And all in a Conservation Area and costing a fortune. There is someone, somewhere, very incompetent.

Spårvagn Originally uploaded by Johannes Martinsson . The green box is where you validate your ticket which costs SEK100 (about £7.50) and does for six trips then you have some money left over which goes towards payment for the next one. It would be better if the fares were an exact fraction of 100. The clever thing is that they last for 90 minutes which takes you on the ferry all the way to Vrångö and you can use the for local train journeys too. You put your ticket in the slot at the top and press one of the buttons depending on your journey. The starting time and cost of the journey is printed on the back. The top button is marked BYTE which confusing at first as it is nothing to do with computers but means "change". It is the one to press if you change eg from tram to ferry or from one tram to another.

Me taking pictures Originally uploaded by seadipper . Most of my pics are taken with a Canon Ixus but it has serious limitatations. (1) The lens can't draw straight lines and there is bad barrel distortion. This could be corrected digitally if they built in the software. (2) It is difficult to see the image on the LCD display at the back of the camera except in subdued light. (3) I have to hold the camera at arm's length to see the display and it is not steady in this position so it tends not to be sharp except in very bright light. (4) The optical viewfinder is not accurate and you can't see what is not in the picture. (5) It does not cope well with a wide range of light and dark in the subject. Light areas bleach out or dark areas do not show shadow detail. (6) It does not do will with subjects like dark twigs viewed against the sky as they come out grey and blurred. So I am still using my worn, shabby, Leica M2 made in 1961 and will be for quite a while.

Obstacle course outside Brighton station Originally uploaded by seadipper . I have written repeatedly to Cityclean, the people supposedly responsible for keeping the streets of Brighton in good order but they don't do anything. Having just returned from Sweden where this sort of thing just doesn't happen, I am not that bothered by it right now as it is just part of living in lovely Britain, but after a few months living in a permanent tip will get on my nerves and then I will want to go away again.

Writing in the Catholic Herald on 6 October, an article by Ed West voiced what I have long thought about the tax system - it enshrines major injustices that the Church should, but does not, speak out against. Matters are far worse even than he claims in his article. The system is complex and understood only by qualified professionals. It has, indeed, evolved to the point that it has become a structure of loopholes, such that the whole tax-gathering operation is like trying to collect puffs of smoke in a string bag. This means that those who can afford to pay for the best advice can reduce their contributions substantially. The title of the article, "Robin Hood in reverse" is exactly right. The tax system is a major component of the "poverty trap", and when people are little better off when they work than when they are living on benefits, moral corrosion sets in. And the running cost, about £25 billion a year, is about 6% of the total, and several times more than wha...

Brazil Nuts Originally uploaded by coveman . I used to like to eat Brazil nuts, but these days I have to take three packets out of four back to the shop as they are not fit to eat. They never look nice and white like the one in the picture, but are off-white and translucent - the first sign that they are going bad. Yet again today I have purchased a packet of Brazil nuts from my localhealth food store, Infinity Foods, only to find them rancid on opening them this evening. I had hoped to eat a few to finish my evening meal and am disappointed that I can't, and now have the nuisance of making a trip back to the shop - they are quite happy to give me my money back but this just shouldn't be happening. The previous bag I bought was mouldy through and through. The sale of rancid or mouldy Brazil nuts is a new phenomenon. It has apparently followed the introduction of Directive 1525-98 which has effectively put an end to the sale of Brazil nuts in their shells. The Brazil nu...

Back to dirty, littered streets, having to step into the flow of traffic to get round holes dug in the pavement. And rubbish comments in most of the papers. Southern is at least keeping its new trains clean even if you have to put your luggage in the doorway. What makes it worth coming back for? Friends and the sea. I always get a good buzz out of going in the sea, no matter what. Getting the sea buzz again this morning makes up for nearly everything, it would be a lot to give up not being near the sea where you can get to it in just a few minutes. That's what happens when you become a sea addict. Would be hard to live without.

run nicklaus run #3 Originally uploaded by lomokev . Brighton must have one of the best sea bathing beaches in Europe. What makes it the best? The water is never so cold you can't go in for at least five minutes if you stay acclimatised. The water is not so warm you get dangerous animals like sharks. You rarely get stinging jellyfish. There are big tides which help keep the beach clean and give you a current you can swim with, but it is predictable and not dangerous. The water is clean, and nice and salty. You get a variety of sea conditions but can almost always go in and enjoy them in one way or another. It isn't always calm, nor is it constant surf. Usually you can go for a nice long swim if you want, and if you can't, you can play in the waves. The beach is shingle. This is a bit hard on the feet but it stays on the beach and does not attach itself to you and accompany you home. When there is a sandy beach it gets between your toes, in your clothes, and then in...

RT 1702 Originally uploaded by Boxley . People admire the Routemaster as a good-looking and effective people mover but the immediate precessor of the Routemaster is something else again. Unfortunately, it is a bit heavier then the Routemaster and was not as well-built, which did not matter too much in the days when they were routinely overhauled on the production line at Aldenham. But has there ever been a better-looking public transport vehicle? Indeed, has there ever been a better-looking road vehicle? The overall shape cannot be faulted, nor is there even an awkward detail anywhere to be found. As an automotive classic, this has to be up there with the greatest such is the Bugattis and the early Jaguars.