I've recently become involved in Freecycle and have set up a group in Epsom, Surrey, UK. Freecycle allows members to give away stuff that is no longer required but which someone else might have a use for. It saves stuff going into landfill.

The http://www.prudentminds.com/freecycling.html  website explains it well:

How do Freecycle Groups work?

Freecycling works by the creation of emailing groups. Groups are normally created based on location, such as, say, Bolton, Kettering or Guildford for example. Items are posted as either Wanted or Offered and an email goes around the whole of that group.

As a giver, you would then receive (hopefully) numerous email responses from people willing to give your item a new home. As a giver, you then have to choose where your item will go.

As a receiver, when you get an email with an item you are interested in, you simple email the giver with your interest.

Find your local recycling group

Top Tips for Freecycling

1. When you first sign-up to giveaway websites, join as many as you can in your locality, or where you are willing to travel to in order to collect goods.
2. Join more than one freecycle website - quite a few hardened freecyclers moved away from the USA invented sites and created a UK based site.
3. Consider your notification options carefully - you will be asked whether you want immediate emails or daily emails. If you want to avoid your inbox being bombarded a daily email may be the best option, but you run the risk of missing out on what you really want.
4. Start out your freecycling by giving away an unwanted item - many freecyclers look for people who have given before they receive when choosing who to pass their item onto.
5. When choosing who to give your item to, there is no hard and fast rule - many will give on a first come, first served basis, but others will look at past history, or for charities.
6. Bear in mind that some people can't check emails all day long (teachers, doctors etc etc), so try not to alienate good groups of individuals.
7. If you see an item you want, email the giver and outline who you are and what you want the item for - they have to choose between a few people, so appeal to them nicely!
8. If you are posting a wanted ad, be realistic - you aren't likely to get a Ferrari!
FINALLY BE SAFE - don't go to someone else’s house alone!

I have now been the Vice President of the Institution of Analyst and Programmers for almost one year. I feel it's a great honour to be the Vice president of such a professional body. For anyone that doesn't know, the Institution of Analysts and Programmers is the premier professional body for Analysts and Programmers and whilst we are based in the United Kingdom we have members all over the world. Our main aim is to assure the highest professional standards for those people working in our industry. We are open to all programmers and also to analyst who are working with IT. This includes not only systems analysts but also many business analysts. Business analysts today work very closely with IT professionals to ensure that solutions delivered match the needs of the business and not those of the IT department.

If you want to know more about the institution please go to http://iap.org.uk. This site will tell you all about the Institution, what we do and how to join.

If this link works it should give access to all the photos I took on my recent trip to Germany.

(Cochem, Germany) Nurburgring 2005

Well, I have been amazingly quiet here for such a long time. There has
actually been quite a lot going on but I haven't been visiting Xanga often
enough to keep up to date.
This visit has been provoked by my recent visit to Germany with a biker
group and the need to upload some photos. I'm a member of the London
Advanced Motorcyclists. A group of about 40 of us went to visit the Nurburgring.
We stayed in Cochem on the Mosel. The whole region is very beautiful,
the people are friendly and there are some wonderful roads for biking.
The weekend we arrived was a local bank holiday and as a result the
town was packed. There were thousands of bikers in the area, mainly
from Germany and Holland. It was a great time to visit. I just hope I
can upload sufficient pictures to give an idea of how good it was.

The first picture is Clackett Lane at 4.30 with first
arrivals.     The
second picture is the queue waiting to board at Dover.

Dave Tribble, Pat McNulty, Andy, Kevin, Carl et al waiting to board. Mike Smith talking with Richard De Lisle and Ted.

Mike Smith supervising the loading of Bikes, making sure no one parks
too close to Dan Dare. And Nigel supervising the tying down of his bike.
The loading and tying down of bikes was done remarkably efficiently. I
had been worried of tales of damage to bikes caused by the crew's lack
of regard for our loved ones. However, they have obviously taken these
concerns into account and padding is now provided. Tranquilisers were
available in the bar for those that needed them.
I took no photos on the ferry, didn't seem much point. And even less
point taking photos on the motorways to Germany. By the time we got
anywhere scenic it was raining and I don't think we were too bothered
about pictures.

The journey down was an education. What do you do if your party splits
on a motorway slip road. Answer hope that the guy on his own knows
where you are going, which fortuantely he did. We should have planned
for that. Second lesson: Don't do scenic if it starts to rain, you
can't see anything anyway and you end up riding too slow because you can't
see anything.

We eventually arrived in Cochem in time for dinner at the Park Hotel.
The staff had very kindly held back the meal until most of the group
were there. As I was keen to try the Wiess bier I got stuck in and
quickly racked up a big enough score to ensure that I didn't feel like
riding on the Sunday. So I spent Sunday wandering around the town of
Cochem together with about 15 million tourists. The main street through
the town was like the M25 except with pedestrians instead of cars.

Some more pictures around the town taken during the week.

The Alte Thorschenke Hotel, in the centre of Cochem, where I and 3
others stayed. View from the front of the Park Hotel where everyone
else stayed.
The Alte Thorschenke is a delightful old building near the centre of
town. Within east walking distance of loads of bars and places to eat
and only about 15 minutes walk from the Park Hotel. All the hotels had
plenty of space for parking bikes inside a garage that was locked at
night. The service in both hotels was excellent.

Some of the many boats which offer cruies up and down the Mosel. These
boats run trips throughout the day last from an hour or so to an all
day trip.

Well, I'm not doing very well here. Nothing for months. Doesn't mean I
haven't been doing anything. I have a new job, for at least a year. Not
as well paid but if it keeps going then that'll be good.

I've been trying out postnuke, phpnuke and zope. All good and
interesting web applications. I'll let you know when I have something
really worth looking at. In the meantime  I am using 
postnuke and phpBB2 on http://eeld.org.uk.  I am also trying, with
some success, to get the gallery module to work on 
http://mygeographia.info/web2  (a phpnuke site).  Loads of
photos there and a lot more to go up when it's working properly.

Amazon.co.uk: Books: Mud, Blood and Poppycock: Britain and the First World War (Cassell Military Trade Books)

I'm about half way through this book and finding it very interesting. Like many I had swallowed the whole 'Lions led by donkeys' routine of Alan Clark and others. This book, succesfully in my view, debunks some of the myths of the First World War and using data from the period puts much of what we've seen in the context of the time. The famous photo of a line of soldiers blinded by gas, the uselessnes of cavalry in modern warfare, are explained in a way which makes clear that things were changing and not everything was outdated immediately we started using some innovation or other. If you want to know more about the First World War then you should include this book in your essential reading.

What a wonderful couple of days. Beautiful weather, little traffic. It's almost a pleasure going to work. I now have to drive in London, which can be a real adventure. However, with good observation and care it doesn't have to get dangerous. The scariest people, for a biker, are other powered two wheelers. I have to say powered two wheelers because there are now lots of scooters on London's roads and some of them are real scary. You have young kids on twist ' go's who have had minimum training and they are let loose on the roads. These things are really nippy and easily out accelerate most cars. The problem is they thing they are immortal and they don't consider what other two wheelers might do. The worst two wheelers are some of the cyclists. It's a novelty to see some of them stop at a red light. A large number just ride through. I haven't seen any accidents yet and I hope I don't but it's scary to watch some of these people. London driving is not as bad as some people make out. A lot of people are very good at giving way to other drivers and pausing for a second to let a bike through. There's always the odd driver that doesn't want to be passed but I can wait. I'm going to pass him some time so there's no need to fight him for a space. oing home the last two night's has been bad. The traffic on the A3 has been backed up because of raodworks a mile or more off the A3. I have to drive down Ruxley Lane in Ewell and there are some bridge repairs going on which still have a month or two to run. The queue from this backs up onto the Kingston Road and that backs up onto the A3. Still that what bikes were made for. A little judicious filtering and I'm soon at the front of the queue and on my way again.

Looking forward to Saturday when I can go out with the London Advanced Motorcyclists and hone my skills. I passed my advanced test over a year ago but it's all too easy to drop your standards so constant reminders and training help to keep the skill up. It's also great fun going out on roads I don't normally use with other bikers.

A really long gap there. I've had a lot happening and updating my blogs
were not priority. However, I have been looking for a job since before
Christmas. I didn't really start searching seriously until the end of
January. There were plenty of jobs around but also plenty of people
looking. I had a handful of interviews and managed to get to second
face to face interviews for two roles. One of these was permanent and
the other a one year contract but with permie benefits. So I started
work last Monday for the National Treatment Agency which is part of the
NHS.

One of the interviews I attended was in Telford, on March 19th, for
EDS. March 19th was probably the worst weather we've had this year with
gale force winds and heavy showers. I had to ride my motorbike to the
interview, a distance of 165 miles. It's one of the most awful rides
I've had. The wind was attempting to push me from lane to lane on the
motorway. Passing trucks was a real test of skill in order to avoid be
pushed suddenly when I nosed out ahead of them. When it did rain
visibility was reduced suddenly and drastically. At one point on the M6
I was stuck in the outside lane when the rain hit. I couldn't move lane
because of the wind and heavy traffic. At one point visibility was down
to about 30 yards. The guy in front had no fog light so he was pretty
much invisible when I opened up what I thought was a reasonable gap. I
just kept prayong that if he did brake I'd see his lights in time. I
dare slow down as much as I wanted because I was scared of someone
coming up behind. Bikes generally don't have fog lights. However, I'm
seriously thinking of having them on my next bike. The journey back was
only marginally better although there was less rain. It was a real test
of nerve and skill but one I do not want to repeat.

My journey to work in the morning is somewhat calmer and almost
pleasant. I'm working in an office block above the Elephant &
Castle tube station. I could catch the train and tube but it's too
expensive and would take longer than riding in on the bike. The office
is on the edge of London's congestion charging zone. I actually have to
enter the zone to park my bike. However, bikes don't have to pay. The
bay I use is always empty when I arrive, apart from one occasion when
there was a car there. It's also empty when I leave. So either my hours
are longer than the other bikers or no-one else uses it.

I shall try to keep more up to date with the news from Epsom but if I don't it's 'cos I have nothing to say, or I'm too busy.

One of the reasons that I find the Internet so fascinating is that there are so many new things to try out. I try to create a few of my own websites plus a couple I host for small organisations. I'm always on the lookout for interesting applications and scripts.This used to be one of my favourite sites for downloading good software to try out. They seem to have tools for everything and you can either find a free app or download a trial version. I'm pleased to see that it doesn't seem to have changed. Download.com

Still looking for a new contract. There are some great jobs out there and the rates being offerred are much better than this time last year, in fact at any time last year. I read that the US economy is booming and that Europe is doing pretty good as well. There certainly seem to be more jobs around. I just hope that I get one. I'll need the money real soon.

I took my wife's car in for its MOT this morning. I expected them to find something wrong and they did. It's going to cost about £200 to repair. It could have been much worse. I just hope this means we can wait, at least until I can afford it, before we have to buy a new car. I need a new motorbike as well. Unfortunately, the new car has a higher priority. If I could persuade everyone that owes me money to pay up then I could buy a nearly new car for my wife and once a job came along I could certainly justify a new bike.