Barney Stringer

I’ll really miss the 94 bus, and the lack of alternative cycle provision is shameful. But walking down Oxford Street, it’s hard to believe pedestrianisation will be anything other than extremely popular overall

Barney Stringer@barneystringer.bsky.social

This iconic view disappears forever next week. So for posterity, have this timelapse trip down Oxford Street from the top deck of the bus I’ll miss it, but also looking forward to pedestrianisation

It’s happening…

Barney Stringer@barneystringer.bsky.social

This iconic view disappears forever next week. So for posterity, have this timelapse trip down Oxford Street from the top deck of the bus I’ll miss it, but also looking forward to pedestrianisation

My favourite thing about Halloween is getting to learn what kind of skeleton invertebrates have…

This iconic view disappears forever next week. So for posterity, have this timelapse trip down Oxford Street from the top deck of the bus I’ll miss it, but also looking forward to pedestrianisation

Wow. Renewables and nuclear are right now supplying 110% of UK’s total electricity demand! Surplus green power being exported to Denmark, Ireland and Norway.

I’m sorry, you called it WHAT?

Hired an electric car in France. Pretty cool to be in an actual nuclear-powered vehicle!

Barney Stringer reposted

e.w. niedermeyer

@niedermeyer.online

Replying to @niedermeyer.online

where other AI companies have to keep insisting that they're sorta trying to destroy humanity, Meta Platforms knows that actions speak louder than words

“Bus Stopping” indeed! The 94 down Oxford Street feels like it’s been a main axis for most of my life. I’m now making the journey for what may be the last time ever before pedestrianisation (laudatory)

Fresh seafood BBQ at Shepherd Bush market is fantastic Choose your fresh fish at Brothers & Cousins fishmonger stall, take it to the Grill Masters stall to cook, visit Oasis juice stall while you wait Can’t recommend it enough

Barney Stringer reposted

Jonn Elledge

@jonnelledge.bsky.social

7 Sept

Replying to @stringerbelly.bsky.social

I want the Prime Minister to look into a TV camera and say the RNLI are heroes, that we do not change policy by street violence in this country, and that he expects any criminal action to face the full force of the law. That's it. That's all he has to do.

5 Sept

Never gets old

@davidheniguk.bsky.social

5 Sept

Went to the Escher exhibition

Barney Stringer reposted

David Robson

@davidotley.bsky.social

15 Aug

Replying to @jamesrball.com

“I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Rain.”

Barney Stringer reposted

David Henig

13 Aug

How much we take for granted even compared to 30 years ago, such is the curse of false nostalgia.

Hetan Shah@hetanshah.bsky.social

This is a lovely site which helps remind us of much of what we take for granted in material progress ordinaryabundance.com (HT @aveek18.bsky.social)

ordinaryabundance.comOrdinary AbundanceA walk through a modern apartment, through the eyes of the people for whom everything in it was new.

12 Aug

I don’t mean to disrespect the sun or anything (like, I mean I’d really miss it if it got angry with me and was suddenly blotted out or something!), but this is too damn hot

8 Aug

The Anish Kapoor exhibition at the Hayward Gallery is a lot less gruesome once you realise how much it looks like really good sorbet

4 Aug

Beautiful evening to cycle through central London

They say the best time to plant a tree is 40 years ago… so I’m off on a mini adventure to fact-check that 40 years ago this summer, as a sixth-former, some friends and I volunteered on a conservation project in Snowdonia (Eryri) Now we’re heading back to climb a mountain and see whether it worked…

Also, you need to know about box struts! Wire fences are not just nailed to posts, they’re strained in tension from the corners (so climbing a fence with feet on the wire can ruin it!). It’s a clever & incredibly strong corner post - pull the top, and the strut pulls the bottom, keeping it upright

30 July

One more pic - this is looking down the line of the fence we built. One solitary old post still standing. On the left, inside the fence, the trees have grown up, on the right it’s still just bracken Simple measures work. No tree planting needed, just keeping out grazing sheep and letting nature go

So my new hip lasted the trip - the furthest I’ve walked in years. Hip replacement surgery is a genuine miracle. And the Aber Falls (Rhaeadr Fawr) at the end was lovely. Go to north Wales.

So now only one thing left now, which is to contact Ordnance Survey and ask them to correct their map Here’s our little square of fenced off woodland, roughly an acre. But it’s mostly oaks, so should be marked with the deciduous tree symbol not the coniferous one.

Barney Stringer reposted

Toby Nangle

@tobyn.bsky.social

ft.comJim Leaviss, Bond Vigilante, 1971-2026A fond farewell to a fund-management veteran

RIP Jim Leaviss www.ft.com/content/882e...

We made it up there! And found the site. What was just boggy bracken back when we built a fence on the mountainside, has since regenerated into a lovely woodland of 40-year-old trees, filled with birdsong. The project worked, and these trees will outlast me by many lifetimes

We built a fence to stop overgrazing and allow regrowth. Carrying heavy posts, wire and tools up the mountainside. Here’s what it looks like outside the fence, and what our fence posts look like now

Well both Llandudno and Conwy Castle live up to their reputation. Very nice

OK, let’s go!

I know we all love to hate Euston Station, but I do like the way the roof floats above the walls Squint and it’s a kind of grim version of Ronchamp

@richardbrown.bsky.social

The trip back then was fun but quite eventful (I ended up spending a night in Bangor hospital) This time round, the challenge will be my hip. Just three months ago I had a total hip replacement. Can I now climb a (small) mountain? Who knows - let’s find out!

Barney Stringer reposted

Richard Brown

Replying to @barneystringer.bsky.social

Also beautiful green floor. Serpentinite, I think.

11 July

Can someone write a deep dive on what ends up in the “World Food” aisle vs just normal supermarket aisles, and how. Because at the moment it sometimes feels like we’re just “othering” East Asia, and I have questions…

11 July

I notice Thai Sriracha manages to be a crossover here, although only makes it to the “normal” sauce aisle under a non-threatening, westernised “Dr Will’s” branding And interesting that British brand Blue Dragon manages a foot in both camps, but with slightly different products

12 July

Too be fair, and as a counterpoint, I’m now in a Chinese supermarket (in London), where the shelves marked “ethnic” have Worcestershire sauce, HP sauce and ketchup! So I guess it can work both ways…

6 July

Yeah, but worth it

bbc.co.ukHammersmith Bridge vehicle plans axed over £300m costHammersmith and Fulham Council now plans to focus on repairs to maintain walking and cycling access.

1 July

Great news - Hammersmith bridge stays open for cycling & walking A fashionable YIMBY view of “just knock it down & rebuild already” ignores that there’s no conceivable way that would be a good use of hundreds of millions of pounds Status quo bias is so powerful. But status quo here has changed now

1 July

If it had always had this weight limit, no-one would now seriously suggest we need to add motor traffic, any more than they would with the Millennium or Hungerford bridges Now we need to take the AV pod proposal seriously, to fill the public transport gap

26 June

That’s it. Work’s done for good. Now when’s the next match…?

Barney Stringer@barneystringer.bsky.social

Personal news… I’m retiring next week 22 years in the same job - but wow did it change in that time! So pleased to see Quod & Socio-Economic team in such a strong position and in such good hands Great things ahead for the company’s new generation I’ll now be spending more time with my passport..

19 June

12 June

A goal for Saints in the World Cup! 🔴⚪️ #CANBIH

Barney Stringer reposted

Sam Freedman

@samfr.bsky.social

10 June

Everyone on X and elsewhere who called for a violent response should be charged with incitement. Everyone involved in the pogrom should be locked up with exemplary sentences. Govt should make it clear that will be the response in future anywhere else. Enough.

9 June

Love how panicked these guys are when they see the time What are they late for?

9 June

I mean, we’ve all been there:

8 June

My phone tells me I’ve only ever had one minute of mindfulness. And it was five years ago Is this good?

31 May

Found this petrol ration book when clearing out my dad’s house So I guess I’m all set if the Strait of Hormuz stays shut

26 Apr

The swifts are back in London! 5,000km from Africa in five days. And they won’t have touched ground since they left the UK last year

25 Apr

Love my mother-in-law’s anecdotes One minute you’re discussing her garden then suddenly it’s “that time my brother was late for school because the magpie he’d trained to fly in the window and wake him every morning had been eaten by a python” Whoah there, a few things we need to re-wind on please

25 Apr

I’m ~fairly~ sure this wasn’t just the post-operation opiates I’m currently on

18 Apr

Just waking up from a hip replacement operation. That was easy - didn’t have to do anything I’m now a cyborg. Might update my profile