15,215 days to the end of oil

1,459,013,978,422 barrels of oil left when I started this post. 1,459,013,757,364 barrels left when I finished.

15,215 days is 42 years. And a few days. What then?

Coal has longer to go: 148,329 days

Apparently 1,748,707,614,456 Megawatts of solar energy struck the earth so far today. Grab a bit of that and we'll be fine.

Yep, I'm back on worldometers.info and browsing aimlessly.

At the start of this post, China's population was 1,439,323,776. According to https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/population-by-country/. There's a guy out there counting. Here comes another... Surprisingly, the Chinese rate of growth is declining; 20 million extra in 1990, 13 million in 1995, 8 million in 2005, just 5.5 million in 2020. The fertility rate (the number of children a woman has on average) was 6.3 in 1970 and is now 1.69. 1.7 is generally regarded as the benchmark for a stable population size.

Where are they now?

I referred to the planet Zog in an earlier post. That made me think about King Zog of Albania, of whom I was aware as a child. He died in exile in France in 1961. European countries have been ambivalent about having exiled monarchs in their territories; Zog fled Albania in 1939 and went first to Greece then Turkey. Onwards via difficult wartime routes ending up in France. When Germany invaded he fled to England, where he lived for five years before going to Egypt then settling in France.

Poor chap, you think. But he took with him a huge chunk of the Albanian treasury's cash, so maybe not so poor.

So we know where he is now. Probably not in Heaven.

If memory serves me correctly, we Brits have a penchant for hosting failed foreign leaders, especially those having connections with our royal family, i.e. pretty much all of the world's monarchs and ex monarchs. So I thought I would investigate whether there are still any of these lovely people living in our welcoming country.

I know, you are imagining your intrepid investigator traipsing through the streets of Chelsea, Mayfair and the like, knocking on doors and asking is "King xxxxx in residence?". In normal times this would undoubtedly have happened but I feared that turning up wearing a mask might evoke a less than pacifist response, so instead I turned to Mr Google for help.

I started with King Constantine of Greece, because I remember him. He fled a military coup in 1973. Lived in Hampstead until 2013, when he returned to Greece. First cousin once removed of the Duke of Edinburgh. Second cousin of the Prince of Wales (and presumably his brothers and sister; who cares?), second cousin once removed to Prince William (and presumably to that one who lives in California and various others of that generation|). So, connected. He and his wide live in Porto Cheli in the Peloponnese, a nice resort with access to a private airport. It's a hard life being an ex-King.

Mir Suleman Dawood Jan is the 35th Khan of Kalat. Kalat is in Balochistan in Pakistan. This chap is currently living in Cardiff, allegedly in a three bedroom semi. Far away from the glitz of the Ritz [Ed: are you writing poetry now Nigel?]. Perhaps because he has no known connection to Her Maj. "Sure you can come live here but it will have to be in Wales. Don't worry, they have people there; you could join a male voice choir if you are bored."

Do you like the new layout? Let me know

The Cull of 57

I have 57 blog posts in draft form. Many of them months old. The earliest was "Jazz stuff" in July 2020. Just a title. I'm good at titles; less so on sustainable content.

Time to start a cull. "Jazz stuff" has run its course. Gone. 56 to go.

"Another brick in the Wall" - shortly after "Jazz stuff". Again a title only. Gone. Heaven knows what I had in mind.

"Useful names" - some content about a footballer's children's names. August 2020. Gone.

"Confusing names" - about a female character called Michael in a Star Trek episode. No longer culturally acceptable. Don't tell on me. Gone.

"Riffs" - most of my posts are riffs, so no longer necessary. Gone.

"Excuse me? - maybe about some modern language idioms. Gone.

"Heroes and cheats" - about footballers such as Terry Butcher (hero) and as yet unnamed cheats (maybe most footballers). Would lose half my audience. Gone.

Finally - for the moment - two which I plan to revisit:

"A new pope, two popes and odd popes" - about two excellent TV series.

"Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch" - the miniature railway; contains a nice picture.

50 left. More in due course. I'm currently busy reading Dickens, Dickens (Claire Tomalin) and Dickens (Thomas Keneally).

Platform 9

It has been claimed that Boudica is buried beneath platform 9 of King's Cross Station. Some say 8, others 10, JK Rowling probably 9¾. According to londonist.com "This idea began with John Bagford and a dead elephant. The elephant was discovered near a flint axe head in a gravel pit at the top of Gray’s Inn Road. In 1715, Bagford published a suggestion that the elephant has been brought over by the Romans, and that the flint was a spearhead of a British warrior who fought them." Whatever.

Anyway, I was introduced to Boudica - Boadicea as we knew her then - as a child hooked on I-Spy books. I guess they are called i-spy now. Away on our summer holidays? Get out I-Spy At The Seaside. A day at the zoo? I-Spy At The Zoo: Birds And Reptiles. Outside our house? I-Spy In The Street.

A trip to the smoke? I-Spy The Sights Of London. And there on the Embankment (and on page 15) is the glorious statue of Boudica/Boadicea and her daughters.

In the first century AD, Boudica led an uprising against the Romans. She was the queen of the Iceni, a Brittonic tribe from East Anglia (the trains from Cambridge come into King's Cross on platform 10 BTW) and they joined with the Celtic Britons and others to attempt to throw off the yoke of the invaders. According to Mr Wiki:

An estimated 70,000–80,000 Romans and Britons were killed in the three cities by those following Boudica, many by torture. Suetonius, meanwhile, regrouped his forces, possibly in the West Midlands; despite being heavily outnumbered, he decisively defeated the Britons. The crisis caused Nero to consider withdrawing all Roman forces from Britain, but Suetonius's victory over Boudica confirmed Roman control of the province. Boudica then either killed herself to avoid capture (according to Tacitus) or died of illness (according to Cassius Dio).

Don't mention the torture, or that statue may not have long ..............

The Lights are On

You'll remember the collapse of my electricity supplier, Utility Point. I am supposedly in the semi-automated process of transferring back to the regulator-selected supplier of last resort, EDF. Which possibly stands for Electricitique de la France, it being French-owned. After an initial flurry of emails from the two companies, silence. Or, as we say in France

I have no idea who is receiving my monthly direct debit and no idea, at the moment, where my electricity comes from. I have ceased to care, as long as The Lights Are On.

According to the BBC "Two more firms collapsed on Wednesday, but EDF's Philippe Commaret said it was already working on moving customers from failed company Utility Point." Yep that's me, we got in first. "Mr Commaret said the issue of whether Ofgem can force larger energy firms to step into that role is 'the big question at the moment across the industry'".

Why does life have to be so complicated? If you were starting a country from scratch (which I frequently do in computer games), you'd set up an electricity company to supply the needs of all your citizens and businesses. A company for gas. One for water. And so on. These utilities are too important to be subject to 'the market'. I understand the theory that promoting competition is the best way to keep prices low for consumers but not if it's at the expense of supply interruptions.

Get this, according to weownit.org.uk:

1. Scotland

Scottish Water was never privatised, it’s publicly owned and is the most trusted utility in the UK, delivering cleaner rivers, lower bills and more investment per head.

2. Ireland

Mail, rail, buses and water are all publicly owned in the republic of Ireland.

3. Switzerland

The railway in Switzerland is publicly owned - and it’s been named the best train company in Europe. 

4. Denmark

Denmark has the highest proportion of wind power in the world. Its transmission grid (like our National Grid) is fully publicly owned and most wind farms are cooperatively or community owned. 

5. The Netherlands

In the Netherlands, water, electricity and gas networks are all publicly owned - and it's illegal to privatise any of them.

6. Slovakia

Slovakia’s publicly owned railway provides free rail transport for children, students and pensioners.😇

7. Germany

The city of Munich in Germany is developing 100% municipal and 100% renewable energy by 2025 - they got tired of waiting for the private providers so they’re doing it directly.

In Germany too, 88% of all trips on local public transport (bus, tram and local trains) are provided by publicly-owned operators.

8. Greece

The Greek government is installing free wifi in 3000 public spaces including public squares, pedestrian zones, playgrounds, municipal libraries and museums.

9. France

The post office in France (La Poste) is publicly owned. Its services include banking, insurance, driving tests, fresh food delivery and home visits for older people.

10... and France again!

Water is also publicly owned in hundreds of French cities! One of these is Paris, where L’Eau de Paris (the publicly owned company) has cut bills and introduced still and sparkling water fountains throughout the city.

Now there's a thing; I'll be asking my local councillor for sparkling water fountains in St Austell.

And while we're on it, why do we give our utility supply to foreign owners? Especially the perfidious French. Get this:

• Malaysian company YTL Corporation Berhad owns all of Wessex Water
• Cheung Kong Group, a multinational registered in the Cayman Islands run by family of Li Ka Shing (Hong Kong’s richest person) owns 80% of Northumbrian Water
• Between Germany’s Deutsche Asset Management and US private equity company Corsair Capital, they own half of Yorkshire Water
• MTR, a Hong Kong company, holds a 30 per cent stake in South Western Railway, and has been awarded the London Crossrail franchise.

Since you ask, my French electricity is still on. And someone is taking my money.