I object! Stupid idea that gravel pit

It seems that they have all gone mad down here on the south coast quite close to the lair.
First there was the story on boingboing about the grandparents being thrown out of Fareham shopping centre for using a camera to photo their grandkids, branding them terrorists.
Now some mad planner wants to dig up a huge area of the countryside and coast near some very important nature reserves to get some gravel. 70 football pitches worth and where I cycled nearly every day along the solent way in my fit years. Yes I used to workout every day for about 4 years. It's somewhere I am planning to return to when I get the bike oiled.

So we are all objecting via email, very advanced for the council.

So if anyone else wants to object, it here is the email and the wording we used.
Someone has set up a site too
This is the link to the campaign website....
http://www.camelsolent.org.uk/

This is the link to the hampshire county council site on this subject....
http://www3.hants.gov.uk/planning/mineralsandwaste/planning-policy/development-framework/sites-plans/regulation_26/minerals-plan.htm


planning.policy@hants.gov.uk
Objection to Hampshire Minerals Plan - Bromwich & Chilling Farms
I would like to voice my objection to the inclusion of the Bromwich & Chilling Farms site into this plan, as any possible consideration of mineral extraction and landfill would severally impact a lovely coastal area and local vibrant village life.

My objection is on several fronts:

the ecology of the area and the impact on wildlife, both in the area itself plus the neighbouring areas such as Warsash Nature Reserve.
the impact on the local road system and infrastructure. Junction 9 of the M27 is already over-crowded with it taking around 20 minutes to leave the motorway - a distance of less than 1 mile. The additional traffic from this on top of significant new houses will make the area untenable to live in.
Pollution - the additional traffic, plus the actual extraction will impact the locality in terms of noise, fumes, and dust.
Impact on the sea front - sea defences are important to protect the local areas and this proposal will put additional pressure on the coastline.
The proposed area also encompasses the solent way - which is regularly used by walkers - are we expecting them to walk thru a quarry?
All of the above are likely to effect the house prices and the desirability of what is currently a lovely place to live.

Please do not proceed with this proposal and destroy a valuable habitat and coastal area.

Power to the people!

They have cancelled the Dakar

It is very sad they have had to cancel one of the most interesting and challenging motorsport events in the world the Dakar.
The Dakar has always fascinated me since I can remember. I have always held a little dream behind that one day I might take part.
As that is probably unlikely I make do with watching it on Eurosport. This year due to security concerns though there will be no Dakar.
It was interesting how I found that out, @jreesnc twittered to @robbygordon and I thought oooh a driver in the dakar, hit the website and saw the announcement.

Motorbike groupie/team shirt MIST Suzuki Racing

31122007808, originally uploaded by epredator.

Mike came to visit over last weekend, aside from having known one another for years and the fact we are both in a similar industry he runs a bike racing team that races in the european rounds on the world superbike circuit in the superstock class. Which I think is very impressive!
The team is MIST Suzuki racing and good luck to them for this season.
The racing scene is a load of wheeling and dealing and complicated arrangements. If I had a bit more spare cash we would have put Eightbar sponsorship on the bikes :-)
Anyway Mrs epred and I got shirts from Mike. So we can support the team together. So this post is by way of a thanks :-)
Mike also has his own sponsorship on this for his GiveMeTheKeys.com this is a high value ticket competition to let people win very cool vehicles. I cant enter as I am a friend and if I won that would look odd wouldnt it!
So if you are a biker and spectate look out for the team. Mike is very active in SL aswell so you may find you already know him out there :-)

The work year begins - things change

After quite a long holiday in December I was back to work with a bang today, well not a bang as such more of a broken inbox and a pile of things that will need to be sorted in the next few weeks.
Most notably is having to help people migrate away from my Hursley and IQ islands in SL onto company owned ones so that I dont keep using my personal finances.
This is an odd thing to end up doing, but I think we have reached the point where the benfits of those original private islands have got the company into where it needs to be. With so many other people doing metaverse work and customers etc there is really no need for me to keep paying for it. The company cannot buy it from me as that is too complicated legally so the options are limited unless someone manages to find something clever, I dont even think I can give them to the company without complication.
I am not ranting, just post return to work blues. Our little home needs to be demolished to make way for an interstellar highway... oh no thats hitchikers guide!
I am not sure whether I will sell the islands or downsize a bit or make them a commercial proposition. The commercial aspect gets complicated as an employee though.
They are not closed or gone yet, but it is a sad thing to think about doing. At the end of the day it is just a server or two with names. Though it shows the sort of attachment we get to a virtual place that I feel sad that its usefulness has been overtaken by the success of the idea, yet very proud that the plan worked and we got us into this business in so many ways and gave me some minor celeb status.
So having come home now and put up my 08 calendar it seemed time for a post to lift my mood. My calendar is a marvel super heroes one and January has Spidey. "with great power...." etc. :-)
Oh well..... onwards and sideways.
Besides.... I have seen the future but thats for another post :-)