Kitchen Phase 3 : Selecting Appliances

The kitchen came with a free dishwasher, oven, extractor and hob. We upgraded the hob to a ceramic touch control, but the other items had no value if the salesperson deleted them. Hence we took them on the basis that they could be replaced later if we weren’t happy. I’m actually really glad that we did this as choosing white goods is actually quite a challenge – there is little information on the internet. I was quickly heading for paralysis by analysis!

When selecting the washing machine, we wanted a high end make and the quietest machine possible, since we have an open plan kitchen and lounge. The best washing machines are widely believed to be those by Miele. However their integrated machine costs over £1000, more than twice as much as other high end machines. We narrowed our search down to Liebherr and Miele, again the same company. However they didn’t make a machine in the height we wanted. The Bosch and Siemens offerings in stainless steel were not as attractive, so we went for a mid range Bosch with a silver finish door.

Kitchen Phase 2 : the Surveyor

Richard our detailed surveyor turned up a couple of days later. He re-measured the kitchen to ensure the plan would work. There were no problems at this stage, however I took some time to study the plan and suggested a few changes. These added additional storage where previously filler panels had been used to reduce cost. This is one to watch out for, the salesman is keen to sell so wants to get a low price for you. In the end the changes added a lot of space for a fairly small cost, a good result.

New Kitchen!

Since we moved into our riverside flat last year, we’ve been meaning to renovate. The 80s original décor if functional, but doesn’t really give that satisfaction vibe we all seek from our homes. Hence we decided some weeks ago to get a new kitchen. There were several phases to this gargantuan project.

Exactly as you might expect the first task is to look at several kitchen companies and get a feel for their products and prices. We looked at Kitchens Direct, Wickes, B&Q, Screwfix, MFI and several expensive showrooms (located just north of Oxford Street). We quickly came to the conclusion that there was little difference in all the kitchens as all featured MDF carcases and most had laminate doors. Similarly prices didn’t vary that significantly between quotes.

We decided on the Kitchens Direct offering. Ironically it was the first quote we received and by far the nicest kitchen, featuring real birch doors, coloured pear effect laminate carcases and soft close on all doors and drawers. We agreed a couple of things to reduce the cost. Firstly we would remove the existing wall tiles prior to fit and second we took the finance package. Finance gave us a 10% discount against the full price. Of course the interest rate is silly, but the redemption penalty for settling in full is 1.65%. Hence we received an 8.35% discount and some useful credit history.

It's worth noting that Kitehens Direct and Moben are owned by the same parent company. Only Moben has showrooms where you can view a completed install. As always, don't be fooled by the 'sale must end' hype. There was a gap of a couple of months between order and delivery and the price hardly changed!

Battlestar Galactica Series 3 Finale

Bournemouth Blast and Broken Betty

The last bank holiday we took a trip down to Bournemouth. The papers widely predicted chaos on the roads as people drove more miles over the weekend than before. A quick post on PistonHeads suggested an alternative route using A roads rather than motorways. It was a truly memorable drive. We set off late in the evening and the roads were quiet! The Porsche was in top form and we covered the ground with real pace, indeed the only car to overtake us, was another Porsche, who was venturing well into licence loosing speeds. It really is a brilliant car. SWMBO realised that we were travelling quickly but felt safe in the passenger seat. The suspension enables the car to grip like a limpet while the power is so smooth it feels effortless.

The Porsche Litronic headlights are amazing. These are high intensity discharge for dipped and conventional halogen for main beam. The dipped beam is very bright and clear, like no other car I’ve driven. It provides amazing confidence to see and press on. Then when you activate the main beam, the dipped level is raised to flood the road further. It is utterly brilliant.

The following day, we went for an excellent walk in the country. We passed Madonna’s country house, which is exquisite with acres of beautifully tended lawns, bordered by native flowers and trees. A few kilometres later, we met up with some paragliders and spent a pleasant hour sitting in the sun on the side of a hill.

It was a beautiful day and SWMBO fancied driving Betty. Top down, it was the perfect day for a drive in the country. The two girls set off in the Porsche with the boys following in the chase car. We met up again back in Bournemouth and I realised that the power steering wasn’t working!

SWMBO and I have this running joke that she breaks things. I’m not the only one to poke fun at her. Indeed, at an early age, her Nanna named her “Whelan the Wrecker” after the famous Australian demolition company! Of course the fault was not anything she did, but it was funny that it broke while she was driving!

After some more research on PistonHeads, the car is now with Camtune being repaired. It turns out that a low power steering fluid level caused the pump to overheat and melt the reservoir. They are a very refreshing garage to deal with. They don’t see Porsche owners as cash cows to be milked and take the time to explain the problem and resolution in detail. It might not be cheap, but you know where your money is being spent and that a good job is being undertaken. I can’t wait to get the car back next week.

Porsche Sports Exhaust

My Boxster came equipped with the factory Porsche Sports Exhaust (PSE). It’s a factory option that cost £912. Quite expensive, but for the money you’re getting an electronically controlled system that bypasses two of the three silencers under certain conditions. You can clearly see the bypass pipes to the left and right of the tip. Impressive on paper, but when I first got the car, with no reference point it didn’t seem particularly loud to me, although the note is beautiful. Having recently heard the standard exhaust, it’s not any louder, just more tuneful. Is it worth it though? Let me share two recent experiences.

Around the built up streets of Wapping, the wails and howls reverberate off the buildings. With the top down, it’s real spine tingling stuff. I recall at the weekend approaching a mini roundabout. I spotted two pedestrians standing just off the kerb. I was slightly perplexed as to why they weren’t crossing. I was only meandering at a couple of thousand rpm in first gear. Then I twigged, it was the noise! Based on the sound, they were expecting something to be racing down the narrow street! I stopped, smiles were exchanged and they crossed in peace.

The second experience was on Sunday. SWMBO and I had cabin fever and went out cruising round London. We had no idea that the Gumball 3000 was also setting off that day. We ended up crawling in traffic in one direction as the Gumballers passed travelling in the other. I was really surprised how many people turned out to see them off. I guess the dream of driving a fast car across Europe has more allure than I imagined! The streets were lined on one side and the central reservation with people keen to get a peak. The Ferraris and Porsches were revving hard, much to the delight of the spectators. I couldn’t resist it and gave my own flat six a good blip. The crowd looked round in surprise, they weren’t expecting the same flat six noise from behind them! As I sniggered and grinned to myself, I caught the eye of a couple. They were smiling and laughing too, they commented, “you should be on the other side!”. Priceless.

Long live the PSE. Hip, hip, HOORAY!

My Boxster S - a tantalising pic!

Purposeful.

Poised.

Performance.

A superlative road car.

(c:

PS3 Supercomputer

I wonder how long it will be before someone makes the first large PS3 cluster.

I was at a recent lecture by Dr Adam Vile, Head of Grid, HPC and Technical computing at Excelian LTD. He suggested that a cluster of 270 PS3s would be more powerful than world's #2 Blue Gene (approx 91k GFlops) Supercomputer.

If his performance predictions are correct, we can expect this sooner rather than later! I can't imagine business will do it until they have rack mounted machines. However expect the academics to pull it off in the very near future.

Another interesting estimate comes from the Folding at Home project which estimates that 20,000 PS3s would give 1 petaflop performance. Indeed with the recent addition of the PS3, Folding @ Home is now the most powerful distributed computing resource on the planet, and for the calculations they run (parallel independent molecular dynamics trajectories), the most powerful supercomputer of any type (distributed or otherwise).

Not bad for a humble games console.

Boxster Trip to Ace Cafe

Today I attended a PistonHeads Porsche meeting at the Ace Cafe in London.

The cafe itself is very interesting. It's themed on mods and rockers. Something I only vaguely remember from my childhood. Today the tyre marks on the road show that it's still a haunt of bike and car petrol heads with many regular meets there.

Breakfast was good, served as ever by our trusty eastern european migrant workforce. The conversation was also good and I gained a lot of useful info on where to go to have my car properly maintained.

The drive back was fantastic. Bright warm sunshine, top down, light traffic. Man and machine in perfect harmony. The corners flowed together, Same Man on Kiss 100 being punctuiated by the rasping howl of the sports exhaust. Beautiful!

Boxster S : First Impressions

My initial impressions on the Porsche are very good indeed. When I collected it, the car was clean, the tyre pressures correct and even the washer bottle was full! How refreshing to find an honest and reliable private seller.

Driving it back from Essex to London was a pleasure. The car is very responsive in any gear at any speed. The flat six configuration gives it a really smooth and free revving nature too. Sixth gear enables you to cruise along from 30mph – 160+mph and still effortlessly keep up with traffic. This makes progress really effortless. And if you do really want to overtake, just drop it a cog or two and squirt past in a very assured manner.

Ride and handling is also excellent. You get all the feedback you need along with assured roadholding and massive grip. Driving over a coin, you could probably guess if it was heads or tails, yet the ride is surprisingly supple. Indeed, the stiff chassis means that cobbles are dealt with easily. There’s none of the dreaded scuttle shake here. It really is a very elegant and effective setup.

Although SWMBO only had a short trip round London, she is really impressed too. She was very impressed with the comfort of the optional sports seats.

I can’t wait to use the car more to get to know it’s limits and capabilities better. Roll on the weekends away and trips to Europe!

Independent Rates Wapping in Top Ten

The independent recently rated Wapping at number four of the top ten places to live in Britain. You can read the full article here.

In summary, it says:

4. Wapping £1.29m

Property: Three-bedroom luxury flat. Postcode: E1W is a desirable and vibrant young community. It is the only London postcode in the top 10. Amenities: Well located for the 2012 Olympics; walking distance of the City.

Free Choice - or is it?

Isn’t it interesting when we go to a restaurant and are buying a bottle of wine? Everyone imagines it’s a free choice, but actually it’s not!

Imagine there were just two bottles on the wine list. One at £6 and a second at £18.

Now imagine there is a third bottle on the list at £34 a bottle. Are you more likely to buy the £18 bottle now? Most people are.

Porsche have done the same too with their model range. They have three sports cars. The Boxster, a convertible sportscar, the Cayman – a tin top Boxster and the 911 – the fastest in the range.

Before the Cayman it was just Boxster and 911. You either bought the cheaper, but very capable car, or the ‘ultimate’.

Now the Cayman – it is priced above the Boxster, despite being cheaper to produce than a convertible. Having a top makes it stiffer and so it will be better handling. Not that 90% of the owners will ever be able to tell the difference.

The case in point is the 911 / 911 cabriolet. The 911 cabriolet is more expensive!

So it’s all in the marketing. Make the Cayman more expensive than a Boxster and appear closer to the purist ideal of the 911 and people will buy it!

It’s no wonder Porsche is the most profitable car manufacturer in the world, making something like £15,000 per car sold.

Forget location, location, location. It should be marketing, marketing, marketing.

A New Menace in Wapping

They seem to walk where you want to put the brush, you know? Brilliant!

Wapping Music Video

What a surprise it was to see the streets around my home of Wapping on a music channel today. Here's the full video for your viewing pleasure. All set within a few hundred metres of my riverside flat!

The Masochist

Boxster S!

I found a good one!

Much to my surprise, the first one I looked at had everything I wanted and at a price that both the seller and I were pleased with.

It has lots of nice options. 18" split rim alloys, litronic headlights, sports seats. Also has a full service history and is in top condition.

I can't wait to get my hands on it next week.

She's already been named Black Betty.

Cormorants : Mystery Solved!

Trees! They roost in trees! I wouldn't have imagined this of a bird with webbed feet that doesn't really like to fly. There you go!

Playstation3

I am very impressed with my new PS3.

I turned up for the midnight ‘party’ on launch to collect my shiny new toy. I was quite surprised how few people actually knew much about them. There didn’t seen to have been much information in the general press or even sent to those of us who’d put deposit’s down.

So what can this new machine do. Well, so far I’ve:
- connected it to my Wi-Fi network – really simple
- downloaded and updated the firmware – again really simple
- surfed the internet – it was simple
- downloaded free games and trailers – simple
- watched DVDs – the quality of the playback is much better than the PS2
- watched Blu Ray movies – wow, stunning, even on an SD TV
- played Motorstorm – great graphics, good soundtrack, great gameplay
- played Resistance : Fall of Man – again, wonderful
- performed some Folding at Home – an excellent distributed computing project

Still to come is installing Linux which will give full access to Firefox for browsing, Thunderbird for mail and a host of other excellent free applications.

It’s also the small things that make it so nice. The controllers and DVD remote use Bluetooth, so you don’t have to even point them at the console. Hide it in a cupboard if you like! It has a single large cooling fan, not perfectly quiet, but a very good effort. It can be turned off from the remote. It’s just very well thought out.

Well done Sony. What a machine. It will keep chavs and techies off the streets for years to come!

Boxster S

I think I may have made up my mind on a car – finally! I can imagine SWMBO’s relief. I think it has to be a Boxster S. It’s not cheap, but it is a wonderful car. The exhaust noise alone should be bottled and sold as an anti-depressant! I looked at all the costs (depreciation, servicing, tyres, fuel, insurance, tracker), and, for a second hand car, the cost of ownership is actually not too bad. I won’t be doing many track days in it, but the occasional jaunt across Europe will be most excellent!

A twisting road, no traffic, a centrally mounted tacho, 3.2 flat six singing as the wind whistles past your ears. Ahhhhhhh! . . . . . . . . SWBMO telling you to slow down.

Now to find a good one!

Mercedes E280 CDI

I was quite excited about the prospect of getting my hands on the new Merc E Class. Ignoring the taxi stereotype of a diseasal Merc, I imagined it would be another fine large executive motor, much like the BMW 730d.

In general as a drivers car, it’s a tad too soft and lazy to be really involving. The road seems somewhat distant, which helps keep the pace relatively sedate in the twisty bits. Everything in the car is a shade of silver. All the controls, switches, leather, even the wood is stained dark grey so as not to upset the balance. It sort of sums up the car, one for people who are going a bit grey!

The three really phenomenal things about this car are the suspension, parking sensors and the fuel economy.

The ride is very smooth and soaks up pretty much anything without alerting the passengers. This does tend to turn the driver into a passenger too of course, but you could never get fatigued from driving this car.

The parking sensors are a series of lights on the dash (for the front sensors) and on the interior roof (rear sensors). They progressively illuminate several amber and then two red at each side of the car. They are also well calibrated so that two red means a few inches from the object. No annoying beeps and you know which side the object is on. Simple but brilliant.

As for fuel consumption, this car would run off the fumes from an oily rag. Driving around London in a spirited fashion (where possible) give a very impressive 30mpg. Hammering along the motorway at a naughty but nice fast lane pace gave 40mpg! That’s nothing short of amazing for a bus sized car with a 2.8 V6 engine!