New Royal Apartment

 

The royal news this weekend is that TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will move to Apartment 1A at Kensington Palace during 2013. This shall be their permanent London home.

Prince William spent his childhood at the Palace.

Their new London home has five bedrooms and three reception rooms, enough space to begin a family.

TRH are understood to have settled on Apartment 1A as the move will allow them to remain close to Prince Harry. Before their wedding, the couple shared living quarters with him at Clarence House. 

Occupied by HRH The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, until her death in 2002, Apartment 1A has not been redecorated since she moved there in 1960 with her then husband, Lord Snowdon; and still features HRH's blue and grey colour schemes in several of the rooms.

It is currently used as offices for Palace staff and as storage space.

The Duchess of Cambridge is believed to be keen to take a "hands on" approach to decorating their new home, although she is also expected to consult interior designers.

A royal aide said:

"Renovating their new home will be a massive job and the Duchess [of Cambridge] will likely approach it as she did their wedding – taking advice where needed but ultimately making the decisions herself. The couple looked quite seriously at another apartment in St James's Palace, but decided on Kensington Palace as it meant they could stay together with Prince Harry. The accommodation also provides the right level of privacy for them and is sizeable enough for them to start a family and entertain both privately and in an official capacity. While [TRH] remain very close to the Prince of Wales, the move away was part of a natural evolution for them as a newly married couple."

The royal couple will share Kensington Palace with the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke and Duchess of Kent and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.

Snifter at the Fire!

A cheery, roaring log fire has been lit at Home and Timothy Belmont is well installed this evening. One still reminisces about the sublime lamb dinner at the Dirty Duck exactly a week ago.

I am listening to some classical music on the radio while the fire blazes.

I sip a modest Tanqueray. There is little difference between gin prices presently, at any rate. Twenty pounds a litre is not uncommon.

The weather has been fine today. The last three roses of 2011 bloom outside the Porch.

Boris the Bus-Driver

BBC Northern Ireland reports that the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, is in County Antrim to unveil the prototype bus that will replace the traditional London Routemaster.

The contract to build the new bus for London Transport was awarded to the Ballymena company, Wrightbus, in January, 2010.

Twenty-five engineers and a production team of 40 are employed on the project. An initial order was placed for eight prototype buses, with the company hoping many more will follow.

A special feature of the bus is the reinstatement of the old-style hop on, hop-off platform:

"We've got this fantastic new bus which, amidst many other features, we've got the open platform back," Mr Johnson said.
"We're going to bring that back to the streets of London - it was wrongly taken away. This is a world-class piece of technology built here in Ballymena. It's the most amazing futuristic design, but it's also the cleanest, greenest bus that will ply the streets of London, indeed any city in the UK."

Mr Johnson launched the competition for a replacement for the old Routemaster three years ago. On Friday he came to Ballymena to drive the first prototype of its replacement off the production line.

Kindle Review

About one month ago I received an Amazon Kindle electronic book reader.

I have to admit that I'd been intrigued by the Kindle and similar devices for a year or two, so this was an opportunity to see what it was really like to live with.

Undoubtedly this is a clever little gadget. With the hard leather cover and light, I found it a touch heavy to hold after a period.

The device itself is light, though with the cover attached to it I found it bulkier and heavier. Do consider this before opting for the leather cover.

I never used the little light. I expect it would come into its own if one wished to read at night without disturbing one's partner.

I found the actual reading experience good. The screen is bright and legible, even in bright sunlight. The rechargeable battery lasts for a long time, too.

Frankly I don't read enough to justify the Kindle. Downloading books, magazines and newspapers certainly is not free. Despite the admirable Gutenberg Project and the very limited availability of free material - mostly Classics - all other reading material must be paid for.

In conclusion, it is simpler and easier to continue with one's own paperback collection. Old P G Wodehouse books can be picked up anywhere cheaper than a Kindle download on Amazon.

Metric Height

All right, Timothy Belmont does not expect any degree of sympathy on this one. I was asked for my height by a physician this afternoon. Naturally I replied in feet and inches.

The doctor asked me what that was in metres. Ha!

How should I know? The sooner we get rid of this euro-nonsense, the better. If pounds and inches are good enough for the United States of America, they are good enough for me.

I responded with my best guess, to the nearest metre.

New £50 Bank-Note

Today a new £50 note will enter circulation, featuring images of Matthew Boulton and James Watt, leading figures of the Industrial Revolution. 

The biggest change comes in the form of new security measures introduced by the Bank of England to deter counterfeiters.

Chris Salmon, the Bank of England's chief cashier, said in a speech last week to the British Numismatic Society that he had been determined that banknotes must be "instantly recognisable and hard to copy".

The £50 is the first new note to be released since Salmon took the job six months ago, and the first to feature two portraits on the reverse. It also brings a claimed three new authentication features over its predecessor.

Mr Salmon stated,

"As well as a first for our banknote art and being the first to bear my signature, the new £50 will deliver a significant update in security features, carrying eight features for cash users compared to the five of its predecessor," 

One of these features, called Motion Thread, includes semi-translucent windows woven into the note that show the £ symbol and the number 50 when held up to the light.

"When a note is tilted from side to side, the images move up and down. And when the note is tilted up and down, the images move from side to side and the number 50 and £ symbol switch.

"The thread, in combination with the other security features, reflects our intention to design a secure note. I would encourage everyone to take the time to examine this new security feature, whether seeing it for the first time next week or when receiving a note in five years’ time." 

"Unfortunately no matter how well we design our notes, whatever their quality, and however well educated the public are about authentication, there will be some level of counterfeiting."

Existing £50 notes featuring Sir John Houblon, the first governor of the Bank of England, will remain legal tender, but will eventually be recalled.

There are around 2.8 billion bank notes in circulation in the UK, including £9.9 billion in £50 denominations.

Rotten Website

I have endeavoured twice within the last two days to book a ticket for Hansel and Gretel on the website of the Grand Opera House, Belfast.

What a ghastly website it is! It is slow, ponderous, crashes occasionally; and finally, when it comes to payment, up pops:

We are sorry, but an error has occurred whilst trying to process your request:
Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Eh?

This has happened several times and, as a consequence, the GOH has lost revenue. 

I refuse to waste time and money phoning them. I might call at their box office the next time I'm in Belfast.

They need a new website with the technical capacity to enable it to cope with bookings and enquiries adequately.

Incidentally, they also persist in charging £1 for:

Please choose a delivery method for your tickets:

Standard Mail (£1 fee)

Collect at Box Office (£1 fee)

The cost of the selected delivery method will be 1.00 GBP.