I’ve been working full time from a home office for the past four years. It’s great but sometimes I miss working in the same room as other people.
Dave Morley, of Wolves LUG and a fellow Canonicaler, and I are thinking of meeting to work together every couple of weeks in Wolverhampton.
The Lock Works cafe at the Light House seems a pretty good venue: free wifi, tasty food at reasonable prices. The only downsides being the, erm, not so great coffee (sorry, HasBean has spoilt me) and the fact that it is a proper cafe rather than co-working space, so may get busy.
I’d love to see this become a regular event open to anyone who works from home and wants one day of working with other people. Leave a comment here if you’re interested.
Despite the rumour that nothing happens in Wolverhampton on a Wednesday, yesterday evening I saw Dan Whitehouse play at Alchemy, which is next to the Little Civic in Wolverhampton.
The night was organised by Colour Promotions, who are starting to put on events such as this in the city. Wonderful to see!
I’ve only recently come across Dan’s music, thanks to Neil Calloway, my co-host on our new show The Wolverhampton Radiophonic Institute. Dan’s songs come across as snapshots of moments of realisation, told with benefit of hindsight. I was impressed by how his sound filled the venue with just a guitar and a bloke playing the box (okay, there was a proper name for it…)
I’m pleased to say Dan’s on the first episode of The Wolverhampton Radiophonic Institute on 101.8 WCR FM at around 9.30 on the 13th June. He’s also hosting a new night at the Light House called Live at Lock Works on the 19th June.
Wolverhampton City Council collects glass, paper, metal and garden waste in its kerbside recycling collection.
Note: not plastic or cardboard.
A few weeks back, I asked one of Wolverhampton’s Conservative councillors why there was no kerbside collection for plastic and cardboard. Apparently, he told me, the ruling Labour group were planning to introduce it in the next few weeks.
According to The Stirrer, though, we might have a longer wait, citing an additional cost of £500,000 (presumably annually) to fund the service. The reason? Well, The Stirrer makes the suggestion that the cost is linked to Wolverhampton’s municipal incinerator. Plastic burns well and generates lots of electricity, so says the article. Recycle that plastic, rather than send it into the already sweet air of the city, and the council loses money from electricity generation.
£500,000 is roughly 1.25% of the council’s annual budget. In a city where – as I understand it – only 10% of households actually pay council tax and the council has long had a reputation for financial incompetence, that’s a lot of money.
I’ll have a dig around to see if I can find out anything more concrete.
Update 27.07.2007: See the comments for Political Penguin’s stats on council tax in Wolverhampton. I’ve been unable to get corroboration for the 10% figure and so please disregard it. I still think it’s an interesting question: should we recycle plastic or burn it for energy?