British autumn leek and potato soup recipe

Start with some pre boiled potatoes and one chopped large leek.

Finally - mix everything in the blender and add some hot water to dillute as you seem best for your taste. I magically managed to fit everything in one go into the blender and add maybe a tea cup of extra hot water to my taste. 

 Voilà

A bug shoutout, at the credits section, to the website www.studentcooking.tv and their Leek and Potato Soup recipe. I highly recommend you giving it a minute of your preparation time here: http://www.studentcooking.tv/recipes/leek-and-potato-soup 

Parking options in London - cheap - smart parking

Parking options in London - cheap - smart parking

Option 1- getting the Picadilly tube line at Southgate station

I would drive down to london so anything with north london and close to the M25 is fine with me.

I have identified one option in parking near the tube stop called Southgate, it is on the Picadilly line, which stops at Southgate tube. Car park address is Leigh Hunt Dr, London, England
It looks like this

Copyright - not mine - direct URL to image https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.630684,-0.126846,3a,75y,135.12h,74.11t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s0hMMx76gbm6MPO7N7ds7Fw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Charges: - Minchenden (High Street)
Places: 100

Up to 1 hr £1.00
1 - 3 hrs - £2.00
3 - 5 hrs - £3.00
Over 5 hrs - £5.00
No Sunday charging

Charging periods:

Mon - Sat
07.30 – 18.30 hrs

Information confirmed at the time writing this 07/07/2015 with http://www.enfield.gov.uk/downloads/file/10735/enfield_car_park_charges

 The car park is located at Leigh Hunt Dr, immediately after leaving High Street, turn left into Leigh Hunt Drive if you are coming from M25 and Southgate station. The car park is 5mins walk to the tube station, you pass by the tube station on the way there and you just have to walk back a bit.
Here is the map:

Copyright - not mine - direct URL to image - https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Leigh+Hunt+Dr,+London+N14+6DA/@51.6308667,-0.1275795,19z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x487619109435801f:0x2e4c491893b2678

The car park name is Minchenden

Copyright - not mine - Orignal image is a PDF available here - http://www.enfield.gov.uk/downloads/file/5900/minchenden_car_park_southgate

The car park is also listed at the Parkopedia site: http://en.parkopedia.co.uk/parking/carpark/minchenden/n14/southgate/

From Southgate to central london is 25-30mins ride on one line and it takes you to central london.
Southgate, London https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southgate,_London

Option 2 - Weekends only - onstreet parking at the financial heart of London - City of London

Very close to the Monument, London there is plenty of convenient onstreet parking. It is pay and display parking. It is free on Sundays, free at night and free most of Saturdays too.

Pay-and-display hours are:

The whole of the City is covered by a Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ).
The controlled hours for the CPZ are:

Mondays to Fridays 7am - 7pm
£1.20 for 15 minutes, or part thereof - £4.80 for 1 hour
Maximum stay 4 hours for £19.20

Saturdays 7am - 11am
excluding Bank and Public Holidays. £2.00 flat rate or £1.20 for 15 minutes, or part thereof

 Free outside the above times incl free all Sundays

Verified at the time of compiling this at 07/07/2015 with http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/transport-and-streets/parking/where-to-park/Pages/Pay-and-display.aspx - http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/transport-and-streets/parking/where-to-park/Pages/Pay-and-display.aspx

Location:
Dotted across the City of London, I have personally used the ones close to the Monument tube station.

Copyright - not mine - Interactive map available at URL http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/transport-and-streets/parking/where-to-park/Pages/Pay-and-display-bay-map.aspx

 --- The end

I have visited both option 1 and option 2 and I am writing this to share the experience with anyone else who wishes to travel to London and avoid massive car park charges. Driving and parking in London is affordable when you know little tricks like those I have mentioned above. Have a safe trip and enjoyable time in London!

Bikes

that really needs to go on Tumblr... but I can't remember my password now.

Some bike advers with prices and notes, all in June 2015 on a student learning portal small ads section. Collection only

Aliexpress.com - shopping around for an iPhone

I had this idea of trying to get an iPhone from Aliexpress and see if it is the real thing, it costs much less than in Europe. 

I found this thread interesting:

Re: fake iphone on Aliexpress

Posted 23 Sep 2010 20:18

Ahmed, you have been told over and over again that you can NOT buy origional phones cheap from China, you will only recive copies,
lease stop waisting your monney...........

MbM  

MVP: 18,922 Rank:19

Member Since: Aug,2005

Source: http://resources.alibaba.com/topic/500020566/fake_iphone_on_Aliexpress.htm

Some food for thought!

Also

Re: Re: fake iphone on Aliexpress

Posted 24 Sep 2010 09:35

yes that you can do, but use only paypal on Ebay, remember paypan is not secure uotside Ebay, Please forget all about brand name goods from China and Indonesia 

MbM  

MVP: 18,922 Rank:19

Member Since: Aug,2005

Learning Bulgarian - tips and resources

Some useful website for bulgarian learners and people interested in bulgarian culture (different perspectives) 

The blogger Karoline (Karolinka): 
http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/2013/06/06/10-things-i-already-know-that-ill-miss/#comments

The omniglot colletion of audio recordings: 
http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/bulgarian.php 

Various economics resources

Various economics resources

Observatory of Economic Complexity (MIT edu)
http://atlas.media.mit.edu/explore/tree_map/hs/import/rus/show/all/2012/

Piera - Bringing together experts from industry and academia to discuss some of the biggest issues facing our economy today.
http://www.pieria.co.uk/

Simon Wren-Lewis Professor of Economics - University of Oxford
http://www.pieria.co.uk/experts/Simon_Wren-Lewis

Manchester - Prof Diane Coyle Professor of Economics - University of Manchester, OBE
Personal Details, Research, Publications, Teaching
http://www.manchester.ac.uk/research/Diane.coyle/personaldetails

Repec - Daria Taglioni - World Bank, Econimist
https://ideas.repec.org/e/pta176.html

French for beginners, resources

--09/01/2016

found some answers to a phrase i couldnt translate with a dictionary here on Reddit, i am not even sure what that does but one discussion was quite useful for me 

https://m.reddit.com/r/French

Also started to use a dictionary, i saw it had a few copies in the local library - Collins Robert Dictionary French, complete and unabridged 2200+ pages, also got a copy for home of its smaller edition  1300+ pages

---17/11/2015 I got an update about Pascale Eyre, she also teaches at Warwick University Language Center, which is a good reference for her skills and she has a regular practice. I am taking a class that she teaches, Lower Intermediate French class, once a week for 9 weeks a 2 hours. I didn't get to do her 1:1 private classes or the group which she runs once a week at her home, also intermediate level.

I wanted to share this resource;

• http://apprendre.tv5monde.com/fr/apprendre-francais/ 

it looks amazing!

I also started using the Conjugator! on the LeFigaro website, has a lot of useful things to do with verbs and their forms.

• http://leconjugueur.lefigaro.fr/ukindex.php

Similar resource is at

• http://french.about.com/this one is getting better and better, the main author seems really good. 

I need to do more writing and indepedant work outside class, doing my writing excercises and looking up words and concepts and figuring out stuff. I am lacking some verbs and basic structures to help me put thoughts into words.

---Today 29/09/2015 i enquired about French practice and modes of teaching with Pascale Eyre. His home in Royal Leamington Spa had a poster advertising classes and i visited his website http://www.peyre.co.uk. It looks like the domain has expired as it takes me here http://66.147.244.109/~mathsapp/PascaleEyre/index.html

Let'see when the reply comes!

I also had a look at the pages of Languages Cafe, World@Warwick

They offer free language classes here

https://www.warwicksu.com/worldatwarwick/language/groups/

--

The French section in this page is significant, i used it several times and the quality of materials is comparatively high

http://french.about.com/od/verb_conjugations/a/aider.htm

--

Today 9/Feb/2015 I found this video shared on the Languages@Warwick Wesbite -

Comprehensible Input | Stephen Krashen  (3mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjAHPl1ACmQ 
How to learn languages


I am 6 weeks into my 2h-a-week french course, and I came across this guy online

searching on ebookee.org - i found this 

French For Beginners Podcast
Louis | 1.01 GB | MP3 | 2008
Read more at http://ebookee.org/French-For-Beginners-Podcast_285882.html#P7TDQk1i6oUs6YSj.99

The link however is broken, but that looks like a serious collection by one website, which intrigued me. http://www.learnfrenchbypodcast.com/beginner.php is the original address and this guy Louis is the author.

Also i find the Alexa french lessons very good: her profile and background make these very high quality material. https://www.youtube.com/user/learnfrenchwithalexa 

I also found a great author on about.com - Laura Lawless. Her profile is here: http://french.about.com/bio/Laura-K-Lawless-3906.htm and apparently she is a French fanatic and author of three books for french. Her French virtual lessons are here http://www.lawlessfrench.com/