text:
Posted on November 28, 2018 November 29, 2018 . by Patrick Johnstone. 2 Comments.
I read this headline, and my best reply is: Yep, I share your frustration.
I hear the concern expressed by residents in New Westminster when they see utility costs are going up at rates much greater than inflation. However, I am challenged in trying to find an alternative approach that balances operational costs while planning for long-term sustainability of the utilities. Its not from a lack of concern or empathy for the impact of rate increases, it is more about responsible management of the budget in a way that doesn’t threaten the financial sustainability of the utilities.
A 7% annual increase (adding up to a 40% increase over 5 years) sounds like a lot, and is clearly well above CPI, which is predicted to be between 2% and 2.5% for the next few years. However, the cost to operate our utilities is also increasing much faster than CPI. The best I can do here is unpack some of the details.
All the numbers I use in this post are from the utilities report we received last Council meeting. You can read it all here, starting on page 19.
Note the “Average Single Family Household” cost is an average, and your experience will likely be different. Many people in multi-family have their own commercial solid waste services, so pay nothing to the City for that. The sewer and water rates are flat rates to Single Family detached houses, but metered charges to multi-family dwellings. This is an estimate of the impact to the average household, not your exact bill.
Still, next year this average household will likely pay on the order of $100 more for utilities, and by 2023 pay $600 more a year than they pay now – that is $50 extra a month.
In all three utilities, the majority of the cost is what I slightly misleadingly labelled “Metro Charges” – the money we pay to other agencies to supply the water or to take away and responsibly manage our waste streams. Metro Vancouver provides clean, treated, and pressurized water and charges us per cubic metre delivered. Similarly, Metro Vancouver takes our waste water and sends it to the treatment plant at Annacis Island, where it is treated to be safe for disposal into the Fraser River, again charging us per cubic metre. Solid waste is slightly more complicated because organics, recyclables, and “garbage” go to three different streams, and some of those are costing us more than others.
The other costs are related to how we deliver those utilities. Salaries are pretty clear – that is what we pay people to do everything from performing repairs to pipes to processing your bills. Contractors also do similar tasks, but are usually related to projects like replacing a length of watermain under a street or designing a new billing system. You may note that Solid Waste has proportionally much more salary cost because we need people to drive around in trucks and empty your bins – Solid Waste is inherently more of a “service” delivered by people than one relying on capital sitting in the ground in the form of pipes. Supplies are the paperclips, toner fluid, and rubber gloves that staff need to do the jobs above. Note this category is limited to things that are consumed, as opposed to things like trucks and new pipes that are capitalized and included with our Amortization, but let’s not dig too deeply into the capital budget right now (I’ll talk about it more later) .
So utility rates are going up, because the main cost driver for the utilities are going up. What we can do about it?
Inevitably, someone is going to raise the issue of salary costs – it is unavoidable when talking about government. CUPE contracts that provide decent wages and work conditions, along with decent CPI-level wage increases won through collective bargaining, seems to elicit anger in some members of the public. However, public service wages are not a significant cost driver here, because they make up less than 10% of the cost for delivering utility service in the City. If we were somehow able to cut all salaries in half (those orange areas in the chart above), your utility costs would go down less than 6%. Such a drastic move would not even offset a single year of utility increases, and we would be back to regular increases in year two, with a much less effective utility due to the lengthy labour dispute and loss of staff.
Some will note that our “revenue” for utilities is much higher than our “expenses” for Utilities, and this is where we get to the other part of the equation: the capital budget. This is the money we need to re-invest into the utilities every year to keep them functioning, and to build towards sustainability. In the larger scheme, it is capital investment that explains why those Metro Vancouver rates are going up so much.
Posted on November 21, 2018 . by Patrick Johnstone. 2 Comments.
Posted on November 18, 2018 . by Patrick Johnstone. Leave a comment.
This is episode 7 (?) of my hopefully-regular pre-council list of what I think are going to be the most important three items on our Council agenda on Monday* in no particular order, so you can decide if you want to tune in.
We need to build a new substation in Queensborough. It has been in the long-term capital plan for the Electrical Utility for quite some time as load demand has been going up, and the fire on the Q’Bobo bridge last year that caused a protracted power outage in the neighbourhood demonstrated a surprising lack of resiliency in our grid over there. Substations are expensive, and we will need to borrow to pay for it (well, the Electrical Utility will need to borrow to pay for it, but we own the electrical utility), which will require a Bylaw and public approval.
The budget process moves on, and it is time for us to talk about utility rates changes so the appropriate rate bylaws can be drafted. No surprise utility rates are going up, but once again the rates are increasing more than inflation for a variety of reasons. The water, sewer, and solid waste utilities operate somewhat separately from the City’s general revenue, and their increases are directly tied to the increasing cost of the service and the need to plan and finance infrastructure improvements. The Electrical Utility is a special case that makes us different than other cities, but it is still impacted by the increasing cost of wholesale electricity from BC Hydro. Expect a robust discussion here about efforts to keep utility rates in check.
#3: Testing out the new ones!
This is the first real Council Meeting for a couple of new Councillors, Chinu Das and Nadine Nakagawa. They have both been inaugurated and through a bit of orientation training, but nothing like budget deliberations to really turn the heat on them. Fortunately, they both have a tonne of experience working on boards and are pretty will versed on how Council works. I’m not expecting any strangeness, though there are still sometimes unexpected procedural hi-jinks even for us experienced types!
*footnote: The funny thing about Council: it is almost impossible to predict what three items will rise to the top and get the most debate/ public feedback / media coverage. These are only my guesses, and I am only one of seven. For a full prediction of the entire Council agenda, go to the agenda!
Posted on November 16, 2018 . by Patrick Johnstone. 1 Comment.
I live in a new condo building that abuts right onto an older building. I’m not sure how the developer got away with building right to the property line. Needless to say, the owners of the other building were not happy with us, and really, it’s not what we envisioned either. What is the minimum distance requirement between two multi-family dwellings…if any?
In there you will find a 9-page list of amendments, in case you care to see the evolution of the Bylaw over 17 years. You will also find an introductory document that lays out the format of the Bylaw, including 22 pages of definitions and the names of the 75 “districts” into which the City is divided, each with their own specific rules. Telling, but not surprising if you have ever been to a Public Hearing about a rezoning, this launches off with then 22 pages of parking requirements, before a bunch of seemingly-random but no-doubt-logical-at-the-time rules about things like garbage and recycling storage facilities and satellite dishes… alas.
There is also a little bit in this section about setbacks – the required distance behind a property line where buildings can be constructed, but here it is a strange list of specific spots that were probably put in place for location-specific requirements like utility offsets or traffic sightlines. If you want to know how close you can build to your property line or how close your neighbour can build to it, you probably need to get into the specifics of the zoning district that applies.
Then you need to go to the comprehensive list (7 documents, 400+ pages) of zoning districts to see what the specific rules are. All this to say, there is no single rule, but a set of rules and local exemptions apply, so everything I say here is general and the only relation it has to your specific case is that it almost certainly doesn’t apply to your specific case. Zoning is complicated.
In generality, for single family homes the “side setback” is 10% of the lot width or 5 feet, whichever is less, but never less than 4 feet, although it may be possible for some non-wall to “project” into this setback in special cases. That not clear, but about the clearest case you can have.
Condo buildings vary in their zoning type, depending on what type of building they are (townhouse or small apartment building or tower?). Some fit snugly in a Townhouse or Commercial District designation, others are “Comprehensive Development Districts”, which are stand-alone zoning rules developed to support a specific development at a specific site – and therefore have an address attached to them. The nearest one to where I am sitting now is the one I clicked on in the map above, which is CD-20: Comprehensive Development District (246 Sixth Street). This was put together in 2008 to permit a 16 storey residential tower with commercial “live-work units” at grade, now called 258 Sixth Street, just to complicate matters. It has no set-back requirement at grade, but setbacks above 9.14 metres (i.e. starting on the fourth floor) of 2.5m at the streetscape sides (to reduce the “mass” of the building as it appears from the street), 14.2m at the rear and 7.1m on the neighboring-building side (both to reduce the proximity to current and potential future residential buildings).
Every Comprehensive Development District has its own character, as does each neighbourhood. Its shape and form of any planned building is impacted by the buildings that are adjacent to it and by the future vision of the neighbourhood based on longer-term planning guidelines like the Official Community Plan. However, all of these guidelines can be overruled by bringing a Development Plan and appropriate Zoning Amendment to Council and convincing Council there is a good reason to vary from the guidelines. Sometimes this means placing a tower towards one side of the pedestal in order to reduce the viewscape conflict with an adjacent building, sometimes it means the increasing the size of a setback in order to provide some community benefit like improved pedestrian realm or emergency vehicle access. These are the complicated maths that often require months or years of negotiation between our planning staff, the landowner, stakeholders and the community.
Perhaps that is the part of the entire development-approving process that most of the public don’t understand when they see a project come to Council for a Public Hearing. They see Council approving or denying a specific building, but in actuality it is a large and complicated stack of compromises (by than landowner and the City) and potential benefits built up over those negotiations that Council eventually is asked to approve or not approve.
So your building may have allowed zero setback as part of its zoning, or a zero setback may have been something the City wanted as part of the development to create a more amiable streetscape in the long term, or a zero setback may have been something the developer of your building wanted to maximize the amount of square footage they could sell. Likely at least two of these are true, or else it would not have been built like that.
Posted on November 7, 2018 . by Patrick Johnstone. Leave a comment.
We had a bit of a Council meeting on November 5th. The first meeting of a new term is limited to a few procedural matters that get us up and running as a Council, but there were decisions made so I may as well report on them.
First we had Oaths of Office required by regulation, which all of our Council managed to get through relatively unscathed. Even the newbies. And I pronounced pecuniary correctly after 4 years of daily practice.
We officially appointed Mayor Cote to the Metro Vancouver Board, as is the general practice. Municipalities like New Westminster get a single seat at the Board, and it is typically the Mayor who serves that position.
We also name and Alternate to cover for the Mayor if they are not available. In New Westminster, the practice has been to allow the Alternate serve on one of the regional committees with an available spot for New Westminster. (e.g. for the last 2 years, I have been serving as Alternate and have been on the Metro Vancouver Utilities committee). We voted to appoint Councillor Trentadue to serve as Alternate.
The Mayor is setting up a new Task Force to give local economic development a little more focus than it previously had. This model – a Task Force with a clear mandate and financial support to do the work needed to bring new ideas to council, supported by staff and outside experts – worked well for Public Engagement last term (although our implementation is a little slower than I might like on that), and on ongoing issues related to Affordable Housing and Transportation.
Sometimes the Mayor is out of town or even (gasp!) on vacation. We always have to have a Mayor designated for some legal reasons around signing important stuff, emergency chain of command, etc. In New Westminster, we share this responsibility with each Council member “acting” two months a year in the event that His Worship is not around. As was the case in the previous term, my months are March and August.
The Mayor gets to assign us to committees and Task Forces as well. This does not include the myriad of Council advisory committees (those are yet to come), but more the legislative committees and Mayors task forces. I will be continuing to serve on the Transportation Task Force and Canada Games Pool Replacement Task Force, and will be serving in a full role on the Riverfront and Public Realm Task Force (after serving as an alternate for part of the last term). My time on the Land use and Planning committee has also come to an end –as we have tried to rotate that around Council members.
Zoning Amendment (1050 Boyd Street and 1005 Ewen Avenue) Bylaw No. 8033, 2018.
Finally, we adopted this Bylaw given Third Reading back in July, because it took until now to get Ministry of Transportation sign-off as required.
First real Council meeting will be on November 19th, and I am expecting a stuffed-full agenda!

lowercased:
posted on november 28, 2018 november 29, 2018 . by patrick johnstone. 2 comments.
i read this headline, and my best reply is: yep, i share your frustration.
i hear the concern expressed by residents in new westminster when they see utility costs are going up at rates much greater than inflation. however, i am challenged in trying to find an alternative approach that balances operational costs while planning for long-term sustainability of the utilities. its not from a lack of concern or empathy for the impact of rate increases, it is more about responsible management of the budget in a way that doesn’t threaten the financial sustainability of the utilities.
a 7% annual increase (adding up to a 40% increase over 5 years) sounds like a lot, and is clearly well above cpi, which is predicted to be between 2% and 2.5% for the next few years. however, the cost to operate our utilities is also increasing much faster than cpi. the best i can do here is unpack some of the details.
all the numbers i use in this post are from the utilities report we received last council meeting. you can read it all here, starting on page 19.
note the “average single family household” cost is an average, and your experience will likely be different. many people in multi-family have their own commercial solid waste services, so pay nothing to the city for that. the sewer and water rates are flat rates to single family detached houses, but metered charges to multi-family dwellings. this is an estimate of the impact to the average household, not your exact bill.
still, next year this average household will likely pay on the order of $100 more for utilities, and by 2023 pay $600 more a year than they pay now – that is $50 extra a month.
in all three utilities, the majority of the cost is what i slightly misleadingly labelled “metro charges” – the money we pay to other agencies to supply the water or to take away and responsibly manage our waste streams. metro vancouver provides clean, treated, and pressurized water and charges us per cubic metre delivered. similarly, metro vancouver takes our waste water and sends it to the treatment plant at annacis island, where it is treated to be safe for disposal into the fraser river, again charging us per cubic metre. solid waste is slightly more complicated because organics, recyclables, and “garbage” go to three different streams, and some of those are costing us more than others.
the other costs are related to how we deliver those utilities. salaries are pretty clear – that is what we pay people to do everything from performing repairs to pipes to processing your bills. contractors also do similar tasks, but are usually related to projects like replacing a length of watermain under a street or designing a new billing system. you may note that solid waste has proportionally much more salary cost because we need people to drive around in trucks and empty your bins – solid waste is inherently more of a “service” delivered by people than one relying on capital sitting in the ground in the form of pipes. supplies are the paperclips, toner fluid, and rubber gloves that staff need to do the jobs above. note this category is limited to things that are consumed, as opposed to things like trucks and new pipes that are capitalized and included with our amortization, but let’s not dig too deeply into the capital budget right now (i’ll talk about it more later) .
so utility rates are going up, because the main cost driver for the utilities are going up. what we can do about it?
inevitably, someone is going to raise the issue of salary costs – it is unavoidable when talking about government. cupe contracts that provide decent wages and work conditions, along with decent cpi-level wage increases won through collective bargaining, seems to elicit anger in some members of the public. however, public service wages are not a significant cost driver here, because they make up less than 10% of the cost for delivering utility service in the city. if we were somehow able to cut all salaries in half (those orange areas in the chart above), your utility costs would go down less than 6%. such a drastic move would not even offset a single year of utility increases, and we would be back to regular increases in year two, with a much less effective utility due to the lengthy labour dispute and loss of staff.
some will note that our “revenue” for utilities is much higher than our “expenses” for utilities, and this is where we get to the other part of the equation: the capital budget. this is the money we need to re-invest into the utilities every year to keep them functioning, and to build towards sustainability. in the larger scheme, it is capital investment that explains why those metro vancouver rates are going up so much.
posted on november 21, 2018 . by patrick johnstone. 2 comments.
posted on november 18, 2018 . by patrick johnstone. leave a comment.
this is episode 7 (?) of my hopefully-regular pre-council list of what i think are going to be the most important three items on our council agenda on monday* in no particular order, so you can decide if you want to tune in.
we need to build a new substation in queensborough. it has been in the long-term capital plan for the electrical utility for quite some time as load demand has been going up, and the fire on the q’bobo bridge last year that caused a protracted power outage in the neighbourhood demonstrated a surprising lack of resiliency in our grid over there. substations are expensive, and we will need to borrow to pay for it (well, the electrical utility will need to borrow to pay for it, but we own the electrical utility), which will require a bylaw and public approval.
the budget process moves on, and it is time for us to talk about utility rates changes so the appropriate rate bylaws can be drafted. no surprise utility rates are going up, but once again the rates are increasing more than inflation for a variety of reasons. the water, sewer, and solid waste utilities operate somewhat separately from the city’s general revenue, and their increases are directly tied to the increasing cost of the service and the need to plan and finance infrastructure improvements. the electrical utility is a special case that makes us different than other cities, but it is still impacted by the increasing cost of wholesale electricity from bc hydro. expect a robust discussion here about efforts to keep utility rates in check.
#3: testing out the new ones!
this is the first real council meeting for a couple of new councillors, chinu das and nadine nakagawa. they have both been inaugurated and through a bit of orientation training, but nothing like budget deliberations to really turn the heat on them. fortunately, they both have a tonne of experience working on boards and are pretty will versed on how council works. i’m not expecting any strangeness, though there are still sometimes unexpected procedural hi-jinks even for us experienced types!
*footnote: the funny thing about council: it is almost impossible to predict what three items will rise to the top and get the most debate/ public feedback / media coverage. these are only my guesses, and i am only one of seven. for a full prediction of the entire council agenda, go to the agenda!
posted on november 16, 2018 . by patrick johnstone. 1 comment.
i live in a new condo building that abuts right onto an older building. i’m not sure how the developer got away with building right to the property line. needless to say, the owners of the other building were not happy with us, and really, it’s not what we envisioned either. what is the minimum distance requirement between two multi-family dwellings…if any?
in there you will find a 9-page list of amendments, in case you care to see the evolution of the bylaw over 17 years. you will also find an introductory document that lays out the format of the bylaw, including 22 pages of definitions and the names of the 75 “districts” into which the city is divided, each with their own specific rules. telling, but not surprising if you have ever been to a public hearing about a rezoning, this launches off with then 22 pages of parking requirements, before a bunch of seemingly-random but no-doubt-logical-at-the-time rules about things like garbage and recycling storage facilities and satellite dishes… alas.
there is also a little bit in this section about setbacks – the required distance behind a property line where buildings can be constructed, but here it is a strange list of specific spots that were probably put in place for location-specific requirements like utility offsets or traffic sightlines. if you want to know how close you can build to your property line or how close your neighbour can build to it, you probably need to get into the specifics of the zoning district that applies.
then you need to go to the comprehensive list (7 documents, 400+ pages) of zoning districts to see what the specific rules are. all this to say, there is no single rule, but a set of rules and local exemptions apply, so everything i say here is general and the only relation it has to your specific case is that it almost certainly doesn’t apply to your specific case. zoning is complicated.
in generality, for single family homes the “side setback” is 10% of the lot width or 5 feet, whichever is less, but never less than 4 feet, although it may be possible for some non-wall to “project” into this setback in special cases. that not clear, but about the clearest case you can have.
condo buildings vary in their zoning type, depending on what type of building they are (townhouse or small apartment building or tower?). some fit snugly in a townhouse or commercial district designation, others are “comprehensive development districts”, which are stand-alone zoning rules developed to support a specific development at a specific site – and therefore have an address attached to them. the nearest one to where i am sitting now is the one i clicked on in the map above, which is cd-20: comprehensive development district (246 sixth street). this was put together in 2008 to permit a 16 storey residential tower with commercial “live-work units” at grade, now called 258 sixth street, just to complicate matters. it has no set-back requirement at grade, but setbacks above 9.14 metres (i.e. starting on the fourth floor) of 2.5m at the streetscape sides (to reduce the “mass” of the building as it appears from the street), 14.2m at the rear and 7.1m on the neighboring-building side (both to reduce the proximity to current and potential future residential buildings).
every comprehensive development district has its own character, as does each neighbourhood. its shape and form of any planned building is impacted by the buildings that are adjacent to it and by the future vision of the neighbourhood based on longer-term planning guidelines like the official community plan. however, all of these guidelines can be overruled by bringing a development plan and appropriate zoning amendment to council and convincing council there is a good reason to vary from the guidelines. sometimes this means placing a tower towards one side of the pedestal in order to reduce the viewscape conflict with an adjacent building, sometimes it means the increasing the size of a setback in order to provide some community benefit like improved pedestrian realm or emergency vehicle access. these are the complicated maths that often require months or years of negotiation between our planning staff, the landowner, stakeholders and the community.
perhaps that is the part of the entire development-approving process that most of the public don’t understand when they see a project come to council for a public hearing. they see council approving or denying a specific building, but in actuality it is a large and complicated stack of compromises (by than landowner and the city) and potential benefits built up over those negotiations that council eventually is asked to approve or not approve.
so your building may have allowed zero setback as part of its zoning, or a zero setback may have been something the city wanted as part of the development to create a more amiable streetscape in the long term, or a zero setback may have been something the developer of your building wanted to maximize the amount of square footage they could sell. likely at least two of these are true, or else it would not have been built like that.
posted on november 7, 2018 . by patrick johnstone. leave a comment.
we had a bit of a council meeting on november 5th. the first meeting of a new term is limited to a few procedural matters that get us up and running as a council, but there were decisions made so i may as well report on them.
first we had oaths of office required by regulation, which all of our council managed to get through relatively unscathed. even the newbies. and i pronounced pecuniary correctly after 4 years of daily practice.
we officially appointed mayor cote to the metro vancouver board, as is the general practice. municipalities like new westminster get a single seat at the board, and it is typically the mayor who serves that position.
we also name and alternate to cover for the mayor if they are not available. in new westminster, the practice has been to allow the alternate serve on one of the regional committees with an available spot for new westminster. (e.g. for the last 2 years, i have been serving as alternate and have been on the metro vancouver utilities committee). we voted to appoint councillor trentadue to serve as alternate.
the mayor is setting up a new task force to give local economic development a little more focus than it previously had. this model – a task force with a clear mandate and financial support to do the work needed to bring new ideas to council, supported by staff and outside experts – worked well for public engagement last term (although our implementation is a little slower than i might like on that), and on ongoing issues related to affordable housing and transportation.
sometimes the mayor is out of town or even (gasp!) on vacation. we always have to have a mayor designated for some legal reasons around signing important stuff, emergency chain of command, etc. in new westminster, we share this responsibility with each council member “acting” two months a year in the event that his worship is not around. as was the case in the previous term, my months are march and august.
the mayor gets to assign us to committees and task forces as well. this does not include the myriad of council advisory committees (those are yet to come), but more the legislative committees and mayors task forces. i will be continuing to serve on the transportation task force and canada games pool replacement task force, and will be serving in a full role on the riverfront and public realm task force (after serving as an alternate for part of the last term). my time on the land use and planning committee has also come to an end –as we have tried to rotate that around council members.
zoning amendment (1050 boyd street and 1005 ewen avenue) bylaw no. 8033, 2018.
finally, we adopted this bylaw given third reading back in july, because it took until now to get ministry of transportation sign-off as required.
first real council meeting will be on november 19th, and i am expecting a stuffed-full agenda!


text: Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) exposure to cells and tissues can mimic the biochemical events leading to septic shock. Previous data demonstrated a massive upregulation of prostaglandin endoperoxide H2 synthase (PGHS-2), but not NO synthase-2 (NOS-2) in bovine smooth muscle cells (SMC) between 2 and 12 h of LPS exposure. This caused an abundant release of prostacyclin (PGI2) by constitutive PGI2-synthase as a counterregulation to a dysfunctional endothelium. We here report that human as well as bovine SMC mainly respond by the induction of PGHS-2 and the subsequent release of PGI2, whereas rat SMC exhibited a distinct induction of NOS-2 and released significantly higher amounts of *NO compared with cattle and human. The induction of either PGHS-2 or NOS-2 in the three different species investigated seems to be mutually exclusive in the time window of 2-24 h. This finding should be considered in the setup of experimental models for the investigation of septic shock.

lowercased: lipopolysaccharide (lps) exposure to cells and tissues can mimic the biochemical events leading to septic shock. previous data demonstrated a massive upregulation of prostaglandin endoperoxide h2 synthase (pghs-2), but not no synthase-2 (nos-2) in bovine smooth muscle cells (smc) between 2 and 12 h of lps exposure. this caused an abundant release of prostacyclin (pgi2) by constitutive pgi2-synthase as a counterregulation to a dysfunctional endothelium. we here report that human as well as bovine smc mainly respond by the induction of pghs-2 and the subsequent release of pgi2, whereas rat smc exhibited a distinct induction of nos-2 and released significantly higher amounts of *no compared with cattle and human. the induction of either pghs-2 or nos-2 in the three different species investigated seems to be mutually exclusive in the time window of 2-24 h. this finding should be considered in the setup of experimental models for the investigation of septic shock.


text:
November 26, 2016 marked the date when Portugal organized, with the help of our exclusive Distributor for Habanos, S.A. EMPOR Import and Export, S.A., and the Embassy of Cuba in Portugal, the seventh edition of the Habano Day. The VII Habanos Day took place at the elegant Espacio Montes Claros Lisbon Secret Spot restaurant in Monsanto, Lisbon.
A simple yet elegant official activity marked the opening of the first Casa del Habano House in St. Petersburg, Russia, on December 4, 2016.
On 24th of November 2016, Sofia. In a festive and stylish manner the tenth Grand Party Habanos 2016 was held by Kaliman Caribe Ltd , the official importer and exclusive distributor of Habanos S.A for Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.
The 5th edition of the event for enthusiasts of “Primera Emoción” Habano was held on the gorgeous island of Ischia, where the launch of Montecristo 80 Aniversario was a big surprise.
Top Cigars, Exclusive Distributor of Habanos, S.A. in Russia, celebrated its 7th Habanos Day at the gorgeous city of Moscow.
The courses were given by EMPOR Importação e Exportação, S.A., Habanos S.A.’s Exclusive Distributor in Portugal.

lowercased:
november 26, 2016 marked the date when portugal organized, with the help of our exclusive distributor for habanos, s.a. empor import and export, s.a., and the embassy of cuba in portugal, the seventh edition of the habano day. the vii habanos day took place at the elegant espacio montes claros lisbon secret spot restaurant in monsanto, lisbon.
a simple yet elegant official activity marked the opening of the first casa del habano house in st. petersburg, russia, on december 4, 2016.
on 24th of november 2016, sofia. in a festive and stylish manner the tenth grand party habanos 2016 was held by kaliman caribe ltd , the official importer and exclusive distributor of habanos s.a for albania, armenia, bosnia and herzegovina, bulgaria, croatia, kosovo, macedonia, montenegro, romania, serbia and slovenia.
the 5th edition of the event for enthusiasts of “primera emoción” habano was held on the gorgeous island of ischia, where the launch of montecristo 80 aniversario was a big surprise.
top cigars, exclusive distributor of habanos, s.a. in russia, celebrated its 7th habanos day at the gorgeous city of moscow.
the courses were given by empor importação e exportação, s.a., habanos s.a.’s exclusive distributor in portugal.


text:
Former Research Director at the NCH. Specialises in anxiety, phobias, confidence, weight loss and addictions. Member of the NCH and CNHC.
Qualified therapists - friendly team.
Assured Effects cover the whole of the South London area via on-line therapy primarily using Skype.
As well as Hypnotherapy we offer Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) thearapy sessions, business coaching, life coaching, personal mentoring, career management, workshops and training. We also offer personal fitness and diet instruction.
The company was set up by Andy Cox. Andy is a member of the National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH). Andy has also served as Research Director for the NCH.
Thought you might like a little feedback after my gastric band 'op' yesterday. I ate very little at the party last night and didn't feel any worse for it and had a breakfast of egg and mushrooms this morning. The interesting bit was I gave myself a small prawn cocktail and crackers at lunch which was lovely until I ate a handful of nuts afterwards. Now I feel overly full and a little sick so I won't be doing that again!
As therapists we abide by a set code of ethics to keep both us, and more importantly you, SAFE. Always make sure you go to a qualified hypnotherapist who belongs to a recognised organisation that have a code of ethics they abide by. We belong to the NCH - The National council of Hypnotherapy, Follow the link to find out more.
What the CNHC advise when choosing a therapist.
What the NCH advise when choosing a therapist.
The Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) was established with government support to regulate complementary therapies including hypnotherapy.
Their key purpose is to protect the public. The Department of Health has recommended that, where CNHC registers the complementary therapists in question, you consult with someone who is CNHC registered.

lowercased:
former research director at the nch. specialises in anxiety, phobias, confidence, weight loss and addictions. member of the nch and cnhc.
qualified therapists - friendly team.
assured effects cover the whole of the south london area via on-line therapy primarily using skype.
as well as hypnotherapy we offer neuro linguistic programming (nlp) thearapy sessions, business coaching, life coaching, personal mentoring, career management, workshops and training. we also offer personal fitness and diet instruction.
the company was set up by andy cox. andy is a member of the national council for hypnotherapy (nch). andy has also served as research director for the nch.
thought you might like a little feedback after my gastric band 'op' yesterday. i ate very little at the party last night and didn't feel any worse for it and had a breakfast of egg and mushrooms this morning. the interesting bit was i gave myself a small prawn cocktail and crackers at lunch which was lovely until i ate a handful of nuts afterwards. now i feel overly full and a little sick so i won't be doing that again!
as therapists we abide by a set code of ethics to keep both us, and more importantly you, safe. always make sure you go to a qualified hypnotherapist who belongs to a recognised organisation that have a code of ethics they abide by. we belong to the nch - the national council of hypnotherapy, follow the link to find out more.
what the cnhc advise when choosing a therapist.
what the nch advise when choosing a therapist.
the complementary and natural healthcare council (cnhc) was established with government support to regulate complementary therapies including hypnotherapy.
their key purpose is to protect the public. the department of health has recommended that, where cnhc registers the complementary therapists in question, you consult with someone who is cnhc registered.


text:
We will be increasing our parking charges for the public from 11th August 2017.
A pharmacist at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust has swapped her days of dealing with medication for the blank canvas of retired life as she became the owner of an art gallery.
In a first for the North West region, junior doctors starting their training at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) have taken part an innovative initiative aimed to make them more confident at prescribing medication to patients. The Foundation Year 1 trainees, who began their first training rotation officially on 2 August, volunteered in their own time to take part in the ePIFFany programme, which stands for Effective Prescribing Insight for the Future. The aim of the pioneering approach to training is to improve the skills, knowledge, performance, competence and safety of junior doctors to avoid prescribing errors.
Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust’s Ophthalmology department has performed better in cataract surgery than any other Trust in Greater Manchester. For the first time, the department’s excellent outcomes were added to the National Ophthalmology Database (NOD). It was established in 2010 by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists (RCOphth) to provide a powerful quality improvement tool to help draw the attention of Trusts to possible elements of cataract care which may require development and to benchmark standards of care.
ON the 50th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality, Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) is proud to be sponsoring and taking part in the second Wigan Pride on Saturday 12 August 2017. The Trust also showed its support for the borough’s LGBTQ+ community by raising the rainbow flag and cutting a celebration cake outside the main entrance to Wigan Infirmary.
A HEALTHCARE assistant at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) put his lifesaving training to good use after saving a drowning man while on holiday. David Quinn, 33, is now urging the people of Wigan borough to learn basic First Aid skills as one day they could make the difference between life and death. David was on holiday in the Egyptian resort of Hurghada last month (June) when he heard a woman scream, and spotted a man in difficulty in the water.
A GENEROUS businessman has brought a breath of fresh air to patients at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust’s (WWL) Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)/Asthma support group. Shane Sutton, who owns Team Goliath Boxing Gym, on Billinge Road, Pemberton, wanted to support the group because his grandfather William Gaskell, 84, suffers with respiratory problems and his mother Sharon is WWL’s COPD Assistant Practitioner.
A Leigh mum has told of her “amazing” home birth experience following two traumatic previous pregnancies. Kate Roach has praised community midwives from Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) and is working with them to help promote the benefits of homebirths.
THE man who feeds Wiganers from cradle to grave is hanging up his chef’s whites on 30 June as he retires from Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust. Paul Riley, 58, joined the Trust in 1991 and has worked his way up from catering supervisor to become Hotel Services Manager.

lowercased:
we will be increasing our parking charges for the public from 11th august 2017.
a pharmacist at wrightington, wigan and leigh nhs foundation trust has swapped her days of dealing with medication for the blank canvas of retired life as she became the owner of an art gallery.
in a first for the north west region, junior doctors starting their training at wrightington, wigan and leigh nhs foundation trust (wwl) have taken part an innovative initiative aimed to make them more confident at prescribing medication to patients. the foundation year 1 trainees, who began their first training rotation officially on 2 august, volunteered in their own time to take part in the epiffany programme, which stands for effective prescribing insight for the future. the aim of the pioneering approach to training is to improve the skills, knowledge, performance, competence and safety of junior doctors to avoid prescribing errors.
wrightington, wigan and leigh nhs foundation trust’s ophthalmology department has performed better in cataract surgery than any other trust in greater manchester. for the first time, the department’s excellent outcomes were added to the national ophthalmology database (nod). it was established in 2010 by the royal college of ophthalmologists (rcophth) to provide a powerful quality improvement tool to help draw the attention of trusts to possible elements of cataract care which may require development and to benchmark standards of care.
on the 50th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality, wrightington, wigan and leigh nhs foundation trust (wwl) is proud to be sponsoring and taking part in the second wigan pride on saturday 12 august 2017. the trust also showed its support for the borough’s lgbtq+ community by raising the rainbow flag and cutting a celebration cake outside the main entrance to wigan infirmary.
a healthcare assistant at wrightington, wigan and leigh nhs foundation trust (wwl) put his lifesaving training to good use after saving a drowning man while on holiday. david quinn, 33, is now urging the people of wigan borough to learn basic first aid skills as one day they could make the difference between life and death. david was on holiday in the egyptian resort of hurghada last month (june) when he heard a woman scream, and spotted a man in difficulty in the water.
a generous businessman has brought a breath of fresh air to patients at wrightington, wigan and leigh nhs foundation trust’s (wwl) chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (copd)/asthma support group. shane sutton, who owns team goliath boxing gym, on billinge road, pemberton, wanted to support the group because his grandfather william gaskell, 84, suffers with respiratory problems and his mother sharon is wwl’s copd assistant practitioner.
a leigh mum has told of her “amazing” home birth experience following two traumatic previous pregnancies. kate roach has praised community midwives from wrightington, wigan and leigh nhs foundation trust (wwl) and is working with them to help promote the benefits of homebirths.
the man who feeds wiganers from cradle to grave is hanging up his chef’s whites on 30 june as he retires from wrightington, wigan and leigh nhs foundation trust. paul riley, 58, joined the trust in 1991 and has worked his way up from catering supervisor to become hotel services manager.


text:
The Arab armies invaded Egypt in 640 AD and Babylon fell in April 641, after a siege of some seven months. Alexandria was taken in September 641, and all Egypt was surrendered by the Byzantines in November of that year. The Arab commander, Amr ibn al-As, wanted to establish his capital city in Alexandria, but permission to do so was refused by the Caliph, Umar.
The reason quoted for his refusal is that he did not want a body of water to separate the capital from Arabia, so it had to be built on the east bank of the Nile; however, an attempt to keep control of the Egyptian forces and their leader may have been his real motive. The new capital city (called Fustat, possibly from the Arabic for tent, or camp) was thus established just to the north of Babylon.
The new town was laid out as a series of tribal areas, or khittas, around a central area with the communal mosque, administrative buildings and residences for the highest status tribal groups. The majority of tribes who settled here were of Yemeni origin, with the remainder of the Arabs from the western Arabian peninsula; a few Jews and some Roman mercenaries were also present.
At this stage the population must have consisted almost entirely of soldiers and their households, and Fustat exhibited the typical plan of a garrison town. Originally founded in 642 AD, the Mosque of Amr still stands but has been continually rebuilt: nothing remains of the earliest structure. Large piles of stone- and woodwork have been dumped across the ruins of the town and these almost certainly came from older versions of the Mosque and include many reused Roman column capitals.
The town grew rapidly in size, expanding out into the desert and up onto higher ground. It became an important commercial center, and excavations on the site have found artifacts from places as far apart as China, India, Vietnam, Iraq, Italy and Spain.
The Museum of Islamic Art contains many objects from Fustat.
The city did not retain its status as capital of Egypt; other administrative districts were planned and built to the north of Fustat: the Abbasid al-Askar, Tulunid al-Qata'i and the great Fatimid town al-Qahira, which gives modern Cairo its name. However, Fustat remained an important trading post for the eastern Mediterranean world. In 1168 the town was completely burned to prevent its use by Crusaders, but it recovered its prosperity and population fairlyquickly. Fustat eventually declined in importance as trade-routes between the Far East and Europe shifted northwards, depriving the town of much of its income. It is unlikely, though, that it was ever completely abandoned, and until recently a potters' quarter existed upon the site.
Today, little remains of the rich city that once flourished on the site. The area behind the Mosque of Amr has become a convenient place for Cairo citizens to dump their rubbish and is a desolate and unhygienic place. Further east, around the ticket office, house walls still stand and streets can be traced.

lowercased:
the arab armies invaded egypt in 640 ad and babylon fell in april 641, after a siege of some seven months. alexandria was taken in september 641, and all egypt was surrendered by the byzantines in november of that year. the arab commander, amr ibn al-as, wanted to establish his capital city in alexandria, but permission to do so was refused by the caliph, umar.
the reason quoted for his refusal is that he did not want a body of water to separate the capital from arabia, so it had to be built on the east bank of the nile; however, an attempt to keep control of the egyptian forces and their leader may have been his real motive. the new capital city (called fustat, possibly from the arabic for tent, or camp) was thus established just to the north of babylon.
the new town was laid out as a series of tribal areas, or khittas, around a central area with the communal mosque, administrative buildings and residences for the highest status tribal groups. the majority of tribes who settled here were of yemeni origin, with the remainder of the arabs from the western arabian peninsula; a few jews and some roman mercenaries were also present.
at this stage the population must have consisted almost entirely of soldiers and their households, and fustat exhibited the typical plan of a garrison town. originally founded in 642 ad, the mosque of amr still stands but has been continually rebuilt: nothing remains of the earliest structure. large piles of stone- and woodwork have been dumped across the ruins of the town and these almost certainly came from older versions of the mosque and include many reused roman column capitals.
the town grew rapidly in size, expanding out into the desert and up onto higher ground. it became an important commercial center, and excavations on the site have found artifacts from places as far apart as china, india, vietnam, iraq, italy and spain.
the museum of islamic art contains many objects from fustat.
the city did not retain its status as capital of egypt; other administrative districts were planned and built to the north of fustat: the abbasid al-askar, tulunid al-qata'i and the great fatimid town al-qahira, which gives modern cairo its name. however, fustat remained an important trading post for the eastern mediterranean world. in 1168 the town was completely burned to prevent its use by crusaders, but it recovered its prosperity and population fairlyquickly. fustat eventually declined in importance as trade-routes between the far east and europe shifted northwards, depriving the town of much of its income. it is unlikely, though, that it was ever completely abandoned, and until recently a potters' quarter existed upon the site.
today, little remains of the rich city that once flourished on the site. the area behind the mosque of amr has become a convenient place for cairo citizens to dump their rubbish and is a desolate and unhygienic place. further east, around the ticket office, house walls still stand and streets can be traced.


text:
According to its president, Nintendo is not planning any major changes to the Switch's price or a successor to the current model. The idea, of course, was to show off a variety of indie games that were releasing on the Switch, not only as a way to get consumers excited for the platform, but also to show developers that the Switch was an indie friendly platform.
"Annual unit and dollar sales of Nintendo Switch are the highest annual total for any hardware platform since the PlayStation 4 in 2015", noted Piscatella.
Nintendo Switch sales have surpassed 10.5 million units in the USA and the platform's aligned launch sales are higher than those of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
In January 2017, Nintendo revealed Nintendo Switch would sell for $300 United States dollars, and while holiday price drops and cost-effective bundles have occurred since then, it's standard retail price remains $300 USD. Brawl by over 70 per cent. Nintendo launched the platform back in March of 2017.
Wargroove is coming to the PlayStation 4, but we're still not sure when. Exceeded every expectation I had, best-selling exclusive launch month in history.
Wargroove is a turn-based strategy and features a campaign editor for players to shape their own scenarios for other Nintendo Switch players. "Ultimate" is also the fastest selling Switch title to date.
For more information about all the great indie games on or coming to Nintendo Switch, visit https://www.nintendo.com/games/nintendo-switch-nindies-hits. For now, Nintendo is content to keep the price as is.
So it's all looking fine and dandy for the Nintendo Switch in the United States, which is just as well given the US' games hardware market is worth some $5.1bn. Now that core Nintendo fans are making Switch a huge success, that means Nintendo can safely invest in games for them, too.

lowercased:
according to its president, nintendo is not planning any major changes to the switch's price or a successor to the current model. the idea, of course, was to show off a variety of indie games that were releasing on the switch, not only as a way to get consumers excited for the platform, but also to show developers that the switch was an indie friendly platform.
"annual unit and dollar sales of nintendo switch are the highest annual total for any hardware platform since the playstation 4 in 2015", noted piscatella.
nintendo switch sales have surpassed 10.5 million units in the usa and the platform's aligned launch sales are higher than those of the playstation 4 and xbox one.
in january 2017, nintendo revealed nintendo switch would sell for $300 united states dollars, and while holiday price drops and cost-effective bundles have occurred since then, it's standard retail price remains $300 usd. brawl by over 70 per cent. nintendo launched the platform back in march of 2017.
wargroove is coming to the playstation 4, but we're still not sure when. exceeded every expectation i had, best-selling exclusive launch month in history.
wargroove is a turn-based strategy and features a campaign editor for players to shape their own scenarios for other nintendo switch players. "ultimate" is also the fastest selling switch title to date.
for more information about all the great indie games on or coming to nintendo switch, visit https://www.nintendo.com/games/nintendo-switch-nindies-hits. for now, nintendo is content to keep the price as is.
so it's all looking fine and dandy for the nintendo switch in the united states, which is just as well given the us' games hardware market is worth some $5.1bn. now that core nintendo fans are making switch a huge success, that means nintendo can safely invest in games for them, too.


text:
Although none of NVIDIA’s partners will be selling direct copies of the NVIDIA reference design, NVIDIA did send over one of reference cards to serve as a baseline comparison (as it turns out, due to a bug you can’t underclock a GTX 650 Ti right now). Since most partner designs will closely follow NVIDIA’s reference design this actually works out for the best anyhow, as it offers a good insight into the kind of performance and design baseline we should see.
For the GeForce 600 series NVIDIA’s reference designs have been extremely solid (overclocking withstanding) and the reference GTX 650 Ti continues that tradition. The PCB itself is actually lifted from the GTX 650, which despite the difference in GPUs is pin-compatible with the GTX 650 Ti and its 128bit memory bus. This puts the length of the card at 5.75” – about as short as a PCIe x16 card can be – in a full-profile form factor. Meanwhile though taking inventory of every last electrical component isn’t practical, as near as we can tell the PCB and its components are completely identical to the reference GTX 650, which means partners are going to be able to easily drop the GTX 650 Ti into their existing GTX 650 designs so long as their cooling is adequate.
Speaking of cooling, the cooler on the reference GTX 650 Ti is a small but effective open air double-wide cooler. NVIDIA’s using a low-profile aluminum heatsink that covers roughly half the card, topped with an 80mm fan. This is the cooler style that most partners will mimic, as the 110W TDP of the GTX 650 Ti does not require a particularly large cooler; though on that note at 110W passive cooling is unlikely. As is common with open air coolers, the heatsink itself doesn’t make contact with the on-board RAM, so RAM cooling is left to airflow coming off of the fan.
NVIDIA’s RAM of choice for the GTX 650 Ti is their traditional favorite, Hynix 2Gb 6GHz GDDR5. The use of 6GHz RAM, which will be common across this family, means that the GTX 650 Ti will have some memory overclocking headroom right out of the box, memory bus willing. NVIDIA uses 4 pieces of it in a 4x32bit configuration, with 4 more pads on the back of the card for another 4 pieces for 2GB cards.
Moving on, along with losing GPU boost capabilities the GTX 650 family also gives up SLI capabilities, so unlike the GTX 550 Ti you won’t find a SLI bridge connector here. What you will find is 1 6pin PCIe power socket on the rear of the card for providing the extra power the GTX 650 needs. Meanwhile display connectivity is provided by 1 DL-DVI-I port, 1 DL-DVI-D port, and a mini-HDMI port. Since all of the Kepler GPUs support 4 displays the GTX 650 Ti can drive up to 3 displays via these connectors, and if a partner equips a card with a DisplayPort connector instead it should be possible to drive the full 4 displays off of a single GTX 650 Ti.

lowercased:
although none of nvidia’s partners will be selling direct copies of the nvidia reference design, nvidia did send over one of reference cards to serve as a baseline comparison (as it turns out, due to a bug you can’t underclock a gtx 650 ti right now). since most partner designs will closely follow nvidia’s reference design this actually works out for the best anyhow, as it offers a good insight into the kind of performance and design baseline we should see.
for the geforce 600 series nvidia’s reference designs have been extremely solid (overclocking withstanding) and the reference gtx 650 ti continues that tradition. the pcb itself is actually lifted from the gtx 650, which despite the difference in gpus is pin-compatible with the gtx 650 ti and its 128bit memory bus. this puts the length of the card at 5.75” – about as short as a pcie x16 card can be – in a full-profile form factor. meanwhile though taking inventory of every last electrical component isn’t practical, as near as we can tell the pcb and its components are completely identical to the reference gtx 650, which means partners are going to be able to easily drop the gtx 650 ti into their existing gtx 650 designs so long as their cooling is adequate.
speaking of cooling, the cooler on the reference gtx 650 ti is a small but effective open air double-wide cooler. nvidia’s using a low-profile aluminum heatsink that covers roughly half the card, topped with an 80mm fan. this is the cooler style that most partners will mimic, as the 110w tdp of the gtx 650 ti does not require a particularly large cooler; though on that note at 110w passive cooling is unlikely. as is common with open air coolers, the heatsink itself doesn’t make contact with the on-board ram, so ram cooling is left to airflow coming off of the fan.
nvidia’s ram of choice for the gtx 650 ti is their traditional favorite, hynix 2gb 6ghz gddr5. the use of 6ghz ram, which will be common across this family, means that the gtx 650 ti will have some memory overclocking headroom right out of the box, memory bus willing. nvidia uses 4 pieces of it in a 4x32bit configuration, with 4 more pads on the back of the card for another 4 pieces for 2gb cards.
moving on, along with losing gpu boost capabilities the gtx 650 family also gives up sli capabilities, so unlike the gtx 550 ti you won’t find a sli bridge connector here. what you will find is 1 6pin pcie power socket on the rear of the card for providing the extra power the gtx 650 needs. meanwhile display connectivity is provided by 1 dl-dvi-i port, 1 dl-dvi-d port, and a mini-hdmi port. since all of the kepler gpus support 4 displays the gtx 650 ti can drive up to 3 displays via these connectors, and if a partner equips a card with a displayport connector instead it should be possible to drive the full 4 displays off of a single gtx 650 ti.


text:
Back in blighty now, and Got A Ukulele can return to normal service. Time to share with you my initial review of my purchase - a traditional Canarian Timple, handcrafted in Teguise on the island of Lanzarote by luthier Antonio Lemez Hernández.
First a little bit of background to the Timple - this is the traditional folk instrument of the Canary Islands, a Spanish outpost off the western coast of North Africa. Whilst the Timple is played on most Canarian islands, it is considered to have originated in Lanzarote, and in particular in the old capital of the island, the pretty town of Teguise. The instrument is very similar to a ukulele and is a probably candidate to being a pre-cursor to it. I say 'probable', as the origins of the Timple on the island are somewhat unclear - being a Spanish dependency, it is likely that the stringed instruments of the mainland were introduced to the islanders. These instruments predated the modern spanish guitar and and its possible that the Spanish themselves brought something similar to Lanzarote, where it developed into the Timple. There are other possibilities though. It is considered that the strung instrument was introduced to Spain by the Moors of North Africa in their long occupation of the south, and as such they should be credited with the introduction to the Mainland. We should also bear in mind that in the 16th Century, pre the Spanish, the first occupants of the islands were from North African or Moorish descent - and as such it may well be the case that they introduced the stringed instrument to the islands directly. Either way, the instrument has it's roots on Lanzarote and has done for nearly 300 years.
The instrument is similar to many other small stringed instruments such as the ukulele, the cuatro, the machete and the tiple. You may have seen my earlier post regarding my visit to the Casa-Museo Del Timple on the island which charts it's history and its wider family, showing of examples of all sorts of similar instruments. The Timple is strung with 5 strings, and tuned gcEAD. In other words, it shares the GCEA of the soprano ukulele on the last four strings (the four strings from the ceiling downwards), but adds another new first string tuned to D. You will note that I typed the G and the C above in lower case, and that is because they are both tuned re-entrant. The standard tuning for ukulele has the G string higher than the next C, but on the Timple both the G and the C are higher. This makes for an even brighter shriller sound than the soprano ukulele. As such, the string thicknesses are a little different too. As the G and the C strings are re-entrant, it is the E string which is the thickest (unlike the ukulele in which the C is thickest). Other differences include the naturally wider neck to accommodate the fifth string, a narrower longer body and strange neck design with far fewer frets - the neck is actually as long as a concert but this one only comes with eight frets. Turning the instrument over however and we see the real difference - the hump! The back on the Timple is hugely rounded to create more sound out of what is a smaller top on the body (and it certainly works). In the Canaries the Timple has the nickname "Camellito Sonoro" meaning the Sonorous Camel on account of the hump!.
So on to this instrument in particular - having visited the museum we took directions to the workshop in which Antonio crafts his instruments - right in the centre of Teguise itself. They are all handmade from solid woods and the smell of his workshop has come back with me to England via this Timple - the smell from the sound hole is glorious! Antonio is in his 60's and has been making these instruments all his life. This particular model is a fairly plain one. The top is solid spruce with a very thin matte finish (very thin, I managed to ding it already, sadly - something that is bound to happen with soft spruce), and the back, sides are (I believe) Mahogany or something similar. The sound hole has some simple inlay and the top is actually in two pieces, nicely book matched. The sides are nice pieces of wood two in a lighter coloured wood than the back with some nice grain patterns. As you will see, the wood used for the top actually extends up and on to the end of the neck as an extension which I think looks nicely different. Over to the the humped back and this is darker wood, again nicely matched, with a lighter inlay joining the two halves.
Inside the instrument we see the makers label and what looks to me to be similar kerfling and bracing as that found in a ukulele.
The neck itself is wide and made of two pieces. The main part of the neck and the heel are a single piece of wood, but the large traditional shaped headstock is quite a piece of wood and as such I can see how it would need to be carved separately - the join employs a joint type I have not seen before which adds to its "different" air. The short fingerboard is in a darker wood and mounted on to the neck, and wood binding finishes the edges. The frets look like nickel and are nicely set. The nut appears to be bone and is cut well.
At the other end of the strings, the bridge is traditionally wide, and is a tie bar design. Interestingly there is no bridge saddle and the wood of the bridge itself serves this purpose. The result of that and the nicely cut nut means that the action is superbly low and easy to play.
Back up to the headstock and this is large piece of wood with a facing cap of the same wood as found on the fingerboard. The tuners are friction pegs, which sadly are not of the best quality and I will be likely swapping them out for something smoother (I like friction pegs when they are good, but am fussy).
All in all, the instrument is clearly very well made by a craftsman. Whilst not loaded up with bling, he does make higher priced instruments that fit that bill if you want them. It's nicely balanced and light to hold too.
So how does it sound? High! It's got such a bright tone to it on account of both that extra high D string, and the re-entrant G and C strings - if anything it makes a soprano ukulele sound like a bass! The sound produced from such a small little thing is extremely loud, helped along by that humped back, and it has some great sustain provided by the thin solid woods used. It's different to play on account of that extra D string, but not really complicated, involving only the additional finger on some of the standard ukulele chords. For example the G chord is exactly the same as the uke, but is played on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings. The C however is played the same way but requires a finger on the second fret of the 1st D string. Strummed or plucked I like the sound, and whilst I am in no way proficient with traditional Canarian song, am having fun with it and will try to get some YouTube sound samples up soon.
I got a timple a couple of years back on Tenereife - had to go to one of the townships to find a shop that sold them. Lovely little instruments. Now a question, do you know anywhere that sells cases for them? Mine is getting dustier & dustier by the minute & Googling doesn't seem to provide any answers. I'm in the UK. Thank you - and thank you also for an interesting & detailed write up on the instrument.
I bin playing guitars, banjos, mandolins etc since 1965. I picked up one of these instruments 7 years ago. Hardly played anything else since.
Hi, where did you buy the Timple? At the museum shop.... Prob not.... Or in Teguise somewhere?
No - strangely the museum don't sell them! If you walk out the front of museum and head straight over square, church on your left. You will reach a T Junction. Turn right and you will reach another mini square, and it was in one of craft shops on left. They get them direct from the luthier.
Well done. Directions are spot on!.
Antonio Lemez Hernández house is just off the main square in Teguise - and it is painted in a blue wash. You can't miss it amongst all the white houses. If you look at the museum front, it's the street to the left. several years ago I was there for one of my 10 day visits and Antonio made my timple for me that week. Mine has 12 frets running right up to the body, beautiful marquetry and the usual 'pearl' effect double scratch plate.
Could I ask how much the timple was. The prices seemed to vary wildly between different shops in Regular when I was there a couple of weeks ago. I only just saw this website and so didn't find the luthier's shop when I was there. Next time!

lowercased:
back in blighty now, and got a ukulele can return to normal service. time to share with you my initial review of my purchase - a traditional canarian timple, handcrafted in teguise on the island of lanzarote by luthier antonio lemez hernández.
first a little bit of background to the timple - this is the traditional folk instrument of the canary islands, a spanish outpost off the western coast of north africa. whilst the timple is played on most canarian islands, it is considered to have originated in lanzarote, and in particular in the old capital of the island, the pretty town of teguise. the instrument is very similar to a ukulele and is a probably candidate to being a pre-cursor to it. i say 'probable', as the origins of the timple on the island are somewhat unclear - being a spanish dependency, it is likely that the stringed instruments of the mainland were introduced to the islanders. these instruments predated the modern spanish guitar and and its possible that the spanish themselves brought something similar to lanzarote, where it developed into the timple. there are other possibilities though. it is considered that the strung instrument was introduced to spain by the moors of north africa in their long occupation of the south, and as such they should be credited with the introduction to the mainland. we should also bear in mind that in the 16th century, pre the spanish, the first occupants of the islands were from north african or moorish descent - and as such it may well be the case that they introduced the stringed instrument to the islands directly. either way, the instrument has it's roots on lanzarote and has done for nearly 300 years.
the instrument is similar to many other small stringed instruments such as the ukulele, the cuatro, the machete and the tiple. you may have seen my earlier post regarding my visit to the casa-museo del timple on the island which charts it's history and its wider family, showing of examples of all sorts of similar instruments. the timple is strung with 5 strings, and tuned gcead. in other words, it shares the gcea of the soprano ukulele on the last four strings (the four strings from the ceiling downwards), but adds another new first string tuned to d. you will note that i typed the g and the c above in lower case, and that is because they are both tuned re-entrant. the standard tuning for ukulele has the g string higher than the next c, but on the timple both the g and the c are higher. this makes for an even brighter shriller sound than the soprano ukulele. as such, the string thicknesses are a little different too. as the g and the c strings are re-entrant, it is the e string which is the thickest (unlike the ukulele in which the c is thickest). other differences include the naturally wider neck to accommodate the fifth string, a narrower longer body and strange neck design with far fewer frets - the neck is actually as long as a concert but this one only comes with eight frets. turning the instrument over however and we see the real difference - the hump! the back on the timple is hugely rounded to create more sound out of what is a smaller top on the body (and it certainly works). in the canaries the timple has the nickname "camellito sonoro" meaning the sonorous camel on account of the hump!.
so on to this instrument in particular - having visited the museum we took directions to the workshop in which antonio crafts his instruments - right in the centre of teguise itself. they are all handmade from solid woods and the smell of his workshop has come back with me to england via this timple - the smell from the sound hole is glorious! antonio is in his 60's and has been making these instruments all his life. this particular model is a fairly plain one. the top is solid spruce with a very thin matte finish (very thin, i managed to ding it already, sadly - something that is bound to happen with soft spruce), and the back, sides are (i believe) mahogany or something similar. the sound hole has some simple inlay and the top is actually in two pieces, nicely book matched. the sides are nice pieces of wood two in a lighter coloured wood than the back with some nice grain patterns. as you will see, the wood used for the top actually extends up and on to the end of the neck as an extension which i think looks nicely different. over to the the humped back and this is darker wood, again nicely matched, with a lighter inlay joining the two halves.
inside the instrument we see the makers label and what looks to me to be similar kerfling and bracing as that found in a ukulele.
the neck itself is wide and made of two pieces. the main part of the neck and the heel are a single piece of wood, but the large traditional shaped headstock is quite a piece of wood and as such i can see how it would need to be carved separately - the join employs a joint type i have not seen before which adds to its "different" air. the short fingerboard is in a darker wood and mounted on to the neck, and wood binding finishes the edges. the frets look like nickel and are nicely set. the nut appears to be bone and is cut well.
at the other end of the strings, the bridge is traditionally wide, and is a tie bar design. interestingly there is no bridge saddle and the wood of the bridge itself serves this purpose. the result of that and the nicely cut nut means that the action is superbly low and easy to play.
back up to the headstock and this is large piece of wood with a facing cap of the same wood as found on the fingerboard. the tuners are friction pegs, which sadly are not of the best quality and i will be likely swapping them out for something smoother (i like friction pegs when they are good, but am fussy).
all in all, the instrument is clearly very well made by a craftsman. whilst not loaded up with bling, he does make higher priced instruments that fit that bill if you want them. it's nicely balanced and light to hold too.
so how does it sound? high! it's got such a bright tone to it on account of both that extra high d string, and the re-entrant g and c strings - if anything it makes a soprano ukulele sound like a bass! the sound produced from such a small little thing is extremely loud, helped along by that humped back, and it has some great sustain provided by the thin solid woods used. it's different to play on account of that extra d string, but not really complicated, involving only the additional finger on some of the standard ukulele chords. for example the g chord is exactly the same as the uke, but is played on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings. the c however is played the same way but requires a finger on the second fret of the 1st d string. strummed or plucked i like the sound, and whilst i am in no way proficient with traditional canarian song, am having fun with it and will try to get some youtube sound samples up soon.
i got a timple a couple of years back on tenereife - had to go to one of the townships to find a shop that sold them. lovely little instruments. now a question, do you know anywhere that sells cases for them? mine is getting dustier & dustier by the minute & googling doesn't seem to provide any answers. i'm in the uk. thank you - and thank you also for an interesting & detailed write up on the instrument.
i bin playing guitars, banjos, mandolins etc since 1965. i picked up one of these instruments 7 years ago. hardly played anything else since.
hi, where did you buy the timple? at the museum shop.... prob not.... or in teguise somewhere?
no - strangely the museum don't sell them! if you walk out the front of museum and head straight over square, church on your left. you will reach a t junction. turn right and you will reach another mini square, and it was in one of craft shops on left. they get them direct from the luthier.
well done. directions are spot on!.
antonio lemez hernández house is just off the main square in teguise - and it is painted in a blue wash. you can't miss it amongst all the white houses. if you look at the museum front, it's the street to the left. several years ago i was there for one of my 10 day visits and antonio made my timple for me that week. mine has 12 frets running right up to the body, beautiful marquetry and the usual 'pearl' effect double scratch plate.
could i ask how much the timple was. the prices seemed to vary wildly between different shops in regular when i was there a couple of weeks ago. i only just saw this website and so didn't find the luthier's shop when i was there. next time!


text:
tins ::: Rick Klau's weblog: BlogPress Lite is live!
Use an iPhone and have a blog on Blogger? Head on over to the app store and get InfoThinker's free "blogpress lite", built by them to celebrate Blogger's 10th birthday. Thanks, guys!
You're not going to make me use a non-Google search on iTunes are ya?
Thank you. You are an officer and gentleman.
1, were you able to do the link from within the iPhone app? and 2, are there any good Blogger apps for Android?
For Android, it's been a while since I looked. Will report back. If you have a connection, you can try using the Blogger gadget on iGoogle Mobile - that works very well (but is admittedly not an app).
How do you make links in the editor?

lowercased:
tins ::: rick klau's weblog: blogpress lite is live!
use an iphone and have a blog on blogger? head on over to the app store and get infothinker's free "blogpress lite", built by them to celebrate blogger's 10th birthday. thanks, guys!
you're not going to make me use a non-google search on itunes are ya?
thank you. you are an officer and gentleman.
1, were you able to do the link from within the iphone app? and 2, are there any good blogger apps for android?
for android, it's been a while since i looked. will report back. if you have a connection, you can try using the blogger gadget on igoogle mobile - that works very well (but is admittedly not an app).
how do you make links in the editor?