BBC One should reflect the whole of the UK in its output.

That’s a key part of BBC One’s remit. I get that the ratings are better on the CBBC channel, and I sympathise with that position; but I simply don’t see how BBC One can meet it’s remit without kid’s programmes. BBC Two hasn’t got over the existential crisis it had because of BBC Three and Four, yet they’re inviting the question: “What’s BBC One for?”

It also invites criticism, means that they have to find (and pay for) something to plug the gaps in the schedule, and reduces awareness of kid’s TV amongst the people who actually pay for it. As strategies go, it seems like madness.

This is where I’ve been this evening; I think that if you can give blood, you should. Only 4% of the population gives blood, yet 96% expects to receive it if needed. You can find your nearest donor session and book an appointment at blood.co.uk.

My life runs on Evernote. Evernote is my virtual filing cabinet, which contains both my work and my life. Evernote means that I can access important documents from anywhere – including my iPhone and iPad. It means that I don’t lose scraps of paper, either because things never make it to paper, or because I scan and upload to Evernote. Evernote means that I can search everything, including all of my scanned documents via OCR. And Evernote is fast, reliable, and has a generous free provision (though I pay for extra storage).

The best bit about Evernote is that it allows me to appear far more organised than I actually am. If anybody ever asks if I have a copy of something, I almost always know that the answer is yes, and I can find it in seconds with a simple search. That’s something that my haphazard filing system (comprising mainly a pile of documents on my desk) could never achieve.

I know that many people are evangelical about Dropbox for similar reasons to my Evernote evangelism. I understand why people love Dropbox, and I use it myself (mainly for backing up certain files that aren’t in my Evernote), but Evernote is something slightly different. I could replicate my Evernote organisation with a hierarchy of folders, but it wouldn’t feel the same, mainly because it would be displayed differently. I like that a note can contain multiple files as well as text – admittedly, a folder could do the same, but not in the same integrated way.

I was very sceptical about Evernote at first, but thought I’d give it a go. I was sold mainly on the search and anywhere-access capabilities, but have come to appreciate the whole way Evernote works. I’d strongly suggest giving it a go, and seeing if Evernote might just fit into your life and workflow.

I was struggling to find something to photograph after an altogether uninspiring day, and Wendy suggested the ring that I bought for her four years ago. She really likes it, and wears it all the time… though, of course, ensures it doesn’t impede her excellent hand hygiene at work!

I frequently recommend some of the apps I use on my Mac to other people, and generally get a positive reaction. However, I’ve never really written about them on this blog.

From tomorrow, that changes. For the next few weeks, I’ll be writing about a different desktop app that I love each week. It will appear online on a Wednesday morning, and will continue for as long as I have an app in mind that I use regularly, really love, and want to recommend (about ten weeks, I imagine). I hope you’ll enjoy it.

I’m also working on my “personal canon”, inspired by Robin Sloan’s excellent Fish (and David Cole’s excellent example). That won’t include apps, but I am planning to include books, music, and television alongside weblinks. That’s probably a few weeks away from being finished (or, as finished as the first iteration will ever be), so keep an eye out for that.

You’ll have seen last week that I featured the Tees Barrage, and mentioned how it supported a white water course. Well, this is that very course.

It wasn’t running today, so the water wasn’t especially white, and the whole course looked a little tame. Still, I’ve included a closer photo below.

This shot is interesting for showing some of the mechanics. Those things that look a bit like milk crates in the water (you can also see them in the first picture) are actually called “rapidblocks”. These can be repositioned to change the water current to create different flows and create different levels of challenge and difficulty. That’s how this course can be adapted to be suitable for both beginners and Olympians.

In fact, the blocks are the same as those that will be used at Lee Valley for London 2012, which is why the Tees Barrage International White Water Centre is being used as an Olympic training location for teams from across the world.

This is my Livescribe pen and current notebook. I use them all the time, and think they’re pretty fantastic.

My life revolves around Evernote, and Livescribe means that I can upload everything I write without the hassle of scanning everything in. Evernote also does pretty good OCR on my handwritten notes, making them fully searchable. On occasion, the audio recording function of the pen also comes in handy, especially in complex meetings.

Basically, it’s a brill system that I use all the time and highly recommend!

This is the war memorial in Newcastle’s Old Eldon Square. It’s a bronze figure of St George finishing off the dragon, designed by Charles Hartwell and unveiled in 1923. The inscription reads “Memory lingers here”.

This isn’t the best angle – St George is leaning off the other side of the horse, poking the dragon with his sword, so he looks a bit decapitated from this rear angle…

When you can’t trust M&S to use appropriate apostrophes, who can you trust? Perhaps they could re-employ the one sacked by Waterstones?

Or perhaps they have more pressing problems… the newly refurbished store I was in today had tens of these boxes dotted around the store catching leaks from the ceiling:

This is our bin for garden waste. Many Newcastle residents have these, and the council pays for them to be emptied fortnightly.

Or at least, the council did pay. In the new financial year, residents have been asked to pay an annual subscription fee of £20 if they want to continue using the service. In times of austerity, garden waste collection was evidently not seen as the city’s most essential service.

Yet, the council has, it seems, dug itself into a bit of a hole. Only 24% of eligible residents signed up for the scheme, which leaves tens of thousands of green bins that need collecting from residents and – more challengingly – storing. The story has even reached the well-tuned ears of The Guardian, which reports that the bins are being temporarily stored in salt depots which are empty at this time of the year.

Where they will go next is anyone’s guess. It’s suggested that they’ll be sold on to other councils but, as you can see, they’re fairly comprehensively Newcastle branded, so who’s likely to buy them?

I do wonder if this scheme might end up costing the council more than in saves, at least in the short term. Oops!