Today, there’s a World Superbikes race at our local racetrack, Snetterton, which means that there’s an absolute shedload of bikers and cars all around the area, and coming off the A11 at Snetterton.
So I have to ask, what kind of fuckwit would organise a cycling time-trial along the same stretch of the A11 on the same day?
I had to drive up to Snetterton this morning to get rid of a carload of stuff at the tip, and saw three near-misses – two of them on the slip-road up to Snetterton, with cyclists going over it while idiot drivers were going too fast and trying to get onto the sliproad itself.
I get that dual-carriageway A-roads are (in theory at least) a good environment for cycle races – but not on busy days, and particularly not on a route where far more people than usual are going to be trying to use the sliproads to get through to other events.
Yesterday I was out all day – I left at 8.30, and came back at 6.30pm, so out for ten hours, of which about six were spent driving.
All told, it involved travelling down to London to see a new potential client, then across to Windsor to pick up some bits from Hound’s vet, a quick stop-off in Slough, and then back round the M25 to get home.
In my normal style, the M25 was utterly rigid – it was bad enough that even the radio travel news people were commenting it was abnormally stuffed all round the western side. It took half an hour just to do the bit between the M4 and the M40, and the rest wasn’t much better, ’til we got (as usual) to the M1, at which point it all clears up for some fuckforsaken reason.
Still, as days goes it was OK, it looks likely I’ve got the work, it means Hound is now sorted for her Happy Pills for another three months, so that’s cool.
But by the time I got home, my brain was just roadkill, which is why I didn’t write this post last night.
I saw this a while ago, and completely forgot I’d taken a photo of it until I went through the photos on my phone today.
Yes, use a forklift as one support for a ladder
Well, it’s one way to do it, I suppose…
I’ve always been fascinated by the entire “security theatre” thing since 11/9 (Sorry, 9/11) and this article goes some way to showing some of why I find it so interesting.
What’s security theatre? It’s the farcical measures that’ve been thrown up – particularly in airports – since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. They’re not about security, they’re about making people think they’re secure – and it’s all pretty farcical when you think about it.
Bruce Schneier has been a critic of airport security and the security hype for a long time now – he’s a security and cryptography expert, who’s written some very cool stuff over the years, and knows what he’s talking/writing about. He’s quoted throughout the article, and makes far more sense than anything that the TSA and associated agencies can come up with.
All told, it’s a well-written piece, and well worth reading.
Tonight, yet again we’re off to a village quiz. This time it’s the one where we came second last year so we’ll just have to see how we do this time.
If nothing else, it should be a laugh.
Is it just me that thinks there’s a slight problem with the headline for this story about the funeral of the last person who’d been on the Titanic?
Image of BBC News title for story - just in case they change it
After all, if she’s still the last survivor, what’re they doing having a funeral for her?
When I said we had epic hail yesterday, I really wasn’t kidding.
This was what remained around some of our flower pots two hours after it’d fallen – most of it stayed on the ground right through ’til at least half ten at night (having fallen at four or so in the afternoon) although it was gone this morning
Hailstones
Pretty impressive, really.
Of course, they hail has beaten the shit out of most of the plants outside – all the broad bean plants are bent over and have been beaten up, as have the strawberries, french beans, courgettes and pumpkins as well as the bamboo and lilac trees/bushes that we bought recently. But all of that should heal over time, so it could be a lot worse.
