Skyline

Posted: Sun 16 March, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Central Bedfordshire Council, Domestic, Driving, Green | Leave a comment »

Last week, there was a new addition to the skyline at home – and for a fair dollop of the surrounding area.

It’s obviously been planned for a while, but it’s really only been in the last month that I’ve seen a new wind turbine being erected at the Forestry Centre.  It went up mid-February, but the turbine blades were only added last week, which is when it became truly noticeable. (There are chimney stacks around the place, so the initial turbine stalk didn’t stand out as much)

And now it’s visible – for quite a distance. I can see it as I come in past Bedford, and also as I come over the hill in the other direction. It’s pretty impressive.

Fortunately, I like wind turbines – I like the sight of them, and the sound. But I’m willing to bet there’s some NIMBY bastards who’ll complain about it.

More Gof

Posted: Fri 14 March, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: A428, Commuting, Domestic, Driving, Fog, Travel, Work-related | Leave a comment »

Today has been an excellent example of why (sometimes) it’s a good thing for my commute to be getting me in to work earlier than usual.

Despite it being even foggier than yesterday, and a pig of a drive (still unlit idiots, or people shitting themselves at not being able to see) it was a smooth run, and I got in on time.

Other colleagues coming in for ‘normal’ times though have been absolutely screwed. Apparently two trucks collided in the fog on the dual-carriageway near the infamous Black Cat Roundabout, which led to epic screwage of all relevant traffic in the area.  (Even better, soon afterwards the other end of the same road was equally screwed up by a truck shedding its load all over the entry roundabout. Well played…)  It’s taken them two to three hours to do the drive that takes me 45 mins on average.

Hopefully it’ll all be sorted by the time I head home. It should be – there’s plenty of time yet – but all the same, it’s been a useful example.

Lit

Posted: Thu 13 March, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, A428, BMW Drivers, Commuting, Driving, Fog, People, Travel, Weather, Weirdness | Leave a comment »

This morning’s drive in to work was foggy – foggy enough that you could see maybe three or four car-lengths ahead, and not much more.

So it left me quite gobsmacked to see how many drivers today weren’t bothering with their foglights – and in some cases without any lights on at all.

Considering how every pisswit fuck-knuckle in Christendom seems to put their fog lights on when it’s misty – and then leave them on for three damn days afterwards – it’s pretty amazing when you come across cars today (and particularly bloody silver ones) with no lights on at all.

What on earth are these drivers thinking? (And yes, I know, they’re not thinking)  After all, it’s not like they can see any better than I could – I just don’t get the mindset of “Oh well, other people will be able to see me, even if I can’t see them”

I don’t mind people being stupid, inconsiderate, and fuck-witted. If they want to die on the road, that’s fine with me. What I do mind is the other people affected by those decisions. And that’s just cuntish.

Travel Time

Posted: Thu 13 March, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, Commuting, Cynicism, Domestic, Driving, Thoughts, Travel | 1 Comment »

Over the past year, much has been made of the HS2 train route, and how it’ll improve transport links in the UK. It’s absolute balls, as most common sense would tell you.  Mind you, what *would* be useful would be a route going across the country, rather than up-and-down it.

An example…

My current contract is in Cambridge, and I live near Milton Keynes. Road-wise it’s an OK run, takes me 45-60 minutes each way.

But by public transport? Oy, fuck me, what a nightmare. For fun, I had a look.

Milton Keynes -> Cambridge isn’t a direct route (because there’s no ‘across’ rail line) Instead, I’d have to go :

  • From Milton Keynes into London Euston
  • From Euston to Kings Cross
  • From King’s Cross to Cambridge.

Now that is madness – it’d be 3 hours in the morning, and at least two on the way home. (Weirdly, trains seem to run better on the return journey)

And then you get to the real madness. The price. Because it’s a ‘via-London’ route, and at ‘peak time’ the cost was always going to be high. But it turns out that a day return comes to £73.70. Yep, just under seventy five quid. Per day. I don’t pay that for a week’s fuel.

And if you think I’m lying – here’s the screenshot from Trainline.com…

mk_to_cambridge

Peak Mileage

Posted: Mon 10 March, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Sleep - or lack thereof, Sociable, Travel | Leave a comment »

A good weekend has been had, allbeit with a fair number of miles involved. Nowhere near any of my super-heavy-mileage weekends of previous years, but still not bad.

A very good friend was having her wedding (technically her second wedding, but we’ll gloss over that) up in the Peak District – just outside Darley Dale and Matlock – so Saturday morning was a quick drive up the M1 and up to the venue in plenty of time, so I had a wander through Matlock as well. Sadly, it turned out that Matlock was having Dipshits Day Out, leading to whole hordes of fuckwits in the shops and pub where I went for a drink while wasting time. Ye Gods.

A great wedding (and venue) made the rest of the day really good, along with meeting up with old friends and so on.

Sunday was glorious, and a trip over to see another old friend in New Mills ensued, including sitting out in the sun and putting the world to rights. Then a drive down to near-Oxford to see the parents before they bugger off to the US for a couple of weeks, and then finally home. All told, just over 400 miles in two days…

  • Home -> Peak District (130 miles)
  • Peak -> New Mills (40 miles)
  • New Mills -> Parents (200 miles)
  • Parents -> Home (40 miles)

And then just the usual 40 mile commute this morning as usual!

Away Again

Posted: Sun 9 March, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Domestic, Driving, Green, Hypocrisy, Travel | Leave a comment »

And of course bear in mind, when I’m wanking on about reducing impact and so on, that I’m actually a hundred-and-odd miles away from home this weekend, and I’ve driven the whole way.

So yeah – trying to reduce the impact, and all that piss. And sometimes failing. But it’s worth it.

Reducing The Impact

Posted: Sat 8 March, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Domestic, Driving, Green, Thoughts | Leave a comment »

While – as per yesterday’s minorly ranty post – I’m not epically green, eco, and wanky about ‘saving the planet’, I do believe in lessening one’s impact where possible.

  • I’m not the kind of hand-wringing apologist wanker who’ll replace an existing working vehicle with an electric car, or a hybrid. I’d rather use my old one ’til it dies and needs to be scrapped/recycled.
  • I recycle what I can, but not obsessively for every separated bit of packaging. Some things just go in the bin. Life’s too fucking short.
  • I don’t chuck away loads of unused food, and all that.
  • The only reason I use more than one bin-bag a week is because of the cat’s litter tray.
  • I’m fucking shit at reducing my annual mileage – mainly due to commuting. Although those longer commutes do (allegedly) help maintain engine efficiency, so *shrug*
  • I *try* to use public transport when it’s reasonable/feasible. It’s just that for a lot of things, it’s neither reasonable to do so, nor feasible.
  • I don’t leave lights/TVs on etc when I’m not using them.

In short, I try to lessen my impact. I’m not perfect, but nor am I obsessively green.

All told, it seems to be a pretty sensible perspective, and generally pretty well balanced.

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