Posted: Mon 28 July, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Cyclists, Domestic, Driving, M1, People, Stupidity, Thoughts |
Things I see regularly on my current commute that just worry me more than they possibly should…#
- Riders of powerful bikes on the M1 wearing t-shirts and shorts.
- Rear passengers in cars reclining with their legs hanging out the windows
- Front passengers reclining with their feet on the dashboard.
All of these setups worry me – in all cases, if anything were to happen, they’ll be injured far, far worse than they would be if they were sitting properly.
Of course, none of it is really my problem. I just can’t help noticing, and being somewhat concerned.
Posted: Thu 10 July, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: A428, Animals, Commuting, Driving, M1, M25, People, Thoughts, Weirdness |
This year, I’ve seen a lot of roadkill – as I’ve commented before – which is at least somewhat related to going back to doing a fair amount of driving on fast roads, dual carriageways, motorways and the like.
I don’t mind that too much – although I think it’s quite sad to see it – but there’s something that bugs me about it, which is this.
No matter where the bodies are on the road – including right over by the edge and (particularly on motorways) right in the middle, near the central reservation and safety barrier, right out of the traffic lanes. Yet within a couple of days, the bodies are flattened, all bones crushed and so on.
It’s not decomposition – OK, it could be, but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t happen that fast.
All I can assume is that there’s a certain breed of driver who feel it’s acceptable (or perhaps even amusing, I don’t know) to run over the bodies, even if it means curving out of the lane, towards the crash barrier in order to do so.
And really that just boggles my little mind…
Posted: Mon 7 July, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Hypocrisy, News, People |
Is *anyone* really surprised at the news over the weekend that it’s “fairly likely” that allegations of paedophilia by famous people in the 70s and 80s were hidden and denied by politicians? I know I’m not surprised at all.
What did amuse me (or made me despair, I’m not quite certain which) was the quote explaining how documents had gone astray…
The Home Office’s 2013 review found 527 potentially relevant files which it had kept, but a further 114 were missing, destroyed or “not found”.
Well, “Missing, destroyed or ‘not found’” pretty much covers every eventuality, doesn’t it?
Posted: Fri 4 July, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Commuting, Cynicism, Driving, M1, People, Work-related |
Of course, having written yesterday about how smooth my commute has been – and comparatively quicker than getting to Milton Keynes – last night’s journey was vile, and this morning’s one not much better.
Last night I saw the aftermath of more accidents than I’ve ever seen on one stretch of road. On the M1 I saw no less than seven sets of crunched vehicles. Thankfully most of them were pretty minor, but all told they’d resulted in (and/or were the result of) about ten miles of traffic jam. In the same journey, I saw four different lots of police who’d pulled people over – I assume for speeding. And finally, on the other side, a rolling-roadblock in place for what appeared to just be an articulated truck travelling slowly on the hard shoulder. (Why that required a full rolling roadblock I have NO idea!) And of course everyone on my side had slowed down to have a look at whatever was going on – which also almost caused a couple of accidents just in what I saw around me.
This morning was just a section of the A1 that was screwed. No idea why, and no reports on radio etc., but it was just solid from the M1 into London. Thankfully I was only on it for a fairly short stretch (about 3 miles, all told) but that short stretch took me half an hour.
I’m heading back late tonight – a small matter of seeing Neil Gaiman at the Barbican in London – so that’ll be fine for the return journey (or had bloody better be!) but I hope that type of journey is the rarity rather than the commonplace.
I’m pretty sure it will be, but fingers crossed all the same.
Posted: Wed 25 June, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Cynicism, Domestic, Getting Organised, People, Work-related |
Following on from yesterday’s post about my tolerance (or lack thereof) and ability to move on quickly, it will come as no surprise to regular readers that that’s exactly what I’ve done.
The previous place was just Not Good for me. As detailed elsewhere, the final straw was having a colleague who decided to talk about my work-based happiness to a friend of mine, outside of my presence, and in front of a table-full of other colleagues from the same work place. And frankly that shit just isn’t on. I truly don’t care what excuses were available – and admittedly I didn’t even hang around to find out what those excuses might’ve been. I’d handed in my notice, which they refused to accept until I’d spoken to the person in question “to try and build a better working relationship from these issues”. That was when I thought it had just been a conversation with my friend. But once I knew it had been done in front of other colleagues, well, fuck that.
As it was, I had an offer of a new job in hand – although I didn’t at the start of the week when I handed in my notice. It meant I could leave the old place on Friday, and start a new one this week.
So now I’m working in North London, and so far it seems like it’s going to be fun, with lots of challenges and stuff to do. Not earth-shattering per se, but enough of a challenge to keep me going, and to build bits of skillset for whatever comes next.
It’s a small company – the sort I prefer, truth be told – with no layers of management and bullshit to get in the way. That suits me just fine.
Obviously I’m only a couple of days in, but on first impressions it looks like things may actually work out pretty well. I certainly hope so.
Posted: Fri 20 June, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 1BEM, Business, Charm School, Cynicism, Domestic, People, Work-related |
This current role was a very bad decision – not just the workplace, but some of the people. Indeed, one of those who interviewed me has since spoken to one of my friends at a techie social event – after I’d left – about my progress and how I’m doing, and whether I’ll leave. In front of other colleagues from the same workplace.
He hasn’t spoken to me about these concerns at all.
I get that he was probably somewhat the worse for wear. There’s usually an excuse somewhere along the line. It doesn’t stop it from having been a totally cuntish thing to do, and it doesn’t stop me from wanting to punch him in the throat.
It’s a good sign that this particular workplace is about as toxic a place as it’s possible to be. They bleat on about being passionate about what you do, and about behaving with integrity, but they don’t do it themselves.
So it’s time to move on. Again.
I’m annoyed with myself, that my quality control has been so flawed. I had my reservations, and this current workplace has lived down to them. That wasn’t a foregone conclusion though – I tried to come in with an open mind, that the interview and paperwork process might’ve been an exception rather than the accepted route. Being stabbed in the back by a colleague is a pretty new experience for me, and not one I intend to repeat any time soon.
Thankfully it’s only been three weeks. This workplace will never show up on my CV, it’ll never be called for a reference. And that’s good, because I don’t want to be associated with this bunch of cunts in any way at all.
Onwards and upwards, my friends. Onwards and upwards.
Posted: Sun 1 June, 2014 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Cynicism, Driving, People, SatNav, Technology |
I’ve speculated before that my little TomTom satnav perhaps hates me. Whatever, it certainly likes trying to confuse me, and generally be shit.
My drive on Tuesday illustrated this perfectly.
Yep – the icon at the bottom says turn left, while the map view says turn right. No left turn at all.
I don’t usually understand why people screw up so badly when using SatNav (except for the absolute reliance and trust in technology being correct) but on this occasion I could understand why someone might make a mistake. It’s hardly helpful, after all.
