Press What?

Posted: Sun 4 October, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: People, Stupidity, Travel | Leave a comment »

Seen on the train home on Friday…

Press to Flush

As it happens, the actual “Flush” button is hidden behind the loo-seat, so you have to put the seat-cover thing down before you can flush the toilet.

But I do wonder how many people have tried (and failed) to flush these toilets by pressing on that handrail…

Final Week

Posted: Mon 28 September, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Travel, Work-related | Leave a comment »

Today’s the start of my last week working in London. Happy, Happy Day.

I haven’t minded being in London, and I know I could do it again if I had to. It’s not an ideal situation, but if the work’s there, then I can do the travel and stay away.

I also know that after last week, I will never do the “driving into central London on a regular basis” thing again. That was certainly a step too far for me – if the drive had actually been just the mooted two hours, it would’ve been OK, but with the extra time involved and London traffic, it was a killer. By Friday I was in no fit state for anything.

Overall I’m glad that I’ll be returning to a more sane working set-up from next Monday. I’ve got the job done here, and everyone seems happy (which helps too) so all told it’s been a fairly successful contract.

Now, roll on Friday.

Less Lucky

Posted: Thu 24 September, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Driving, Thoughts, Travel | 7 Comments »

Last night’s drive home was – to be blunt – a fucking nightmare.

From the look of it, someone had fallen under a bus on Mile End Road, which meant that everything going out of London in that direction was moving half a car-length at a time. It took me 90 minutes to get from my office to the A11/A12 roundabout. After that, it took me about 90 minutes to get home.

I don’t know the fate of the person – assuming that was what’d happened – as neither the local radio traffic news nor the BBC have seen fit to say anything about it. What I do know is that a section of the road, on both carriageways, was blocked by emergency services, so I assume it was at least serious, if not fatal.

But it would be nice if traffic reports would be a bit more honest/useful. If I’d heard “Avoid that road like the plague” I would’ve done, and would’ve cut north instead. As it was, the only reports were that “The A11 is slow-moving, because of an accident”. While I guess that was technically true – we were still moving, after all – it would’ve been far more useful to say “It’s blocked, diversions in place, but you’d be far better off avoiding it completely”

Super-Lucky

Posted: Tue 22 September, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Driving, Thoughts, Travel | 3 Comments »

On the way home last night, I witnessed what was so nearly a fatal accident – and only wasn’t fatal because of the 50/50 chance of which way the man fell.

On the roundabout for A12/North Circular, a cement mixer came round too close to the kerb, and hit a cyclist. For once (so far as I could tell) the cyclist had been doing the right thing, hadn’t jumped a red light or anything (somewhat miraculous in itself) and the driver of the cement mixer had just come too close to the kerb.

I don’t know how, but the pushbike went under the wheels, and the rider came off onto the pavement. If he’d gone the other way, it would’ve been strawberry-jam time. As it was, the guy then stood up and was fine. The driver of the cement mixer was pretty shocked about the entire thing (with good reason) but it was all just so incredibly lucky that it wasn’t far, far worse.

A couple of other closer witnesses had already stopped to sort things out, so I buggered off past – I wouldn’t have been able to give any more information, or provide any assistance, so I’d have just been in the way.

All the same, it does make you think about the tiny things that lead to a difference between dead and alive…

Killer Week

Posted: Mon 21 September, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Charm School, Driving, Own Business, Stupidity, Thoughts, Travel, Work-related | Leave a comment »

This week is looking like it might turn out to be Not Fun.

I’ve got some pre-existing bookings during the week (I wasn’t expecting the contract to extend…) which means I’m working in the office on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. This means that I’m going to be driving in to the office instead of using public transport. And I suspect that will not be fun.  It’s likely to be at least two hours each way – although I’ve done drives like that for work before, and at least I will have a break between each one, rather than doing three or five days on the trot, which would leave me looking like a stunned monkey by Wednesday (as it did when I did that for a week down to Basildon last year)

Needless to say, on those days the blogging content might be a bit thin on the ground.

Still, it’s only three days.  And then one more week entirely in London. And then I’m done.

Final Stretch

Posted: Thu 17 September, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Getting Organised, Own Business, Travel, Work-related | Leave a comment »

This morning I’ve done all my necessary bookings and payouts for the last couple of weeks of this contract. (I know, I’m being organised. It’s as much of a shock to me as it is to you)

That means I’ve pre-paid my Congestion Charges for next week (Don’t ask), as well as booking my train and hotel for the week after.

All sorted – and after that, I’m just going to be commuting to Cambridge, so my main expense will be petrol. (diesel, whatever)

Thankfully, this contract’s been OK – it’s had good and bad bits, and there’s a couple of people I know I never want to work with again, but it’s been pretty good over-all. But I can’t deny, I’m going to be happy with not working in London again for a while after this. I can do it, and if it’s where the work is then fine – but I couldn’t do it long-term, I know.

Cycle Hire

Posted: Wed 16 September, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Cynicism, People, Stupidity, Thoughts, Travel | 6 Comments »

I noticed yesterday a piece on the BBC about cycle-hire programmes being introduced in some places in the UK.

And while I think it’s A Good Thing™ to bring cycle-hire etc to the fore and work on making it into a sustainable concept, I’ve got to ask what kind of Twunt puts a cycle-hire facility in fucking Blackpool?  Yes, it’s fine as a UK tourist spot – but on windy days (and there are more of those than sunny ones in Blackpool, in my opinion) it’s hard enough to walk into the wind, let alone cycle into it. (And while it’ll be fine cycling with the wind behind you, in my experience the wind is always against you as a cyclist)

The bit that really makes me laugh, though is this :

According to tourism body Visit England, the number of UK holidaymakers visiting the resort in 2008 was down 26% on the previous year. Tourism bosses hope the scheme will be another attraction for people visiting the resort.

Tourists don’t (in general) cycle around cities like Oxford and Cambridge, where cycling is already de rigeur. So why the hell would they bother in effing Blackpool, for fuck’s sweet everloving sake?

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