Just a thought …

It has been a while since I have felt the need to put pen to paper, (or fingers to keyboard), but today I feel it is once again time. Recently I have been engaging in some small part with the Twittersphere. Whilst I have some of my own views on matters, (unusual though it is!), such as … why is ‘abbreviation’ such a long word? I have found myself drawn towards the Interweb looking for items of mild interest that I might share. Take, for example, the image on the right – does this not typify all things British? Why, oh why, do we British have such an ironic view on life? It is odd, dear reader, that we British find ourselves unsure about how the world sees us. Of course, we perceive ourselves as having a ‘stiff upper lip’, but do the rest of the world see us that way?

As the weather deteriorates and we descend once more into some ever-so slightly cooler temperatures there are two things that are guaranteed – firstly, our rail transport system, (and possibly others), will come to a grinding halt because there will be the wrong type of snow/sleet/rain/ice/wind, (delete as appropriate), and secondly that our roads will fall apart. Addressing the first point, that of our consistently failing rail transport system, one is forced to ask why? Why is it that our government, (no matter what flavour), and our civil servants all claim that our rail transport system is one of the best in Europe? Have they been to Europe? Have they seen the rail systems in the Nordic countries that always run to time no matter how bad the snow? Have they seen the rail transport systems in Switzerland and Germany that are clean, run on time and almost never cancel a service? Have they seen the inexpensive rail systems in the low countries that run on time whatever the weather? No, dear reader, they clear have not!

Now let us consider for one moment, our roads. How true the picture to the right, (thank you to funnyasaduck.net for the photo!), we used to drive on the left of the road, now we drive on what’s left of the road! It is estimated that to fix the potholes in our roads would cost around £12 billion. That’s quite a lot of money! According to the Department for Transport, there were almost 37 million vehicles on the roads in 2013, (the latest numbers I can find in a 10 second search!) – if all of those vehicles were paying an average of £200 in road tax, (some will pay a great deal more and some less), then it would take less than two years of vehicle road tax to fix all the potholes in the UK. OK, some will argue that the money must be used for other road projects too. This is almost certainly true, (although let us not forget the taxes received on fuel), so let us give the benefit of the doubt – if the cost of fixing all the potholes in the UK is £12 billion, it should easily be financially possible to fix every pothole during the term of a single government.  So, there’s a challenge – whatever the flavour of the next UK Government, why not make it a policy that they will fix every pothole in the UK during the term of their tenure. This will create jobs where there is insufficient labour available, give something back to motorists and prove that a Government is capable of actually delivering on its promises! Ok, that last bit might be a bit far fetched, but it would give them something new to spin!

Now, that’s quite enough of this serious stuff. What about the great British humour? Ah yes, now we’re back on track!! We always talk about the weather, so now should be no exception! What about the British summer I hear you ask … ah, sorry, that failed on installation. Mind you, it does lead to one interesting thought – free up disk space, delete Windows! Tomorrow I have to go to London and pretend to be all grown up. My venue is a hotel – on its website it says ‘within walking distance of the tube’ – isn’t it within walking distance of anywhere on the planet if I have the time and energy?! Anyway, enough of these ramblings, I only meant to write a couple of words. Still, it is always worth remembering … he who laughs last thinks slowest! It’s RudyMenTerry!