Hell wishes you a nice day

So the gritters are out, are they? You have probably seen it on the news in one form or another, but I thought I'd record it here for posterity, or my dotage, or weblog obsolescence, whichever comes first.

UK roads are, like the wicked witch, melting. Tar, like gooey black mozzarella is sticking to tyres and feet and stringing out behind and below. Lovely. It is also the wrong kind of heat for trains (most weather conditions are the wrong type for trains), as tracks buckle and trains are forced top slow down or divert.

The water companies are complaining that there's not enough rain and that we are in drought conditions. At the same time, it's not their fault that the water reserves we do have are seeping away because the old Victorian pipes can't take it any more¹. It's not their fault that they are making record profits and paying handsome dividends. There's nothing left for maintenance. It's not their fault.

I'm no socialist, but back in the '80s when the utilities we supposedly already owned were being sold back to us, I couldn't see the logic (other than as a short-term idea to raise money for the Treasury so that the Thatcher years could be funded at low tax rates). Each of the privatised services is in a mess, and each is kicking out massive profits with little reinvestment - except the trains which seem to be getting worse with massive investment.

We seem to have forgotten how to run the country and judging by the temperatures, Hell is doing the subcontracting.

Edited to add: I'd forget my head if'n it wasn't bolted on. In addition to the melting roads, I meant to mention that the Thames is drying up. The first fifteen miles from the source down stream are now dry, dusty flatbeds. So drought, over extraction and wastage. Hurrah.

¹In London alone, Thames Water are running billboard adverts boasting that the work they are doing will save the equivalent of the GLA building full of water from being lost every 12 hours. Just how much water is being lost?

Hell wishes you a nice day

So the gritters are out, are they? You have probably seen it on the news in one form or another, but I thought I'd record it here for posterity, or my dotage, or weblog obsolescence, whichever comes first.

UK roads are, like the wicked witch, melting. Tar, like gooey black mozzarella is sticking to tyres and feet and stringing out behind and below. Lovely. It is also the wrong kind of heat for trains (most weather conditions are the wrong type for trains), as tracks buckle and trains are forced top slow down or divert.

The water companies are complaining that there's not enough rain and that we are in drought conditions. At the same time, it's not their fault that the water reserves we do have are seeping away because the old Victorian pipes can't take it any more¹. It's not their fault that they are making record profits and paying handsome dividends. There's nothing left for maintenance. It's not their fault.

I'm no socialist, but back in the '80s when the utilities we supposedly already owned were being sold back to us, I couldn't see the logic (other than as a short-term idea to raise money for the Treasury so that the Thatcher years could be funded at low tax rates). Each of the privatised services is in a mess, and each is kicking out massive profits with little reinvestment - except the trains which seem to be getting worse with massive investment.

We seem to have forgotten how to run the country and judging by the temperatures, Hell is doing the subcontracting.

Edited to add: I'd forget my head if'n it wasn't bolted on. In addition to the melting roads, I meant to mention that the Thames is drying up. The first fifteen miles from the source down stream are now dry, dusty flatbeds. So drought, over extraction and wastage. Hurrah.

¹In London alone, Thames Water are running billboard adverts boasting that the work they are doing will save the equivalent of the GLA building full of water from being lost every 12 hours. Just how much water is being lost?

IT Question

Chaps,

There's a whole bunch of you out there who know these things, so I'd appreciate input.

What do I need to buy for my Laptop so that I can use wireless internet while I'm out and about? At home I don't have a wireless router or such, but I do have a very long cable down to the normal router, so intarweb access isn't a problem there.

Any idea of costs and such I should be looking out for?

Thanks.

IT Question

Chaps,

There's a whole bunch of you out there who know these things, so I'd appreciate input.

What do I need to buy for my Laptop so that I can use wireless internet while I'm out and about? At home I don't have a wireless router or such, but I do have a very long cable down to the normal router, so intarweb access isn't a problem there.

Any idea of costs and such I should be looking out for?

Thanks.

Home again, home again, tra-la-la

I am home and early, too. Proof too, that liquid can flow up hill when it needs to; I am too hot to be fully solid right now.

I barely have the energy to wilt.

I left the office early - not as early as I wanted - because the underlying insanity of the job topped out and smothered the surrealism that keeps me going. I shan't bother with details, but you can guess that it was enough as I voluntarily left a comparatively comfortable air-conditioned office to sit here at home, where hugging the boiler suggests itself as a cooling alternative.

No, this afternoon was one of those afternoons, and my brain can deal with only so much cognitive dissonance in this weather before it turns volte-face in my skull and trickles out of my ears.

Still, my new trousers have arrived today. Luckily the gate was jammed so any would-be interlopers would assume it to be locked. Lucky I say, because the delivery company - not, for once the post office or Parcel Farce - left the package outside propped against the door, posting a note to tell me they had done so. Were I not such an honest chap, I might have claimed that they had been stolen and demanded another couple of pairs or my money back. But I shan't, because I'm a good lad at heart.

Anyway, heat not withstanding, I'm at home and that's always a more pleasant place to be than work. And I have an ice cold coke and have just scoffed a bag of Walker's french fries. No nutritional value whatsoever, but very enjoyable.

Music now, I think and a lie down.

Home again, home again, tra-la-la

I am home and early, too. Proof too, that liquid can flow up hill when it needs to; I am too hot to be fully solid right now.

I barely have the energy to wilt.

I left the office early - not as early as I wanted - because the underlying insanity of the job topped out and smothered the surrealism that keeps me going. I shan't bother with details, but you can guess that it was enough as I voluntarily left a comparatively comfortable air-conditioned office to sit here at home, where hugging the boiler suggests itself as a cooling alternative.

No, this afternoon was one of those afternoons, and my brain can deal with only so much cognitive dissonance in this weather before it turns volte-face in my skull and trickles out of my ears.

Still, my new trousers have arrived today. Luckily the gate was jammed so any would-be interlopers would assume it to be locked. Lucky I say, because the delivery company - not, for once the post office or Parcel Farce - left the package outside propped against the door, posting a note to tell me they had done so. Were I not such an honest chap, I might have claimed that they had been stolen and demanded another couple of pairs or my money back. But I shan't, because I'm a good lad at heart.

Anyway, heat not withstanding, I'm at home and that's always a more pleasant place to be than work. And I have an ice cold coke and have just scoffed a bag of Walker's french fries. No nutritional value whatsoever, but very enjoyable.

Music now, I think and a lie down.