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Hell wishes you a nice day
Wednesday, July 19th, 2006 10:15 amSo 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?
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?
