Illumination, not support

Damn lies and statistics

Guided by BLISS, I've been putting together a business case today. I've filtered, and analysed three years of figures. Used, unlike politicians, for illumination rather than support. It's been a very interesting exercise. I should have done something along the same lines a long time ago.

Apart from the personnel, the geographical, the actual and the potential, one thing is very clear: we're increasingly having to do more and more, for less. To the point where, for any new client, we're competing for work at cost, and not always winning it. It isn't getting any easier. There's a whole lot more long hours and scant rewards for a few years ahead. Thanks, bankers.

Fear and loathing: the M25

I can't put off the M4 corridor day any longer. Tomorrow sees me hit the M25 roadworks section. The bit that's a daily feature on the radio. It's a bit like the train running late announcements. Twenty seven words for 'snow'.

Accident: investigation.

Accident: spillage.

Accident: debris blocking one lane.

Accident: on the anticlockwise, slow because of rubberneckers.

Slow: after clearing an accident.

Slow: broken down car / lorry / horse and cart.

Delays, tailbacks, queuing traffic.

It's going to be rubbish every morning from now to kingdom come, because it's always pretty rubbish even without the roadworks.

Infrastructure

A recession buzzword. Spending on infrastructure (iSpending) is going to kickstart the economy. Now the roads between my house and place of work are one big pothole, with the occasional bit of road surface, when is the spending going to start? Do we need a critical mass of buzzwords before work is catalysed?

iRoads: throwing down some temporary surfacing, to last until the next snow.

iTrain: our line right now? About 90 minutes to town, at an average of 37 mph. Prehistoric.

iBus: we get two a day. One going one way...

iFibre: we're on twinned copper wire from the 1950s.

See also: iDrain, iWater, iPower (in case of light snow, iCandle), iLandfill (was iRecycle), and iSpy (CCTV everywhere, crime ditto).