Taxi trauma

when I went to Aberdeen for the day on business. On the plus side, the train was bang on time both ways, so no complaint there. On the negative, I had a first class ticket but on the train up there was no first class, no refreshment trolley, no wi-fi and no sign of a ticket inspector. On the train back, there was a first class compartment but no wi-fi and no ticket inspector.

Hammerofthenats We learned during the miners’ strike, when we had electricity a few hours a day, a few days in a week, to plan and prepare and then to convert when we could. The modern-day equivalent is the gridlocked transport networks. So... expect to be disappointed, plan for the worst and hope to accomplish one thing each day. That’s productivity for you in Scotland in the 21st century.

Miniso Wrong kind of snow, wrong kind of sunshine, wrong kind of rain, wrong leaves on the line, too much rolling-stock on certain routes, not enough on other routes, no drivers, no conductors, outdated electrical controls, overruns on maintenance, poor scheduling of same. A lot of friends work for Scotrail and Network Rail and they do a good job, all things considered.

Rhubarbthebushkangaroo Nearly half of Edinburgh’s taxis are to be forced from the road in a massive emissions cull. All black cabs older than ten years will need to be replaced by 2020 under a new Edinburgh City Council policy.

The real issues here are: 1. Who can the cabbies sell their diesel taxis to? Are these none-compliant vehicles going to have to be scrapped? 2. How are the owners to be compensated? After all they led the way in ‘greenness’ by following government advice to go diesel and embarked on costly assets when asked. 3. Why are these regulations not simply being implemented over ten to twenty years of more?

Corrigenda 2 These guys all make a few