Toms View of the World

The BBC are reporting that the UK remains a “car-dependant nation“.

Well, of course we are - public transport is simply not a viable or economical option - for example:

To get from my house to my parents house by public transport involves 2 trains and 2 buses - and would take 1hr 30mins for the trains, plus at least 50 mins on buses - and that doesn’t include the waiting times, at a cost of £19.50 for the train, at least £5 (total) for the buses… and that’s per person, if you travel out and back on different days, it goes up because you can’t use a return fare on the bus!

To drive it takes 40 mins (each way) and costs about 15 quid (return - including petrol and tolls) no matter how many people are going. So compare 5 hours of travelling with around an hour and half, plus the cost (which multiplies per person on the bus/train), for a day trip, it’s not worth going at all on the train - at least by car you get a decent amount of time at your destination.

Until public transport is comparable in cost and convenience, and journey times, no-one is going to use it. Of course, the government doesn’t really want to push all those tax-revenue-generating motorists onto cheap, efficient public transport - where’s the money in that?

Suffice to say, that where public transport is viable, I’ll use it - For example, I’ll happily use coaches to get the London airports, as they are often cheaper than parking, however the same is not to be said for Cardiff or Bristol airports, when the convenience of the car outweighs the time and effort involved with the bus.

What was wrong with the old one?

I do wonder what the chances of the UK actually being ready are - it’s not as if we have a history of building large sporting venues on-time and on-budget… and the amount of taxpayer money being poured into London for this is likely to be utterly obscene…

The new logo does look like something made by a 5 year old at school with a pair of plastic scissors and a sheet of coloured paper…

Maybe that would have been the answer - a competition on Childrens TV (this really sounds like something for Blue Peter) to design a logo for the Olympics - would have been better than the hideous pink thing for several reasons - it would have produced something (a) better, and (b) cheaper.

Apparently the blobs are supposed to represent the number 2012 - although what the dot ni the middle is is anyone’s guess…

Following on from my earlier post on the subject, it’s come to my attention that there is now a petition with over 2000 signatures on the Government Petitions Website regarding the overpricing of Windows Vista here in the UK.

As the UK governments online petition system has been making headlines, I’ve had a look to see if there are any on there which should be brought to your attention… here’s a few that I feel should be receiving a lot more publicity:

• Make it an endorseable offence to sit in the middle lane of a motorway for no reason
• Create a Road Safety Information Campaign to improve driving standards
• increase the number of traffic police and ensure that they effectively enforce the dangerous driving laws.
• Stop the sale of Christmas Stock untill 1st December

I’m not highlighting the ones which call for the PM to do stupid things, like juggle ice-cream (yes, that’s in there) - but the above are all serious issues affecting people in the UK on a day-to-day basis (or at least in the case of the last one, on a day to day basis for 6 months of the year)

Finally, Cardiff Council have extended the kerbside recycling collections to the area I live in - I got my new “Wheelie” bins today! Clearly labelled with my house number, and a barcode…

Now I can finally recycle stuff without having to cart it up to the bottle bank…

Simply very funny indeed… the major events of the year (at least, from a US perspective) set to song…

Enjoy

Nuckin’ Futs - The JibJab Year in Review | Send To Friends | Funny Animations at JibJab

(original page here)

So, it’s budget time in the UK again, and at this time of seasonal fun and a tradition of giving, it is of course the downtrodden motorist who’se going to be doing the giving…

1.25p on a litre of fuel - just when prices started falling from the oil price changes too.

Of course, the inflation targets are heading the right way (as long as you don’t count the cost of domestic heating…) - and of course the government is still looking for more ways to tax the public… Road Charging, oh yes, that’s a good one - especially as we can fleece motorists by not providing viable alternative public transport…

Hey, Mr Brown, how about the Government gives us something for our money other than a war the public generally doesn’t support, roads full of potholes, ID cards which nobody wants, a rail system that barely gets from A to B, and an NHS with enormous waiting lists?

Hey Labour - Start listening, or don’t be surprised come the elections…