A bit of local stuff, and the government raises its sleepy head

Spotted another bridge closure sign placed on the newly dented wall of the bridge, only just saw it mind as there was a delivery van parked in front of it.

I forgot to mention the amusement that is the lamppost painting, they're now that nice shade of blue to match the bridge ironwork, well they are up to the height you can reach with a brush. Above that it's the dull blue/grey. Now someone's obviously put up the hanging baskets and they're above the paint line so um... are they just employing really tall people to put the baskets up? Okay being serious it's no doubt down to good old Health & Safety, You can't use a ladder due to the fall on the other side, and you can't get a cherry picker in because of all the traffic. No doubt it'll be finished next weekend when it's closed.

Laura Dora (almost wrote Lora as is Lorem Ipsum) has added an after of the flooded lock which shows just how quickly the water disappears.

Looks like the weather pattern has set in - rain, a couple of days of bright blue skies, rain. We know it's the jet stream, which in itself is influenced by sea temperature, that's shifted South. We're getting Iceland's weather and Italy et al are getting ours.

Da Boss is having fun with BT broadband at his holiday home, it was supposed to be activated on the 16th, but there was a problem with the order and it was shunted to the 24th. That failed to materialise, problems with the line or problems with the filters or problems with invading space aliens I don't know and apparently neither did they. Trouble is all their engineers are running around Gloucester and Tewkesbury so it can't be looked into. Probably be sorted out the day after he's left to come back.


Away from the local news the government has finally cottoned on to the fact that the queues and crowds at airport terminals caused by the security restrictions might in themselves become terrorist targets. They want processing speeded up. I don't know whether to be worried over the fact that I spotted this ages ago or the fact that the government has only just done so themselves and then only because of the Glasgow attack (the equivalent of the idea dancing naked in front of you)

Let's face it with all the planes going out the chances of you being on one at the same time as a bomb are small, with any form of security in place then the chance is reduced even more so. Bombing the terminal you can hit all the people who would have been on the plane, plus those who would be on other planes, plus ground staff you wouldn't normally touch; and as terminals comprise only a small number (compared to planes) the risks of you being in a bombed terminal are that much greater.

So what's the solution? Well except speeding up processing (which could be done if they ditched the movie-plot scenarios) we might just to have to accept there's nothing else that can be done. Long term the solution is to create a culture/society where this sort of thing just simply does not happen and wouldn't even occur to anyone to try; don't hold your breath though.


Back to the floods and I hear one council is still sitting on money set aside for flood relief victims due to the lack of claimants. Ah yes I know this story well - a) allocate money for disaster relief; b) make sure no-one knows about it; c) if someone does manage to discover it make them fill in forms 971a, b, and c in triplicate attaching photos of the area before, during, and after the event in question all witnessed by a local notary; d) wonder why they've still got all that money.

Speaking of funds I'm sure we're all aware of the EU Solidarity Fund to which we need to submit our request within 10 weeks of the first damage, no doubt the government is getting all the paperwork together and will submit it sometime in November. Oops sorry apparently they're on the case; worth noting that apparently our previous two requests for other disasters were turned down.