Members of Parliment

Not content with exorbitant expenses, second homes funded by us the taxpayer, the 'John Lewis' list, the awarding of their own pay rises and 76 days of holiday over the Summer, it appears that we are funding the drinking habits of said representatives.

If they do not know the price of a pint, how can they honestly know what is best for the individual, families or the population as a whole?

Why are we paying for their alcohol consumption? Somebody tell me!

Changing tyres of the motorway.

When I had my blowout a few days, Mr AA man said that one should never change a tyre on the hard shoulder of a motorway. He knew of AA men and AA 'customers' who had died whilst trying to do so.

On the M1 today, there was a van on the hard shoulder with the drivers side rear tyre being changed. Along with the person levering up the van (less than a yard from articulated lorries doing fifty to sixty speeding by) there was five, yes five, men standing and watching the tyre changer's efforts. Do people not have any sense?

Further on, there was Mr RAC man doing the same on another vehicle.

Beggars belief!

The advice is simple. You have a blow out on the motorway, get the services to tow you to the next services and then change the wheel.

Otherwise you are a statistic waiting to happen.

Blow outs and Speeding

Had a blow out at 80 mph in the fast lane of the M6 yesterday. I'm OK and back home, tyre ripped to shreds!

Got to thinking in the ten minutes or so as I stood on the hard shoulder of the motorway. The speed of the vehicles was so fast! You do not realize it when you are sitting in solitude listening to Darkness on the Edge of Town doing seventy plus. but you do when you are standing by the roadside watching the lorries go past you creating blasts of air that make standing difficult.

Talking of speeding, just got the six points that I did have on my license removed. The government's argument has always been that speed kills so must impose limits on todays roads. However, if the government were so concerned about death and destruction as the result of speed, why do they allow cars on the roads that can do more than 70 mph? On my car, I can do 100 mph comfortably (but don't tell the Boss*).

Surely, if speed kills then cars that can go seventy plus should be banned at source, Top Gear should never again mention high performance cars and James Bond should ride in a Peugeot 106 to set a good example.

But I can't see that happening, can you? Would not be anything to do with the small matter of tax would it?

* Boss as in work boss, NOT The Boss

Another Springsteen gig. What a shame!

Another great gig by the Boss on 14th June last! Me, the kids and a reprobate from Caxton went. We sat at the back and the Boss and the boys were small but that did not matter. We were there again. The concert was great, the surprises many and the beer expensive!

All of that did not matter as this was another Springsteen gig and another time when the Boss made me laugh, made me cry but ultimately made me happy.

When going to the gig we all put £1 in the kitty to see if we could name the first song.
I had 'Land of Hope and Dreams', My daughters had 'Murder Inc' and 'Badlands', my son had 'Prove it all Night' and the reprobate from Caxton had 'No Surrender'. We all lost!

Who would have thought that he would have played a song that he gave to a Welshman many years ago? Only those who are far too anal about Bruce and that ain't me!

The drive home was long...all seven hours of it!

But it was worth it, boy was it worth it!

From www.brucespringsteen.net

From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come) { lyrics } Tour Premiere
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out { lyrics }
Radio Nowhere { lyrics }
No Surrender { lyrics }
Lonesome Day { lyrics }
The Promised Land { lyrics }
Blinded By The Light { lyrics }
Magic { lyrics }
Atlantic City { lyrics }
The River { lyrics }
Gypsy Biker { lyrics }
Darlington County { lyrics }
Because The Night { lyrics }
She's The One { lyrics }
Livin' In The Future { lyrics }
Mary's Place { lyrics }
Working On The Highway { lyrics }
Devil's Arcade { lyrics }
The Rising { lyrics }
Last To Die { lyrics }
Long Walk Home { lyrics }
Badlands { lyrics }

Jungleland { lyrics }
Thunder Road { lyrics }
Born To Run { lyrics }
Rosalita { lyrics }
American Land { lyrics }

Death to the Congestion Charge

Readers will know that I have expressed a view about the unfairness of the Cambridge Congestion Charge and the way that it is linked to a governement grant.

I would like to think that I had a small part in the council's U turn about this. From arguing with the councils representatives at the local shopping centre to highlighting the stupidity of the charge on here, I did my bit. Never underestimate the power of the little guy!

And know, some of the locals did lot more.

Read more here and here!

In your best Victor Meldrew voice please...

...I simply do not believe it!

GCSE exams give you credit for being rude!

How?
If the candidate who is taking an English exam writes a 'fuck off', he/she gets 7.5%. More if they were to capitalise the first word and if they added an exclamation mark

Honest!!!

Read about it here!

Slough - the new Warsaw

The Sun proudly announced that its Polish edition was most successful in Slough, Berkshire of all places

Slough, the home of Werner Hogg, Eton College & the Mars Bar.

What chance Eton has put Polish on it's curriculum? Or that the Queen has taken on a traunch of our brothers from Poland to do her plumbing?