Back to work again and one thing that means is … being exposed to Bristol traffic.
It’s not a long trip into work (5 miles by the preferred route) but it can really bug ya. I have a few options as to what route I take in but they all have a few things in common :
Choke points.
You have your choke point on the roundabout that goes to the motorway (I go the other way). When that blocks, the traffic files back quite a distance. There’s the choke point by the station which is caused by all the morons who rat run. That makes the traffic back up to another roundabout. And finally, there’s the choke point on the roundabout by work. Gotta admit, smart sequencing of the lights means the last choke point isn’t so bad.
What does make me swear in frustration though is that the choke points don’t get identified properly … Traffic will form at one point but it’s being caused by inadequate roads a little further down the road. The planners we have around here don’t seem to recognise that. They’ll make changes in one place that will get made irrelevant by what happens 400 yards down the road. Like changes to the roundabout that goes to the motorway – the choke isn’t there, it’s in the next roundabout.
Traffic lights. That’s what causes it. There’s one of those crazy theories that says that traffic must stop at lights instead of going straight through. Bit of explanation there … You get your green, you accelerate up to cruise at the speed limit and as you’re coming towards the next lights, they’ll start to turn red. It’s not a luck thing, it’s planned through timed sequences.
That’s the crazy theory. All that stop start isn’t good for keeping the traffic moving, to say nothing of making Green People bite their nails with the inefficiency of slowing down and speeding up.
(Muahaha – betcha never expected to see me pulling out the Green Eco friendly argument !)
So we see the roads being “improved” around here, good in theory but rubbish in practice because they target the wrong place to “improve” or they just plain get the plans wrong. One other not so crazy theory is that traffic planners don’t drive.
And I haven’t even started on the drivers !
Yellow hatched boxes are there for a reason. I think. Aren’t they parking places ? They seem to be …
Muppets.
Gotta do another admission there, I think I need to get that Xbox 360 so I can play Forza 3 to exorcise some of my own Demon Horned Driver Syndrome 🙂 What can I say ? I like driving fast 🙂 Or rather, I like going round corners way too quick.
More rant ! Darn election campaign. There’s other stuff going on in the world people … Although yet another admission there is that I’m currently watching the leaders debate seeing if one of the party leaders will earn my vote. And after 10 minutes, one of them definitely is earning a vote. Who is it ? Can’t tell you. Muahaha ! We’ll see who wins come the election.
Work is another thing that’s causing the stress thing at the moment. We’re currently figuring out the optimal way of managing things, which involves coordinating the efforts of a number of different organisations is various places around the country. A thinning budget means we can’t do all the travel we’d like to do. There’s no substitute for having eyes on the ground when it comes to saying if a product is up to the quality expected.
Wait. That’s not quite right. By having quality people embedded in those locations, you can substitute their eyes for your’s. Just gotta trust them to know what to look at. Which we do ! They’re a good bunch of people and they give us the confidence to know that they’re keeping a sharp eye out for us.
However, it’s still better to look someone in the eye when you’re talking to them instead of hearing crackly voice on the spiderphone. Work’s going fine at the moment. We’ve got flexible enough management that they trust us to solve our own problems, without solutions being imposed from above. Figuring out how to work within the limits causes a bit of headscratch but it’s nothing we can’t handle.
It’s a challenge, challenges make life worth living.
Oh – work also gets me around some wonderful people, including people like the Snow Queen and Sunshine. Even better now in my new desk is that I get a grin from them on their way past – previously I’d have my back to where everyone walks by. There’s also the Rose with her quiet authority, the Dodgem Demon and her eternal sense of fun. Curious to see if the Princess will ever let her guard down, seen a few chinks in that armour but it always goes up again quickly.
Cos my role has changed, I won’t see as much of the Angel and Lady P as before but they’re another pair who can really brighten up the day with a big grin. And finally the Little Canteen Girl who has a gifted touch with those teacakes.
Bacon sarnie day tomorrow ! Always good to finish a post on something to look forward to.