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Nottingham – City of Road Works

20/08/2015

For some years now, driving in Nottingham has been a nightmare. Apart from the tram (three years and counting), we’ve had gas main replacements (still on-going), and electricity cable replacements – both running concurrently (and in the same places) as the tram works).

We’ve also had sundry extended closures and diversions for Severn Trent to play The Little Dutch Boy as it tries to stem the myriad leaks in its pipework, and for builders to install service pipes and cabling to the numerous areas of greenbelt the Council has granted planning permission to build on.

On top of all this, the Council was recently awarded a grant from the EU for supposed “improvements” to the ring road, and a further grant to do something similar in the so-called “cultural zone” around Sneinton and St Ann’s. There was a condition attached that the money had to be spent by a certain time, so the Council commenced everything almost immediately. One area currently acting as a major bottleneck is the Crown Island.

Let me stress that the work on Crown Island is absolutely and completely a part of the Council’s “ring road improvements” scheme. The roundabout is currently cut from four lanes to two, so you can imagine the queues that form even when it is relatively quiet.

So it comes as a surprise to learn today that an event at Wollaton Park – some half-assed attempt to break the world record for the number of people dressed as “superheroes” all in one place – led to traffic jams. The Council’s official response (5.20pm) via the BBC was:

Nottingham City Council has apologised to people caught up in traffic around Wollaton Park earlier as thousands descended on its Superhero Picnic.

Councillor Dave Trimble said the support “far exceeded our expectations”.

“Given the high numbers of people who have attended this free event today, we have offered advice about possible alternative routes home. We are aware that motorists were caught up earlier in queues and we’re sorry if their journeys were affected,” he said.

I’m sorry to use this sort of language, but there is only one word that comes to mind here: wanker. He and the other halfwits at the City Council have created a major, long-term traffic bottleneck at the Crown Island to add to all the other bottlenecks they have on the go at the moment. What they then did was to arrange a pathetic, childish event at Wollaton Park – less than a mile away from the roundabout in question – which they failed to organise or police properly. As a result, it was chaos. An earlier BBC report (around 4.40pm) says:

Congestion is building around Wollaton Park again, with slow traffic on A6514 Middleton Boulevard at the Crown Island and on the A52 in both directions between the QMC and Priory Islands.

Earlier there was a Superhero Picnic event at the park which caused traffic to come to a standstill nearby.

They should not be arranging such events while such major road works are in place. Even worse, this one was the equivalent of one of those house parties you hear about where some prat announces it on Facebook, and a load of gate crashers turn up. An even earlier BBC report (2pm) states:

Some families heading to Wollaton Park’s Superhero Picnic say they have been forced to turn back because of traffic chaos in the area…
[A woman attending said] “We set off from Arnold at about 10:30 and got to the Wollaton pub at 11:35, ten minutes later we turned around because the traffic wasn’t moving.

“Both children were crying because they were so fed up… we saw others walking away from the picnic too,” she said.

Motorists were going crazy (1pm):

On top of that, buses were seriously delayed due to the gridlock. At 12.30pm congestion extended along the A52, A609, and Bramcote Lane.

But the beauty of all this is that – in the same news feed – the BBC reports that:

Managers and owners of businesses near Nottingham’s Crown Island say they’ve lost tens of thousands of pounds each because ongoing roadworks have caused access problems.

Landlord, Sarah Tutin from the Crown Hotel pub, said: “We’re a small business and we’re just being wiped out. We are at rock bottom now.”

So the Council incompetently decided to arrange an event involving 10,000 visitors to Wollaton Park, just off the island.

And here’s the punch line:

Nottingham City Council said the works are by the utility companies and their on-site engineers are in regular contact with the businesses to address any concerns.

Remember that word I used earlier? This just proves it. They are also liars – the Crown Island mess is THEIR mess, THEY created it. It is THEIR project. It is part of the ring road “improvements”. They’re also cowards – they can’t blame the utility companies, who would have to get permission from the Council anyway to carry out work of this magnitude.

For what it’s worth, I got stuck in it at Dunkirk at about 4.30pm as I was driving to a lesson.

The Original Batgirl Dies, Aged 78

19/08/2015

DOAADI

Movies & TV

And another past hero(ine) of mine is consigned to history’s graveyard. Yvonne Craig, who played the original Batgirl in the 1960s series, has died of breast cancer at the age of 78.

She appeared in the third season of that series (1966) in an attempt to manage falling viewer ratings. She also appeared in the third series of Star Trek (1969) as the green woman (who I think also appears on the closing credits of that show).

She appeared with Elvis Presley in two of his films in the early 60s.

She also had roles in episodes of other shows I remember such as The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Land of the Giants, and The Ghost and Mrs Muir.

2015 has seen the demise of a lot of these well-remembered icons.

Despatch Goes Blog

19/08/2015

DOAADI

ADI, DVSA, News

For some years, DVSA used to send out a periodical magazine called Despatch. I seem to recall that it was originally a paper magazine, then it went online as an 3-monthly e-zine with a much reduced (and ever-decreasing) content. The last time they published it was July 2013. Until I looked that up I had no idea it had been so long.

Anyway, an email alert from DVSA reports that Despatch is back in blog form.You can access it here.

I used to enjoy reading Despatch, though I have to say that towards the end it didn’t actually have much in it, and the news was always out of date because DVSA had sent out email alerts during the previous 3 months. I’m not sure how it will turn out now, but theoretically it can be 100% up-to-date.

One thing I’m not sure DVSA has thought through properly is the comments. At the moment there are only two stories – and three comments, in which you can already sense “an edge”. Once the real gutter trash gets wind of it… well, let’s wait and see.

Aaaaand there it goes! Just 24 hours later and we have plenty more comments – most of them from instructors centred on complaining about waiting times (even though the topic they’re commenting on is actually about how DVSA wants to address that), and “unfair” examiners.

A member of the public writes:

Georgina Covell — 18/08/2015

I agree they need the right people but this isn’t helping my son who needs his licence by the end of the month for a job application to progress

You have to wonder at the mentality of some people. You really do.

I wonder how long before DVSA makes their blog read-only? Negative comments like these detract from it’s usefulness.

Interpreter On Driving Test

18/08/2015

DOAADI

ADI, Bad Drivers, Driving Tests, DVSA

Completely rewritten in August 2015 due to further hits. Original article from 2010, and updated in 2012.

In late 2011 it was announced that there were plans to scrap tests where candidates cannot speak English. From 7 April 2014 this came into effect, and it is now no longer possible to have an interpreter on the Theory Test, nor will there be the provision of voiceovers. Tests will have to be conducted in plain English (or Welsh, or British Sign Language). Interpreters are also no longer allowed on the Practical Test.

I get quite a few hits on the search term “dsa [or dvsa] changes to interpreter” or something similar. I also get quite a few hits from people searching for information about having an interpreter with them on their driving test.

Note that at the time of writing, in Northern Ireland, it IS still possible to use an interpreter, and voiceovers in multiple languages are still provided on the Theory Test. In the UK mainland, you cannot.

My main concern over translated tests has always been the elevated risk of cheating. I know this is a taboo subject, but like it or not those people most likely to want to use an interpreter are frequently the ones most desperate to get a driving licence – whatever it takes. Interpreters tended to come from within their own communities and many of them created lucrative businesses out of it. Unfortunately, for cultural reasons which are even more taboo, fraud and deception easily crept in.

Don’t shoot me (especially that crazy woman from Manchester). I’m just the messenger. Those linguistic options have been removed is for precisely the reasons I have given. The government spokesman said:

It will also help us to reduce the risk of fraud by stopping interpreters from indicating the correct answers to theory test questions.

You wouldn’t believe how often I get people coming to the blog on the search term “how to bribe driving examiner”. Cheating and fraud is only held in check by how much money those assisting in it are prepared to charge for it.

As I’ve mentioned in another article, I once had a Chinese girl who spoke very little English. One time she didn’t see a 30mph limit sign because – as she explained to me herself (and it took a lot of effort to get it out of her with the language problems) – when she panicked she “only saw things only in Chinese!” That’s obviously a major problem, and it would apply to anyone who didn’t speak English – and more so to those whose first language doesn’t use the Western alphabet.

How do I become an official DSA [DVSA] interpreter?

Someone found the blog on that exact term. You can’t be an official DVSA interpreter, because there’s no such thing. There never was.

Grinning Dog

17/08/2015

DOAADI

Funny

This gave me a chuckle when I saw it today in The Sun. Yes, yes. I know. But we’d run out of Andrex.

Stephen Lewis Dies, Aged 88

14/08/2015

DOAADI

Movies & TV

Sad news today that Stephen Lewis – the actor who played Blakey in On The Buses – has died at the age of 88.

On The Buses was another show I grew up with and it was incredibly popular when I was at school. Stephen Lewis was one of the reasons why.

They don’t make them like that anymore.

A Test Fail Caught in Time

09/08/2015

DOAADI

ADI, Computers & Tech

I mentioned recently how I had bought a GPS tracker/logger so that I know where my car is when it is out on test.

I had a pupil fail (for the third time) recently. He’s a good driver, but he does something different (and dumb) each time, and ends up with only two or three faults… plus a serious. His serious fault on his last test was for speeding.

He was on a 30mph dual carriageway approaching a speed camera. He’d missed the speed limit sign (as it happens, one of Nottingham City Council’s recent and irritating changes) and decided that it must be 40mph because everyone else was going faster than him!

The graph above, edited out of the speed data I logged, shows the exact moment he failed. You can see how he is accelerating sharply above 30mph, with no sign of easing off as he approaches 40mph. The examiner knew the camera was there and had to use the dual controls – his speed suddenly drops to just below 30mph as she did so.

For something not much bigger than a matchbox, this logger is proving to be very useful.

Windows 10 and Live Writer

08/08/2015

DOAADI

Computers & Tech

I use Windows Live Writer (WLW) as my blog editor and – with the benefit of hindsight, which I didn’t have last night – it stopped working at pretty much the exact same time that Outlook decided it didn’t like me and told me I couldn’t access my .pst files anymore.

Then, this afternoon, it suddenly hit me after I read the error message properly. It was another “access denied” problem, and the target file path was given in full in the message.

The cure is exactly the same as the one for Outlook. Navigate to the folder WLW is trying to write to, right-click it, click Properties, click Security tab, click Edit… select the Home Users group, and make sure the Full Access option is ticked.

Click OK to exit all the dialog boxes, restart WLW, and it should work.

Incidentally, I checked all the folders in my “Users” folder and all of them had been set so that access could have been denied if any program had attempted to write to them. I suggest you go through the same routine outlined above for all sub-folders inside your “Users” folder.

Windows Live Writer works fairly well with Windows 10, though it does have an annoying problem with the cursor not wanting to stay where you drop it with the mouse.

Windows 10 and Outlook Permissions

08/08/2015

DOAADI

Computers & Tech

Here’s another problem you’ll probably encounter in Windows 10. For no apparent reason, Outlook throws up a message that you do not have permission to access your .pst file.

I’m not aware of changing anything – I just rebooted and Bam! Outlook didn’t work anymore.

The solution is simple. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the file specified in the error dialog. Right-click it, and select Properties.

Click the Security tab, then click the Edit… button. Click on the Home Users group and put a tick in the Full Control checkbox. Click OK to close the Edit… window, then OK again to close the Security dialog. Click OK to close the original error dialog.

Outlook should work properly now.

Note that you must do this for ALL the .pst files if you want to send from different accounts. All of them are likely to deny access until you give full control.

Windows 10 and Desktop Layout

07/08/2015

DOAADI

Computers & Tech

WARNING: The program called Task Layout was recently updated (early 2016) and the ZIP file contains a virus (Bitdefender alerted me). The authors – System Goods – did not see fit to reply to my request to confirm whether or not this was a false positive, so I have to assume that they know it contains a virus. A decent company would fall out of its tree if someone reported such a thing to them.

Do not install it under any circumstances. I have removed the old version from my machine.

Aaaand another thing… Windows 10 installs updates and reboots without much warning. Unlike Windows 7 (which wasn’t very good at this anyway) Windows 10 makes no attempt whatsoever to restore your desktop open apps to anything like what they were before the reboot.

While I was looking for a way of saving my icon layout I came across a small application which saves your desktop layout so – at the click of a button – you can open all the programs you use regularly in one go.

It’s called ~~TaskLayout~~ and it doesn’t have to be installed. It doesn’t even have a presence you can show other than an icon in the system tray. You have to right-click that icon and choose either Save Layout or Open Layout. It’s as simple as that.

It isn’t free, like ReIcon (the icon layout program), but it is very effective.

NOTE THE ABOVE VIRUS WARNING – DO NOT INSTALL THIS PROGRAM.