Well, I have been so busy, since I got back from Germany, I have been so busy, that I have barely had any time to myself!!
Since I got back, I have been working closely with one of our newest clients, I have been on 3 training courses, along with balancing emails, phone calls, and personal responsibilities and that does not include the fun, social stuff!
It reminds me that with the festive season looming, that being busy is something that in previous years, I have just assumed I would need to manage, which has even resulted in me being stressed.
Of course that needn't have been the case. Had I given a little more thought to what really needed to be done, I could have got through many of the previous holidays with some sense of sanity still remaining! I believe we can sometimes to be our own worst enemy when it comes to the to-do list.
If you are anything like me, it just seems to grow and yet, sometimes, when I have something else that is far more important than anything on the list, I find when I go back, most of it was never that important anyway!!
I am just going through my to do list for the beginning of October, and it is really great to notice, that either someone else has got on with it, or it is no longer important - how liberating!!
For tips on how to minimise your to do list - give me a call now on 01252 783 524
In the meantime, I have a deadline to write our newest edition to our portfolio of courses - all about managing the Christmas Festivities, running on the 5th DEcember in Basingstoke.....
Friday 16 November 2007
Thursday 15 November 2007
Road Traffic Pricing
For those of you who have read some of my earlier blogs, my car is very important to me...and for those of you who are like minded, you will understand my ambivalent feelings towards the suggestions around Road Traffic Pricing.
I watched Dispatches on the television, where they investigated the hostility of the public to the various ways motorists are being targetted to raise funds, supposedly to improve public transport.
I have long had a problem with speed cameras on dual carriageways and motorways (which lets face it, tend to be reasonably straight and invariably pedestrian free), and I am stunned at how much we pay for fuel compared to other countries, and struggle with the whole proposals for additional charges, be it road traffic pricing or the charge per mile/timie being explored by insurance companies. Let me explain why.
During the 70's and 80's there was a trend of encouraging people to move to 'new towns' in rural areas, because of cheaper housing and to ease the population within inner cities. Then there was a whole move to encourage businesses into these rural areas by the lure of cheaper rents. Which then led to what we now see as out of town shopping centres and superstores, again encouraged by the cheaper sites.
Each of us began to flock to these areas (and lets be honest), driven by the savings we could make, as much as enjoying the experience we could get (modern, easy etc)
However, the infrastructure for these new towns, business and retail outlets, has never really developed at the same pace (lack of investment in the past, I guess) and it has resulted in the car becoming an essential part of living, working and shopping where we do.
It seems to me, that car drivers are being taxed in every way possible in order to supposedly pay for the improvements to the infrastructure.
I say supposedly, because the programme demonstrated that actually only a small percentage goes back into the transport system - interesting isn't it?
Even more interesting, and almost worryingly, is the fact that as there is such a backlash to the road traffic pricing, the Government has decided to 'encourage' local authorities to introduce their own versions of congestion charging or similar, in return for the funding they need for their infrastructure.
What this now means, is that each authority who introduces some sort of charging mechanism in their towns, will be just pacing the way for a national pricing scheme. This will then make it much easier for the Government to just 'adopt' a common strategy being employed up and down the country! Easy eh?
I have always known that money is the way Governments change our behaviour, and I guess that shows how fickle we really are.It's just hard to believe that 2007 we are still susceptible to being manipulated to do something, even when we are unhappy about it.
As someone who always seeks to understand another's point of view, I know that whilst road traffic pricing is one option - it is just that, one option.
What if we were to do nothing? Let traffic build up, allow us to sit in traffic jams, to become frustrated with the road system because guess what? We will suddenly find ourselves resolving our own problems of being caught up in traffic. We will begin to find different times to do our journeys, we will seek to use public transport more, we may even find ourselves being even more imaginative with the ways we lead our lives - who knows someone may even come up with a really good idea, something the British are fantastic at!
Do let me know your thoughts on this....what other ways could we manage congestion?
I watched Dispatches on the television, where they investigated the hostility of the public to the various ways motorists are being targetted to raise funds, supposedly to improve public transport.
I have long had a problem with speed cameras on dual carriageways and motorways (which lets face it, tend to be reasonably straight and invariably pedestrian free), and I am stunned at how much we pay for fuel compared to other countries, and struggle with the whole proposals for additional charges, be it road traffic pricing or the charge per mile/timie being explored by insurance companies. Let me explain why.
During the 70's and 80's there was a trend of encouraging people to move to 'new towns' in rural areas, because of cheaper housing and to ease the population within inner cities. Then there was a whole move to encourage businesses into these rural areas by the lure of cheaper rents. Which then led to what we now see as out of town shopping centres and superstores, again encouraged by the cheaper sites.
Each of us began to flock to these areas (and lets be honest), driven by the savings we could make, as much as enjoying the experience we could get (modern, easy etc)
However, the infrastructure for these new towns, business and retail outlets, has never really developed at the same pace (lack of investment in the past, I guess) and it has resulted in the car becoming an essential part of living, working and shopping where we do.
It seems to me, that car drivers are being taxed in every way possible in order to supposedly pay for the improvements to the infrastructure.
I say supposedly, because the programme demonstrated that actually only a small percentage goes back into the transport system - interesting isn't it?
Even more interesting, and almost worryingly, is the fact that as there is such a backlash to the road traffic pricing, the Government has decided to 'encourage' local authorities to introduce their own versions of congestion charging or similar, in return for the funding they need for their infrastructure.
What this now means, is that each authority who introduces some sort of charging mechanism in their towns, will be just pacing the way for a national pricing scheme. This will then make it much easier for the Government to just 'adopt' a common strategy being employed up and down the country! Easy eh?
I have always known that money is the way Governments change our behaviour, and I guess that shows how fickle we really are.It's just hard to believe that 2007 we are still susceptible to being manipulated to do something, even when we are unhappy about it.
As someone who always seeks to understand another's point of view, I know that whilst road traffic pricing is one option - it is just that, one option.
What if we were to do nothing? Let traffic build up, allow us to sit in traffic jams, to become frustrated with the road system because guess what? We will suddenly find ourselves resolving our own problems of being caught up in traffic. We will begin to find different times to do our journeys, we will seek to use public transport more, we may even find ourselves being even more imaginative with the ways we lead our lives - who knows someone may even come up with a really good idea, something the British are fantastic at!
Do let me know your thoughts on this....what other ways could we manage congestion?
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