These three musings aren't connected at all, I'm just making copy aren't I?

 I want clean white buildings, houses and apartments between parks and allotments in safe and clean cities, cool in the hot sun, linked together by tram systems, with space for people with hobbies and families, rivers flowing through the parks that you can swim in, fulfilling and productive work for everyone, a culture of learning, reading and self improvement, fast trains to the mountains and the seaside, free healthcare, secularism, and democracy. What I don't want is greed, change inflicted by vanity, endless urban sprawl choked with traffic, the mediocre vernacular, people being picked on, and how we aspire to be wealthy and helpless, and how bigotry is OK if you've got a religion, and how social class matters more then being talented or nice. What I don't want is what we've got and where we're heading. Would you rather live in Vienna or Detroit? And it's all a race to the bottom of a mediocrity funnel. Which I imagine looks a lot like the sink hole at the Ladybower Reservoir. But I think the biggest change in Britain, the biggest loss in the last 25 years is its sense of humour.

And the ability to be totally helpless at something and try to turn this into some sort of demented boast. I drove to work today to put the car into the garage up the road from work for a minor fault fixing. First time in 5 months I think, it took 30 minutes and cycling takes 15, QED. Out came the Brompton for the last part of the journey, I unfolded it indoors. A bloke in the waiting room asked me about it, my reply was that it saves loads of time, especially when you go by train. 'I prefer to get a taxi' he said, I replied that taxis are great when you arrive at a station that's got them, otherwise any sort of bike is great for the last mile. His reply was '200 yards on a bike is too much for me'. He was in his 30s, not got anything wrong with him, physically fit, but seemed to take pride in it.

As well as being proud of being helpless, people are becoming proud of being incomprehensible  Good example of reasonable communication on the Tube this morning ' mind the gap', 'we're being held at a red signal and will be moving in a couple of minutes', 'please let passengers off first', 'please move right down the carriages'. By comparison, waffle on mainlines is the order of the day.  Mind numbing waffle. It's widely known as  Railspeak. The railspeak was so bad on my Monday Morning EMT train that the conductor sounded deranged, and it's worrying that someone who sounds like should be out in charge of a high speed train. .we've had the whole bingo card 'arriving into', 'personal baggage', 'customers are reminded that', 'travelling on this journey', 'travel documents', 'standard class accomodation' and we just had, no kidding: 'Customers alighting at the next calling point please be aware that there is a low platform facility, and take care stepping to the platform edge'. That's a whole five scoops of hilarious demented railspeak with hot fudge and chopped nuts with a cherry on top right there.