Hypocrite

They are talking about reviving the canal that used to run through Swindon. Actually, this is something that has been tossed about for many years, but a feasability study appears to have been conducted, and a cost analysis. The canal would run from the end of Kingshill Road, along what is now Westcot Place, and into the town centre. Westcott Place is currently a road. Why do you care about this I hear you cry. You hate Swindon and you plan to leave right? Well yes, I do, but we live 100 m from where the canal currently ends at the bottom of Kingshill. The canal would have to cross Kinsgshill to reach Westcott Place. Here's the thing; Kingshill is not a great area. It's not foul, relative to some of Swindon, but the property prices are fairly low because Kingshill is a busy road. You have to ask the question, what will a canal on Kingshill do to property prices?

It all pivots around what they do with the traffic. They could simply put a bridge over the canal and send the same volume of traffic up Kingshill. We get a riverside property, but we still get the traffic. It's difficult to know what else they might do, since Kingshill is the only route between the residential area on the west side, and the town centre. There are other routes that could be used, but they aren't really currently viable. If however the canal is built and traffic is routed away from Kinshill, that would make our house potentially very valuable indeed. Which begs the question, do we sell it, or not?

The guy opposite me is eating dry rice crackers. It's driving me mad.

I just rang friend Pete. He's terribly excited because he passed his beginners Radio Am exam. That means he can get a short wave licence. I passed my full exam over 10 years ago, but I never used it for anything and I let it expire. I can get it renewed though I think. I'd kind of like to. It's old and tired technology, but it would be fun to play I think. Maybe I'll try and find my old validation document. It must be around somewhere.

Framemaker 8 is out and I'm downloading the trial version as we speak. I'm really quite excited about it. I know that sounds geeky, but tech writers all over the world will be feeling the same way. There really is no other option for the serious writer. I have so far downloaded 257 of 583MB. I'm waiting for the IT guy to accuse me of bringing down his network.

The BBC new website seems to be down. What's a guy supposed to do all afternoon when that happens?

Some nutters have tried to destroy a giant stone carving of a budhist deity in Pakistan. They drilled holes in the face of the figure, which dates back 1400 years, and filled it with dynamite. I really don't understand this. I don't believe in any God, but I wouldn't even dream of destroying an artefact like that. And it's nothing to do with respect for religious faith either, I wouldn't damage anything that old.

Above written yesterday (11 Oct), the rest written today...

Al Gore appears to have won the Nobel Peace prize. I think I'm going to turn mine down when they offer it to me. How can anyone argue that this idiot is working for "peace"? He's an environmentalist. That's over and above the fact that his "Inconvenient truth" party piece is badly researched and just plain wrong in some cases. The thing that really gets up my nose about Gore however is the facct that the guy is the world's worst hypocrite with a not very hidden personal agenda. Surely I'm not the only one that can see that am I? Actually I know I'm not. Read the Telegraph leader this morning, which came out before the prize was announced, though it has since been updated to reflect the fact that he did win.