Coombe Barton

... Hopefully entropy has been reduced and more order restored ... https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/03/27/microsorting-single-points-of-failure-maybe-one-of-them-will-listen/

... I know Bozo was once their leader, but it seems that bozoism exists at all levels. ... https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/03/26/visit-to-apple-afternoon-spent-updating-transferring-systems-lies-damned-lies-and-politics/

Try iron (the element) for regional differences

Not in the UK, well, England at least. They both have the same phonetic structure - weɪlz - that's according the the OED.

... among other things, found A business card with the address of grandad’s sweetshop and tobacconist shop thereon. He had it post WWI to WWII. I still have some of the dishes used to display sweets and a postcard greeting sent to all serving men at Christmas 1914 from King George V and Queen Mary. amid several hundred photos and postcards. Am now making plans to get all this into an archive ... https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/03/25/respiratory-infection-rates-finding-artefacts-of-family-history-lady-day/

Challenge - you do it better. Forecasts about anything are not guaranteed.

If there are any drivers - there may not be.

... Domestics today – washing, cleaning, getting rid of detritus, sorting what I’ve just dumped into some sort of order. Safe places are being rediscovered. The things there are being put into other safe places. This is rinse and repeat for a future session. ... https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/03/24/covid-different-data-different-inferences-that-which-was-hidden-is-being-rediscovered-palm-sunday/

No mention of gender and who does the shopping. The decision makers are not, from long term observation, predominantly male.

I really don't think that ERs form a representative sample of the general population - age, gender, ethnicity, interests are rather specific here.

And the data for this assertion?

... I really am turning into them (my grandparents). Sort of. However they’d probably disown me for my politics. ... https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/03/23/covid-people-in-hospital-not-going-down-elevenses-camp-coffee-and-images-of-repression-there-is-more-floor/

I use self scanning because it saves multiple handling - only once shelf to bag rather then shelf to trolley - trolley to belt - cashier transfer - checkout to bag. I know that there are fewer staff but supermarkets can't get staff, anyway. Top three searches from the BBC website say that M&S, Tesco and Sainsbury's have increased pay in the battle to get staff. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67883985 - Sainsbury's 9% increase fro mMarch https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68477307 - Tesco The hourly pay rate for store workers will rise from £11.02 to £12.02 in April, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68404573 - M&S - (currently £10.90 per hour - It will increase minimum pay for workers outside of London to £12 per hour, I do not see that refusing to use the technology when offered is helping anyone.

Slough used to have this sort of scheme - if you travelled at 25mph

... Today has been getting admin done, correcting someone else’s cockups and getting assessments out. Praise be for mailmerge. ... https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/03/22/covid-age-effects-were-not-in-the-anthropocene-and-would-have-been-our-ruby-minus-one-anniversary/

No, blue worsted stockings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worsted#:~:text=Worsted (%2Fˈwɜːrs,the English county of Norfolk.

I think you're assuming in roadworks that there is planning and not panic.

I did. Got precisely nowhere. Documenting everything.

From what I also remember from my youth 'bluestocking' was a mild insult against clever women. I now know that it was a term of jealousy - inevitably people using the term meant "cleverer than me and I don't like it."

Blue Stockings The Blue Stockings Society was an informal women's social and educational movement in England in the mid-18th century that emphasised education and mutual cooperation. It was founded in the early 1750s by Elizabeth Montagu, Elizabeth Vesey and others as a literary discussion group, a step away from traditional, non-intellectual women's activities. Both men and women were invited to attend, including the botanist, translator and publisher Benjamin Stillingfleet, who, due to his financial standing, did not dress for the occasion as formally as was customary and deemed "proper," in consequence appearing in everyday blue worsted stockings. The society gave rise to the term "bluestocking," which referred to the informal quality of the gatherings and the emphasis on conversation rather than on fashion, and, by the 1770s, came to describe learned women in general. Cue Bear in blue stockings - oh, perhaps not ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Stockings_Society

... I met a colleague who I haven't seen for some time on the way in this morning. Among other things he asked if I was going to miss it (after retirement). My answer is "Yes, but ..." ... https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/03/21/covid-stable-flu-up-pandemic-effects-on-kids-and-a-couple-of-weeks-annual-leave/

... On travel, it’s the season for end of budgets, which manifests itself in roadworks with temporary traffic lights. ... https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/03/20/covid-figures-tomorrow-boris-and-a-hedge-fund-what-do-i-do-with-students/

... The view from the end of the corridor outside my office – spring comes to Eastside Park. ... https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/03/19/long-covid-does-it-exist-ai-use-is-getting-them-summoned-for-vivas-another-radio-mention/

Not a PAT demand?

I'm waiting until he sets up a Just Giving page and then I'd encourage everyone to give him a penny, or a cent, and then see what the receipt processing costs are - wouldn't take much to exceed his net worth.