grumpy_git

There are big differences between road and rail. A car can divert easily - our rail system is so tightly scheduled (as someone else said) that this is very difficult for trains. (The reason behind this is because in the 1960s a lot of secondary lines were shut, thus leaving no easy diversion in most cases - and since then there has been huge growth in passenger numbers). Whilst, perhaps, police etc can work around a car accident scene with cones around, the same doesn't hold on the railways - the whole line has to be shut. I know a fair few rail staff, and quite a few drivers who never return to the industry again. As for lack of information, yes it can be frustrating - however, the staff are unlikely to know when the service will resume, so don't want to give duff information. For example, if you had a teacher asking you when you would fix a projector and you were waiting on a part you had no idea when it'd arrive, would you give her an estimate or would you explain that you weren't sure? On another note, the jumper often isn't killed instantly - when the paramedics arrive they may still be alive, and indeed in many cases the person can be saved. Until the police, ambulance etc have finished, the line must remain closed - the simple reason being that only rail staff are permitted to be on the track on a live railway, for obvious reasons. Then, to re-open, there are set procedures - not to mention repairs of things which may have been damaged in the incident. And, once the line is re-opened, the signalman is left with a huge mess to contend with. Trains in the wrong place, drivers in the wrong place. Drivers need breaks at defined intervals, which must be adhered to if at all possible.

A closer-to-home method of recycling (assuming the cables themselves are alright) might be to make them into patch leads. We've done this with odd bits of cable which otherwise would have been thrown out.

I have a huge Acer laptop which I took to uni, but never bothered taking to lectures - purely because of the size. However at Christmas was given one of those nice wee netbooks, which I take now - though I'll admit I can and sometimes do live without it, it can be nice occasionally to look up last week's slides, or perhaps check something on the 'net if I don't follow. Our new lecture theatres have one socket each, older ones and seminar rooms have about two sockets per room.

Also reminded of the differences during the year. It's currently Festival time in Edinburgh so we're infested with tourists... so guess what? Everything costs five times as much!

I don't drink alcohol, but the price of soft drinks can be bad enough sometimes! Considering they use syrup and dilute it with carbonated water, which must cost 5p a pint or smoething? Went in a pub which was selling that for £2.80... no thanks!

Edinburgh - well, it was before they decided we needed a tramline and dug the whole city centre up .

I don't know, there are some places when public transport is very good and even better than driving - e.g. when it is frequent, reliable, clean and cheap. However I have previously stated my journey to work - 2 hour + public transport vs 35 minute car journey, no-brainer. What the Government really ought to be doing is sorting out public transport, getting rid of cowboys such as FirstGroup and National Express, and providing a service good enough such that motorists will naturally come to use it out of genuine choice.

Will the street views of Gainsborough and Scunthorpe include the local neds chucking bricks at the streetview car ?

It's people like that who are behind the stupid number of rules, reply-slips, parental consent etc etc etc forms which exist today. Your son acted like a pillock - live with it. Be glad you're not going to be invoiced by the NHS!

We attempt to have someone in the office all the time, which isn't too much of an issue as there is usually someone in there anyway. They can also call the office, radio us (in emergencies) or email a list which sends it to all of us. (Though some staff still email it to their 'favourite' technician, which generally means it takes far longer to get resolved).

Congratulations! We have single status here, supposedly, although the school tend to save money by giving them a different name to what they actually do, hence costing less.

We do filters every year at least during the summer, the exception is woodwork / chemistry rooms which kick up lots of dust and other assorted crap, and thus get done each term.

Would Turps or similar cause damage to the surface? Why wasn't it covered with a dust sheet?! I would hope the site manager deducts cleaning costs from the bill...

Exactly - suspension is a neutral act. If people *weren't* suspended, there could be further allegations regarding tampering with evidence or attempting to coerce witnesses, for starters. Surely it will be noticed, anonymous or not, when a member of staff suddenly stops coming to school? We have one who has been off for 6 months now, and no formal announcement has ever been made - after a week or so people started noticing, and all sorts of rumours began to spread. Though, I'm not sure that saying "X has been suspended from duty UFN" would have quashed many of them.

Pretty stupid - I don't know who is telling them? Think of all the visitors to a school site, as elsiegee40 points out. They're always accompanied if they're going about site. Often we have external speakers in to speak to students - I don't know if they're CRB checked or not but they're always accompanied and in a hall with a huge number of students and staff to. Isn't there a new "ISA" database coming in in September - which, apparently, the employee has to pay £60 to register for? Obviously a system designed by someone who thinks £60 is, to borrow a phrase from Boris Johnson, "chicken feed".

I have a *horrible* habit of doing that ! Usually involves work during the holidays where you can be all over site - eg working at one end of school, then called away because a delivery is here or an electrician has arrived - and then after that distraction going and doing something else... b*gger, where did I leave the screwdrivers?!

When at school, usually just bunch of keys, radio, multi-tool thing. However if I'm going out to a specific call, I'll take appropriate things. Occasionally when I go out trouble-shooting in the IT rooms (trying to fix things before they break) the pockets magically expand to fit all sorts - network cables, mice, screwdrivers, compressed air cans, dusters, glass spray, cable ties...

Same here - but the LA keep a register of people for short-term work (not just in IT but in other areas - for example there's a science technician who comes in when it's practical exam time, a receptionist who covers if the usual lady is off sick etc). Obviously, things may be different in other areas.

Re: teachers, what seems to have happened here is a couple who wanted to go part time have been allowed to do so, and leavers have been 'creatively' replaced by shuffling teachers through different departments to balance the staffing up. Support staff recently who leave seem to be replaced with people doing less hours, and I've had my hours cut down to practically nothing. IMO, the author of this report ought to spend a day working in a school and see what it's like. In IT, we're always busy and never have enough time to even start thinking about all the preventative stuff we could be doing; the admin ladies and property staff are similar. Overtime is like gold-dust. On the other hand, so much money is wasted on useless pap which is nowhere near value for money. We've shelled out £30,000 on a glitzy VLE, which is used no more than a glorified shared area and does nothing we couldn't do before. They bought in a guy to do a "pre-ofsted" inspection at about £800 per day. Thousands of pounds were spent "upgrading" toilets, which have fallen back to being as bad as they were since they don't want to pay for proper cleaners. And a small fortune is being spent on cabling contractors to run stuff we could do ourselves for far less if only they could be bothered to pay for the staffing to do it with... The phrase "fur coat but no knickers" comes to mind!

Do your Council/local authority have a "supply & relief" service? Basically a list of people who are on the payroll and live within the area - CRB checked and all - who work "as required" go into schools to cover for sickness/absence, or for extra workloads. Not sure about the cost - such staff here basically get minimum wage and no rights (I'd know, I am one!). Alternatively do you have any reliable 6th formers who might be after a bit of work over the summer? This is how I ended up joining!

How about the "comments" feature of MS Word? That's what our IT teachers do for coursework etc.

Our library was refitted last year; it has a class set of computers, but all the books etc too. Hence, kids are taught how to refer to books alongside bashing something into Google. We have two librarians who oversee bookings etc and ensure that the teachers don't simply use it as another IT room. It's also "open access", kids can go in at break or lunch and work quietly or browse books.

I'm on a train which has been held up owing to a lightening strike frying the signaling system - fun .

The RMT claim that it's not his fault, as the Victoria line does not have a particular safety system in place (which prevents doors from being opened on the wrong side). It wants such a system to be installed imminently (and fails to recognise that that's what is happening, as new trains are being brought in). The opening the doors on the wrong side of the train wouldn't have been a problem had he not immediately shut them, continued on his merry way and pretended it didn't happen (contrary to the procedures).

I thought only certain jobs had to be advertised - there are times when owing to the nature of the post it makes sense to use someone who is known. (It's how I started my work here, they needed someone at short notice and I was known to them). Obviously that doesn't condone paying people for employing sons etc as "assistants" when I doubt they do much at all!) IMO - get a building near Westminster, kit it out like a halls of residence. It doesn't need to be fancy, all you need is a bed for the night, a shower, perhaps a television and an internet connection. One room per MP. An on site janitor deals with supplies of furniture, household equipment etc so they can't claim a small fortune for that. Job done.