WTF?

It's just taken me 25 minutes to find a motorcycle parking space near work. I've ended up parked more than half a mile away. Add in the time it took to drive to work, and the time it took me to walk to work from where I'm parked, and I could have probably walked from home faster!

Fortunately it's almost certainly a one-off event - it's the holidays, and I'm normally in much earlier when there are a lot more spaces, but even at this time there's usually a few spaces free. Maybe I should start thinking more seriously about buying a push-bike, I need the exercise and I could chain that to the railings inside the school, not leave it on the road.

Slightly later: one of my friends journals mentions that the railways are screwed up today, maybe that's why there are more bikes around.

Identity cards again

The No2ID people are starting a second round of pledges for Brits who will refuse to carry the compulsory biometric identity cards if they are issued and are prepared to donate £10.00 to a legal defence fund if it becomes necessary to defend someone for this reason. I signed up on the first round, and I still think it's a good idea. The new pledge is at:

http://www.pledgebank.com/refuse2

I STRONGLY advise reading it thoroughly before signing up.

I should add that in principle I have no objection to non-compulsory photo ID. The problems with the proposed scheme are (a) criminalisation of anyone who refuses to comply, (b) hideous cost (umpteen billions) and (c) horribly unreliable technology with VERY poor security.

Note - I think that the HTML they've mucked up in the pledge title should read £10.00