Thursday, July 26, 2007

Proactive recycling in Scotland's southern counties

This is complete plagiarism, but I just love the story.
We have a friend staying, helping sort out various IT issues. As I was driving him into town today, he told me of the village near Bristol, which had had metal flood defences installed some years ago. After they had twice been stolen ( hence " proactive recycling" in the words of the council spokesperson), it was decided they should be stored in a place of safety, and only installed when a flood threatened.
So last week, it was decided the time had come. The plan was in place, the equipment was ready, the transport was laid on, the critical path analysis was in place. It only remained to move the barriers and install them.
Alas, by the time this had all been done, the barriers could not reach the relevant location.
The roads leading to the installation site were already under 8ft. of water. So the town ended up being flooded out again.
As with so many things with this present government, the law of unintended consequences struck again.
PS we have our first flood refugees arriving tonight. Apart from the motorway gunk they will presumably have eaten on the way north, the coq au vin being prepared for them will be their first hot meal in 5 days.

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