Reading Roars!

You probably got bored of hearing the phrase “adverse weather conditions” about two weeks ago, but the snow’s effect is still being felt. Market Place in central Reading is closed to all traffic this morning as a couple of impressively-sized potholes have opened up. It’s the freezing and thawing of water that does it, y’know.
Lots [...]

We’ve been admiring the snow coming down all evening, and decided to venture out to see what it’s like out there. We’re just back from a half-hour stroll in the neighbourhood.
Here’s the good news: there’s no gridlock. In fact there’s virtually no traffic of any kind whatsoever. Here’s the other good news: you probably won’t [...]

If there’s any accuracy at all to modern weather forecasting, it seems highly likely Reading could be hit by snow later today.
From a glance of the main weather websites, we reckon it’ll start late afternoon or early evening, but as we’re not known for our metereological prowess, you might want to play things safe and [...]

I mentioned in a previous post last week’s Reading Borough Council Scrutiny Panel meeting with First Great Western and Network Rail.  I have to do the right thing and confess that I wasn’t present on the occasion, simply because I work in London and wasn’t able to get back to Reading in time (my fault, [...]

I was pretty stunned to read that Network Rail bosses are to receive six-figure bonuses.  I don’t like seeing executives rewarded for failure anyway, but this really stung.  The UK rail travel experience is often unpleasant and horrendously expensive.
Fortunately, if you feel similarly frustrated, you can have your say this coming Tuesday evening, as Network Rail and [...]

I was somewhat dismayed, to say the least, to see my First Great Western (FGW) Reading-Paddington ticket all of a sudden jump last week to nearly £400 per month, thanks to their removal of a 10% discount for poor performance .  This follows a January 6% fare rise.  
According to the Reading Chronicle report, FGW’s [...]

Reading is the latest town to get The Guardian’s “Let’s move to…” treatment.  A new location is examined every Saturday as part of the paper’s Money section, with Reading featured in today’s edition.
So what did Tom Dyckhoff say?
Fortunately, the “What’s going for it” bit is four times the size of “The case against”.  On the [...]

A quick word of warning: if you are approaching the IDR/Duke St/London St junction by road tonight or tomorrow morning, you may encounter broken traffic lights.
This evening, I saw the aftermath of a collision between a taxi and a police van.  Thankfully, no one appeared hurt, but the traffic lights took a bit of a knock.  Ice, [...]

The story of the moment is the snow/sleet/ice we have been getting.  
Councils across the land have been getting a bit of stick for not preparing for the heavy snow showers.  I think it’s fair to say that we as individuals should have anticipated this better.  Responses to less moderate winter weather in the past [...]

I’m told that some snow (of the precipitation kind) is expected to arrive tomorrow in the UK. 
I like snow.  Most of us do, I suspect.  I no longer build snowmen (snowpeople?) or chuck snowballs, but I do like swirling snow showers, wintry landscapes and the scrunchy sound that is made when you walk on fresh [...]