No, for once, I am not referring to our amply proportioned Communities Secretary.
Bergen County, New Jersey has blown much of its winter services budget after the area was hit by severe winter storms (you think we had it bad here).
Just across the Hudson from New York, and despite being one of the wealthier counties in the US, officials are trying to avoid the hefty premium on road salt by opting for an alternative – pickle juice.
The authority says that green salty liquid melts snow and ice just as well as solid salt. And the price is attractive: the briny mixture costs just seven cents a gallon, compared to $63 a ton for salt. They add that this makes the pickle juice work out at an equivalent of $17 per ton, although the maths may warrant further investigation.
Barely halfway through the winter season, and with up $3 million of its $4 million snow budget gone, the authority is definitely warming to the numbers.
The mixture is used as preventative before snow becomes ‘uncontrollable’, officials add.
Monday, 31 January 2011
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
Stress o’clock
Stress is now a big issue here at the department of administrative administrations (universal services) thanks to Eric Pickles and his crew. My boss has gone, his role merged with another, and there are fewer bods at desks now than 12 months ago. Workloads have increased and everyone has their heads down to ensure they are not on any future hit lists.
In this climate, I was interested to read that the most stressful time of the week is 10 am on a Tuesday.
This seems a bit arbitrary, but over half of 3,000 British workers surveyed by recruitment firm Michael Page named this slot as their most frazzled period. Many said they ‘coast though Monday getting their brain in gear and catch up with gossip’ while, on Tuesday, reality mercilessly crashes in. Staff spend the very first part of the day going through emails they ignored on Monday before planning the week ahead. The to-do list is then huge and they struggle with their boss' demands or looming deadlines.
The study of office workers aged between 18 and 45 sought to gauge stress throughout the typical working week. It found a quarter regularly feel stressed at work while three quarters of workers regularly reach the end of their tether by 11.16am each day.
One in five find it gets too much before nine o'clock, and I can only imagine most of these work for local government at the moment.
On a ‘positive’ note, people generally make getting a new job in 2011 a resolution for the new year. Where these jobs will come from remains to be seen.
In this climate, I was interested to read that the most stressful time of the week is 10 am on a Tuesday.
This seems a bit arbitrary, but over half of 3,000 British workers surveyed by recruitment firm Michael Page named this slot as their most frazzled period. Many said they ‘coast though Monday getting their brain in gear and catch up with gossip’ while, on Tuesday, reality mercilessly crashes in. Staff spend the very first part of the day going through emails they ignored on Monday before planning the week ahead. The to-do list is then huge and they struggle with their boss' demands or looming deadlines.
The study of office workers aged between 18 and 45 sought to gauge stress throughout the typical working week. It found a quarter regularly feel stressed at work while three quarters of workers regularly reach the end of their tether by 11.16am each day.
One in five find it gets too much before nine o'clock, and I can only imagine most of these work for local government at the moment.
On a ‘positive’ note, people generally make getting a new job in 2011 a resolution for the new year. Where these jobs will come from remains to be seen.
Monday, 17 January 2011
Smell a rat?
I had a bit of a double take when watching the news the other evening.
BBC political correspondent Gary O'Donoghue was doing his thing outside Number 10 when I thought I saw a rat running across the threshold of the PM’s house.
Hitting rewind on the digibox, it was hard to make out on our crappy little set (well, we don’t have HD as Mrs Horace refuses to fork out for it).
I duly shook the Web and found confirmation on Newslite.
Ever-faithful servant YouTube provides corroborating evidence below. The eagle-eyed among you will see the rodent scurrying across the steps of Number 10 after about nine seconds.
One can only speculate whether this is due to fortnightly rubbish collections in Downing Street. Won’t be long before Pickles wades in…
BBC political correspondent Gary O'Donoghue was doing his thing outside Number 10 when I thought I saw a rat running across the threshold of the PM’s house.
Hitting rewind on the digibox, it was hard to make out on our crappy little set (well, we don’t have HD as Mrs Horace refuses to fork out for it).
I duly shook the Web and found confirmation on Newslite.
Ever-faithful servant YouTube provides corroborating evidence below. The eagle-eyed among you will see the rodent scurrying across the steps of Number 10 after about nine seconds.
One can only speculate whether this is due to fortnightly rubbish collections in Downing Street. Won’t be long before Pickles wades in…
Friday, 7 January 2011
Consult and be damned
Consultation, eh? Asking the punters what they want. Has to be a good thing, surely… Well, not always.
Tourism chiefs in Suffolk asked members of the public to submit iconic images that ably represented the county.
No doubt folk at Choose Suffolk were looking for favourite photographs of landscapes, people, or products that would promote the county as an attractive place to visit.
Most got into the spirit, too, nominating images of coastal beach huts, historic buildings and figures like former Ipswich Town manager Sir Bobby Robson
However, the most popular nomination was Dani Filth, the self-styled 'crypt-crawling' frontman of death metal band Cradle of Filth, which was formed in Suffolk in 1991.
Filth recorded over 13,000 votes by having his image clicked on the Suffolk Icons website.
Second placed iconic image was not so inspiring, either: Broomhill swimming pool - a near derelict 1930s former lido in Ipswich - with 2,055 votes.
So what have Choose Suffolk done in response? Selected their own top 20, of course.
The public can now vote on more wholesome images, such as Sutton Hoo, racing at Newmarket, Suffolk Punch heavy horses, and the Woodbridge Tide Mill.
Tim Passmore, the interim chief executive of Choose Suffolk, said: ‘As a user-generated gallery, the site was designed to engage with visitors and encourage their participation. We are encouraged this remit has been successful.’
Tourism chiefs in Suffolk asked members of the public to submit iconic images that ably represented the county.
No doubt folk at Choose Suffolk were looking for favourite photographs of landscapes, people, or products that would promote the county as an attractive place to visit.
Most got into the spirit, too, nominating images of coastal beach huts, historic buildings and figures like former Ipswich Town manager Sir Bobby Robson
However, the most popular nomination was Dani Filth, the self-styled 'crypt-crawling' frontman of death metal band Cradle of Filth, which was formed in Suffolk in 1991.
Filth recorded over 13,000 votes by having his image clicked on the Suffolk Icons website.
Second placed iconic image was not so inspiring, either: Broomhill swimming pool - a near derelict 1930s former lido in Ipswich - with 2,055 votes.
So what have Choose Suffolk done in response? Selected their own top 20, of course.
The public can now vote on more wholesome images, such as Sutton Hoo, racing at Newmarket, Suffolk Punch heavy horses, and the Woodbridge Tide Mill.
Tim Passmore, the interim chief executive of Choose Suffolk, said: ‘As a user-generated gallery, the site was designed to engage with visitors and encourage their participation. We are encouraged this remit has been successful.’
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)