Things to complain about.

Well, some of the newspapers are saying that nobody is turning up for Theresa May's much talked about speech in Florence. When they say "nobody" they mean no EU people of any importance. Her own people will be there, of course. It's a bit like inviting people to a party and having only your mum and dad and siblings turn up. So basically she could have made the speech in London and saved on airfare and hotel bills. In the broader scheme of things what she spends on trips to Florence is pretty small beer but in this age of continuing austerity surely every little helps. Especially when we are faced with the prospect of continuing to contribute to Europe even as we exit. It's beginning to be a bit like the Hotel California: we seem to have signed out but we might never leave. Chance would be a fine thing!

I wonder if anyone has pointed out to the Catalans what a hard time the UK is having in its attempt to go it alone. If they ever get their referendum underway, and if it eventually has them voting to separate from Spain, will they live to regret it? Of course, Catalonia/Catalunya is different from the UK but it still seems to come down to people not wanting to be told what to do by a higher authority. I still fail to see what exactly they would gain by way of autonomy though. And the whole thing is a great mess at the moment. The Spanish government is in the position of a parent who has said no to a recalcitrant child, or perhaps teenager. The more they say no, the more the teenager insists on his right to do what he likes. And the longer this goes on the harder it is for the parent to change stance without losing face.

What a difficult world it is!

Just when everyone seems to have accepted Uber as a fact of modern life, Transport for London has turned around and said that they will not renew Uber's license for the coming year. Some people are protesting about this already but passenger safety is one of the reasons TFL state for doing this.

They are clearly having a big push on passenger safety at the moment. One thing they have been doing is to paint green line on underground train platforms at the point where the doors will open, this is so that people waiting to get on the train know to stand back and let people get off. Some people will see this as an indication of where they should stand to be the first to get on. In fact some regular commuters are not happy with the idea at all. One of them tweeted, “20yrs of personal tube platform expertise and competitive commuting advantage rendered useless by some green paint."

Who knew that tube travel was a competitive activity?

Still no progress on posting photos from my iPad!