From: "Andy" <as-AT-spelthorne.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: Chelsea 5 Man U 0
Date: Fri, 8 Oct 1999 15:35:52 +0100


>Andy wrote:

>Yep, it's really great to get an idea, once in a while, why these people
>are going home with tons of money per months .... I just wonder why Wise
>(nomen does not seem to be omen in all cases) doesn't claim he just
>removed a crab.


...which he just happened to spot, and felt might cause Butt undue
embarassment in public. That must be why he got away with it.
On the tons of money front. Sol Campbell has just refused £25,000 per week
from Spurs, and the rumour is he might be in a swap with Man U's Ole Gunnar
Solksjaer.


>>cancel so many bloody trains that I doubt whether two are
>> ever in motion at any one time.
>What are you on about - that's keeping up good old British Rail
>traditions, innit?!


At least I owned it then, albeit through the state.



>> The feeling persists that the separation after privatisation into
Railtrack
>> [lines, signals, infrastructure], and separate companies to run the
trains
>> may be causing problems. Also the franchise holders aren't investing
enough
>> on new equipment, because they not only have to deliver a profit, but
also
>> make up ground for the running down of stock initiated by the Tories.
>That's what we heard on the news by now - the private company was not
>quite prepared to cough up 3 billion (don't know which currency they were
>talking about, quid or DM) to invest in security measures.


I think 3 billion DM - they mentioned  a billion quid here. The technology
is there - Eurostar and the Heathrow Express have it. One of these two
drivers only finished training 3 months ago.

I reckon the government will make the money available - but they probably
could get away with re-nationalising them. Blair wouldn't have it, but the
public probably would. Never mind, they're looking to privatise Air Traffic
Control next. Apparently the major airlines are thinking of forming a
consortium to bid for it - an action which I suspect is as much because
they're terrified about who might get control of it and be unaccountable
[like Railtrack], as it is a commercial opportunity.

>The Paddington disaster seems to get close to that disaster - this morning
>they said on the radio that police suspect 100 dead, with not much hope of
>corpses to be secured due to the fire (just heard something again where it
>was reported that the fire had something like a 1,000 degrees centigrade,
>and medical doctors had advised that this temperature will even burn teeth
>quite effectively - shudder).


They've had to bring down a giant crane from Stockport to lift the carriage
for a finger-tip search by pathologists to see if they can find any bits of
anyone. Gruesome. The police are now going round all the car parks by all
the stations and connecting stations en route to try and trace the owners of
any vehicle that's been there a few days, then approach the families etc. -
a really shitty job. "Your son's car is in Cheltenham Station Car Park -
have you heard from him lately????" That must be worse than the definite
news.


>Anyways, glad you take a different train to go to work,
>
>catkawin


It'll be the M25 that gets me.