congestion

i don't drive. one of the main reasons is that i live in london and frankly don't see the need for a car.
i work with one or two people who can't live without their cars, most just say it is the way they prefer to travel to work, one makes excuses that may as well be the works of the brothers grimm for the truth contained in them.
so i use public transport, mainly the buses (i have mentioned my love hate relationship to the number 25 many times on here...) the problem with the bus is that there are too many cars on the roads in london, you want to get into london during the day and you could be stuck behind a lot of traffic.
so i quite like ken's congestion charge. it seems to have worked. london has not collapsed due to the fact that people have to pay to drive into the city, in fact there still seems to be lots of cars on the roads, the streets of london still seemed to be packed with people. so obviously people are still going into london.
now ken wants to extend the zone further out.
and guess what people are complaining.
as ever it is the small businesses.

says one chap "The congestion charge needs to be suspended to encourage people back into London because businesses are dying."
of course this ignores the fact that perhaps now some of the small businesses in the outlying suburbs are doing good business.
perhaps it ignores the fact that perhaps people have heeded the warnings and now realise that they are living beyond their means and so are not spending as much any more.

what i like about small businesses (well actually all businesses in the uk) is the speed that they are prepared to complain about anything and everything. in the course of my working day i am often confronted with people who expect my company to pay for their operating costs (no not you kenny). i know we used to be a culture of people who would join a queue now we seem to be a culture of people who just complain for the sake of it.