Hey, good for you Jane, and good luck with the broadcast!
This bit from your blog caught my eye...
There is no mention in the blurb of the hatred and frustration that toll collection causes the local population. There is no mention of the avoidable environmental damage caused as more and more vehicles have to queue longer than ever before, their engines idling, pumping out choking emissions. There is no mention of the thousands of hours of time wasted by bridge users as they queue to pay that silly toll. No, of course they wouldn't mention that.
...reminds me of another frustrating queue/rip-off - ie that of having to suffer a near two-hour wait at the Dartford Crossing on Boxing Day last year. Reason for wait? Accident? No. Road works? No. High winds? No. Answer? Just the number of people trying to cross Dartford on their way back from (or to see) friends and family at Christmas time. Innocent travellers (presumably lots of kids and old folk among them) being held up by the Dartford tollgates: gates, and a totally inefficient system, that were holding up the traffic for nearly
two hours in
each direction!
Jeeze... for one or two days a year can't the powers that be lift the gates and allow people to cross freely? Who paid for the flippin' crossing in the first place!!!? Perhaps you could slip into the interview, Jane, the fact that Stonehenge, not to mention our cathedrals, bridges etc, were built by the people in the first place (and directly or indirectly paid for by them) and, as such, access to those places should be free and without constraint ;-)
