It says in the article ‘Lightly trafficked roads or locations that just don’t make socio-economic sense can be excluded from the requirement’ for the comprehensive network.

It’ll be up to each country how they decide to implement it. In some countries the core roads are managed by a central government agency so they would need to arrange it. In others it is the the local municipalities or privatised. Some countries will offer to private companies. Others will provide it themselves. The governments would be ultimately responsible but Im sure they can manage this given they already have responsibilities about maintaining the roads and rest areas. In the worst case they might have to pay for some infrastructure themselves but can make it back with the charges.

This is just one area of the overall fit for 55 and general EU plans. Public transport is already being looked at under different working groups (e.g. https://rail-research.europa.eu/about-europes-rail/).

The aim of the overall plan look very promising. https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/green-deal/fit-for-55-the-eu-plan-for-a-green-transition/

Mines just learned how to ride a pedal bike without stablisers and taken to so well. Naturally that means he wants to always go somewhere on it! It is so great going on a bike ride together though.

Somebody who used to teach children how to ride gave me a tip which seemed to work very well. Hold them gently by the shoulder instead of lower down or the bike itself. This way they learn how to balance themselves.

That’s really good point! It’s often cheaper to fly to Europe than get a train here…

Took my young son to the working vehicles day at Brooklands Museum. It rained on and off but nothing bad really with our rain coats. It was so quiet too because of the rain so we had a great time!

It blows my mind how many people were there without coats or umbrellas though. Why do so many people look out the window in the morning and decide on the weather. It’s Britain so it can change in an instant so just check the weather!

For day trips, Bath, Oxford, Cambridge and Canterbury are all easy to get to from London. A bit further but still doable in a day probably, are places like Warwick (also has a fantastic castle), Stratford-upon-Avon (if you like Shakespeare) or Nottingham which are all very historical places.

Longer away so needs more time are Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh which are all great with lots of history.

Flight wise, pretty much any city anywhere in Europe would fit the bill. I’d recommend Belfast, Dublin and Budapest but the real list is so so long!

That is shocking. They really have changed the system to be horrible to everyone trying to come in. I’m so sorry… my parents are immigrants but back when they were begging people to come in to do all the jobs locals just don’t want to. They’re already talking about opening up a bit because the labour market is so tight but who knows what will actually happen.

Our company has offices in India and it is quite regular that people move to other countries, not just from India and not just to the UK. Could be a long term option to find a global company, show you’re a valuable employee and see what happens. Some people just show they’re very good. Others just are the only ones who know certain systems so when they ask to move, it is easier for them to move than find someone else.

I bought some fingers for the first time in years. They had two options so I went for the larger “family pack”. The box is slightly bigger but the amount of fingers is certainly less than or equal to what the normal size was when I last bought some, and even back then it was a quarter empty so always felt cheated. If I bought the normal size I’d be even more fuming.

A baseball game and wimbledon on… yeah you’re f’d mate, sorry

Sorry to hear that, sounds like a horrible situation. I really hope it works out for you.

If they made you redundant do you really have to stick around the whole day? If that happened in my team I’d be sending them home or letting them look for jobs in work time…

Is there any chance of applying for PR or anything given how long you’ve been here? If you do have to leave, is there a good chance you can apply to come back? Appreciate you have probably explored all this so more out of curiosity than anything.

Amazing work team. I am already seeing improvements. Hope you are not killing yourselves though, I’m sure everyone realises how difficult it is and that it will take time to fix. We’re here for the long haul! Thanks again

That’s amazing! Well done for going through with it and kudos to your workplace. I’m sure it’ll be weird at first but let us know how it goes!

There might be a few charities around you which do coffee meetups, organised walks, gardening together, etc. I heard u3a is good for trying or learning random different things. You could even go for long weekends to different parts of the UK or Europe to see lots of new places. You could do charity work.