If you mean what you say...

... why don't you say what you mean. They're replacing the water pipes here. All of them. It's a slow job. Taken 6 months so far and likely to take another 6 more. Section by section chunks of the city's roads are closed off to allow the work. It causes a fair bit of disruption and delay in whichever bit of the city is affected at that moment. And the water gets shut off for about 5 hours a day. Our road was done in February. More recently an important junction on one of the busiest routes into the city centre was closed off. Several bus services use that route. I caught a bus to town today and (as you do when you're stuck on a bus and bored) I read the notices pasted up. There was one about the roadworks. It said "There will be severe disruption and delay to our timetables".

I sat there picturing a timetable with all the columns empty and the numbers which made up the scheduled times jumbled together in a heap at the bottom. Then I wondered about the delay part of the notice. Did that mean the summer timetable wouldn't be out until autumn?? When I stopped being amused by the thought of the timetables throwing a tantrum and turning up late, I started grumbling about the poor quality of English usage that seems to be so common now. Because of course what they meant to say was "There will be severe disruption and delays to our services." I reckon it's a result the way English is taught in schools these days When did it become more important to train kids to pass exams than give them a decent, well-rounded education??

That whirring sound you can hear is the nuns at my old school spinning in their graves at the thought that - finally - I'm listening to the things they taught me. Of course they wouldn't be too happy with me if I reach the point where I can no longer stand the sign on the window of the hairdresser's shop on the way to town and I chuck a brick through it. The shop is called Hair Gem's.

Enjoy your reading, goodnight and may your god/s go with you.

Ze

BtVS

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  Original
  
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