Road to hell

I rang one of my channel buddies this week for a chinwag on the state of the world and was startled to be met with an immediate outpouring of venom.

My pal was driving at the time, and no sooner had he picked up the phone than I was met with the opening gambit: "Can I start with a rant?"

Thankfully, the target of his ire was not me, but the Great British motorway system. The poor chap had been on the road for a couple of days, whizzing from one meeting to the next. I was regaled with a list of our most famous highways and the myriad disruptions to each that had kept him from doing business.

My mate was particularly irked by the lack of any visible work being done. "There are cones everywhere, but no roadworks," he moaned.

I cheerily told him this was the perfect opportunity to sell some of that mobile working technology I'm always hearing about. Strangely, my helpful suggestion didn't seem to improve his mood.