everything's going our way

It's been one of those weeks this week!

Firstly January 2013 had the lowest fuel sales since 1990, underlining the decline in car use that now seems unstoppable. This is partly because of austerity but it also seems many young people have no interest in driving or getting a car - when was the last time you saw a even a teenager tinkering with a car outside his parents' house? Amongst the young cars are seen as terribly uncool.

Secondly we are now getting clear warnings that the UK will face an energy crunch from 2015, with rolling blackouts likely. This will of course kill any silly talk of electric cars dead. I read somewhere that we would need 3 or 4 times current levels of generating capacity to cope with a switch to electric cars, there really is no chance of that happening - the energy just won't be there. In reality available energy is falling year on year.

Behind these specific reports there is now a general feeling of change in the air. The weather in 2012 was exteremely weird, way beyond even the most pessimistic forecasts. All of this is loading even more costs on our already fragile economy, which has now lost its AAA rating.

And for those of us that are still driving the potholes are geeting deeper and wider and more common - yet another sign that change is in the air ...