How to make boring journeys more interesting...

I discovered a way to make a boring journey from Edinburgh to Glasgow much more interesting the other night, here's the secret:  switch the dashboard display to "Range" when your tank is almost empty and see how near you can get it to zero before you fill up.

I did this the other night and 'rolled' into the garage at Woodlands Road with 0 miles left.  Getting stopped at the last two sets of lights when I left the motorway at Charing Cross also added to the excitement.

I imagine it could be even more exciting if it's a particularly cold wet night, can't wait till next winter now!

My solution to determining who should govern the UK

In light of the outright failure of the top three political leaders I have an idea to determine who should govern the country. 

Gordon Brown has clearly failed to win the hearts or minds of the electorate as Labour leader or Prime Minister; this is clearly demonstrated by a massive loss of seats.

David Cameron, perhaps the biggest failure last night, has been unable to get a clear majority against probably the most unpopular Labour leader in modern history.

Nick Clegg's telegenic qualities clearly don't translate to votes; he's ended up, not in 2nd place as he was predicting but, with less seats than he started with.

The solution - all three leaders resign immediately, appoint new party leaders and hold another General Election as quickly as possible. 

To those who have said to me over the last few weeks that this election is not about the personalities I say rubbish; with three new leaders a second election result will be entirely different.  The UK people have demonstrated they don't trust any of these leaders.

How to cut traffic on the roads

I travelled back from Edinburgh by car tonight and, form George Street to my home in Newton Mearns took me 1 hour and 10 minutes.  What's even more remarkable is that I left George Street at 5.15pm, usually this trip would take me 2 hours or more.

Lots of people didn't make it to work today so there were less cars on the road than normal which I believe made the difference.

That got me thinking about a system I saw in Houston, Texas some years ago; they had a single lane running between the two highways where the traffic travelled in single file into the city in the morning and the same single lane takes traffic out of the city at night.  You can only travel in this lane if you are car sharing so, nobody traveling alone is allowed in the "express" lane.

If we introduced a system during rush hours in Glasgow whereby you can only use the outside lane if you are car sharing, we might be able to encourage more people to share the journey and cut the number of cars on the road.  Yes, it may seem like a hair-brained scheme but, if you could cut one hour of your traveling time every day and, help the environment at the same time, would it be that mad?

Proud Father...even more proud!

Well done to my son, Ben White and Hutchesons' Under 15s for winning a closely contested and nail biting final against Stewart's Melville at Murrayfield Stadium. Both teams contributed to a great game with Hutchesons' determination and will to win edging the contest in front of a crowd of 5821. Congratulations to the squad, the coaching staff and Hutchesons' Grammar School, it's a great achievement.

I shot this video on a small flip video camera and I'm sure there will be much better coverage available soon but, for now, here's a sample of the tremendous atmosphere at Murrayfield.

My apologies for misspelling "Murrayfield" in the end credit - all the excitement I guess but, you'll get the idea.

Proud Father...

I'm looking forward to a game of Rugby at Murrayfield Stadium tomorrow; not just any old game, the Final of the Brewin Dolphin Under 15s Scottish Schools Cup. My son Ben is playing in the final for Hutchesons' Grammar School and I wish hi, his team mates and the coaching staff all the best for the game. Reaching the final and playing at Murrayfiled is a great achievement and everyone concerned should be very proud and just go out and enjoy the experience.

Busy, busy, busy...

What a start to the year, extremely busy with lots of good things happening.

Last week we were in Lowestoft for two days then back for a great New Media Breakfast about the burning issue of Social Media in the Workplace; 80+ people turned up and we had some great discussion.

This week we've done a New Media Workshop in Aberdeen, a presentation to CIPR in Aberdeen, two presentations to potential new clients today.

Tomorrow I'm visiting the "with Kids" project in the East End of Glasgow; I have offered some help to them and I want to see it first hand. Then I'm back to the office for a client meeting before I interview Paul Levinson, Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University, about his new book "New New Media" for the Social Media Podcast.

All good fun but hasn't left much time for my little drawing project and I haven't lifted a golf club for three months.