A Geek's Life

Two days of hard work, meetings and decisions after my Schiphol debacle, it was finally time to kick back and let our collective hairs (what was left of them) down. Dinner and some beers in a town half way between work and the hotel was the location of choice, on the advice of a colleague who lived close by. As is our wont (as Engineers) discussions soon turned to taxes (griping) and infrastructure projects, or the lack of them. Between a Dutch, German and British chap there was plenty to go around.

A few of the most egregious which came up:

1. The Dutch parliament refurb which started off at 475 million Euros but is now north of 2.7 billion
2. HS2, the less said of which the better.
3. The Karlsruhe–Basel high-speed railway which is still waiting on some of the German sections

In the aftermath of the beers and with a slightly sore head to nurse, two thoughts came to mind; Brent Flyberg’s Iron Law of Megaprojects (over budget and over time is the norm rather than the exception) and the crass incompetence of many governments.