Changing times

It used to be that what is now called Sydney (NSW, Australia) and the
Central Coast of NSW were primarily disconnected by what we now call the
Hawkesbury River. The local Aboriginal people used canoes, but the
colonising English preferred larger boats. As time went by some roads were
hacked through the bush, but it remained a difficult land journey until
recent times. A vehicle punt or 2 made the crossing easier, followed by a
succession of bridges. One bridge carried the railway, which largely eroded
the previously sea-borne passenger and freight trade. Local ports carried
fewer and fewer passengers and less cargo. When the roads improved from 2
lanes to 4 or more the end was nigh. It's now easy - if slightly time
consuming (a mere 30 minute trip from the northern edge of Sydney to the
Gosford end - perhaps too easy, to get from Sydney to the Central Coast.

Having not made the journey by bike (push bike, I mean) for over 10 years,
I decided to ride from Brookvale to Gosford last Saturday. Half the trip is
just awful - cars, trucks, more cars - and the rest is tree-lined,
majestic, beautiful and annoyingly frequented by death-wish motorcyclists
scrambling 'round corners. I really mean death-wish. The scenic, if twisty
road is lined by white crosses. Each representing a fallen rider who met
their match on this road. Still, each to their own - we all take our risks
in different ways.

What fascinated me was the change in the road. It was always a great place
to get sideways, especially when the old road was bypassed by the freeway.
The traffic declined and local trade slumbered. But now the previously
just-barely-surviving cafes are booming, with trade literally zooming past
their doors every weekend. I imagine it dies down during the week, but what
a change over the last 20 years or so. Almost makes me want to open a
roadside cafe...


Cheers

Rob.

Our 'on demand' world

The weekend's well and truly over once more in Australia (and NZ and lots
of other places for that matter)... it's Monday as I post this (remotely,
as it happens - we'll see what date it receives on the blog!)... don't
worry, you'll catch up soon enough. I realised on the weekend that my kids
(and our pet cat) already live in IBM's 'On demand' world. Apart from some
natural barriers to delivery (like the occasional parental "no!") their
world is a seamless delivery platform that loves, entertains, feeds,
shelters and transports them as needed - on time, almost every time. Most
of us can probably relate to that.

In fact it's a SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) world as well. The key
service providers have their defined roles and are plugged in as needed.
Need transport? We have devices and (literally!) drivers fully equipped and
programmed with just the right resources available at the right time. Need
food? We have our regular scheduled processes, overlaid with additional
outsourced services as required. Need I go on?

Of course it's not perfect - as I said, we do say "no" sometimes. But as a
model for 24x7 service delivery - and there are infinite variations on the
basic design - it isn't a bad one. I just need another weekend to recover!

Cheers

Rob.